There is an abundance of IoT platforms on the market. Many technology firms (e.g. IBM Software, AWS, PTC/Thingworx, Microsoft), major manufacturing firms (GE, Siemens, ABB, Bosch, Schneider Electric) and some large IT services vendors (e.g. Accenture, TCS, and Atos via Worldline) have invested in their own IoT platform products. History is repeating itself, as the build or buy que[...]

  One of the things that was very clear from my visit to the UNLEASH HR industry event in London last week was that virtual reality and other interactive tech has arrived in the talent acquisition space in a big way. Here I look specifically at examples of how VR and gamification are having an impact on the candidate assessment process. Candidate assessment is one of the hot talent [...]

  At ADP’s annual Meeting of the Minds client event this past week, what caught my attention most were the initiatives geared towards improving employee engagement/satisfaction and retention. Clearly, ADP has identified these areas as key, with its own research institute finding that ~2/3 of all turnover is voluntary – i.e. employees are leaving because they have not been g[...]

  Today, Redwood announced a new pricing model for its RPA software in which users pay only for units of work completed, and on a cost basis equivalent to efficient human work on the same task. As a result, if a Redwood robot sends an email, or retrieves specific data, or performs reconciliation work, the organization is charged on completion for specific amounts relevant to the parall[...]

  Last week Aegis Global and StarTek announced the creation of a combined company. The merger will see Aegis majority owner PE Capital Square Partners swap shares with the NYSE listed StarTek, to reach a ~55% stake in the merged company. The deal is expected to close by Q3 2018. Here I look at the implications of the merger. Return to the U.S. for Aegis For Aegis, the merger fol[...]

  We were recently briefed by Accenture on the creation of Industry X.0 within its Accenture Digital organization. The discussion far exceeded the scope we were expecting of Industrial IoT, and it signaled Accenture’s expansion in Engineering and R&D discussions (ER&D), with bold ambitions not just from a product design perspective, but also from a manufacturing and produ[...]

NelsonHall recently published its Next Generation RPO market analysis and NEAT vendor assessment, as part of which we interviewed the clients of 20 RPO vendors across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific to ascertain their expectations and satisfaction levels across a range of >40 recruitment service criteria. Here I look at how working with candidates has emerged as the top area for impr[...]

  NelsonHall recently visited WNS’ Analytics CoE in Bangalore. Research & analytics (R&A) services are key activities for WNS, as a first point of entry into new clients, and also as a higher margin activity in existing accounts. Readers of NelsonHall’s Quarterly Updates on WNS will be aware that WNS is looking to increase the level of annuity revenues from analytic[...]

  I am currently working on a global market assessment of digital banking services, and my interviews with banks and service providers alike are showing that technology implementation is less of a concern than how digital services will change the way customers and banks interact. As customer/bank interactions change, the industry’s competitive forces will change, and this will ev[...]

  NelsonHall’s most recent Next Generation Payroll Services market analysis reveals that payroll service buyers are focused on access to transformation-enabling technology. The use of automation has become commonplace, with payroll vendors leveraging RPA, AI, and machine learning capabilities to eliminate manual effort in the payroll process. And payroll service providers are inv[...]

  This morning, UiPath announced that the company will be receiving $153m in Series B funding from a consortium including the company’s existing investors, with two new names involved – Kleiner Perkins and Capital G, the late-stage growth venture capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc. The latter is of note as this arm of Google focuses on profit-centric investment rather[...]

  Most organizations have probably struggled to find talent at some point, with some roles being particularly problematic to fill; cybersecurity being one recent example. Some organizations have applied desperate approaches to get hold of scarce talent, including hiking up new starter salaries (often at the detriment of those already in the wider team/breaching equal pay legislation), [...]

  With every new software release from RPA sector leaders, there is always much to be excited about as vendors continue to push the technological boundaries of workplace automation. Whether those new capabilities focus on cognition, or security, or scalability, the technology available to us continues to be a source of inspiration and innovative thinking in how those new capabilities c[...]

In our latest CX services research in collaboration with NASSCOM, we have mapped how Indian CX services channel mix will change by 2020, as shown in the following infographic.  NelsonHall’s Customer Experience Services program delivers the most comprehensive insight for buyers and providers of CX services. For more information, contact Guy Saunders.[...]

  As a follow-up to our research project focused on SAP HANA and S/4HANA services that was completed last fall, NelsonHall recently had a briefing with Infosys to take an in-depth look at components of their migration toolset and understand how it is automating the activities of existing SAP clients migrating to HANA or S/4HANA. SAP is focused on speed and agility in HANA and S/4HAN[...]

In our latest CX services research in collaboration with NASSCOM, we identified the top 3 mechanisms for improving key CX metrics: Net Promoter Score, First Call Resolution, Conversion, and Turn-Around Time & Average Handling Time, as shown in the following infographic.  NelsonHall’s Customer Experience Services program delivers the most comprehensive insight f[...]

In our latest CX services research in collaboration with NASSCOM, we identified the 9 key stages of adoption for next generation customer service, as shown in the following infographic.  Insights into the differences across client industries and the best practices applied by vendors are available in NelsonHall’s Customer Experience Services program. For more information, contact [...]

  We continue to assess the impact of AI on software testing services in its various forms (ML, NLP, deep learning), talking to the major suppliers in the industry. Vendors have been accelerating their investment in AI technologies to make sense of the wealth of data available in defect management tools, production logs, and ITSM software tools, creating use cases – mostly around[...]

  Last week I attended ADP’s 14th annual ReThink multi-national client event in Monte Carlo, where the theme was ‘Transform the Way the World Works’. The lineup of guest speakers included journalist and media figure Tina Brown, who shared themes from Davos (including the importance of restoring trust and gender equality in the workplace), former British Prime Minister[...]

  T-Systems recently held an analyst event which specifically covered the IoT capabilities of parent company Deutsche Telekom AG Group (DTAG) and its own Digital Division. Here are the key takeaways. IoT Connectivity Services IoT is clearly important for DTAG and for T-Systems for connectivity reasons: NelsonHall estimates that most of its IoT revenues come from traditional SIM c[...]