Month: January 2011

  • Expecting more from Procurement BPO? SpendMatters and HfS investigate

    January 13, 2011 |

    The struggle with procurement BPO has typically been the belief that either moving labor from higher to lower cost regions, or re-badging employees from corporate to a BPO provider, would alone be enough to achieve results. To tackle the issue we teamed up with HfS Expert Contributor, Jason Busch of SpendMatters fame. Jason also assumes the role of senior advisor for the coveted HfS Single malt Foundation, where he has excelled in his duties.Read More

  • Farewell to Joe Vales, a sourcing legend

    January 12, 2011 |

    We were very saddened to learn that Joe Vales passed away this morningRead More

  • 2011: The Year your provider vies to be your service integrator. Will you play ball?

    January 12, 2011 |

    Europe’s Logica begins its New Year by inking an intriguing partnership with Microsoft. What, at first glance, looks like a rather mundane partnership really signals something else: That its going to be the business driving Cloud—Logica gets this and so does Microsoft. And each needs the other.Read More

  • Build it, then market it… and then they may come

    January 12, 2011 |

    “Build it and they will come” is not a viable approach to achieve shared services scale in most organizations. Business line stakeholders may not perceive a burning platform for change, fear loss of control, believe that their back offices are too integral to the creation of their profit margin, have other options such as outsourcing on their own, or remember a similar initiative way back when that, in their minds, was a dismal failure. Think of selling shared services as getting friends to eat sushi...Read More

  • iGate swallows larger Patni—does it matter?

    January 10, 2011 |

    As far as mergers go, this is a fairly synergistic one: a high-growth, innovative company acquires a bigger but staid, stuck competitorRead More

  • TPI + Compass: a new direction for outsourcing advisors, or more of the same?

    January 08, 2011 |

    With the increased focus on outsourcing advisory services from management consultants such as Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, the souped-up TPI/Compass creates a super-boutique that can compete effectively in the market for the complex enterprise engagements that require a lot of hourly-billable heavy-lifting. There’s little doubt this merger helps bolster TPI’s credentials as a serious player, now the big boys fancy their piece of the action. However, when we look at the current enterprise needs for outsourcing support, we see a dire need for enterprises to receive a mixture of consulting advice and data, served up in a less expensive, easier-to-digest format, than the $500-per-hour model.Read More

  • Are BPO newcomers running out of gas?

    January 05, 2011 |

    The very latest market picture of Finance & Accounting BPO sends us one very clear message: the market remains dominated by a small handful of established service providers, while the market entrants of recent years have struggled to make a major impact.Read More

  • Happy Sourcing Change year: first fix what is inexcusable and downright awful

    January 02, 2011 |

    HfS are forecasting a meteorologist’s dream for the sourcing industry— high pressure combinations of Cowboys and Indians, a blizzard of new deals, and very Cloud-y days. In the face of these anticipated patterns, how should buyers prepare for the stormy weather that ultimately impacts results for their organizations? Perhaps it’s time to prepare for the change sourcing represents a bit differently. Here are our top five recommendations for staying warm and dry in 2011Read More