Guy Kirkwood's BPO Backchat
31 dec 2003
Thanks to a boost from, what in the US has been called the "Santa Claus rally", the S&P 500 has recently broken through the long-standing (red) resistance line. Not a bad way to end what was a very positive year for the stock market. While it will be worth keeping a close eye on relatively high valuations, high optimism, and potentially rising interest rates going forward, at the moment, the long-term trend is still up. Happy New Year!
30 dec 2003
I am doing an ITO/BPO review of the
year for release over the next few days: stand by!
29 dec 2003
Back from the Christmas break, I couldn't resist one more Christmas
Carol, this one from the UK Union Amicus:
Norwich Union staff looked out,
On their Christmas vacation,
What did the New Year hold for them?
Office relocation,
Brightly shone the Far East star,
And the UK looked cruel,
What for dinner this Noel?
Bowls of Christmas gruel.
Let's see what happens to the expected "exodus" over the coming
few months.
22 dec 2003
December's BPO Notes is
published, looking at how to choose the best executive search firm
to staff SSCs,
BPO companies and major IT and consulting firms, looking to
capitalise on this expanding market. (ps, it is not a sales pitch,
although it has been used as one).
17 dec 2003
Please accept the relaunch of the site. I would be very grateful
for feedback
- good, bad or ugly. Is the site easier to use? Is it good that the
blog is now on the front page? Is the fact that the site is now
smaller, a benefit or a detraction? etc, etc. Please let
me know.
For those that are interested, the layout is now wholely
CSS based, (turn
off css on your browser and you will see what I mean).
16 dec 2003
I have been involved in the BPO market since 1996. Now, some eight
years later, we are still waiting for the market to
mature. Meanwhile, the ITO market continues to grow in strength.
The deals announced this week for CGEY, Accenture, BT and
IBM amount to some GBP6bn; ACS' win with Nextel is
worth GBP0.2bn.
I have been banging on to clients and candidates that the BPO
market is where the ITO market was eight or nine years ago. If I am
right, we can look forward to a very rosy future. Let us hope the
future starts in 2004.
15 dec 2003
Fail us at your peril... That was the response from the UK
Government last week.
The decision by the Inland Revenue to award its 10-year GBP3bn ITO
to CGEY and Fujitsu was not just any government contract
announcement. Despite the fact there has been plenty of speculation
over the course of the 21 month procurement process that the
Revenue was looking to ditch EDS because of its poor track record,
the formal announcement still sent shock waves through the IT
industry. As silicon.com
reported:
Government IT projects, because of their public and often high-profile nature often come in for criticism for wasting taxpayers' money when they fall over. But in recent years that has just resulted in the contracts with the guilty suppliers being renegotiated, usually with more money going to the IT vendor.
For the Revenue to take the brave step of ditching the
entrenched incumbent supplier and to open itself to all the hand
over and migration headaches, this is a landmark decision.
10 dec 2003
Northgate Information Solutions, the software company that
administers the penalty notices for London's traffic congestion
scheme, has announced plans for a GBP300m reverse takeover of
privately-owned rival, Rebus HR.
I congratulate Gareth Denley and Andy Greaves on turning what was a
40-year old software business into a thriving HRO firm worth
GBP150m.
9 dec 2003
The UK's NHS has
announced that the first ITO deals have been signed, worth a
tidy GBP2.7bn, BT is the main winner, but one firm that is really
going to benefit is Perot Systems. I have been reliably informed
that the deal is worth at least GBP250m to Perot, which means that
the European operation is safe (at least for the time being). I
have always been a fan of Perot - the
company, not the man - so I am delighted that the business is
picking up once more.
I have been thinking about proposals. What are they trying to
achieve - win the deal? educate the reader? show how clever the
writers are?
How effective are proposals - from painful experience the answer is
"not very". Most proposals are read poorly, if at all. We all write
extensive documents outlining every eventuality and contingency,
but clients still want to talk it through verbally. There must be a
better way, I just cannot figure out what it is yet.
8 dec 2003
There was an excellent Q
and A about outsourcing in the New York Times,
released yesterday. It is long, but well-worth reading in full.
(You will need to register).
7 dec 2003
I am working on a redesign for the site using web standards. The
site is already compliant for html
4.01 transitional, but I am ditching tables and using CSS. To
give you some idea of the power of CSS, take a look at Zen Garden.
4 dec 2003
I did have a lot of respect for Alistair Cox, Xansa's newish CEO,
but his pronouncement
today, that Europe is "not ready for IT and business process
outsourcing" is laughable. I know that one pure-play BPO
firm is in discussions for a large full scale BPO deal within
continental Europe.
I think this quote has more to do with the organisation Cox has
inherited. With pre-tax profits falling away to GBP13.8m, from
GBP14.8m last year, on turnover 3% lower at GBP226m, I don't think
he can afford a wholescale withdrawal from what I think will be the
main area of action for 2004. We shall see.
3 dec 2003
A quote from Rick Genovese, Americas leader for BTO for IBM BCS:
"BTO unto itself is simply an enabler, it's not the solution in and of itself. We're talking about a business partnership, which requires a greater level of trust between us as a provider, and our customers - This is a culture change."
Huh? It sounds like he needs to leverage improved
comprehensibility on an enterprise scale!
2 dec 2003
There was a predictable response from Unions following Aviva's
widely
reported news that 2,500 jobs were moving to India. In what
The Independent described is becoming a flood of jobs to
parts of the world where labour costs are dramatically lower than
in Britain, HSBC has announced that 4,000 positions would be moved
to India, China and Malaysia by the end of 2006. ABN Amro yesterday
said it might outsource up to 200 jobs.
Well folks, welcome to the future.
1 dec 2003
Last month's blogs have not suddenly gone out of date, if you missed any, they are worth reading. Also check the archive.