{
  "notice": "Please credit \"Is software solved?\" and the sources listed in credits when you reuse these numbers. They are our own aggregates. For original records, go to each source.",
  "id": "outsourcing",
  "name": "Software outsourcing revenue",
  "question": "Are companies still paying others to build software?",
  "metric": "Combined annual revenue of Accenture, Cognizant, Infosys, EPAM and Globant, latest full year",
  "solvedIf": "Revenue falls because companies no longer hire people to build software",
  "value": "$118B",
  "change": "+7%",
  "trend": [
    {
      "label": "2018",
      "value": 70
    },
    {
      "label": "2019",
      "value": 75
    },
    {
      "label": "2020",
      "value": 77
    },
    {
      "label": "2021",
      "value": 88
    },
    {
      "label": "2022",
      "value": 104
    },
    {
      "label": "2023",
      "value": 108
    },
    {
      "label": "2024",
      "value": 110
    },
    {
      "label": "2025",
      "value": 118
    }
  ],
  "trendLabel": "Combined annual revenue of five public outsourcing companies, in billions of dollars.",
  "caution": [
    "AI can also help these firms, because companies may pay them to adopt it. Revenue can also hold up while staff numbers fall.",
    "Accenture is the largest here and is mostly consulting, not software. Acquisitions can add revenue and staff, and fiscal years differ by company."
  ],
  "score": 0,
  "scoreReason": "After inflation: Up 4% since ChatGPT launched.",
  "analysis": {
    "title": "Revenue per employee",
    "intro": "These firms charge for people, so this shows whether revenue is separating from headcount. From 2023 to 2025, it moved +6%.",
    "points": [
      "Revenue per employee went from $72K to $76K.",
      "Revenue moved +9% and employees +3% over the same period.",
      "Accenture: $69.7B and 779,000 employees in 2025.",
      "Cognizant: $21.1B and 351,600 employees in 2025.",
      "Infosys: $19.3B and 323,578 employees in 2025.",
      "EPAM: $5.5B and 62,850 employees in 2025.",
      "Globant: $2.5B and 28,773 employees in 2025."
    ]
  },
  "fromHigh": "At its high",
  "status": "Still growing",
  "rule": "Still growing when combined revenue is higher than the year before.",
  "direction": "away",
  "checks": [
    {
      "date": "2026-11-02",
      "value": "$118B",
      "change": "+7%",
      "status": "Still growing"
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-11-01",
      "value": "$118B",
      "change": "+7%",
      "status": "Still growing"
    }
  ],
  "url": "/signals/outsourcing",
  "api": "/api/signals/outsourcing.json",
  "credits": [
    {
      "name": "SEC filings for outsourcing companies",
      "url": "https://www.sec.gov/search-filings/edgar-application-programming-interfaces",
      "signal": "outsourcing",
      "license": "US government public data",
      "credit": "Revenue and employees from filings on SEC EDGAR."
    }
  ]
}