HRO Continues Growing and Going

As we near the halfway point, 2012 is going well for HRO. As support, here are choice tidbits from our HRO news coverage and analysis.

First quarter revenues were solid for most vendors. RPO and PEO led the way with continued strong growth in the mid-to-high teens even as new job growth has stalled. Clients are increasingly using HRO services to help manage and balance workforce talent needs. Lower but steady mid-single digit growth is rolling along for benefits and payroll in the traditional HRO service areas.

There was plenty of new business to go around by service line, vendor, geography, and in both the private and public sectors. There was even a very nice smattering of large deals with TCVs in the hundreds of millions!

Logica was awarded a 6-year multi-process HRO contract by BAE Systems to support its 33,000 U.K. employees. Included is implementation and management of a single-tenant, hosted Oracle HR platform, along with payroll, and adminsitrative services in support of talent management functions including recruiting and learning. This is Logica’s second significant sized multi-process HRO win in six months. This is a good indicator of its success as a major preferred partner of Oracle for HRO in Europe.

Speaking of Europe, HP has been awarded a major 15-year multi-process HRO contract by Italian financial services firm UniCredit Business Integrated Solutions SCpA. A major driver for this deal was the need for a platform to support globally standardized HR and payroll processes across the countries in scope (Italy, Austria, plus a third country), serving ~98,000 employees. The HRO services in scope include payroll, time and attendance, workforce administration, learning and development administration, mobility, and ex-pat services.

The U.K. was the hottest area for the public sector. These deals are long wave sales with lots of competition, and there were even incumbent upsets. The services are naturally very important, but the promised cost advantages must be delivered. Lots of hard work and strong partnerships will be needed by the client organizations and the vendors to ensure success.

• Capita was awarded a £250m contract by the Cabinet Office to exclusively manage the Civil Service’s training services. It will both directly deliver training and manage a competitive network of other training suppliers.
• Capita was awarded a £440m contract by the British Army for recruiting services. The Recruitment Partnering Project contract is for 10 years and Capita will also deliver supporting technology for the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. It will partner with Kenexa for assessment and recruiting technology.
• Almost at the finish line is CSC as it has been selected as preferred bidder for a £400m, 7-year contract by the MoD to provide pay and pensions administration services to the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) for the U.K. Armed Forces.

Let’s all hope the rest of the year keeps HRO growing and rolling along!

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

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