NelsonHall’s recently published global BPS market forecast reveals that the overall HR services market will grow at 5.8% in 2018. Here I look at how each of the key HRS sub-service lines have performed in H1 2018. In order of number of contracts announced (highest to lowest), this covers Benefits Administration, Multi-Process HRS, Learning, Payroll, and Recruitment. I also prov[...]

  Currently, the level of automation in the front-office is lower than it is for middle and back-office processes, with reasons including the lower cost of handling customer-facing processes, established offshore models for labor arbitrage, and lack of client interest. However, the upside of this relatively slow uptake is that automation can now be applied to multiple areas of CX, incl[...]

This week started with the announcement by Atos of its intended acquisition of Syntel for $41 a share, a total consideration of around $3.57bn including Syntel’s net debt of $201m, in an all-cash deal. Syntel being acquired is not a total surprise: the company has faced some challenges recently, and in the previous four weeks its share price had been going up strongly (from $31.61 a s[...]

  In the past five years, NelsonHall has observed software testing services vendors adapting their portfolio around digital testing, focusing initially on agile and DevOps, and with a sense of urgency given the accelerating adoption of agile development methodologies. The transformation towards DevOps/continuous testing is ongoing, with most vendors now having their DevOps testing buil[...]

  NelsonHall recently attended Atos’ Technology Day in Paris, where we heard updates on its digital technology initiatives, including key partnerships with Siemens and Google, and new AI product developments. Extending partnership with Siemens Atos gave an update on its ongoing investment with Siemens, a seven-year-old partnership that was recently extended to 2020 wit[...]

  David McIntire, IT Services Research Director, talks about NelsonHall's recently completed market analysis project on Cloud Advisory, Assessment, and Migration Services. In this vlog, he touches on the changing nature and scope of large enterprise cloud adoption, market size and growth, and where IT services vendors are focusing their investments.[...]

  Last week, I visited the recruitment and talent management vendor Alexander Mann Solutions’ Global Client Service Center (GCSC) in Cleveland. Here I take a quick look at the growth of the operation and at recent initiatives. Cleveland as a location Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS) has seven GCSCs, the fourth of which opened in Cleveland in September 2012 to support AMS&rsqu[...]

With its Q2 results yesterday, SYNNEX, the parent company of Concentrix, announced its intention to acquire Convergys, the second largest CX services provider and a public company with ~$2.8bn annual revenues. SYNNEX will pay ~ $2.43bn (includes $26.50 per share and repayment of $315m net debt). The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2018. The largest CX Services provider in Nor[...]

  Mike Smart with a quick report from DXC's 'Delivering on Digital 2018' client event.[...]

  I recently attended the Avaloq Community Conference in Zurich, where the key themes were cloud delivery, operations ecosystem, open banking platforms, and combined ITS/BPS engagements. Here I take a quick look at Avaloq’s strategy in each of these areas. Cloud delivery Avaloq recently announced a partnership with IBM for a global private cloud delivery capability for cust[...]

  I recently attended Neeyamo’s analyst event in Atlanta, where I discussed the company’s cloud transformation practice with its leaders, and specifically the announcement of UnBox HR for SuccessFactors. Over the past 10 years, Neeyamo has developed its HR offering with the goal of “addressing the white spaces” in HR technology and services and focusing [...]

  At its recent Talent Summit, PeopleScout announced the expansion of its service centers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia Pacific, plus the acquisition of TMP Holdings, a provider of employer branding and RPO services operating in the U.K. via Yocto, the RPO division of TMP Worldwide. Already the largest RPO provider in terms of number of hires (~300k annually) and the largest[...]

    By Dominique Raviart & Rachael Stormonth Deutsche Telekom’s Capital Market Day 2018 included a session in which the new CEO of T-Systems Adel Al-Saleh explained how he intends to turn around the Systems Solutions market unit (T-Systems). Back to onshore vendor profitability standards by 2021 Al-Saleh’s message to investors is clear: the priority is [...]

  John Laherty, Senior Analyst with NelsonHall’s IT Services practice, talks about his recently completed global research project on ‘Cognitive IT Infrastructure Management’, which covers latest developments in next-generation IT infrastructure and workplace services, including the use of AI, client requirements, and vendor selection criteria.     [...]

  Tech Mahindra recently briefed NelsonHall on its new model-based testing (MBT) offering, Automated Test Assurance (ATA). To date, enterprises have shown interest in MBT technology, but take up has been low, partly because they had already invested in creating test cases and test scripts and were reluctant to make a further investment in creating a new a set of process models/diagrams[...]

  Last week, I attended and presented at Futurestep’s second annual client event, themed Talent Disruption: What’s Next? with clients attending from Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Below is a round-up of the event’s main talking points. Key talent acquisition & retention challenges The following summarizes some of the key challenges presented by Futu[...]

  After several months of media speculation, Teleperformance officially announced yesterday an agreement to acquire Intelenet Global Services from the private equity Blackstone for a total consideration of $1bn. Boost for Indian market The deal will expand Teleperformance’s topline growth and have a positive impact of around +10% on the company’s earnings per share in[...]

  I recently attended IPsoft’s Digital Workforce Summit in New York City, an intriguing event that in some ways represented a microcosm of the challenges clients are experiencing in moving from RPA to cognitive automation. The AI challenge Chetan Dube loomed large over proceedings. IPsoft’s president and CEO was onstage more than is common at events of this type, chai[...]

  Pete Tiliakos reports from Cornerstone Convergence 2018 on topics including the talent management company’s strategy, latest product developments, and extreme focus on CX.[...]

  I recently attended the Capgemini Financial Services Industry Conference in London, also meeting up with several banks to learn more about where they are spending their digital services money, what they are looking for from digital projects, and where the market is headed. Bank demand for digital services has grown and matured over the past few years. In 2015 and 2016, IT services[...]