Tag: Capgemini

Digital Insurer of the Future — June 27 | Webinar

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Register to attend

Research Practice Director Manu Aggarwal and research analyst Saurabh Verma will be guest speakers during Capgemini’s June 27 webinar: Digital Insurer of the Future.

The webinar will start with a 20-minute introduction by Everest Group on industry trends, the need for digitization of insurance operations, and the role third parties can play in fast-tracking the Digital journey for insurance companies

About the webinar

This webinar will help orgs understand “how to” digitize their front and back-office operations to deliver increased efficiency, faster turnaround time, and enhanced member experience.

Although traditional third-party administrator (TPA) services have been around for quite some time, insurance companies are under increasing pressure to deliver breakthrough innovation in customer experience and a significant reduction in administrative spend through leveraging Digital across their policy administration.

Capgemini has been listening to the market and together with leading analyst firm Everest Group brings you an exciting opportunity to learn how to digitize your insurance operations across your entire core policy administration.

Speakers

Manu Aggarwal, Research Practice Director, Everest Group
Saurabh Verma, Research Senior Analyst, Everest Group

Register to attend

Capgemini Acquires IGATE to Power North American Ambitions | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Today, Capgemini announced the merger agreement to acquire IGATE for $4.04 billion. IGATE is a US-listed technology and services company headquartered in New Jersey with US$1.27 billion in revenue in 2014. The sale of IGATE has been in the offing for a while after private equity company, Apax Partners, which financed most of IGATE’s US$1.2 billion acquisition of Patni Computer Systems in 2011, converted its debt into equity in November 2014 (becoming its largest shareholder) and also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to have the option to sell its stake. The combined group will have nearly US$13 billion in annual revenue and 177,000 people globally. Capgemini aims to realize revenue synergies of US$100-150 million (through cross-selling and account farming) and cost savings of US$75-105 million over the next three years. The deal’s size and cross-ranging implications make it one of the most significant transactions in the IT-BPO industry. Capgemini is paying a premium for its North American ambitions, over 3x revenue multiple. It outstrips other such deals in the marketplace, notable CGI-Logica (2012) and IGATE-Patni (2011), indicative of the scale and urgent imperative driving deal rationale.

Major acquisitions in the IT-BPO market (US$ million)

Major acquisitions in the IT-BPO market

What works?

Prima facie it gives Capgemini a sizable foothold in the North American market, the biggest IT outsourcing market in the world. North America becomes a significant market for the combined entity, comprising nearly one-third of 2015 projected revenue, up from 20% for Capgemini earlier. Europe will still account for over half of the combined revenue. The North American region contributed nearly 80% to IGATE’s revenue in 2014, with marque clients such as GE and Royal Bank of Canada. This had increasingly become important for the company since its French-rival Atos bought Xerox’s North American ITO business late last year. That deal also made Atos the primary IT services provider to Xerox (~US$240 million annual revenue) and also have the right to first refusal on collaborative opportunities with Xerox.

It enhances Capgemini’s delivery presence in offshore/low-cost regions specifically India, where most of IGATE’s 33,000-strong workforce is based. Capgemini had earlier acquired Kanbay in 2006 with a focus on increasing India operations. It also bought Unilever’s India GIC – Unilever India Shared Services Ltd (UISSL) – in parts over 2006-2010. Around two-fifths of Capgemini’s global workforce of 144,000 employees is based in India, with the combined group having an offshore leverage of nearly 55% by the end of 2015, comprising over 90,000 people.

The move adds greater definition to the verticalization maneuvers Capgemini had been driving of late. IGATE’s strong BFSI client roster (CNA, Royal Bank of Canada, MetLife, UBS, Morgan Stanley), comprised over two-fifths of its revenue last year. Similar synergies are expected in manufacturing, healthcare, and retail sectors.

Capgemini’s functional spread stands to gain on account of IGATE’s mixture of IT and BPO services. Specifically, Capgemini has been looking to grow its ADM and BPO business, as enterprise clients exhibit a preference for integrated services stacks led by an expanding As-A-Service economy, combine infrastructure, application, and business process service needs. This is the driving force behind IGATE’s business model – ITOPS or Integrated Technology and Operations, which will help Capgemini position itself as a fully integrated service provider. The deal also holds Capgemini in good stead, bolstering its industrialization play. As the value proposition in the global services space moves beyond labor arbitrage, service providers are looking at non-linear IP-driven revenue sources through products, platforms, and solutions. IGATE has monetized the ITOPS value proposition through productized applications and platforms – IDMS (for BFS), IBAS (for TPA clients), and SIB (for retail customers) – which are distinct P&L-plays for the company. Capgemini is also likely to receive additional tax benefits from the deal, as it is carrying a large deferred tax asset in the U.S.

