European IT service providers are lagging behind their competitors in India and North America in their efforts to establish global service delivery, emphasising the need for IT chiefs to scrutinise price propositions and the robustness of the global delivery process before procurement.

Those are the findings of a new report from analyst firm Forrester due to be presented at its annual EMEA IT Forum in Edinburgh.

The report found that the European service provider market is less mature and the pace of change still slow despite "superficial marketing messages about rapid moves to set up offshore capabilities", according to its author, Andrew Parker.

"Quite frankly, if you take the average position the picture isn't that great," Parker argued. "But European clients may be prepared to make allowances because they feel more comfortable doing business with local players then going through the time and expense of building relationships [with global providers]. "

Against this backdrop, IT bosses must test the robustness of the processes being deployed for global delivery, added Parker, despite the assurances service providers will give that they are on top of things such as staff training, project management and distributing work across different locations.

"We also think it's essential for companies to look under the covers – visit facilities and meet the people who will be doing the work," Parker argued. " Without those assurances, it's not so secure to rely on bland assurances – we remain cautious about some of the marketing pitches."