Author: KatrinaMenzigian

Analyst Relations Quarterly Newsletter | Q4 2022

Dear Analyst Relations colleagues –

As we wrap up 2022 and try to get ahead of the curve for 2023, we’re all thinking about what’s to come. And Analyst Relations teams are often in the hot seat of helping their internal stakeholders navigate the strategic decisions for the year ahead. In this issue and for upcoming events, I’ll focus on offering you Everest Group insights and information that will help you and your AR team be ready to respond to those questions.

The first event is our live webinar on Tuesday, December 13, Key Issues 2023: Rise Above Economic Uncertainty and Succeed. Our research leaders will explain why 2023 will see a divergence between the direction of GDP and spending on IT-BPS Services. They will highlight the expected bright spots for our markets and how to position to capitalize on those opportunities. The presentation will include findings from our Key Issues 2023 Survey, helping you hone in on what enterprises are thinking about. Sign up here and join the discussion, including the live Q&A.

Next, on January 12, will be our webinar, Key Themes to Help Analyst Relations Teams Navigate 2023 | An AR-professional Exclusive Webinar. I’ll join colleagues and Everest Group Partners Abhishek Singh and Manu Aggarwal to discuss how AR teams can create meaningful impact for your organizations, given our 2023 predictions and all that’s to come. We’ll also look at which areas of AR investment stand to deliver value, and which should be avoided. Please register here.

As in every quarter, please see below for our Talent Spotlight, recently published thought leadership, our newest PEAK Matrix® Assessments, and a sneak peek at some of the findings to be shared in the Key Issues 2023 webinar.

Wishing you a healthy and fulfilling holiday season!

Best Regards,

Katrina Menzigian
Vice President, Analyst Relations Engagement

Explore our latest published research

Market Vista™: Q3 2022 | Report

Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) – State of the Market 2023 | Report

A New Paradigm of Marketing Beckons: Marketing Services State of the Market Report 2022 | Report

Global Locations State of the Market Report 2022: Talent Locations Strategies | Locations PEAK Matrix®

US Talent Supply Landscape for the Top 10 In-demand Technology Skills | Report

India’s Services Delivery Overview – Tier-1 Hubs Continue to Grow, Tier-2/3 Speeding Up | Report

Explore our recent custom research

Case #1: Everest Group Creates Six-year Strategy Roadmap for the Philippines IT-BP Industry

Case #2: Everest Group Supports a Multinational Cyclical Commodities Major in Its Future Location and Workforce Strategy

Explore our informative blogs and infographics

The Role of ESG in IT Services Pricing: Is There a Case for a Green Premium? | Blog

Why Metaverse Growth Will Put Trust and Safety (T&S) Center Stage | Blog

Engineering Services Price Benchmarking Catalog | Market Insights™

No-code Low-code AI | Market Insights™

Talent Spotlight

Hrishi Raj Agarwalla is a Practice Director in Everest Group’s Global Sourcing team. In this role, he assists clients with global services delivery locations and workforce strategy. Hrishi has rich experience across projects covering location selection, delivery portfolio optimization, cost/talent benchmarking, and sourcing strategy. In addition, Hrishi also manages Everest Group’s Market Vista™ membership offering, which includes a suite of quarterly and annual reports that capture the key developments across multiple aspects of the global services industry.

CONNECT WITH HRISHI RAJ ON LINKEDIN

Prashant ShuklaVice President at Everest Group, leads the Financial Research practice, which includes its Executive Insights™ program for CXOs within IT and business process service provider organizations. In addition, Prashant leads the firm’s proprietary financial analysis of service providers, which provides the foundation for many external and internal research activities and deliverables.

CONNECT WITH PRASHANT ON LINKEDIN

Featured Video

Addressing Global Uncertainty Across Major Economies Related to Pandemic, Recession | 1 of 3

In the first of this three-part video series, watch as Everest Group’s Prashant Shukla, Vice President, Akash Verma, Practice Director, and Mansi Mehta, Analyst, discuss the current uncertainty in business across the major economies of the world. Hear our latest insights on this topic and our methodology to track recent economic trends.

WATCH NOW

Stay in the Know

Key Issues for 2023: Rise Above Economic Uncertainty and Succeed | Webinar Join Everest Group’s Key Issues 2023 webinar as our experts provide insights into the outlook of the global IT-BP industry and discuss major concerns, expectations, and key trends expected to amplify in 2023.

REGISTER

Key Themes to Help Analyst Relations Teams Navigate 2023 | Webinar

This webinar will prepare AR professionals to influence the thinking of their internal stakeholders on the key trends, dynamics, and likely scenarios to expect in the coming year.