The uncertain

The adage “culture eats strategy for breakfast” couldn’t be truer for this merger. There is a stark cultural tension with a Europe-heritage firm struggling with offshoring trying to integrate an Indian IT service provider with a strong North American client roster. Plus all is not rosy with IGATE. One of its largest clients, Royal Bank of Canada, has been facing problems for its use of IGATE services while GE’s contribution to revenue has been falling. CEO Ashok Vemuri’s hire-for-growth plan witnessed a bump when Q4 2014 headcount actually fell by about 900 employees. IGATE registered an annual revenue growth of just 10% to $1.27 billion in 2014, lagging other IT peers. On the executive front, the merger means uncertainty for Ashok Vemuri, who left Infosys specifically to take over as CEO after Phaneesh Murthy left. His dream of staying a CEO might be curtailed, and he will be tempted to move on, as he wouldn’t want to occupy a role similar to what he held at Infosys, with even less leverage with the leadership. This potential void in leadership could pose a major hurdle for the integration process.

The road ahead

The move is indeed a bold one by Capgemini to catalyze growth, plug delivery/regional/vertical gaps, and streamline operations. IGATE is the right size for Capgemini to absorb – not too small so it does not have a tangible impact but not so big that to create an integration struggle. The sizable deal size could spur U.S. giants to action. Given Capgemini’s European legacy, other regional service providers could mull their options in a bid to expand their operational footprint. We have already seen recent activity in Europe with the Steria-Sopra merger last year. MNCs struggling for growth and looking at globalizing delivery could start thinking of mid-sized players as possible targets. Some of these players have growth issues, significant PE investments, scaling problems – all of which make a good rationale for a merger with a bigger player. On the other hand, the deal lacks some specific attributes when it comes to next-generation technology tenets such as cognitive computing, automation, digital, and analytics. Moreover, Capgemini will need to bridge the inherent disconnect between two different cultures, systems, processes, and people, to make this integration successful. The deal is certain to spark further consolidation and conversations, as service providers witness pricing pressures, evolving engagement models, and increasing anti-incumbency, in a bid to adapt to the As-A-Service construct.


Photo credit: Capgemini

The Facts About the Recent Service Provider Restructurings

In the past year, multiple global service providers have engaged in restructuring initiatives that will significantly alter their business model and fundamentally change the competitive landscape. Some of these restructurings include:

sp_restructuring_2

Numerous providers have also announced plans around changing operating and talent models. For example:

  •  Workforce rationalization
    • HP has announced ~55,000 job cuts since 2012 in a move toward workforce rationalization
    • IBM’s company-wide employee count dropped in 2013 for the first time in a decade as a result of massive lay-offs
  •  Increased offshoring leverage, particularly in India
    • Capgemini plans to increase share of India to 50 percent of overall firm’s headcount by 2016
    • Atos has announced plans to double its employee strength in India by 2016

While this is not the first instance of service provider restructuring, this time is unique because multiple firms have announced programs at essentially the same time. In addition, there is speculation that other global majors will launch business portfolio restructuring initiatives (i.e., carve-outs, leveraged buyouts).

Why is this happening now? The reasons are relatively straightforward. First, many global providers have experienced reduced profitability in traditional “non-core” businesses. This, coupled with increasing competitive intensity and the shifting competitive landscape is resulting in pricing pressures. Second, next generation capabilities (e.g., social media, SaaS, analytics, and cloud) are poised to become the next growth engines, and all leading players are channelizing their investments in these areas. Finally, most global players are moving toward rationalizing their portfolios for focused investments, due to strained management bandwidth and focus.

But these initiatives will create multiple impacts beyond the obvious strategic objectives. Consider this: over the last eight quarters, the operating margins of the leading global service providers (Accenture, Aon Hewitt, Convergys, CSC, HP Enterprise Services, IBM Global Services, Unisys, and Xerox Services) grew the most in Q2 2014. This restructuring trend will likely continue as some of the long-term benefits translate into improved profitability for global service providers.

