- Horses for Sources to provide research for SSON’s buyer community
So you may have noticed a few changes around here over the past week… not only did we retire those rather plump horses on the old site, but we went out and turned ourselves into a fully-fledged research analyst firm.
We’ll be introducing you to several of this motley crew who are feverishly working on their new research schedules over the coming days and weeks, but we did want to talk some more about why we’re doing this and why we believe we’re significantly different.
Essentially, we are providing the customer of outsourcing services with rapid, engaging, no-holds-barred insight into what BPO and global sourcing is all about, how they need to think about governing it, and how they should go about selecting service partners that can actually help them do more than merely cut costs doing operational work. What’s more, we’re using our social networking capability to keep us close to the industry and engage you all so quickly and readily.
For example, our little piece on the NorthgateArinso/ConvergysHRO deal received 14,000 web-visits in the space of 24 hours. That was caused either by NorthgateArinso’s CEO Mark Ettling repeatedly admiring his handsome features, or it may have simply been the fact that we have found unique ways to engage our industry, via our Digest, via our LinkedIn Group, via our Subscribers and via RSS feeds.
Anyhow, as part of our goal to reach the executives who are grappling with the whole outsourcing quagmire, we are delighted to announce that we a formerly creating an alliance with our long-standing friends at the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON). Not only have we run a terrific survey with the assistance of their network, but we’ve also streamed a global live panel over the blog and also conducted some of our discreet buyers’ groups in secret rooms at their venues. Here’s the full announcement which is going over the wires tomorrow:
Horses for Sources and the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) Create Alliance to Provide Unique Analyst Insight and C-suite Forums for Senior Operations Executives
March 9th 2010. London, New York
Horses for Sources, the leading analyst advisory organization focused on outsourcing strategy support, has teamed with the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON), to provide a unique platform for senior outsourcing buyers to access knowledge and peer advice.
As part of the new alliance, senior operations executives in SSON’s premium community can benefit from research being provided by Horses for Sources, including all aspects of Business Process Outsourcing, shared services and governance strategy. Under the terms of the agreement, the “Horses” expert analyst team are available to support SSON’s members with their outsourcing and shared services decisions.
In addition to the research analyst support, SSON’s buy-side executives can benefit from C-level discussion groups, which will be facilitated by Horses for Sources analysts on-site at SSON’s premium events. Upcoming groups will be featured at the forthcoming Shared Services and Outsourcing Week events in Orlando and Edinburgh.
The Horses for Sources organization has been working informally with SSON for the last two years. The success of previous buy-side discussion forums served as the impetus for the formation of a more formal partnership.
Phil Fersht, Founder and CEO of Horses for Sources, stated, “Our goal at Horses is to deliver unbiased insight, research and advice to senior BPO and shared services decision-makers. We have found the community at SSON great to work with, and are excited to engage with their executives on a regular basis. Based on our long-standing relationship, we feel that SSON has the broadest and most comprehensive network of senior operations executives in the sourcing industry, and we are excited to be supporting them with some of the toughest – and most complex – decisions of their careers.”
Sarah Clayton, Global Head of Strategy at SSON added, “The proven depth of insight provided by the Horses for Sources team is exactly what our members demand, and their ongoing popularity and influence with many of our senior executives has driven us to formalize our partnership with Phil and his team. Our goal is not only to provide our community with great knowledge and networking opportunities, but also to help them benefit from the best and brightest minds in the industry. We believe Horses provides that for us, and are delighted to have them with us on this journey.”
Both Phil Fersht and Lee Coulter, Research Fellow and Distinguished Analyst, will present sessions at SSON’s 14th Annual North American Shared Services Week, Orlando March 22nd-25th 2010 and SSON’s 10th Annual European Shared Services Week, Edinburgh May 24th-27th 2010.
About the Partners
Horses for Sources
Horses for Sources is the foremost social networking community and advisory analyst firm, focused on helping enterprises make complex decisions with their global outsourcing strategies.
Horsesprovides the most impactful and frequently-visited collaborative community platform in the global services industry, providing rapid and insightful commentary, analysis and debate of enterprise outsourcing dynamics. The organization is unique in the fact that it integrates personable social networking with market research and advisory services.
Horses’ mission provide a unique environment for collective research, opinion, experience and knowledge across the global outsourcing industry to help enterprises explore new performance thresholds. Led by industry expert Phil Fersht, the Horses for Sources team is a multi-disciplinary group of analysts and experts with deep domain knowledge in Business Process Outsourcing, Industry Specific Process Outsourcing and Cloud Computing.
Launched in 2007, the Horses for Sources blog has more than 80,000 regular visitors across the global outsourcing industry, and is widely recognized as the leading destination for collective insight, research and open debate of industry issues and developments. The Horses LinkedIn community is thriving with 9,000 industry professionals sharing views and information daily.
More information about Horses for Sources can be accessed at www.horsesforsources.com. The company can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/horses4sourcesand LinkedIn by joining “The BPO and Offshoring Best Practices Forum group.”
The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)
SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 18,500 members and more than 350,000 visitors to the community portal per year.
SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.
SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. Its staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.
Note to editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.
Horses for Sources Media Contact:
Jeanne Achille
The Devon Group
New York Metro Office: +1-732-706-0123 +1-732-706-0123 , ext. 11
London Office: (0)207 917 1832
Posted in : Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Captives and Shared Services Strategies, Outsourcing Events, Social Networking, Sourcing Best Practises
Congratulations on partnering with a first-class buyer community. Good to see the “Horses” become a research organization, am sure you guys will be dynamite with your expertise, knowledge of the market and entertaining style,
Peter