Why we’ve formed an analyst organization

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Analyst Doggy

Ready for H Day

So H-Day has arrived, and we can finally reveal what it actually means.  It’s the day Horses for Sources became more than a blog… today it becomes an advisory analyst organization focused exclusively on researching global outsourcing strategy. 

So why on earth do this?

A natural and logical progression.  Simply put, it’s a natural progression for Horses.  Having developed such an effective community for collecting so many opinions, having such strong outreach to all the key stakeholders in the outsourcing business (buyers, vendors, intermediaries, investors, academics etc), leveraging the three-year development of Horses as the platform for a new research organization is the logical next-step. 

The outsourcing buyer needs a pure analyst organization.  While there’s tons of great content floating around out there, there really isn’t one entity that has brought together researchers and real practitioners, with real experience, to focus purely on researching BPO and global sourcing as a pure analyst organization, that doesn’t broker deals or write vendor white papers.  Some of the sourcing advisors deliver excellent thought-leadership, and they deserve credit for driving the sourcing industry over the last few years.  The large analyst shops have stuck to their IT knitting and have largely overlooked BPO – they service IT vendors and IT users.  Investing heavily in sales and research to service finance, HR, procurement and other operations professionals desperate to learn more about outsourcing (not solely IT), is not something any of the large traditional analyst firms have done.  You can read, in detail, the challenges and opportunies we face over at SageCircle

The Horses won’t change, we just expanded

Firstly, the blog remains, and will have even more content and contribution.  We’ve exported all the content from “fersht.typepad.com” over to this new site < www.horsesforsources.com > and the blog will continue as a front-end to the analyst organization.  We are producing a series of premium content reports that you will need to be a client to access, but the blog will continue to deliver opinion, and discuss many of the key findings from our research.  I am encouraging our analyst team to set up their own personal blogs in time (if they want to), and several of them will be sharing snippets of their research on the Horses.  And we’ll continue to invite industry guests to be interviewed and submit articles.

A big fat personal thank you

Bottom-line, this wouldn’t have been possible without the ongoing support and participation of so many of you over the last three years.  I am amazed at the sheer quantity of email and comments I get on a daily basis from people all over the world who visit this thing.  All I ask is that you continue to lend your opinion, respond to our surveys, and continue to pass on the good word.  End of the day, I choose research because I enjoy learning how we can constantly get better at being global, savvy organizations.  I do not profess to know how the world will look in 3 years’ time, but if we all continue to debate the issues, the future will gradually unravel.

Posted in : Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Cloud Computing, IT Outsourcing / IT Services, Outsourcing Advisors, Sourcing Best Practises

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  1. Best wishes on setting up a very much needed research firm, Phil! We’ll definitely be calling on you soon…

    James

  2. This is fantastic news! All the very best on your new venture to Phil and the Horses team,

    Andy Powell

  3. Super new website and a super looking new firm! Just remember who got you here when your a millionnaire, Mr F -:)

  4. Phil,

    Best of luck to you on this new adventure – we’ll certainly come knocking for some research soon,

    Amanda

  5. So that’s what “H Day” was all about 🙂

    Good luck – you’ll all do very well, and sure,

    Paul

  6. Good luck to you, Phil. You deserve to do well with this – your quality is evident for all to see,

    Brian

  7. Phil and team –

    It’s so refreshing to have a new analyst show in town to cover outsourcing and services. None of the analyst firms cover BPO in depth, so we’re delighted to have the Horses take the mantle,

    JB.

  8. This is such exciting news for the analyst industry, for social media and for Phil’s new team! Good luck to all of you – we need you 🙂

    p.s. great new website too

  9. Phil –

    This is such good news – and refreshing to have your analyst voice tied to your own brand – and with a team too!

    Eric

  10. congratulations, phil … great step forward -fm a canter to a full gallop, & a whole stable along too …wonderful …. best wishes to the start-up team …cheers…

  11. Congrats, Phil (and team)! I could not be more thrilled for you and for the industry. I love it when an entrepreneur does what he was born to do! Do me a favor and stay provocative and edgy–the value of the analysis, in my view, is only realized when there is an informed interpreation–even when that interpretation isn’t popular. Can’t wait to see where Horses goes from here. I am in India as I write and will start spreading the word!

  12. Phil and team

    This is just what the industry needs! Can’t wait to see the research you guys will be writing…

    Gaurav

  13. Phil and team

    This is just what the industry needs! Can’t wait to see the research you guys will be writing…

    Gaurav

  14. Congratulations Phil (and your team)!

    Thats what I would call ‘open source analyst firm’ 🙂

    Analyst industry has remained way too closed (and biased) for my liking. With a wonderful blog (loved and contributed to by more than a thousand practicing professionals) becoming an analyst firm is what partly tells how open and collaborative a quality analyst firm really needs to be. I am very happy to see the way Horses has transitioned from a blog to an analyst firm! You’ve set an example many entrepreneurs from all sorts of fields will follow.

    You have a long way to go!

    Best Regards,
    Ali

  15. Phil,
    Simply put… it’s about time and all the best. I believe the sentiments reflect the uneasy tone of industry in continuing to accept worn out analytics that reflect only a piece of the sourcing trends. Hope to continue to interact with you as we continue our commitment to service provider development.

    – Jerry

  16. Phil, Excellent news and way too logical for you! 🙂
    Wish you much success and continuing opportunities to present your unique viewpoint on global sourcing.

  17. Best wishes Phil for a successful future.

    Must admit I was disappointed when you joined Cognizant. Glad to know that was a temporary lapse.

    – Kishore Kumar

  18. Congratulations Phil…this is great news. You’re an absolute natural at challenging the status quo…your mails are the ones I don’t delete! Thank you for the great reads, and I look forward to working with you at some point. Remember me if you ever need any data on South Africa.

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