Improved profitability of global majors will also impact buyers and other service providers. We anticipate increasing focus by offshore-centric service providers on inorganic growth by acquisitions. They are also likely to scout for more collaboration opportunities to build capabilities, particularly in next generation global services. We also foresee buyers aggressively monitoring provider investments to evaluate sourcing model decisions (i.e., build vs. buy).

Interestingly, one of the unintended after-effects of these restructurings is that the offshore-centric service providers have witnessed better revenue growth than the global majors, and thus have improved in their relative rankings by revenue. For example, TCS recently overtook CSC in terms of overall revenue. And other offshore-centric providers are also bridging the revenue gap with their global counterparts. While this ranking reshuffling has been occurring for some time, the global major’ restructuring initiatives and focus on profitability (sometimes at the expense of revenue growth) has further accelerated this trend.

For more details on these restructuring initiatives and their impact on the global services industry, and other information on leading service providers, please refer to our Market Vista™ Q3 2014 report.

Capgemini Rides the Wave of Demand for Industrialized, Standardized and Pre-packaged Services | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

At Capgemini global analyst event in London last week, the company provided a holistic view of its business growth strategy and internal initiatives to enhance skills and sales capabilities.

Capgemini management was relatively upbeat about growth opportunities while acknowledging the continuing headwinds in its main market in Europe. Economic uncertainty continues in continental Europe, but the need for cost cutting and efficiency is driving demand for services. Capgemini also expects growth from wider adoption of outsourcing and offshoring in continental Europe with a number of large deals on the horizon. Disruptions from cloud and offshoring continue to negatively impact revenue growth but improve margins. At the same time, cloud and other disruptive technologies such as big data, are increasing demand for services and boosting business.

Against this backdrop, Capgemini provided guidance of 5% – 7% organic revenue growth for the mid-term. Paul Hermelin, Group CEO, also indicated that the company is well on its way to achieving an operating margin of 10%. Assuming a 2-3 year period for mid-term, this is in keeping with outlook at the end of Q1 2014: organic revenue growth of 2% to 4% and an operating margin rate between 8.8% and 9.0% for 2014.

In terms of services, industrialization, standardization, innovation and pre-packaging dominated the company’s strategy. In infrastructure services the strategy has seen service delivery standardized and globalized with increasing focus on RIM, automation, cloud migration, orchestration and brokerage services. Capgemini saw +19% growth in cloud bookings year on year in 2013.

Application management has turned into a success story for Capgemini too. This is something of a turn around with dwindling bookings reversed into an increase of 60% in 2013 and 40% in Q1 2014. This has been achieved through industrialization and taking a factory approach to AM. Capgemini highlighted circa 30% cost savings for clients through this approach. It is also offering a new approach to AM services with a business process focus – where KPI’s include related business process metrics. This is a novel approach to AM that Everest Group will cover in a separate piece.

Another key lever for growth is innovation with Capgemini investing in IP in its strategic offerings (which are based on major technological transformation themes such as customer experience, cloud, mobility, big data, and social media). In keeping with this strategy, Capgemini will continue to target demand in the market for digitization of services and for transforming big data into new business opportunities. Similar opportunities from the Internet of things is also on its radar.

The widening of the strategic offerings portfolio with more IP is to boost profitability with higher margin services. Capgemini has shown that it can do well in these. Its strategic offerings grew by 19% in 2013 and are on the way to grow by 20% in 2014.

The drive for innovation is likely to lead to more acquisitions and partnership co-development. The latter brings with it the risks of investing in ambitious technology that proves too difficult to bring to market in a timely fashion e.g. Skysight, the cloud service orchestration product which Capgemini is developing in partnership with Microsoft, has been delayed.

Verticalization is another growth lever for Capgemini. One example is industry managed services offerings with OnePath Suite. This consists of pre-packaged SAP solutions that have been pre-configured for specific verticals, such as CPG, Energy and Life Sciences, and which will be delivered and set up as part of hosted and managed services with the potential to add business process services on top of bundled infrastructure and software integration.

BPO services are also being extended from the core F&A offerings to a broader set of services aimed at CFOs, including spend analytics, internal audit, SC analytics and MDM, and tax efficient accounting.

