NorthgateArinso Proving Success with Legacy Convergys Clients

When NorthgateArinso acquired Convergys’ HR management business in March 2010, my first reaction was that this was a really good deal for NorthgateArinso because it would be gaining some big brand name clients in the U.S.  Some wondered whether NorthgateArinso would be successful in retaining these legacy clients, but I was optimistic for two reasons.

First, it is mainly the same legacy Convergys employees supporting these clients, most transferred to NorthgateArinso with the acquisition.  It is well-known that the most successful ingredient in an outsourcing relationship is how well the client and service provider can work together and have an effective relationship / partnership.

Back in October 2008, I attended the Convergys Industry Analyst Day in Cincinnati where Thomas Neltner, VP of HR at Fifth Third Bank, was a guest speaker.  Thomas spoke about why Fifth Third chose Convergys, its services outsourced, and benefits obtained, including 99% utilization of employee self-service and 40,000 transactions turned paperless.  So it is no surprise to me that this week Fifth Third agreed to extend its contract with NorthgateArinso for an additional seven years.

The original contract with Fifth Third was signed in October 2003 for five years.  Services provided to the bank’s 20,000 employees included:

• Payroll administration and processing
• Compensation administration
• Performance management support
• Benefits administration
• Time and attendance management
• Implementation of recruitment technology and a self-service web portal.

In May 2007, the contract was extended for an additional five years for 21,000 employees and services were added including recruiting and specialized staffing and employee and manager self-service.  Now, the seven year extension through 2019 also includes upgrading the banks current SAP HCM platform to NorthgateArinso’s euHReka technology platform.

euHReka is also based on SAP but is a preconfigured multi-tenant platform that is fully integrated in providing HR and payroll services. In addition, it is used as a multi-country payroll solution, although that won’t be needed with Fifth Third, but you never know what the future may bring, which brings me to the second reason why I was optimistic about NorthgateArinso’s ability to renew legacy Convergys clients.  That is, similar to how customer service is a core competency of legacy Convergys, the same is true for technology and systems integration at NorthgateArinso.  This is a strong combination that NorthgateArinso can capitalize on when other contracts with marquee clients such as DuPont and Johnson & Johnson come up for renewal in the years ahead.  It will also help with winning new business!

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall