The inevitable automation of the contact center role has become such as surefire prediction in mass media, by CEOs, and even politicians, that a more realistic view of the industry may seem impossible. In this blog, I look at Webhelp’s assessment of the CX automation landscape and the realistic challenges and opportunities in the market. Customer-facing automation requires s[...]

Infosys is undergoing an internal transformation to become what it calls a Live Enterprise with the objective of accelerating its service delivery and adaptability to changing client needs. The core of Live Enterprise entails the expanded use of data and automation to support an evolving workforce. Infosys has introduced a number of tools and accelerators to orchestrate its services and facili[...]

  NelsonHall has just launched an industry-first evaluation of Intelligent Automation (IA) platforms, including platforms from Antworks, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Datamatics, IPsoft, Jacada, Kofax, Kryon, Redwood, Softomotive, and UiPath. As RPA and artificial intelligence converge to address more sophisticated use cases, we at NelsonHall feel it is now time for an [...]

  This past week the payroll services market experienced yet another consolidation of major vendors, with Alight Solutions (‘Alight’) announcing its intent to acquire multi-country payroll specialist NGA HR. Although the deal terms were not disclosed, once approved (expected by Q4, possibly Q1 2020 at the latest), the acquisition will bring together two leading HR BPaaS [...]

  Improving efficiency and reducing manual processing of trade finance services has been a difficult challenge for over a century. However, the industry is on the cusp of a transformation which promises to standardize and automate this highly idiosyncratic, manual ecosystem. This blog identifies some of the key trends in trade finance transformation and how one vendor, Capgemini, is su[...]

  Deutsche Telekom (DTAG) recently announced it is moving T-Systems’ communication services activities with enterprise clients (TC division) and Government clients (Classified division) to Telekom Germany. Accordingly, T Systems’ TC and Classified divisions will be folded into Telekom Germany’s B2B Communications division that currently services small businesses and m[...]

  A common theme in the upcoming NelsonHall CX Services in Retail & CPG report is the increasing need by sector clients to generate and operationalize insights from their customers. Technology has shifted the power to consumers who are less loyal to brands and change their buying behavior more frequently, creating micro-segments. However, while having a wealth of data such as cu[...]

  NelsonHall has commented several times about the role of platforms in quality assurance (QA) and how these are playing a central role in functional testing in the world of agile methodologies and continuous testing. Platforms take a best-of-breed approach to software components and rely, by default, on open source software, sometimes including expert functionality from COTS. In th[...]

  Tieto recently announced its intention to acquire EVRY. The company is offering 0.12 Tieto share and NOK 5.28 in cash per EVRY share. EVRY shareholders will receive €0.2bn in cash and 37.5% of Tieto’s capital, valuing EVRY to ~€1.4bn ($1.6bn). Also, Tieto is taking over the net debt of EVRY (NOK 6bn/$0.7bn). The acquisition will give birth to the largest Nordics-he[...]

  The BFSI industries are increasingly looking to intelligent automation (IA) to address key challenges in their business. A recent NelsonHall survey of 50 BFSI executives found that they perceive that IA is able to replace manual processing and human decision-making, allowing the bank’s operations to decouple processing volumes from headcount. Key benefits respondents expect to [...]

  In the world of testing services, crowdtesting stands out. While efforts towards automation are accelerating in testing services/quality assurance (QA), the perception that crowdtesting is labor intensive and relies on communities of tens of thousands of testers seems at odds with this. This perception is no longer valid: the crowdtesting industry has changed. Managing crowdtestin[...]

  I recently attended Korn Ferry’s RPO Client Advisory Forum, which was all about talent management. The theme was ‘unplugged’ and featured frank discussions about the RPO industry, including the challenges faced by the clients and service providers who attended from every region. Beyond RPO, Korn Ferry offers many complementary talent management services, includin[...]

  Blockchain has been a focus of technologists, VCs, and media pundits for several years now. However, to date, operational deployment remains minimal. Of all enterprises already working with blockchain, only a few percent have a scale operational deployment. Blockchain has seen three stages in its short history: Lab testing of the technology: 2014 to 2016. Key events include the[...]

  We recently talked to DXC Technology’s Analytics business line about its work with German premium car OEM BMW, its positioning in autonomous vehicles, and its differentiation strategy. BMW recently provided some light on the dynamics behind its Vision iNEXT autonomous car due to launch in late 2021. Vision iNEXT, BMW’s first autonomous vehicle, will offer Level 3 auton[...]

  This week Capgemini announced its intention to acquire Altran in an all-cash transaction of €14 per share. The €5.0bn transaction, which includes €3.6bn in cash and Altran’s net debt of €1.4bn, provides a 30% premium over the last month. Capgemini has secured the 11% stake from Apax Partners and expects to close the acquisition by the end of 2019. The acq[...]

  Crowdsourcing and different types of freelanced customer support models pre-date the current household names using these models in leisure and travel, personal transportation, and delivery services. Many of these early attempts died out because of poor business models, or remain effective today but in niche markets (e.g. gaming) or on a small scale (e.g. U.K. mobile network, giffgaff[...]

  NelsonHall has recently completed compiling and analyzing data from a survey of over 1k IT services buyers globally. This research is being published in a series of sector reports (all are available to subscribers here), spanning the 18 sectors analyzed, with geographic breakdowns incorporated within each. While completing these individual reports we noted several themes that were[...]

  Last week I attended PeopleScout’s annual client NEXT Talent Summit 2019. In the keynote address, President Taryn Owen noted that this event marked one year since its acquisition of TMP to strengthen its global RPO and talent advisory capabilities. TMP, which operated in the U.K. under the brand name TMP Worldwide, provides employer branding, recruitment marketing, and RPO serv[...]

  NelsonHall recently completed an in-depth analysis of advanced digital workplace services (DWS). This blog looks at some of the key findings from this research, in which we spoke both to leading IT services vendors and clients of their services. Changing workforce expectations are driving DWS transformation Organizations are deploying digital workplace services to improve produ[...]

  Dozens of influencers recently attended the WNS U.S. Influencer Day in New Orleans, where the theme was 'Co-create to Outperform’. Through general overviews of its approaches and through client presentations, the company provided insight into its recent success and its future plans. The backdrop for the conference was cheery, buoyed by 7% annualized growth over the prior fi[...]