Internal organizational measures include:

  • HR: Increasing the size of the offshore workforce and its leadership while flattening the labor pyramid in other regions
  • Sales: A unified ‘One Group’ approach is being rolled out with dedicated major account teams, new rules across P&Ls and priority access to Group assets.

With globalization of services have come the challenges of managing resources better and increasing utilization rates. Capgemini needs a robust global organization to support its evolving delivery model. The HR strategy is addressing this requirement.

Capgemini has had an entrepreneurial culture with many P&L centers. This has led to a sales structure that has adapted to local market conditions. The implementation of a ‘One Group’ approach to major accounts is needed to tap into large multi-national opportunities that can now be supported by Capgemini’s global delivery model.

Overall, Capgemini has made excellent progress in transforming itself to ride the wave of demand in the market for modernized services and to compete with India-based vendors who are targeting Europe, Capgemini’s biggest market. Offshoring and globalization of service delivery has been largely achieved. Other aspects of the strategy are still work in progress but with the economic outlook generally brighter across the globe, the company is set well to achieve its latest guidance.

Capgemini Acquires VWA: 2011 Truly is FAO’s Year for Acquisitions!!! | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

In my blog earlier this year on Serco’s decision to purchase Intelenet, I posed the question if 2011 would be FAO’s year for significant acquisitions. After all, it was the fourth major deal of the year, following on the heels of iGATE-Patni, Genpact-Headstrong, and EXL-OPI. With Capgemini’s just-announced acquisition of Vengroff, Williams & Associates, Inc.’s order to cash (O2C) business, which operates under the name VWA, we certainly have our answer.

The increased competitive intensity (and thus the need for differentiation) in the global FAO market is in some ways reflected through the heightened M&A activity we’ve seen this year. However, unlike some of the other acquisitions that were driven by scale consolidation, Capgemini-VWA can be seen as driven by several other themes that are also relevant in today’s global FAO market:

  • Acquisition of niche players by established leaders to augment their capability – This deal will enable Capgemini to strengthen its leadership position in the FAO market through enhanced O2C offerings. Everest Group’s analysis suggests that O2C is the single largest segment in the global FAO market, accounting for nearly 35 percent of the market. O2C BPO services can help clients reduce revenue leakage, accelerate the cash-flow cycle, and limit bad debt expense – outcomes that clients are increasingly demanding in the current economic scenario. The acquisition not only brings marquee clients such as Yamaha, Chiquita, Cisco, News Corp, Walt Disney, Oracle, Cincinnati Bell, and Mattel into Capgemini’s portfolio, but also may enable it to expand the outsourced relationship with some of these companies. Additionally, VWA possesses strong process capabilities in credit analytics, cash application, and collections, supported by leading dispute and deductions toolsets
  • Building onshore O2C presence – For reasons such as increased reservation against offshoring jobs in the U.S., or O2C clients’ preference for onshore delivery of outsourced collections services for their high-value accounts, many FAO service providers have invested in expanding their onshore presence. With this acquisition, Capgemini gains onshore O2C capabilities as over 300 experts, mainly based in the U.S. (with the rest in six locations across Europe) will join its existing BPO organization
  • Enhancing platform-based solutions – With increasing market maturity, the FAO value proposition has evolved beyond cost arbitrage and is now driven by best-in-class process expertise and technology-led solutions. A key asset that comes with this acquisition is VWA’s Webcollect O2CPro platform, which combines collections risk management, predictive account scoring, and portfolio management, and provides multi-lingual and multi-currency support. Capgemini BPO has already integrated Webcollect O2CPro software into its F&A offering through the ongoing partnership it has had with VWA for over a year. With this move, Capgemini has extended its software and services platform-based BPO strategy that was developed through its 2010 acquisition of the IBX platform

With its strong capabilities in O2C, VWA has long been an attractive acquisition target. Kudos to Capgemini for not only seizing the opportunity but also for enhancing multiple aspects of its O2C value proposition in the process.

