Highlights and Trends in the HRO Market for H1 2013: Part 2

Amy L. Gurchensky, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Last week, I zeroed in on specific market activity within the payroll, learning and RPO service lines. This week, I’ll take a closer look at H1 2013 activity within benefits administration and MPHRO as well as provide some insights on what to expect in H2 2013 based on NelsonHall’s recent HRO Confidence Index.

Benefits Administration

Contract signings aside, there has been a plethora of activity within benefits administration in H1 2013, including:

• New offerings:
  • Mercer launched a private benefits exchange, Mercer Marketplace
  • Buck Consultants launched an automatic enrollment offering in the U.K.
  • Secova launched a Coordination of Benefits (COB) audit offering to coordinate benefits with insurance carriers
• Acquisitions: Wageworks acquired Crosby Benefit Systems and Benefit Concepts to strengthen its H&W administration offering, including reimbursement account and COBRA administration
• Partnerships:
  • Fidelity partnered with Extend Health, a Towers Watson company, to provide retiree healthcare services
  • JLT Employee Benefits partnered with Vielife for health and wellbeing services in the U.K.
• New technologies:
  • Xerox launched an account-based benefits portal, BenefitWallet, to assist with managing multiple health accounts on one platform, including HSAs, HRAs, FSAs, HIAs (health/wellness incentive accounts) and other specialized services
  • Aon Hewitt launched an absence management tool, 360 Absence Solutions, to help clients manage absence-related costs, compliance risks, the administrative burden and lost productivity
• Educational resources:
  • Mercer and ADP both launched websites to provide information on healthcare reform
  • Ceridian launched an auto-enrollment knowledge center in the U.K.

MPHRO

In recent years, the MPHRO market has been relatively quiet in terms of contract announcements and H1 2013 was no exception. However, my last MPHRO research study, published in February 2013, revealed that the market is very much alive with new wins and contract renewals from all the major vendors, including IBM and Accenture. In fact, IBM recently won a new seven-year, multi-country MPHRO contract, which was bundled with F&A outsourcing services. Other wins include ADP and Marriott Vacations Worldwide for core HR, payroll, time & labor management and talent management covering ~9.2k employees.

Many vendors have been focused on their strategies for expansion, including Aon Hewitt with its acquisition of OmniPoint Workday Services. Although still early, NelsonHall expects ADP to make inroads in LATAM with its MPHRO services since it added RPO capabilities in this region from its acquisition of The RightThing and now expands its payroll footprint from the Payroll S.A. acquisition.

H2 2013

So what does the rest of the year have in store? NelsonHall’s recent HRO Confidence Index survey finds that overall expectations for HRO revenue growth remain at the same level as those reported for the last five quarters; with payroll leading followed by RPO. Top industry sectors for HRO services include healthcare, pharmaceuticals and high-tech. By geography, vendors have reported increased confidence for revenue growth in Central and Eastern Europe and Central and Latin America.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year unfolds for HRO.

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HRO and Innovation – a Changing Dynamic

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Last week the Human Resources Outsourcing Association’s (HROA) Publications & Practices Committee held a webinar on collaborative innovation in HRO with industry experts Lisa Johnson, director of recruiting, North America at Gate Gourmet, Rolf Kleiner, senior vice president and chief innovation officer at Kelly Services, Inc. and Dr. Greg McLaughlin, senior vice president of research & development for Global Targeting, Inc.

Understanding Innovation

Innovation has been a conundrum for years for HRO buyers and suppliers. There are many ways to define the word ‘innovation’ and that makes it hard to be sure each party is speaking the same language. All three experts agreed that open discussions between clients and service providers are needed to develop a mutual understanding of what innovation means in the context of the relationship and contract.

Greg walked us through aspects of innovation range from the conceptual “innovation is an experience”, to the practical “innovation begins with a need and ends with an outcome that creates a competitive advantage.”

Lisa looks for HRO suppliers with the spirit of innovation – backed by experience. Rolf looks for employees who “rise above the white noise” to work on special innovation projects that also support talent management.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement

The HROA Buyers Group’s survey on innovation and continuous improvement showed there is a commonality in basic definition and understanding developing across the community of buyers, service providers, and advisors. From the words of HRO community members:

• Continuous improvement is an enhancement of a product, service or process that already exists:
  • Increased operational efficiency, improved user experience, ongoing, incremental, and step changes
  • Efficiency and effectiveness gains that “keep pace with the market”
• Innovation is something new and different:
  • Cutting edge, transformational, precedent setting, competitive advantage, disruptive, and dramatic
  • A significant and often transformational change that, once introduced, “you wonder how you ever lived without it.”

The HRO community is in agreement that continuous improvement and innovation should be a collaborative effort between the HRO service provider and the client:

• 92% of respondents agree that this collaborative effort is what should be happening between service provider and client, but only 59% see that as true now, with 40% of buyers and only 22% of providers agreeing that collaboration is actually happening in the marketplace right now
• 77% agreed that innovation should be a collaborative effort among the parties, with agreement from 100% of advisors, 60% of HR practitioners, and 83% of providers.