REGISTER

In the News

Leveling Up. Hiring in IT Services Sector Slows after Two-year Record High | In the News

Nitish Mittal, Partner at Everest Group, believes that the market for IT services will decelerate from 10.4% organic constant currency growth in FY22 to 6.7% in FY23 (March ending).

READ ON

How IT Leaders Can Manage Costs during Inflation and Develop Better Outsourcing Partnerships | In the News

Amy Fong, Partner at Everest Group, says that industry stakeholders can only lower outsourcing costs by appreciating the concern’s existence and developing appropriate strategies to improve flexibility in industrial operations.

READ ON

How Will the Metaverse Affect the Future of Work? | In the News

The broader adoption of metaverse platforms could increase employee engagement irrespective of where they are. “This will help savvy enterprises attract needed talent without worrying about the physical offices,” said Yugal Joshi, Partner at Everest Group.

READ ON

IT-BPM Industry Drives Economic Growth | In the News

Quoting from an in-depth study done by Everest Group on the next six years of the BPO (business process outsourcing) sector, IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) President Jack Madrid gave an optimistic forecast that their industry can grow by 8% annually in the next six years, growing in total revenue from US$29.5 billion in 2021 to almost US$60 billion by 2028.

READ ON

PEAK Matrix® | Recent Releases

Process Orchestration – Technology Provider Landscape with Products PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2023

SAP Business Application Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2023 – Global

Decentralized Clinical Trial Platforms PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2023

Healthcare Customer Experience Management (CXM) Services in North America PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2023

 

 

 

Research Teams that Deliver Maximum Value: The Everest Group Approach | LinkedIn Live

LINKEDIN lIVE

Research Teams that Deliver Maximum Value: The Everest Group Approach

View the event on LinkedIn, which was delivered live on Thursday, October 20, 2022.

Have you ever wondered if there is a strategy behind how research firms allocate their analyst resources for each project👥?

Join this session to learn how Everest Group executes on its research projects and why it’s important for analyst relations teams to understand our approach. We’ll explore how we manage and apply our research teams, our methods of analyst collaboration, and how our approach affects the quality and credibility of the research we produce to ensure maximum value📈.

Our speakers will explore:

✅How Everest Group allocates its highly valuable analyst resources for research projects and studies
✅How Everest Group develops its talent pools and deploys them for various projects
✅Why analyst relations teams should pursue these questions with all research firms, and how Everest Group answers them

Analyst Relations Quarterly Newsletter | Q3 2022

Dear Analyst Relations colleagues –

Growing up in a family of engineers, I had a first-hand view of how problems can be framed and solved – whether for professional endeavors or planning a home renovation project. Although I was the lone non-engineer, I developed an appreciation for how engineering shapes the world at the most fundamental levels. This is especially true today. The engineering services market has seen strong growth in demand as enterprises seek to incorporate numerous forms of innovation into how they run their businesses and create differentiation in the marketplace. Whether medical devices and personal medicine, IoT, digitization, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, or sustainability – take your pick – engineering services are needed to knit these individual technical capabilities into the reality of how we live and work. Engineering services are directly shaping how organizations recruit talent, design products, and support customers.

Everest Group began following the engineering services space some years ago. Over time our coverage has expanded in terms of topics covered and depth of analysis to include automotive, semiconductors, aerospace and defense, telecom, media and entertainment, medical devices, software, and Industry 4.0.

In this quarter’s issue of our Analyst Relations Newsletter, we share highlights from our engineering services portfolio and introduce you to our lead thinkers on the topic. You’ll learn how we’ve worked with both providers and enterprises to help them develop, execute, and manage their respective engineering services programs through our research portfolio and our custom engagements. I hope you have a smooth transition from the playful summer months to the more focused months of the coming fall.

Best regards:

Katrina Menzigian
Vice President, Analyst Relations Engagement

Explore our latest published research

Taming the Hydra: Trust and Safety (T&S) in the Metaverse

Sustainability Enablement Technology Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022

Engineering Next-generation Digital Products

Mirror into the Megatrends

Explore our recent custom research

Case #1: How Everest Group advised a leading engineering services provider on growth strategy in the embedded engineering market

Case #2: Everest Group supports a leading global engineering services provider in accelerating growth within key accounts

Explore our informative blogs and infographics

The Era of “Industrialization of Experience” Is Heralding the Metaverse and Web 3.0 Revolution: Are You Embracing It? | Blog

Six Common Challenges Customer Experience (CX) Leaders Face | Blog

Optimizing Employee Experience (EX) Requires Understanding Visible and Invisible Data | Market Insights™

Cybersecurity Talent Tier-1 and -2 Cities | Market Insights™

Talent Spotlight

Akshat Vaid, Vice President at Everest Group, leads engineering services research and advisory across industry verticals and service segments. He assists global enterprises on a variety of initiatives across engineering, technology, outsourcing, and ecosystem engagement and works with global engineering service providers on business growth strategy, competitiveness, and differentiation.