Business Process as a Service (BPaaS): New Houses in Shabby Neighborhoods | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

The BPO industry has long been heralded by McKinsey & Company and NASSCOM as the next growth engine of the global services industry. And for years, McKinsey has pointed to the theoretically huge, unaddressed services space that, in theory, could be open to labor arbitrage. But the reality is that the BPO industry itself is searching for the next big growth driver, as it continues to disappoint investors, providers, and customers as a source of additional value beyond labor arbitrage. This relentless, if misplaced, faith in the segment’s value prospects reminds me of the modern proverb attributed to Yogi Berra, “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” 

However, the newly built BPaaS homes and those under construction may help spruce up the increasingly shabby BPO neighborhoods. BPaaS is attractive as it has the potential to substantially reduce a client’s TCO when compared to a traditional BPO model. It also promises a reduced capex and a utility-based opex. But perhaps the biggest benefit is the nirvana state of standardization and process harmonization that it can offer.

So, who’s building? And where?

Capgemini made a significant play in the procurement BPaaS space with its acquisition of IBX last year. And its on-demand platform already boasts several big tickets clients including Kraft, Novozymes, and Hilti.

TCS now has a dedicated platform-based BPO business division that offers clients several platforms across F&A, procurement, HR, and analytics. In fact, analytics could emerge as a major area for BPaaS solutions given the current low install base of legacy technologies in the space and organizations’ increasing yearning to utilize data for smarter decision making. And the exponential rise in unstructured data from social media, mobile users, and others is creating a space ripe for a BPaaS play.

BPaaS is also having a major impact on the HR function with platform-based HRO offerings from firms such as ADP. In fact, nearly 70 percent of all multi-process HRO contracts signed in 2010 had a platform-based solution, and propelled the adoption of HRO in the mid-market. BPaaS solutions catering exclusively to the mid-market, such as TCS’ iON, are also starting to emerge in other business areas.

On the other hand, BPaaS is not the be-all, end-all silver-bullet as most organizations are not looking for disruptive changes to their existing technology landscape. There is no big driver to a BPaaS model if the basic functionality already exists and if the installed base of such technologies is high. F&A BPO is one market in which BPaaS has not really taken off. Hence, the technology play in F&A BPO is largely around plugging gaps with point solutions or improving efficiencies with workflows.

Yes, swanky looking new BPaaS homes are being constructed in shabby BPO neighborhoods. But we still have to wait and watch how many people come and buy them.

The Smart Metering Wave and Its Impact on Utilities’ Meter-to-Cash Process | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Meter-to-Cash (M2C) is a significant process for utility companies as it not only represents their revenue cycle but also touches the end customer directly. Essentially M2C is the utility industry’s version of the generic Order-to-Cash (O2C) process. These are times of change for the utility industry due to a variety of reasons, the advent of disruptive technologies such as smart metering being one of them.

While the future of smart metering is still being debated, many facts suggest that it’s no longer an “if” but a “when.” For example, the United States in November 2009 directed US$3.4 billion in federal economic stimulus funding to smart grid development. The European Union in September 2009 enacted a “Third Energy Package,” which aims to see every European electricity meter smart by 2022. A recent study by ABI Research projects the global deployment of smart meters to grow at a CAGR of nearly 25 percent from 2009-2014. A combination of factors including regulatory push, intense competition (particularly in deregulated markets), and the business benefits that smart meters offer to utilities’ operations – in terms of tightened revenue cycles and increased customer satisfaction – are driving the adoption of smart meters.

However, deploying a smart metering infrastructure is no small task for a utility as it brings in many fundamental changes to the M2C operations. Managing the cutover from traditional to smart meters, dealing with new network technologies, the diminished role of field services, and the upgrades required to meter data management systems (MDMS) are just some of the key challenges that utilities undergoing smart metering implementation need to overcome. But the even bigger challenge arrives after implementation – how does a utility manage the massive explosion in meter data in the “smart” world? As opposed to meter reads every month or two, we are now talking about reads once every hour that thousands of smart meters throw back to the utility’s MDMS. Even more importantly, how should a utility leverage the data for meaningful business intelligence purposes?

Many utilities have found the answer in outsourcing some of the M2C functions to external service providers that have jumped on the smart metering wave with services ranging from pre-implementation advisory to post-implementation services such as smart analytics offerings. For example, Capgemini‘s smart energy services offering focuses on the requirements of utilities undergoing smart metering implementation. It recently launched a new smart metering management platform – labeled as Smart Energy Services Platform – for utilities to support all the end-to-end business processes necessary for the deployment and ongoing operation of a smart meter estate.

If you’re an M2C BPO provider that hasn’t yet considered including smart metering services in your portfolio, are you still debating the future of smart metering?

Learn more about M2C BPO at Everest Group’s May 10 webinar.

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