Companies are moving away from previously popular IT outsourcing trends, according to a recent study.

Outsourcing advisory firm TPI recently published its global breakdown of the outsourcing industry. The study found the value of outsourcing contracts during Q2 2010 dropped by nearly 13 percent from the first quarter to $18.1 billion. The outsourcing industry is still struggling to rebound from the recent economic recession.

"The global uncertainties of the economy are definitely weighing on the ITO market," said TPI partner Mark Mayo. "Clients are relatively slow to make significant outsourcing decisions."

Outsourcing IT jobs particularly saw a dramatic decrease in the second quarter, as the value of contracts for the service fell by nearly 30 percent. The study reveals new trends in IT outsourcing, as business process outsourcing still saw 60 percent growth, although it failed to meet its expected level of progress.

Economic recession may be only part of the reason IT outsourcing trends are shifting. TPI’s study also found nearly 75 percent of its clients that participated in the survey "have had internal discussions about cloud computing," indicating companies may be cutting costs by moving operations to the cloud, rather than outsourcing IT.