Outsourcing News

Right on cue with our discussion earlier this week, the “void” just got bigger as software analyst legend, Bruce Richardson, announced his departure from the analyst community to take on the role of Chief Strategy Officer at software giant Infor. Known in the industry as “Mr AMR”, Bruce has entertained us for years with his famous “First Thing Monday” newsletter and blog. I, personally, have Bruce to thank for bringing me back to the analyst fold with AMR in 2007, and being a guide and mentor to myself and many other analysts during his role as Chief Research Officer. Like…

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Adieu to a research legend

So the “great analyst roll-up” is in full swing, with Gartner’s announcement today to acquire another competitor, this time the Burton Group, for 56 big ones. This comes hot on the heels of my former firm, AMR Research, also being acquired by Gartner. I won’t go into the details of the mechanics of these mergers, as you can read exhaustive commentary, debate and analysis over at Carter Lusher’s blog. However, I did want to discuss what this means to our sourcing industry. Limited choice for alternative opinions

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The great analyst roll-up is on… who’ll step into the void?

And now we can finally put that year to bed, surely we can look forward to a more normal 2010. Of course we can Here are some of the more serious moods and moments from a rather epic year in our industry…in chronologial order: Satyam: It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten Think before you fire: The cost of replacing IT talent Forget 2006, let’s go back to ’96 Global business on a Knife-edge: Bonuses, H-1Bs and Naïve Protectionism Where should outsourcing vendors invest their marketing dollars in this climate? Datamonitor…

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…and the more serious moments of ’09

And on a less serious note, here’s the more amusing side to 2009… Meaningful use of Twitter discovered Obama to ban offshore outsourcing India shows us how to innovate Swine Flu can impact your service levels Proof that you can stabilize your operations eventually… It’s all about hitting the ground running after you sign the contract Remote Infrastructure Management anyone? Getting to a point where you can lay in one place and not have to do anything ever… Being middle-seated… all the way to Orlando Payback can be sweet…

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The best of Horses in ’09… the funnies

Most people I speak to can’t wait for 2009 to be put to bed. People suddenly awoke to the realization that everything they have grafted so hard to achieve in their lives could be seized from them, because their economy had failed them. Like everything else in this world, we always wait until its too late before taking drastic action, and 2009 epitomized this reactionary mindset that dominates so much of our society. However, I did want to sign off from 2009 with a dose of realism… fancy phrases such as “New Normal”, or “Preparing for the Recovery” only wash…

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2009 – the year of papering over cracks

If there was a Nobel Prize for industry analysts, this guy walks away with it – he’s super cool, talks a good game, and has done very little beyond, well, be super-cool and super-smart… and with a French accent to boot. So today, I thought we’d give IDC’s Sebastien Ruest the chance to prove there’s a bit more substance behind the snowboarding, hockey-stick-wielding playboy façade Sebastien’s proving IDC’s nearshore model by leading it’s global services research from Canada, and developing a solid reputation in the industry as one of the industry analysts who “gets it”. So I thought it…

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Getting a bit of Ruest (Part I)

Earlier today Apple activated a new product page layout which you can check on iTunes. As you can see on the screenshot, the new pages look much nicer. Instead of being text-heavy Apple is focusing users attention on screenshots of an iPhone application as well as additional information such as reviews. Instead of just one app screenshot being shown, there are now 3. iPhone developers should immediately adjust to this change. Now that the emphasis is clearly on the first few sentences of the description, developers should be more concise in describing their apps, since that’s all that shown by default. If you click the “…more” link, the area will expand to show all the text, but again, that’s not the default look anymore. Also make sure that first 3 screenshots should make user interested and understand the idea of the application.

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iTunes App Store gets new layout

Firstly: my apologies to everyone for hopping on the perennial “Predictions Bandwagon”. One may as well say “Stop press everyone, I’m just such an important smarty-pants you should listen to ME ME ME!” As Newt Gingrich told us earlier this year: “There is not one living being that can accurately predict the outcome of this crisis, all we can do is continue the dialog and the answers will slowly unravel”. Secondly: we’ve conducted two major studies with outsourcing buyers globally this year (and am currently sifting through 800 responses – and counting – from our current industry study). While we…

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2010 Predictions for the Outsourcing Industry

One of the advisors which has really made a strong move in the sourcing business this year is Alsbridge. Much of that has been down to its strong track record with clients, but its also made some canny investments to augment its advisory services. One of these I’ve had some exposure to is ProBenchmark, which has been running some excellent webcasts looking into how pricing trends and dynamics in IT services. I caught up with CEO Ben Trowbridge the other day, and he wanted to let us know about a webcast ProBenchmark is running next week – you can register..

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Are prices really dropping, or are services merely being disaggregated?

Before you tuck into your Thanksgiving turkey and guzzle a gallon of bad quality Chardonnay, please take 10 minutes to complete our industry-wide study entitled “The New Normal in Outsourcing Delivery”. And if you’re in Asia or Europe, currently giving thanks for US declaring itself independent from everyone else, this includes you too. Anyhow, we are actively seeking the collective opinions and experiences of services customers, providers, and advisors and need 10 minutes of your time to complete this quick survey, designed especially for the patience-challenged, attention-deficit-inclined executive. Simply click on the following link): Click here to complete our survey…

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Complete our survey. Now

There’s little doubt about what’s been providing the rocket-fuel behind the rebounding services business: IT outsourcing. Simply put, there are plenty of eager providers to choose between, they have access to most of the technical skills companies need, and their rates are far cheaper than retaining or hiring staff inhouse. Some are also getting pretty handy at becoming consultative business partners, and not simply low-cost body shops. Our recent study tells the real story – 50% of enterprises are either kick-starting, or scaling-up, their ITO right now. “So tell us something new”, I hear you groan into your laptop screen……

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Can IT overcome its credibility crisis?

