Category: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
2030 HFS Services Technology Vision: The Future of Services is No Services
By 2030, we will be engaging with services primarily through technology, minimizing human intervention and maximizing efficiency. In fact, services will barely even be services anymoreRead More
Global Capability Centers (GCCs)… The direction Indian IT must take to pivot from cost to value
While tech and BPO service providers have grappled with flagging enterprise demand and other market pressures, GCCs have thrived, with HFS estimating 2000 expected to be in full operation in 2025. So, are these GCCs genuinely the new face of Indian IT? And can they sustain their success and lead the Indian charge in global technology services?Read More
Cognizant’s $1.3B Belcan Bet: A high-stakes move to disrupt the IT services stalemate with hybrid engineering, IT, OT, and BT capability
Cognizant's bold $1.3B acquisition of Belcan isn't just a headline grabber; it’s a game-changer in an IT services market that's hitting a plateau. Cognizant now becomes a formidable player in the engineering services industry with domain and technical expertise. The firm now needs is to cross the integration milestone seamlessly to build on this considerable momentum.Read More
From People to Tech arbitrage: Can we really survive this Great Services Transition?
We are in the S-Curve evolution from People to Technology Arbitrage, that the Generative Enterprise demands. This is truly the Great Services Transition, where the entire financial construct of services relationships is being reinvented to capitalize on the complex new ecosystem of AI platform players, hyperscalers, data integration products, automation tools, LLM builders, and so on. Enterprises must address their debts in these four areas which have likely collected over the last 30+ years: People debt, Process debt, Data debt and Technical debt.Read More
Thierry was good in Theory but perhaps not as Palliatable as Pallia
After the failed experiment to make Wipro like a Big 4/Accenture-like firm, Wipro is going back to its Indian-centric 80-year heritage to deliver cost-efficiency, but with capabilities to support transformations, Cloud and GenAI. However, the firm has to play catch-up during the toughest time facing Indian-heritage outsourcing, and Pallia needs to weather more challenging quarters, impatient shareholders, and unrealistic expectations. Thierry hasn't left a great legacy to build on...Read More
India’s bloated IT services firms must learn from their startups to avoid GenAI meltdown
Having just spent a lovely week in India leading an HFS special event in Mumbai, followed by speaking at the Nasscom Technology Leadership Forum, I was overwhelmed with concern that so many leaders in India's services industry really have no concept of what is going to hit them. Indian support services could lose a million positions over the next couple of years as LLMs rapidly change how routine IT testing and coding work are delivered.Read More
HFS is intrepid… apparently
Leading marketing strategy firm Antics has positioned HFS Research as "Intrepid" in a recent analysis of the leading tech analyst firms. Read More
The Truth might just help you win…
In 2024, I will push my team even harder to be brave and speak the truth in this world of bullish*t marketing, relentless hype, blatant lies, and swirl of nonsense. We have more than doubled HFS since 2019, so there is one lesson to take away from this: Truth sells!Read More
Not even God can save DXC!
DXC Technology's latest play is to bring Raul Fernandez off the bench as the new interim chief and move on from a difficult four years under Mike Salvino, who's passing the torch. But when you look at the challenges facing this firm, you might just come to the conclusion that not even God can turn this one around.Let's not kid ourselves; this isn't your usual passing of the baton – it's more like handing off a ticking time bomb. The company's market value is literally running on fumes and barely a third of its revenue numbers. And that's not just a hiccup – it's a full-blown identity crisis.Read More
Services firms are out of runway. They must forget Labor Arbitrage and conform to Technology Arbitrage
The fundamental value creation lever in the legacy Labor Arbitrage era has been the centralization of people in a global delivery model. The fundamental value lever in the Technology Arbitrage era is all about architecting and orchestrating the rapidly changing technology ecosystem in line with the client’s business model. It’s past time for the IT and BPO Services industry to jump to a new S-curve driven by Technology Arbitrage if they wish to get back to another season of hockey stick growth.Read More