METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATING THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF A COMPANY'S OPERATIONS USING IT OUTSOURCING

Abstract

This article examines theoretical and methodological approaches to assessing the economic efficiency of enterprises that utilize IT outsourcing. The relevance of this study stems from the active development of foreign economic activity in Ukraine’s IT outsourcing sector, which accounted for 39.4% of Ukraine’s total service exports as of the first half of 2026. The purpose of this article is to examine the current state of IT outsourcing in Ukraine’s foreign economic activity and to develop a methodology for assessing the economic efficiency of enterprises that utilize IT outsourcing. To achieve this objective, the dynamics of Ukraine’s IT services exports from May 2025 to May 2026 were analyzed. The structure of IT service exports to Ukraine’s ten largest partner countries in May 2026 is analyzed, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Malta, Cyprus, Poland, Switzerland, Estonia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Germany. The dynamics of Ukrainian IT service exports for January–May 2026 are also illustrated. The article reviews the works of foreign and Ukrainian scholars on the impact of outsourcing on the efficiency and competitiveness of enterprises. The main approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of outsourcing, as proposed by Ukrainian researchers, are summarized and systematized. The advantages and disadvantages of the outsourcing evaluation methods proposed by researchers are identified. This paper proposes an original, integrated, multi-criteria methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of IT outsourcing, as well as a framework of indicators for calculating a comprehensive effectiveness index that takes into account the financial, production, resource, innovation, operational, organizational, managerial, non-financial, social, and qualitative components of a company’s operations. It is demonstrated that the proposed methodology enables a comprehensive assessment of IT outsourcing outcomes, taking into account not only economic indicators but also strategic, organizational, and qualitative aspects of the enterprise’s operations. The factors influencing the impact of IT outsourcing on the economic efficiency of a company’s operations have been systematized and grouped into the following categories: financial and economic, technological, organizational and managerial, human resources, risk, market, communication, and external. It has been established that IT outsourcing contributes to cost optimization, improved business processes, increased labor productivity, the advancement of digital transformation, and the strengthening of enterprises’ competitive advantages. It is concluded that the development of IT outsourcing is one of the promising areas for the development of Ukraine’s foreign economic activity, which positively influences the growth of IT service exports, the development of the labor market, the enhancement of the national economy’s international competitiveness, and Ukraine’s integration into the European economic space.