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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Mercer on the Move

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

This week I attended Mercer’s always well managed and informative analyst forum in Boston, MA. The meeting was focused on the talent consulting line of business.

Talent Management on the Rise

Mercer research indicates that human capital issues are a top CEO concern and managing talent is becoming a board of directors’ issue, moving beyond the traditional CEO succession planning and compensation to overall talent and workforce planning. The new Mercer Talent Barometer Survey, which was introduced at the 2013 World Economic Forum, reports that 60% of the 1,200 global companies surveyed are investing more in talent, but only 30% feel that their workforce plans are highly effective.

The business of talent has become both exciting and disruptive, with possible new entrants, globalization, media, innovations, and opportunities. (Talk about new entrants, eHarmony is considering getting into the talent matching game!)

With a possibility of double-digit growth, the talent group looked at how to grow across the talent value chain by expanding its services, tools and technology offerings for talent, rewards, and communications to increase growth and leverage Mercer’s depth of experience and capabilities.

The answer will become apparent over the next few months as more packaged solutions are launched that combine consulting, information, and technology to meet the needs of clients that want a less-customized consulting approach with “off-the-shelf” packaged and reusable services and tools.

Workforce Planning Versus HR Analytics

Some elements that will be leveraged are already mature and solid revenue producers. Surveys, benchmarks, and analytics for compensation/total rewards and job structures are a more than $200m line of business. Globalization of the revenues is already well on its way, with about equal distribution from North America, Europe, and emerging markets across 57 countries.

Instead of focusing on HR analytics, Mercer is emphasizing data acquisition and integration, data modeling, as well as data visualization as it applies to a wide range of workforce and data that drives business results. This may mean a consulting and outsourcing services engagement, it may mean workshops and training, or self-service use of integrated SaaS technology platforms with one or more Mercer products.

Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast

There are a lot of moving parts in Mercer’s strategy to create an integrated talent solutions portfolio.

It is brought together under the go-to-market Talent Impact label that includes new and existing products and services to forecast, engage, mobilize, reward and assess talent. Behind the scenes Mercer will be streamlining its own architecture into fewer and more integrated technology platforms to support the new offerings.

There is a lot to be done in a short time, but that is in alignment with the “think big, start small, and move fast” philosophy of Orlando Ashford, senior partner and president of Mercer’s talent business. Mercer is on the move!

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The Importance of Defining MPHRO by Market Segments

Amy L. Gurchensky, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

In NelsonHall’s last “Targeting Multi-Process HR Outsourcing” (MPHRO) market analysis report, I identified four unique market segments that MPHRO buyers fall within and their characteristics.  Namely:

• Multi-Country Standardization
• Shared Service Transformation
• Core Business Focus
• Technology-Led HR Service Enhancement.

In the latest report that is due to be published this month, I cover how these segments have evolved and take a closer look at contract activity in the last two years among each segment.

Some highlights include:

• The average number of countries for all contracts in the “Multi-Country Standardization” and “Shared Service Transformation” segments versus the average number of countries for contracts within these segments signed since January 2011
• Average employee headcount for each segment overall and for contracts signed after January 2011
• Client drivers, benefits, and inhibitors by segment
• Average contract length by market segment and the trend for contract durations by segment since January 2011
• Pricing model trends within each segment
• Market size and growth rates by market segment
• Vendor revenues by segment.

To really understand the MPHRO market, distinctions by market segment need to be made since trends in one segment can incorrectly skew data.  For example, the average MPHRO contract length for all market segments combined is approximately six years.  However, durations by segment reveal that the Shared Service Transformation contracts average 8.1 years, while the other segments average somewhere between 4.8 and 5.5 years.

Stay tuned for more insights on the current shape of the MPHRO market.

Accenture and Unilever Renew Major MPHRO Contract for Five More Years

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Let’s wrap-up 2012 on a high note for HR BPO with news of Accenture’s award of a 5-year multi-process HRO (MPHRO) contract renewal from Unilever. When orginally announced in 2006, the 7-year contract was the single largest HRO deal signed with an estimated value of $1bn.

First Generation HRO

The focus of the first generation Unilever contract was largely on cost reduction (20% – 30%) and creation of a unfied global HR operating environment of systems and services across 100 countries and 20 languages. Unilver had already begun the tranformation process by introducing shared service centers in key areas to capture some of the early gains on its own as part of its One Unilever program to reduce the cost of back-office services including HR, F&A, and IT. It then moved to HRO to make further progress in efficiency, cost, and to gain a single source of the truth in reporting and mearsurement capabilities.