CONNECT WITH AKSHAT ON LINKEDIN

Featured Video

Low-code Capabilities and the Best Low-code Platforms

In this video, our analysts discuss the recent Low-code Application Development Platforms PEAK Matrix® assessment examining the best low-code platforms and providers in the market, including their low-code capabilities, the different categories of low-code platforms that exist, the growth of the low-code market, pricing, and why successful adoption depends on selecting the right providers.

Stay in the Know

Building Successful Digital Product Engineering Businesses | On-demand Webinar

Join us as our experts deliver a deep understanding of the digital product engineering market, the trends impacting this space, and potential avenues and opportunities that leaders should examine.

WATCH NOW

What’s Ahead After a Decade of Digital Transformation? | Webinar

Join this webinar as our analysts share perspectives on what’s in store for the digital transformation industry and provide recommendations and best practices on how to keep pace with exponential technologies such as web 3.0, metaverse, and quantum computing.

REGISTER

In the News

How Insurers Can Retain Skilled IT Talent with Workload Automation and Orchestration | In the News

According to Ronak Doshi, VP at Everest Group, only 4% of millennials are interested in working in insurance technology roles because they perceive the industry as slow to adopt innovative technologies.

READ ON

CCAP Optimistic of IT-BPM Job, Revenue Growth | In the News

CCAP cited data from global research firm Everest Group that showed the local IT-BPM industry’s headcount grew by up to 10% last year to over 120,000 jobs—its strongest since 2016.

READ ON

Surprise! The Metaverse Is Going to Suck for Privacy | In the News

“Advanced technologies, especially in VR headsets and smart glasses, will track behavioral and biometric information at a record scale,” explains Everest Group in its recent report: Taming the Hydra: Trust and Safety in the Metaverse.

READ ON

Indian IT Firms Cut Staff Bonuses as US, European Clients Tighten Budgets | In the News

“There’s growing conviction in businesses that we need to prepare for a (global) recession,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of Everest Group. “The first thing they do is try to eliminate discretionary spending. It is early, but starting to happen.”

READ ON

PEAK Matrix ® | Recent Releases

Industry 4.0 Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022: Unleashing the Era of Phygital Manufacturing

Customer Experience Management (CXM) in EMEA – Service Provider Landscape with PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022

Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) Products PEAK Matrix® Assessment with Technology Vendor Landscape 2022

Employee Experience Management (EXM) Platforms PEAK Matrix® Assessment

Navigating Everest Group’s RFI Process: A Deep Dive for Analyst Relations Professionals | LinkedIn Live

LINKEDIN LIVE

Navigating Everest Group's RFI Process: A Deep Dive for Analyst Relations Professionals

View the event on LinkedIn, which was delivered live on July 21, 2022.

Analyst relations (AR) professionals face daily questions from colleagues and internal stakeholders regarding the RFIs they oversee. Each research firm has its own data collection methods and tools; some overlap, but most aren’t consistent across the board. 🤯

📢 Join this session for a deep dive into Everest Group’s RFI process. Our speakers will highlight upcoming changes, answer questions we often hear from AR, and offer tips on best practices that will ease the stress associated with RFIs in general.

Key questions our speakers will explore:

➡ Why are Everest Group’s RFIs longer and more detailed than other research firms?
➡ Why can’t you use one RFI for multiple studies?
➡ Is there a way to streamline buyer interviews and input?
➡ What are some key best practices for completing Everest Group RFIs?

Meet the Presenters

Analyst Relations Quarterly Newsletter | Q2 2022

Dear Analyst Relations colleagues –

Do you find yourself asking the question, “what’s it all about?” I do. I don’t think I’m the only one, but the experiences of these past couple of years have at times led me to a reflective state of mind. In so many ways, we have had to think about how we as individuals fit into our society and the greater world. Paradigms about our views of health, success, environment, and even major systems like our social and political order, have all come into question. More often, our discussions and thoughts are less about “me” and more about “we.”

In our sphere of IT and business services and products, perhaps it’s this reflection that has fueled a more intentional look at how we’re building our businesses and looking at how 2 + 2 can possibly equal more than four. Can we really be profitable and “do good” at the same time? Short answer – Yes! At Everest Group, we have doubled down to more intentionally build out a body of work that deeply explores and examines the uber-big topic of sustainability. This has involved developing frameworks for describing purpose-driven businesses, conducting primary research to show what is actually happening on the ground, identifying growing business opportunities, and engaging in meaningful conversations with those taking the lead on sustainability.

