Category Archives: Hot BPO

What are Business Platforms and why they represent the future of outsourcing

November 14th, 2011

"Please mind the innovation gap"... click here to find out what Business Platforms are and they represent the future of outsourcing

The ability to develop some best-in-class processes as “Business Platforms”, whether they focus on horizontal or vertical process clusters, is becoming a real differentiator in the market, as buyers seek more standardized solutions from their outsourcing engagements. The gauntlet being laid out to providers, with these Business Platforms, is their ability to support their clients’ transitions quickly and inexpensively. Simply selling “products” is not the concept of business platforms – it is the provider’s ability to work with their customers to facilitate and support the ultimate business outcomes of managing the processes associated with the Business Platform offering.

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Why outsourcing professionals must stay in touch with the 99%

November 6th, 2011

Governments are very capable of passing measures very quickly to restrict outsourcing if things get really bad – and they won’t have any choice if the 99% demand it. All outsourcing stakeholders – buyers, providers and advisors – need to focus, more than ever, on helping organizations approach outsourcing as one supporting component of a holistic solution.

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Double-Dip Dynamics, Part II: The new tenets of outsourcing – process standardization, global flexibility and better technology

October 29th, 2011

What is motivating buyers to outsource in this current climate? While eliminating cost is still is a huge fundamental, buyers are even more focused on achieving greater flexibility to scale their global operations as a prime motivating factor. Clearly, many executives are getting more experienced and skilled at driving an sourcing initiative, and are confident they can use the endeavor as a change agent to promote and implement much-needed change in their businesses.

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Double-Dip Dynamics, Part I: 70% of buyers are sitting on the fence with their outsourcing plans in the current climate

October 23rd, 2011

Our new study that covered the intentions and observations of 534 buyers, advisors and providers with their sourcing strategies in the event of a “Double-Dip” Recession reveals one major shift in the industry: most buyers now recognize what their businesses need to improve to drive productivity, they simply are struggling to figure out how to marshall their internal and external resources to help them get there.

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HfS is awarded IIAR Analyst of the Year for second year in succession

October 21st, 2011

The International Institute of Analyst Relations (IIAR) 2012 analyst awards: HfS Research wins the individual award for “Analyst of the Year” for a second year in succession in addition to Outsourcing Analyst Firm of the Year.

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Too many providers and advisors are being myopic with their clients and failing to understand their business pressures

September 21st, 2011

Our latest study shows that many buyer executives are, in actuality, in violent disagreement with many provider and sourcing advisor executives that they their business leaders are too “short-term focused”

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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 8: Industries experiencing secular change have more aggressive outsourcing plans

August 29th, 2011

Those organizations being impacted by radical, fundamental shifts to their very industry economics, are more prepared than ever to admit they need to look outside of their current organization boundaries to keep their business operations cost-competitive. Simply-put, secular change crystallizes options for businesses and the outsourcing planning process often becomes more clear-cut as a result.

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Offshore outsourcing killing innovation? Time to change that record, please Professors…

July 27th, 2011

The provocative interview of two Harvard Business School intellectuals in CIO Magazine is making the rounds and generating some interesting discussion. It will undoubtedly stoke the already heated fires of the sensationalist anti-outsourcing crowd and provide fodder to those who say that offshore outsourcing detracts from the “client” companies’ and countries’ competitiveness. The problem is that the argument being made, that outsourcing higher-end, higher value business processes will lead to erosion of the ability to innovate is at once obvious and flawed.

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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 5: Decision-makers increasingly reliant on peer-networking and research than traditional channels

July 3rd, 2011

In the past, outsourcing was still a unique, foreign and scary activity, and it was always easier for buy-side executives to bring in consultants to make their decisions for them – especially as there were so few trusted data-points and information sources widely available in the industry to support decision-making. Executives didn’t want to get fired for making bad decisions. However, today they know they’ll get fired for the wrong decision regardless of who made it – whether it was theirs’ or McKinsey’s

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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 1: Buyers are saving money, but aren’t seeing a whole lot more

May 29th, 2011

Whatever the motives buyers have when they outsource, the first critical metric they must reach is to save the money they were promised at the onset of the engagement. And we have spectacularly good news for the entire outsourcing industry – the cost savings targets are being met – and being met well, with over 95% of current buyers viewing the engagements as effective for reducing their operating costs. However, that’s pretty much where the good news tapers off, as the rest of the results are pretty modest

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Where have all the consultants gone?

April 13th, 2011

You’re probably not aware of a very subtle, but tectonic shift going on in the business process outsourcing industry which has implications for all those things that we all tout as benefits of sourcing—innovation, deep domain experience, true client partnerships

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