Buy, Build, and Go: ADP Acquires The Right Thing

ADP maintains the momentuem of its buy, build and go strategy to become a full service HRO service provider with the acquisition of The Right Thing (TRT). Coming late to the MPHRO game, ADP is wasting no time in becoming a principal player by building out its portfolio through rapid development of proprietary HR technlogy platforms and the acquisition of leaders in adjacent human capital management service lines. (Also see ADP has a Platform for HRO Success.)

By filling in the last major piece of the MPHRO services puzzle, ADP is the first MPHRO vendor to acquire a end-to-end RPO specialist. It will continue to offer its current recruitment administration and technology services and add the option of TRT’s RPO fully featured capabilities including sourcing, onboarding, employment branding, etc. As with the 2010 acquisition of Workscape, this opens up new client markets while maintaining its line of basic services.

The cross- and up-sell opportunities are great, given ADP’s client base of over 500k. The Right Thing, an ADP Company, brings in ~80 RPO clients mostly from the large market and it gains access to ADP’s midmarket client base. ADP adds more of the richer HR services needed by larger and more complex clients, or as Terrance McCrossen, ADP Division Vice President of Startegy and Marketing said, ADP is putting  more HR in HRO.”

The RightThing is first in North American 2010 revenues and fourth globally according to NelsonHall’s Targeting RPO market analysis. The ADP global sales and distribution network will pave the way for faster multi-country growth, one of the hottest trends in RPO, and a long-term TRT ambition.

The enriched MPHRO portfolio, client bases from Workscape and TRT, along with growing acceptance of platform services moving into the large market, all will be fuel for ADP growth. With fiscal year 2011 revenues, ending June 30, at ~$9.8bn.  At that size it takes big moves to noticeably move the revenue meter. The combined ADP will yield an estimated >$10bn in FY 2012.

Major ADP news has been coming out rapid fire, but behind the scenes many of these moves were in the planning, assessment, and dating stage for some time. ADP had been researching its RPO options for as long as two years because ADP understands a company is more than a sum of its parts, portfolio, footprint and net present value. It was also looking for a cultural match in customer dedication and a leadership team that would be open to staying with it longer term because of the increased opportunities to achieve their own goals and ambitions.

The new ADP Human Capital Management additions have a focus on talent management. An important space for HRO, although the usual path is to start with consulting and add outsourcing. I can’t help but speculate that in due time a partnership or acquistion of a HR consulting company may be in ADP’s future.

Linda Merritt, Research Analyst, HRO, NelsonHall

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The HRO Phrase of the Day – Integrated Ecosystem

Can extensive multi-process HRO (MPHRO) beat a well-managed internal HRIT and shared services organization? I believe it is possible, especially if the MPHRO provider is a leader in achieving integrated services.

I am a strong proponent of strategic HR that includes a strategic plan for HR technology, processes and services. Without that foundation and the business intelligence it can provide, “strategic” HR consulting is operating with one arm tied behind its back. Why limit your ability to drive business results and be viewed as a strategic asset when technology enablement and automation can help you get there?

While specific HRO provider case studies that prove the point are still needed, at the broader level it is possible to show that the investment in and use of an integrated set of HR technologies can make a measurable difference in business results. Set aside a few minutes to study the CedarCrestone 2010-2011 HR Systems Survey.

The CedarCrestone survey is not about HRO, but its messages apply just as much, if not more so, to MPHRO vendors. MPHRO providers need to show: 1) they are farther along the path; 2) offer the best balance of cost, time, effort and return to achieve the HR systems and services that deliver operational excellence at competitive operating expense; and 3) provide the HR platform for strategic talent management, workforce management and workforce optimization that increases the rate of sales growth and revenue per employee.

The HRO community has a moment in time opportunity before it. Some activities taken up as part of addressing the economic crisis need to be reinforced if they are to become part of the new normal in HR and business operations. We saw increased demand for workforce information; who, how many, at what cost and where? As a focus on the future returns, investments will still be lean and need to be targeted to achieve the largest impact – providing an excellent opportunity for strategic HR counsel supported by fact-based data and analytical projections.

The demand is already here, and HR consulting revenues are on the rise. This is an opportunity for MPHRO as well. Organizations that slapped together a set of individual technologies and providers may have limited ability to connect the dots across important HR and business data pools. To attain maximum results, everything needs to work together and connect to all the needed data sources and repositories.

I used the term integrated ecosystem in my blog title because it takes a variety of products and providers to assemble the needed systems and services. What is “behind the curtain” matters less if you have the right MPHRO vendor managing the integrations into a seamless user experience for your business. Building and managing the comprehensive systems outlined in the CedarCrestone study has a business impact for those few companies that are just about there, but few are at the stage of full optimization. Who better than an MPHRO partner to help you get there!

Linda Merritt, Research Director, HRO, NelsonHall

HRO Themes at the HR Tech Conference: Portals, Platforms and Self-Service

If you’ve never attended the HR Tech conference – which was in Chicago last week – I highly recommend finding a way to do so next year (and not just because the venue is changing to Las Vegas.) It’s always a top-notch conference with a superior speaker line-up, and a great forum for meeting with HRO buyers, providers and pundits.

With my eyes and ears focused, of course, on all things HRO, the key themes I witnessed – during both public sessions and private meetings with providers – were portals, platforms and self-service, all geared toward improving the customer experience and getting work done as quickly and easily as possible. By-the-drink-pricing and quick solution implementation were also key focuses. Some examples:

• Caliber Point’s recently launched multi-tenant HRO service, called Republic. For mid-market organizations with between 2,000 and 15,000 employees, it’s a SaaS solution based on Oracle and includes software hosted and maintained by Caliber Point covering payroll, recruiting, performance management, compensation, employee benefits, time and attendance and reporting. Pricing is per employee per month by country, which covers both software licensing and BPO services, and implemetation can be completed in as quick as six – eight weeks.
• ADP’s new portal and mobile developments, to be launched by early 2011. I must admit that increased mobile access to HR information, anytime, any place, didn’t wow me until ADP used the example of getting a listing of your in-network benefits and providers on your mobile phone. Think about it…you’re out of town on holiday – without your laptop – and you cut your foot on a piece of glass on the beach or sprain your ankle while skiing. You could pull your insurance card from your wallet or purse and call the 800# to find a local in-network provider. But, with instant access to the information on your mobile phone, why wouldn’t you take the quick route?
•  Mercer’s integrated rewards and talent management offering, called Human Capital Connect. The technology platform includes performance management, succession planning, compensation and incentives. While a third-party provider can’t replace an in-house manager’s performance management responsibilities, Mercer provides not only the technology but also consulting for implementation, training, change management and execution, and a dedicated client team to ensure success. 
• IBM’s transformation of its HRO client Kraft’s employee portal, with enhanced self-service, phone-based call center support and live chats with call center specialists. During its session at the HR Tech conference, Kraft stated IBM’s recently established Manila HR Services Center is getting high marks for customer satisfaction and intuitive and user-friendly employee self-service. And we can anticipate this contract, which will further roll out into 2011, will continue to support Kraft’s approximately 140,000 employees, per its acquisition of Cadbury, with the same improved employee experience, including further enhancements to live chats.

Yes folks, today and into the future, we’ll see rapid developments in portals, platforms and self-service. But these technological developments won’t remove the “human” element from HRO. Rather, they’ll increasingly support the way humans need, want and expect to accomplish their tasks and jobs, at an increasingly attractive price point.

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall