As per usual, election year brings up the age-old argument about how to combat the “threat” of outsourcing. Isn’t now the time, in an election year, to stop the rhetoric and actually make commitments to growing local industries that have a direct impact?
If you were surprised to find Wikipedia offline yesterday, you weren’t alone: many Internet users were unaware of the widespread one-day online protest against SOPA and PIPA, two bills before the US Congress designed to fight online media piracy.
The BPO industry has been going though an incredible evolution since the first major deals was cast, barely more than a decade ago, that it’s high time we took stock and take a good look at the phases – or generations – through which our industry has progressed. And there are few people who have lived and breathed these generational shifts more closely that Accenture’s BPO leader, Mike Salvino.
Time to fine-tune your multi-vendor strategy…
We complete our investigation into the dominance of India in the world of outsourcing, and whether or not the game’s up for non-Indian providers to come back into the picture
Some “horses” memories as a big chubby thank you for all of your support this year
Well, another year goes by and HfS yet again escapes any legal action, terrorist attacks at our office, or disappearing bodies for being thoroughly unafraid to call the industry on its issues. So let’s reflect some of the defining moments of 2011
In case you missed our joint webcast with Ed Caso of Wells Fargo Securities on Friday, fear no more, as here’s the replay
Emptoris’ well-regarded user interface and strong brand recognition among the procurement crowd make it an idea mate for IBM’s technology-driven focus and market leading procurement BPO capability. While the integration of Sterling, DemandTec, and Emptoris will take some time to become “smarter commerce”, there will be some immediate upsides.
This is going to be a defining two-day working session for power-brokers of the outsourcing industry, where leading buyers of both ITO and BPO services will confront today’s critical issues impacting outsourcing, to establish a Blueprint for the industry in 2015. And this time, we will have a vendor/buyer face-off session where leaders from six of the major service providers will join the debate.
The outsourcing industry is a labor arbitrage bubble waiting to burst. And today’s smartest buyers and service providers are poised to fatally pop it and build a better future.
Our core mantra at HfS has always been to tackle the issues and complexities of global sourcing through the eyes of the buyer. One analyst who has spent nine years of his life doing just that, leading BPO governance for the $62 Billion healthcare payor, WellPoint, is our Governator himself, Tony Filippone. No single person in 2011 has written to – or talked with – more buyers about their governance challenges, and we are delighted to reveal to the world today his elevation to Executive Vice President of HfS’ research team.
We’ve teamed with our esteemed industry colleague Ed Caso, Managing Director and Senior Analyst for the IT/BPO Services Equity Research Team at Wells Fargo Securities, to review the world of outsourcing in 2011… and take a peek at what’s in store for 2012
TCS’ insurance services delivery subsidiary, Diligenta, has become wedded to in a 15-year, $2.2bn, 1900 employee life and pensions BPO engagement with the UK’s Friends Life. This represents the largest life and pensions BPO engagement by a considerable margin, eclipsing the $1.1bn Prudential contract awarded to Capita in 2007. We believe this move from TCS signals a sea-change in the industry with regards to the growth strategies and ambitions of the leading BPO providers.
In case you missed our “Kill the sales cheese” webcast, here’s the replay
So how can you make the sales process smell less like a Wisconsin dairy farm? Easy – simply join us for our next web event
HfS Research Fellow and Sourcing Change protagonist Deborah Kops investigates whether India has bowled an unplayable delivery to the rest of the world’s ambitious outsourcing businesses, or if there’s still a chance to nick it over the slips and get on the scoreboard… Let’s give Indian-legacy providers their due—they arguably initiated, then accelerated acceptance of [...]
InfosysBPO is now a major BPO contender in the global marketplace, having quietly gone about building its BPO business streams since its inception via the buyout of FAO provider Progeon, exactly five years’ ago and expects to reach the landmark of $500m in revenues this year. HfS has always been encouraged by the firm’s approach to developing both horizontal and vertical BPO services, and its focus on leveraging its IT heritage to augment its value proposition. Infy is by no means the biggest player in the BPO business nor does it want to be, but it has been able to establish itself as a smart and very respected player in the BPO business.
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.
So how do you take shared services leaders and blend their expertise with the outsourcing governors? How do you go from fragmented service delivery with multiple points of contact, to a global governance model with a rationalized and centralized administration of third-party service providers?
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