Concentrix buys its way into the customer experience management Winner’s Circle

|

Concentrix’s investors, SYNNEX, were clearly so impressed with IBM’s performance in reaching the Winner’s Circle for customer experience management they wanted a piece of the action for themselves.

So what does this mean – wasn’t IBM such a stalwart call center BPO provider?  And wasn’t Concentrix a small player?

In short, IBM is exiting the customer services call center arena, which began with its purchase of Daksh in 2004.  It will focus on its core business of providing the enabling technology services and tools for customer experience management.  Concentrix increases its footprint massively and becomes one of the significant providers in the customer experience management industry.  The big question, now, is whether Concentix can maintain IBM’s vaunted position in the Winner’s Circle for customer experience management services.

IBM has stated that it wishes to focus on its higher-value BPO businesses, namely finance and accounting, supply chain management, procurement, HR, and mortgage services, with a specific focus on its analytics and Smarter Workforce initiatives.  During the analyst call, IBM stated it wants to move more into cloud-based service provision, where it is steadily spending its way through its $20 billion war chest.

HfS sees Concentrix quickly becoming the new “IBM of contact center services.” This deal represents a significant play for Concentrix, increasing its footprint from 5,000 to 45,000 in one fell swoop. Concentrix has strong customer lifecycle management capabilities, and, combined with IBM’s enterprise CEM clients, experienced delivery organization and leadership, strong account management team, and technology integration capabilities, Concentrix will be a significant company to watch in all things customer care.

The Bottom-line:  The end of an era for IBM and the dawn of a new one for Concentrix

So many of the leading BPOs started off in the call center business before evolving their offerings across the back office into HR, finance, supply chain and industry-specific areas.  IBM was no exception, making a concerted play with Daksh nine years ago.  But – today – the firm’s leadership clearly sees limited value (and profit margin) continuing to grow its footprints in CEM, despite an encouraging series of client wins and high-end customer marketing focus in recent years.  IBM wants to focus elsewhere… especially with its dedication to the cloud.

Our question, simply, is where IBM’s focus will be in another couple of years.  Call center alone is completely commoditized, and it’s understandable why IBM decided it was time to exit while retaining its technology enablement opportunities.  Will the same happen eventually with finance or HR?  Will IBM tire of processing paychecks and invoices, as it has done with taking customer service calls?  With significant client investments, such as Cemex (F&A) and Kraft (HR), it doesn’t appear that the firm will do a 180 anytime soon, but this decision to exit CEM does raise doubts as to the company’s long-term focus outside of technology services and software.

Posted in : Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Cloud Computing, CRM and Marketing, Finance and Accounting, HfSResearch.com Homepage, HR Outsourcing, IT Outsourcing / IT Services, smac-and-big-data

Comment9

9 comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. […] Concentrix buys its way into the customer experience management … http://www.horsesforsources.com/Concentrix's investors, SYNEXX, were clearly so impressed with IBM's performance to reach the Winners Circle for customer experience management, they wanted a piece of the action for themselves. […]

  2. Love your job
    But never love your company
    Because u never know
    When your company will stop
    Loving you…

    My dream was to work with a big company. I never
    thought that I would become a part of IBM
    Know after getting this news, I think my dream is over…
    Proud to be an IBMER

  3. Xy, I can completely understand your feelings, but dear always remember , company doesn’t makes people’s .. It’s people’s who makes companies like ibm ..
    Definitely cocentrix will get the name soon..
    Had good memories with IBM ..but life is all about moving forward
    Don’t know about u but I’m happy and proud that I have started my career with company ..
    Doesn’t matter .. Ibm has sold us out but still I have ibm in heart..

  4. Very well said my dear friend Kuldeep. I’m too proud to be an IBMer! I’m sure Concentrix will also become like IBM but yet again, we had given out heart to IBM and IBM to us, it’s quite obvious that we’ll not feel good for this change.

    As you said, like is all about moving forward! Let’s move forward making Concentrix as a Brand like IBM or better.

    @XY: You’re too practical man. Not done!

  5. […] Concentrix buys its way into the customer experience management … http://www.horsesforsources.com/Concentrix's investors, SYNEXX, were clearly so impressed with IBM's performance to reach the Winners Circle for customer experience management, they wanted a piece of the action for themselves. […]

  6. […] you thought IBM’s Global Business Services was cratering into an As-a-Sleep state, having sold-off its call center business exactly two years’ ago, Big Blue’s next-gen services star is […]

  7. […] Concentrix buys its way into the customer experience management Winner’s Circle – Concentrix’s investors, SYNEXX, were clearly so impressed with IBM’s performance to reach the Winner’s Circle for customer experience management … quickly becoming the new “IBM of contact center services”. This deal represents a significant … […]

Continue Reading