Second Generation HRO

Accenture will continue to support ~130,000 Unilever employees operating in more than 100 countries through its global delivery network including multiple centers across the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. MPHRO services include:

• Core HR administration
• Payroll administration
• Recruitment
• Learning services covering content sourcing and development, program planning and delivery, and learning system hosting
• Management and administrative services.

As is common with renewals, there are some expansions of scope and a greater focus on improvements, in addtion to a desire for further cost reducing efficencies.

Accenture will be introducing service improvements to drive greater efficiencies and improve the user experience and align the services it delivers with Unilever’s Talent Agenda. New elements include:

• Introducing a more proactive recruiting approach, including the expanded use of social media (Accenture itself has been using LinkedIn and Twitter to recruit staff for a few years now)
• Expanding the scope of the learning services delivered by Accenture to include professional skill-building modules in the curriculum to support Unilever’s focus on developing future leaders; learning programs will make greater use of virtual instructor-led training (VILT), which is in line with Unilever’s sustainability agenda
• Evolving in performance metrics to go beyond traditional operational SLAs to include metrics focused on the client’s desired business outcomes.

It is a good quarter when you can announce a major MPHRO deal, whether it’s new or a renewal. For FY Q1 2013, Accenture’s revenues were $7.2bn, up 5% in local currencies; EPS were up 10% to $1.06; and operating income was up 7% to $1.05bn. Outsourcing brought in $3.26bn in revenues, and $3.3bn in new bookings. A good quarter indeed!

Happy holidays from the NelsonHall HRO team: Gary Bragar, Amy Gurchensky, and Linda Merritt.

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TCS HRO Delivers Certainty

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

 NelsonHall’s HRO team really enjoys service provider briefings and we recently had one with Tata Consulting Services (TCS).  It was great to have a conversation with the TCS HRO team about their plans and activities. There was a lot to catch up on as they have been very active growing, adding clients, and expanding their global footprint for HRO services and delivery.

TSC offers the following HRO services:

• Workforce administration
• Payroll
• Talent management
• Resourcing
• Benefits
• Employee service center services.

The company is growing its set of global service centers which includes India, China, U.S., U.K., Hungry, Brazil, and Uruguay, its newest center. Supporting a total of ~500,000 employees in 27 languages, it offers options for onshore, nearshore, and offshore service delivery.

TSC HRO clients are spread globally with its largest client base in the U.S., followed by Asia Pacific, EMEA, and Latin America. Currently, the majority of its clients are large market with embedded ERPs to support, and like most MPHRO service providers, TSC supports multiple client ERPs including SAP and PeopleSoft/Oracle. It also supports regional ERPs like Adam and Revolution in Latin America and Chris 21 in Australia. TCS has added its own SAP-based global HR platform for SaaS and SaaS with BPO services.  The SaaS HCM option will support its fastest growing middle market segment, as well as be an option for larger clients ready to consolidate and change outdated systems “lock, stock, and barrel.” For example, for a market research company, TCS consolidated 50+ various HR systems onto its global HR platform across 48 countries in less than a year.  

I frequently comment on the need for buyers to align HRO use with a strategic HR plan that outlines what is needed for what you are doing today, as well what is needed to achieve your long-term objectives. TCS has a client maturity model for its services; it works with potential new clients to assess their current state and helps clients find the “fit and affordability” roadmap that is right for them. The process has been so successful that TCS is retrofitting the tool and assessment for existing clients as well.

A briefing is about the numbers, and it is also an opportunity to learn more about what makes a vendor distinctive and what its approach is to the HRO marketplace. For TCS, a global IT company based in India, one would expect to see an emphasis on technology solutions, IT-support, quality, process standardization, etc. and all that is there. In addition, however, TCS HRO has a focus on “delivering certainty,” not just correct transactions, but improved performance that builds long-term client relationships with the flexibility to meet changing business needs. Having established a solid base of services and customers from which to grow, we look forward to covering the next chapter in TCS’ success.

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H1 2012 HRO: Who Did What in the Large Market?

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

There was a good amount of announced HRO contract awards of many sizes and services in the first half of 2012, especially in the large market. A nice volume of new work coming online will provide future revenue support for HRO service providers, where earnings have recently been lower than in 2011.

