2017 has seen HR service providers rethinking their approach to tech development based on latest developments in the wider market. Firstly, developments in platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions have been core to driving what appears to be a seamless integration of talent technology/tools stacks. Secondly, software developers have changed their approach, focusing on user experience a[...]

  A key finding from NelsonHall’s recently published Next Generation Payroll Services market analysis is that buyers are now much more focused on automation and other forms of transformative technology that will drive digitalization of their HR operating models. In payroll, as elsewhere in HR, this increasingly takes the form of automating manual transactional tasks and[...]

  Recent NelsonHall interviews with the clients of the top ~20 global RPO vendors revealed that candidate communication was rated the most important vendor characteristic, with an importance score of 96%. However, the satisfaction score for candidate communication across all vendor clients was 82%, falling some way short of client expectations. Recognizing the importance of can[...]

  In something of a surprise move, Assystem Technologies (AT) recently announced its intention to acquire Germany-headquartered but LSE-listed SQS. AT is offering 825 pence per share, valuing SQS at £281m, and has secured (on an irrevocable basis) 31.4% of the shares of SQS from founders, executive management, and board members. This is a generous offer - 56% over SQS’ shar[...]

  David McIntire, IT Services Research Director, talks about NelsonHall's recently completed project looking at the attitudes and intentions of IT services buyers. Based on interviews with ~1,000 buyers across 17 industry sectors, the project analyses buyers' key business and IT priorities, digital initiatives, IT spending projections, and the characteristics they look for in&n[...]

  At the Intelligent Automation (IA) event in New Orleans, December 6-8, snow in the Big Easy air was not the only surprise. As expected, there was plenty of technological innovation on show in the exhibition hall, but the event also played host to some energized discussions on human-centric gains to be realized from RPA implementation – suggesting that we are indeed moving into [...]

  It has been 10 months since the announcement that Aon was divesting the businesses within its Outsourcing segment to private equity firm Blackstone, and 6 months since Alight was formally launched as a new company, which makes it an ideal time to review its progress and where it is headed in 2018. By all accounts, it was a smooth transition, with client retention remaining high.&n[...]

Atos has made an unsolicited offer for security, SIM cards, and payment cards technology vendor Gemalto. The offer is sizeable at €4.3bn (plus Gemalto’s net debt of €938m at end of H1 2017) financed in cash. It runs until December 15. Gemalto is another major acquisition for Atos: in its fiscal year ended June 30, 2017, Gemalto generated revenues of ~€3bn, with an EBITD[...]

  I recently attended HGS’ forum on the trends and challenges in CX for the European Consumer Packaged Goods (FMCG) market. In the company’s West London center, clients and prospects including Colgate, Danone, L’Oréal, Nespresso, Nomad Foods, and Mars discussed the ways customer service can drive ecommerce and augment sales. Digital as a force for disruption[...]

  In this article, I look at Mphasis’ Blockchain initiatives and at the segments they are focusing on for further development with their financial services clients. Mphasis began its Blockchain initiatives in 2016, initiating internal experiments and POCs to understand the technology and how it can be applied to business challenges. Mphasis is working with a global financial s[...]

  NelsonHall recently had a briefing with senior management at Getronics to discuss the merger of Connectis under the Getronics portfolio. In this short blog, I look at what the Connectis business brings to the wider Getronics group, the aspirational growth targets that have been set by new CEO Nana Baffour, and some of the key focus areas for Getronics moving forward. Baffour becam[...]

  In my last blog, I laid out 2018 predictions for two areas of talent management: recruiting and learning (see here). This blog looks at what to expect over the next year for payroll services and benefits administration. Trending topics in these areas over the last year included cloud, compliance, configuration, and consumerization. Payroll The payroll landscape has shifted away[...]

  NelsonHall is conducting an analysis of the needs of IT services clients to understand their IT and business priorities and how the growth of digital is impacting their business. In a survey of ~1,000 IT services clients across 17 industries and every region of the world, NelsonHall has identified distinct patterns of user intentions, both in terms of how clients plan to change their[...]

  Recently, I had a chance to visit Arvato’s U.K. and Ireland HQ in Slough, ~20 miles (30km) west of London, to witness its customer experience operations and how the company is applying digital channels and automation. A mix of public and private sector clients Arvato U.K. & Ireland provides customer experience services, finance and accounting (record to report, order [...]

  ER&D vendor Altran yesterday announced the acquisition of India-centric Silicon Valley-headquartered Aricent. Altran will be paying $2.0bn for Aricent through a capital increase of €0.75bn, the remaining ~€1bn in debt. In the year ending June 30, 2017, Aricent had revenues of $687m and an EBITDA margin of 27.9%. This is a significant acquisition for Altran, streng[...]

  NelsonHall recently attended NGA HR’s Analyst and Adviser Summit in Amsterdam. The event set out NGA’s new business strategy, which is to make HR work better through digital transformation. At its core, NGA HR wants to offer next-generation enterprise HR and payroll services/technology built around the user experience, by offering new consultancy services, introducing bot[...]

  As 2017 comes to a close, it’s an ideal time to reflect on key developments and innovations within HR services, and what to expect in 2018 by HR service line. This week, I’ll discuss specifics around two aspects of talent management (recruiting and learning), and next week I’ll explore payroll and benefits administration in more detail. Overall, the level of 2017[...]

  RPA software offers users the tantalizing possibility of being able to simply 'hit record and go' at the beginning of an enterprise automation initiative. But organizations that are seeing the greatest returns are slowing the initial process down, and framing their initiatives as they would treat any major technology migration. At UIPath’s recent User Summit in New Y[...]

This month, NelsonHall has attended the IBM Services analyst/adviser events in New York and Paris and we noted a distinct evolution in emphasis, with a much closer alignment between IBM's two services divisions. In recent years, IBM’s Global Business Services (GBS) and GTS businesses have been somewhat in the shadows of its Cognitive Solutions segment, although together they rep[...]

  NelsonHall recently hosted a webinar in which U.K.’s National Savings and Investments (NS&I) discussed how it has transformed its customer experience and operations delivery, and in so doing increased the value of assets managed by 245% and annual contact volumes by 660% while reducing delivery staff by 76% and cost of operations, calculated on a per assets under management[...]