Thought Leadership Archive

RPA Breaks Link between FTEs and Service Transactions

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming a big deal in the services industry. For the last 10 years, the Indian IT industry attempted to affect pricing by breaking the link between FTEs and the services they provide. They tried outcome-based or transaction-based pricing. As I have blogged in the past, although this is interesting

Why Is ADP So Successful?

At Everest Group, we’ve been assessing why some service providers are so successful. Using a framework we created that focuses on six characteristics, it’s easy to understand why ADP is so successful. At the heart of their success is the fact that they live up to their promise of being the most trusted firm

Avoid the “Gotchas” in Purchasing Next-Gen Tech Services

The new technologies sweeping the market hold great promise of competitive advantages. But there’s a disturbing trend occurring in the services sales process for these technologies that poses a risk for buyers. Look out for providers talking about cloud, mobility, big data, the Internet of Things, and social in the same breath as SaaS/BPaas,

The Future of IBM’s Watson and Cognitive Computing

I had the privilege of being at IBM and seeing first hand Watson working on powerful use cases. I must say, even now after a few days of reflecting on it, I think I’m even more impressed with its power and capability than when I was at IBM and saw Watson in use. If,

Automation Feeds Desire for Onshore Services

There’s a lot of rethinking going on in North American businesses in light of new technologies. In Everest Group’s conversations with clients and in round table discussions we’ve been holding in the industry, we find that these mature companies believe automation gives them the ability to bring their work back on shore. After more

How Service Providers Can Illuminate Clients’ Path to Transformation

One of the biggest issues facing executives today is that they see the need to change their organization through automation, analytics, or other big ideas that are clearly vetted, but they struggle to drive the change. Their organization is reluctant or frightened to change, much like horses in a steeplechase race that shy at

Services Sales through the Looking-Glass

Lewis Carroll is famous for his novel, “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.” In this whimsical world, everything starts out as familiar things but, on examination, turn out to be nonsense. It puts me in mind of many service providers’ sales pitches. Perhaps my favorite part of the Looking-Glass novel is Jabberwocky,

CSC Splits Itself Apart

CSC announced it is splitting into two companies. One will provide service to commercial and government organizations worldwide; the other will serve the U.S. public sector businesses. What are the implications for the services industry? CEO Mike Lawrie has been running CSC’s turnaround. The story line he drove was that he would first drive

80/20 Stands on Its Head in the Services Industry

The mantra of 80/20 (80 percent offshore, 20 percent onshore) has been the war cry for the services industry for the last 10 years. It has stood for the absolute sweet spot for a services player, particularly in terms of maximum leverage of offshore talent. This has been the most profitable space. Providers that

Lessons from IBM

Have you noticed how few service providers have the ability maintain a market leader role when the market changes to favor new technologies, or new service models? It’s very difficult to make this shift, and I’ve seen very few companies achieve the shift – let alone do it three times. Just one. Wow! If