Following several years of growth, the HR outsourcing market continues to ride the crest of the wave, and is gearing up for a prosperous 2017 following investments across all service lines. We will shortly be publishing an in-depth blog on HRO predictions for 2017, but first I take a quick look at what happened in 2016 to lay the foundations for things to come, specifically in payroll services[...]

In this, the first of three blogs on the current benefits administration outsourcing market, I take a brief look at what’s been happening in H1 2016. Benefits administration accounted for ~40% of HRO contract activity in the first half of 2016, with a heavy emphasis on renewals and contract extensions. Approximately 90% of contracts were from private sector organizations, with a stron[...]

  Smart Cities is one of the fastest growing segments within the burgeoning internet of things (IoT) outsourcing market. Currently worth just ~$140m, NelsonHall forecasts the global market for Smart Cities IoT outsourcing to grow by 75% CAGR over the next five years, taking it to ~$2.15bn by 2020. IoT is being applied in commercial buildings and homes, and in urban infrastructures s[...]

Over the last few years, the global benefits market has continued to evolve as vendors have launched offerings to address the needs of multinationals. Essentially, there have been two main approaches: Providing global brokerage and consulting services Providing a global technology offering with optional local administration services. The global brokerage and consulting model has been [...]

In December 2015, we published two blogs about M&A activity in the IT services industry in 2015 (here are the links for Part 1 and Part 2). This blog examines M&A activity in IT services in Q1 2016 and sets our expectations for the rest of this year. In short, 2016 started off with a bang, with two very large IT services acquisitions announced in the first [...]

When you imagine how manufacturing companies might be making use of the Internet of Things (IoT), chances are the first image that comes to mind is of factory robots. These and SCADA systems have been providing remote monitoring and management systems for many years, well before the term IoT was coined. And, as you’d expect, manufacturers are integrating IoT-based solutions into their M2M sy[...]

Workday’s latest announcement of its expanded partnership with ADP focuses on a combination of technology and service; MNCs on Workday can now include ADP’s global payroll offering within one user experience. Through the partnership: MNCs can use ADP’s global payroll functionality from within Workday's user interface in one process for managing their glob[...]

IT security has never been more important, with levels of cybercrime continuing to climb and the adoption of cloud, mobile and IoT technologies increasing organizations’ ‘attack surface area’.  With organizations gathering more data than ever via digitization and big data, and attackers finding ever more sophisticated ways of targeting them, both the depth and breadth of att[...]

Though we’re only just into fall, the nature of activity in the Benefits Administration market in 2015 provides important pointers to key strategic focus areas in 2016. In the U.S., the emphasis will continue around Health & Welfare (H&W) services, stemming from the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2015, tier two H&W specialists such as Businessolver and TASC launched ACA reporti[...]

The recent merger of Willis Group and Towers Watson has created a global advisory and brokerage firm valued at $18bn. The deal was met with raised eyebrows by several financial analysts, who argued that Towers Watson shareholders were being short-changed in a deal with significant strategic risks, all for the benefit of revenue synergies and the tax savings that will result from moving its tax hea[...]

Since my September 2014 blog, Wellness Outsourcing on the Rise, there have been some key developments in employee wellness programs, along with new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance that enables employers to offer incentives to wellness participants of up to 30% of their insurance premium. With employees keenly aware of the annual rise in their out-of-pocket health insuran[...]

It seems like yesterday that the concept of a private health insurance exchange was novel: it’s hard to believe that active exchanges have been available from benefits consultancies for three years, and that retiree exchanges are nearly 11 years old. Here’s a quick update and review of how the private exchange landscape has changed in this short time. Active exchanges are mu[...]

Barely two months into the year and there has been lots of activity across the benefits administration market, including new contracts, contract expansions, and M&A activity.  Contracts have come out of the U.S. and Europe, including the U.K. and the Netherlands. U.S. activity has come from both the private and public sectors, with deals ranging from as few as 800 employees to mor[...]

By Amy Gurchensky, Liz Rennie and Gary Bragar With total HRO service growth in the high single digits in 2014, service providers are growing both organically and inorganically to meet clients’ needs. The primary reasons for M&A and partnerships across HRO service lines were to enhance service delivery capability (60%) and support geographic expansion (40%). Here we take a closer look [...]

By Amy Gurchensky, Liz Rennie, Gary Bragar 2014 was a busy year for HRO with ~60 partnerships, mergers and acquisitions combined. We now take a look at what to expect in 2015 and beyond for each HRO service line, including service offerings, market developments, and growth. MPHRO driven by continued shift to cloud-based platforms The Multi-Process HRO (MPHRO) market will grow with a mi[...]

The HRO market is always buzzing with activity. With the first half of the year over, it’s a good time to examine the key trends by service area. Benefits Administration: Benefits administration was a hotbed of activity in H1!  Contracts were awarded across various service lines in the U.S. as well as in the U.K. There was a solid stream of pensions and retirement administration c[...]

NelsonHall’s annual HRO Market Forecast, 2014-2018, provides a forecast for the global HR BPO market by service line and geography. It includes:  The HR BPO market size for 2013 and the forecast through 2014 to 2018 The HR BPO market size and forecast for North America, specifically covering the U.S. and Canada; EMEA including U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Nordics &[...]

Per NelsonHall’s HR Outsourcing Confidence Index (HROCI), around one third of HRO contracts signed in Q4 2013 were for services in multiple countries. There were multi-country deal signings across all HRO service lines, the highest number being in RPO and payroll. RPO In 2013 nearly one third of all deal signings were multi-country, up from a quarter in 2010. M[...]

Following a flurry of benefits administration activity in H2 2013 that focused on contract awards for corporate health exchanges for active employees, the first quarter of the year seemed to be just as busy for providers in both the U.S. and U.K. This is a strong stark contrast to H2 2013, when much of the activity in Q1 was focused on DC administration. Private sector activity outpaced pu[...]

Per NelsonHall’s blog of December 12, 2013 was a healthy year for HRO, with overall contract activity up ~37%. We now take a look at what we can expect in 2014 by HRO service line. MPHRO We predict the Global MPHRO market will grow at mid-single digits CAAGR through 2017 The Shared Service Transformation segment will continue to grow mainly as a result of contract expansions and ren[...]