See where ER&D outsourcing is heading before committing

For strategy and practice heads at engineering-services providers deciding where to invest over the next three to five years.

Engagement type: Team Pod
Experts: 5 consulted · 1 lead
Hours: ~40
Duration: 3 weeks

What the client needed

A services firm with an engineering play wanted to know which engineering areas — across automotive and transport, industrial products and consumer goods, semiconductors and telecom, and medical devices — will attract outside investment over the next three to five years, what drives that work out of house, and what a provider must build to win it.

The expert engaged

Previously at Tata Technologies, Cognizant, FPT Software, Mindtree, HCL Technologies, Accenture, Satyam · 25 years

Roles heldcountry head, Germany and Europe · client partner · global account director · regional head of sales and outsourcing

Ran ER&D services for key European markets at a global engineering-services provider
Headed the European region for several leading IT services providers
Set up businesses and nearshore delivery centres; service delivery, pre-sales, solutions architecture and outsourcing strategy
Competed head-on with global ER&D providers: AUTOSAR, embedded systems, CAD/CAE, PLM/ALM and hardware design

Atlas Verified · Tier A

A exceptional · B strong · C competent — the tier is derived from the whole assessment, not a single score. The transcript and report are open to you before you engage. How verification works →

The brief

The questions on the table

As the client wrote them, lightly shortened. Client and respondents are not named.

Q1
What are the most consequential shifts reshaping engineering demand in each industry — regulation, technology, business model, regional demand, value-chain moves?
Q2
Which engineering areas attract the most incremental investment over three to five years, and how do they compare on size, growth, margin and recurring revenue?
Q3
What decides whether that demand is outsourced, and what stays in-house?
Q4
What must a provider build — capabilities, IP, platforms, partnerships, commercial constructs — and where are the white spaces?

The hours

What the work involved

01
Consultation guide built around the firm’s questions
One guide, five industry variants, agreed with the firm before the first call.
02
Expert consults
Five 45–60-minute consults: service-provider practice heads and enterprise engineering leaders, phased by industry over two weeks, with notes within 24 hours of each.
03
Synthesis
The lead expert ranked the opportunity areas by attractiveness and addressability, with the drivers behind each and the capability gaps providers face.

Deliverables

What the client received

Ranked opportunity areasWith the drivers behind each and the evidence from the consults.
What pushes work out of house, and what stays inBy industry.
What providers must buildCapabilities, partnerships and commercial constructs, with white spaces marked.
Consultation notesAll five, de-identified.

The terms

What an engagement like this costs

You buy hours in blocks and can change the expert at the end of any block, at no extra cost. Longer projects run in stages: pause after a block, pick up the next stage when you are ready.

Pricing in full →

Rate band: $65–$250 /hr; Senior specialists can be up to $500
Hour blocks: 1 · 2 · 5 · 10 · 20 · 50 · custom
This engagement: Team Pod · ~40 hours · 3 weeks

Deciding where to invest in engineering services?

Describe what you need

For example: “We need an outside view on which ER&D areas to build for, and who will outsource them, before next year’s plan.”

We aim to come back with matched experts within 24 to 72 hours.