Contracting out certain IT functions could result in significant cost-savings for businesses, a new report has claimed.

According to the study from the Info-Tech Research group, large companies as well as small to medium-sized enterprises could benefit financially from outsourcing their IT services.

Taking such action could provide smaller firms with access to a greater skills base, enable them to cut management overheads and could save them up to a quarter on their IT costs.

A consultant at the firm, Jennifer Colasanti, also pointed out that companies which contract out their IT services could benefit from increasing internal training opportunities.

Info-Tech asserted that outsourcing help-desk IT facilities could save a company up to 13 per cent on costs while hiring another firm to manage application development services could lead to savings of 20 per cent.

Meanwhile, international banking group Credit Suisse this month announced it is outsourcing its voice and data infrastructure to telecoms companies BT and Swisscom in a contract worth $1.1 billion (£563 million), reported the Wall Street & Technology.