Our recent discussion on Xerox’s acquisition of ACS certainly served up some meaty discussion, and even got picked up by CIO.com, among other media. My dear friend, and former colleague at AMR Research, Dana Stiffler(pictured), recently sent us in some of her views on the merger. Dana actually got promoted today to VP and Head of Research for AMR’s services research, where she will be offering clients “cashable benefits, or your money back” with her group’s output. Anyhow, thought this a good time to showcase her talent… Over to you, Dana: Xerox-ACS: Cloud Services Potential, or Dinosaurs Huddling Together for…

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Xerox-ACS: Cloud Services Potential, or Dinosaurs Huddling Together for Warmth?

Today we received a vivid proof that applications we make are really popular with users. Some of the players cannot do with just a game on the screen, they want to have their own tangible option! Mr. N (won`t give up the name for privacy reason) expressed willingness to order from us a certain quantity of Bubble Wrap from the like-named game developed for Nokia Ovi Store . Definitely it is far more exciting to pop bubbles at home, when there are a few hundreds metres of real bubble wrap at you disposal! Mr N was quite serious about the matter and inquired the price, method of payment and time of delivery. He also specified the desired size, as only 150mtr x 1.5mtr wide or 100mtr x 0.5mtr wide wrap would answer his needs. That made us mull over the question what we will do if users decide to order a beauty from iGirl or spilled in Drunk Sniper liquid? Maybe we should create less realistic graphics?

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Tangible popularity

This truly has been a pivotal quarter for the outsourcing business. As we’ve discussed several times here, many services contract decisions have been delayed during the economic crisis while organizations worked out the best course of action to get through the downturn. In Q3 we’ve started to see definitive action, with many service providers meeting, and some even beating, Wall St. expectations. But while some providers are clearly delivering, others are struggling to compete in this “new normal”. So what is this “new normal”? Operational service provision is commoditizing and leveling the playing field

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The "new normal" in the outsourcing delivery business

If there’s one person who’s been a consistent figure closely tied to the development of Finance and Accounting sourcing over the last decade, it’s Paul Nowacki (or to those of us know him, simply “Wacki”), who today leads F&A transformation for leading sourcing strategy and implementation consultancy, Everest Group. Paul’s advised on several of the largest engagements in the business (in fact, I do think he’s worked on the largest) and taught me a lot about the space when I worked with him at Everest a few years’ back. Never afraid to speak his mind, Paul is always a popular…

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Taking a walk on the Wacki side…

Sometimes life becomes a converged morass of email, reading, writing, number-crunching, slideware-designing, talking, selling, firefighting, and so on – and more so these days than ever. Noone has time anymore to have a quick chat about anything non-important, read an interesting article (or more than 140 characters), have a cup of coffee with a friend, take a walk, read a good book… My long-suffering wife keeps reminding me to take a deep breath, take a walk, and “smell the roses” – just thought I’d pass on her advice..

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Reminder: stop and smell the roses

“Most of our managers are happy sitting on a shrinking business” bemoaned a senior executive the other day. Sound familiar? I hate to say this, but too many senior executives I talk to these days adopted this survival mechanism during the economic crisis, and are clearly struggling to change their mind-set now it’s clear that armageddon has been averted. And the main reason seems to be that the last year has exhausted them, preventing fresh, bold decisions to be made. Hey – it’s exhausted everyone. Smart business leaders are now trying to re-energize their staff, take that deep-set panic out…

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Sitting on a shrinking business and afraid to change

“You are going to keep doing that blog aren’t you?” seems to have been the most frequently-asked question I’ve had since I changed my day-job. And a few people have asked whether I can still credibly run this blog, now I work for one of the firms actually tasked with delivering the services we have been talking about for the best part of three years. Heaven forbid. As we have discussed at length, blogs and other social media have been a major game-changer with how we engage with issues, market dynamics – and each other. We live in a different…

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So where next for the Galloping Hooves?

When I returned to these Western shores 6 years’ ago, I was given the the unenviable task of working with the indomitable Andy Efstathiou. Now, analysts who have spent 20 years working in commercial banks are not to be messed with – and I quickly learned my lesson with Andy, who (literally) has an encyclopedic knowledge and perspective of everything that has gone wrong with the world. I recall Andy warning us years’ ago that this was all going to go horribly wrong… and did anyone listen? Andy has since become a good friend over the years, and has always…

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Efstathiou uncut: all aboard with the sourcing skipper

Folks – Having spent 14 years on the analyst and advisory side of the sourcing industry, it’s a natural move for me to join a service provider – for both professional and personal reasons. Having considered several options (and some of them were truly awesome… you know you are), I decided to make the service provider move, and chose Cognizant. To keep this brief, and avoid a completely blatant sales-pitch, here were my reasons: They’re in high-growth mode They have a truly dynamic culture and offer something unique to their clients, in terms of value and energy (customers rarely lie…)…

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Why I joined Cognizant