 The Innovation Gaps

Significant gaps – and therefore opportunities – remain:

• 75% of respondents said that continuous improvement is in the HRO contract
• Only 42% agreed that innovation is included in the HRO contract.

In the next blog I will be getting practical about innovation in HRO.

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Targeting Payroll BPO, Part II

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

There is so much in my colleague Gary Bragar’s NelsonHall Targeting Payroll BPO market analysis that I will cover a few more items this week. The payroll market is divided into three parts: payroll software services; service bureau payroll (also called managed payroll, where the vendor manages payroll production and the client manages data input and employee help desk services); and payroll business process outsourcing (where the end-to-end payroll process is outsourced, including tier 1 and tier 2 employee help desk support).

Payroll BPO market share is growing

Payroll BPO is what NelsonHall follows most of all, and it is a growing part of the overall payroll market. Even as SaaS payroll products become more ubiquitous, many clients will still want support for the whole process. We can see some of the reasons why in the changing pattern of client requirements. As I covered in the first Targeting Payroll blog, cost remains the number one priority. However, other needs have increased in importance over time:

• Standardization of centralization of processes and technology: Instead of defending customization, now buyers are demanding standardization to increase efficiency and reduce costs from maintaining disparate systems
• Compliance/risk management: Compliance with ever-more complex and changing regulations and work rules needs the time and attention of fulltime experts. For example, in Europe the complexity of regulations combined with employee populations spread over multiple countries adds to the challenges of compliance
• Better employee experience: Users want access that is easier and simpler, including 24×7 access to data, self-service, and mobile. Payroll self-service is widely available and has become table stakes. The vendors that deliver the most useful mobile applications, the fastest and with the greatest security, will create valuable market differentiation.
• Payroll subject matter expertise: Clients expect improved quality of payroll with augmented accuracy, which can lower overpayment and off-cycle payroll runs.

Payroll Cost #1 with a new spin

While cost remains the number-one client requirement, there is a new aspect and it is the same one NelsonHall is seeing in other HRO areas; balancing cost with value. Value for price is especially understood by second- and third-generation buyers who indicate their willingness to change vendors to get it!

Payroll Analytics

It has been my view for some time that the focus on improved payroll processes and systems is driven by more than the need to pay employees timely and accurately. It is also driven by the need to manage the total cost of labor with real-time access to data and analytics for decision-making that leads to improved business performance. Payroll is increasingly being seen as a valuable management strategic tool, and clients will be looking to payroll BPO providers to help them access and develop workforce analytics expertise.

It great to see how dynamic the payroll outsourcing industry has become!

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Targeting Payroll BPO, Part I

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

The NelsonHall Targeting Payroll BPO report has recently been released by my colleague, Gary Bragar. Payroll is such a well-accepted mainstay of HR outsourcing that it’s nice to see it still showing steady growth year after year.

Gary regularly produces the payroll market analysis, and profiles leading vendors in this space. Over time you can see how what seems like a basic service has grown, evolved and increased in strategic importance. What has not changed is that buyers are looking for savings by outsourcing payroll. The good news is that payroll BPO delivers: first-time payroll outsourcing can save from 15% to +40% depending on the degree of complexity and variables (like the number of locations, with everything from a single location to more than 100 countries).

The full report includes more on what buyers want from payroll outsourcing and what’s key in vendor selection; including where data needs vary between the mid-market and large market. Here are a few highlights of the report:

Why Outsource Payroll?

Cost saving remains the number-one reason to outsource payroll, and several nuances have been added including:

• Clients want a more variable cost structure and less fixed costs
• Savings now often include not having to refresh client technology (cost avoidance)
• Simplifying payroll after a series of M&As or restructurings reduces cost
• Reduction in payroll losses from ineligible and overpayments.

Centralization and standardization of process and technology has increased in importance, similar to what has been seen in other HRO areas. Where clients used to want customization, many are now seeing the benefits of standardization to improve efficiency, reduce cost, and to increase timely access to accurate payroll data across the enterprise.

With constantly-changing regulations and taxation across multiple jurisdictions, accuracy, compliance and risk management remain core payroll benefits.

Multi-Country Payroll

For MNCs, multi-country payroll remains a sought-after capability. MNCs want one vendor, one contract, and one payroll platform. Also wanted is visibility to aggregated costs and data reporting, in addition to the flexibility and scalability to add or change geographies.

Payroll BPO vendors have responded to the blended needs of clients for cost savings and global coverage by:

• Increasing nearshore and offshore service centers
• Partnering for coverage in some countries
• Offering multiple technology platforms from SaaS to ERPs.

Pricing Pressure

Given the focus on cost reduction, pricing pressure should be no surprise. This is a market with many mature and capable suppliers, which in itself adds competitive pricing pressure and the need for differentiation to focus on value as well as cost.

As an indicator of payroll service provider capabilities to compete, I earlier mentioned the steady year-over-year revenue growth. That growth has been achieved at the same time as the average price per-payslip has fallen significantly over the last three years!

There is so much more in the Targeting Payroll BPO market analysis, look for more highlights in a future blog.

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