Learning: finally announced some major deals including:

• Capita Workplace Services: awarded a competitive win for a £250m contract by the Cabinet Office to manage civil service training services in the U.K.
• Serco: won awards with the Army in both the U.K. and the U.S.; it won a scope extension valued at $38m by the U.S. Army and a £55m training contract by the British Army
• Genpact: won  a learning services contract by Johnson Controls, extending its record of recent learning wins; last year, it won a 7 year MPHRO contract with Nissan that included learning and it also won a 5 year content development contract by JobSkills in India.

MPHRO: activity was spread around nicely with ADP, Aon Hewitt, NorthgateArinso, and Logica all bringing in MPHRO contracts. One notable deal was IBM’s multi-tower BPO and IT deal with Cemex valued at $1bn; it includes finance and accounting BPO, HR BPO, IT infrastructure management, application development, and maintenance.

RPO:  continued to see a high volume of new contracts spread across many vendors. There were also two of the largest awards ever in RPO:

• ManpowerGroup: awarded a $400m five year contract extension with the Australian Defense Force, continuing a relationship that started in 2003
• Capita: won a £440m 10 year recruiting partnership contract by the British Army; it will also deliver supporting technology for the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, partnering with advertising agency JWT for recruitment marketing and with Kenexa for assessment and recruitment technology.

Benefits administration: contract awards were announced by Aon Hewitt, Empyrean, HP, and Xafinity Paymaster. Fidelity Investments reported the highest volume with DC contracts adding 522k new participants to its base of over 15m participants served. It also made major renewals and brought in new competitive wins. This is Fidelity’s strongest first half sales period in the last five years.

Payroll: deals in the U.K. led the way with awards going to Ceridian, Equiniti ICS, Liberata, and Mouchel. ADP won a multi-country contract from HP and will implement its GlobalView for payroll and Enterprise eTIME system for time and labor management for ~130,000 employees across 40 countries in Asia Pacific (excluding India), Europe, and the Americas (excluding U.S.) over the next five years.

With pipelines still healthy, the second half of 2012 should bring in a year of solid HRO growth and results. Congratulations to all!

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The Logic in Logica’s Focus on MPHRO

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Logica has long been an HRO service provider in the U.K. and Europe. With much of its HRO revenues from payroll, it has been a bit quiet on the multi-process HRO (MPHRO) front. So I wasn’t sure that I saw the logic in Logica’s increased investment in MPHRO capabilities, especially when there are other major MPHRO players already in the economy-constrained market.

The HRO group at Logica recognized the developing opportunity for MPHRO as some buyers, especially second generation HRO users and multi-country businesses, began to want more than just transactional low-cost contracts. This created space for an HRO partner to help clients transform HR to increase business and workforce agility in responding to rapidly changing market conditions.

Logica is emphasizing its transformational HRO capabilities by:

• Assisting organizations to align their HR objectives and services with those of the wider organization and manage HR against business goals such as increased employee engagement
• Change management and ensuring that change management is both carried out up-front and carried through to a detailed sub-process level using service simulations to promote operational change as necessary
• Composing a common HR process taxonomy to be used as a common language across both outsourced processes and the retained HR processes
• Program management and its real-time PMO tools.

In terms of process design, the company is looking to use a set of standard Logica HR processes for Logica-delivered processes; for client-retained HR processes, it will provide workflow tools. Logica is also looking to encourage innovation beyond minor process improvements by establishing jointly managed innovation funds and innovation groups with its clients.

In technology terms, Logica currently supplements Oracle’s PeopleSoft HCM 9.1 and Oracle’s E-Business Suite with specialist HR applications where necessary. It may also consider SAP-based HRMS implementations downstream.

To date, the investments are starting to pay off. BPO, including HRO, was the fastest growing segment for Logica in FY 2011, up 23.8%. In the last 12 months, Logica has also been awarded several major MPHRO contracts including:

• BAE Systems:  a six year contract supporting 33,000 participants in the U.K. with a new single-tenant, hosted Oracle HR platform; payroll services; absence and attendance; employee care; and administration services in support of talent management functions including recruiting and learning
• Ahold, a Dutch headquartered supermarket retailer: a nine year contract supporting ~100,000 participants in the Netherlands, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic with a new Oracle PeopleSoft 9.1 platform; HR administration services; HR service desk; and payroll services, which will be subcontracted to ADP.

Other MPHRO contracts were awarded by a British telecom and a Swedish financial services firm, both for five years.

Logica is well underway working its five year roadmap for services development, which includes strategic new services, increasing its partnership ecosystem, and practical elements like adding more mobile apps. Logica is also a relationship-focused partner, and that trust factor, along with results realization from the new wins, will help it continue to grow in MPHRO. Logical indeed!

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