Explore this issue of our Analyst Relations Newsletter to learn what Everest Group has been doing in impact sourcing, sustainable technology, sustainability in financial services, and many other areas.

Best regards –

Katrina Menzigian
Vice President, Analyst Relations Engagement

Explore our latest published research

Sustainability Enablement Technology Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022

The Growing Need for Inclusive Talent Models: Learning from Impact Sourcing Specialists

Impact Sourcing Specialists Service Provider Profiles 2022

Explore our informative thought leadership

What’s in a Name – Defining Our Journey toward Sustainability 4.0 | Blog

How ESG Fits into the Business Services Industry, with Everest Group | Podcast

Everest Group Definition of Impact Sourcing | Market Insights™

Explore our recent custom research

Client Success Story #1: A leading global service provider engaged Everest Group to conduct a deep-dive study and workshop on the current competitive landscape for sustainability technology enablement services in the European market.

Client Success Story #2: Everest Group’s Amy Fong and Rita Soni spoke at SIG’s 2022 Procurement Technology Summit on April 5, 2022, on the topic of “ESG in Services: What Sourcing Teams Must Know to Do More.”

Talent Spotlight

Rita N. Soni, Principal Analyst, Impact Sourcing and Sustainability Research at Everest Group, is providing overarching insight and framing of environment, social, and governance (ESG) efforts across practice areas, with a special focus on inclusive talent strategies, including impact sourcing. She assists clients on a wide array of topics across the ESG landscape.

CONNECT WITH RITA ON LINKEDIN

Featured Video

Impact Sourcing in Action | #EGresponsible Series

Watch the most recent video in our #EGresponsible series as Everest Group’s Anurag Sharma and Dhiraj Dolwani, CEO of impact sourcing company B2R Technologies, share how their business relationship came to fruition, evolved, and overcame challenges.

Watch All Videos in this Series

Stay in the Know

Profits with Purpose – Is It a Balancing Act or Are There Business Cases? | LinkedIn Live

Join this LinkedIn Live event as our experts present compelling business cases for sustainability and reveal key takeaways from our inaugural Sustainability Enablement Technology Services PEAK Matrix® Report, which details ways that providers are helping enterprises realize their sustainability goals.

REGISTER

Why Technology is the Key to Enabling Sustainability | On-demand Webinar

Watch this webinar as our experts discuss current sustainability enablement technology services market trends and provide insights on how the market is shaping out.

WATCH NOW

In the News

South Korea Is Betting on the Metaverse — And It Could Provide a Blueprint for Others | In the News

Yugal Joshi, Partner at Everest Group, says, “It’s interesting, it’s predominantly a private sector and Big Tech-driven initiative and trend. Governments have not done much beyond South Korea.”

READ ON

KPMG Plans 3,500 UK Hires as Big Four Accountancy Firms Grow Their Tech Focus | In the News

The Products launch by KPMG brings it into line with other services being offered by rival businesses, says Nitish Mittal, Partner at Everest Group.

READ ON

Is Africa the New Global Talent Pool? | In the News

Parul Jain, Practice Director at Everest Group, states that Africa possesses the potential to fill up the talent gap.

READ ON

7 Hot IT Outsourcing Trends — and 7 Going Cold | In the News

“A price rise – if not across the board, for majority of workloads – is in the cards,” says Yugal Joshi, Partner at Everest Group.

READ ON

PEAK Matrix ® | Recent Releases

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022 – Global and EMEA

Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) – Technology Provider Landscape with Products PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022

Trust and Safety – Content Moderation Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022

Employee Experience Management (EXM) Platforms PEAK Matrix® Assessment

Analyst Relations Quarterly Newsletter | Q1 2022

Dear Analyst Relations colleagues –

As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2022, and two years since the start of the COVID pandemic, it feels like the right time to pause to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re headed. In this spirit, we’re making some changes here at Everest Group as well. I am happy to say that I have rejoined Everest Group in the newly created role of Vice President of Analyst Relations Engagement! As part of this new role, authorship of the quarterly Analyst Relations Newsletter will pass from Elizabeth Boudrie to me. I have to thank Elizabeth for being such a good steward of this quarterly newsletter and for setting me up for success right from the start!

In my new role as VP, Analyst Relations Engagement, I will focus on bringing an institutional lens to how our firm interacts with and supports the analyst relations professionals in our industry. My role is in addition to the relationships you may already have with our analysts and Client Directors – we’re all working together as a team. My role is to learn about AR professionals’ priorities and experiences and to integrate that perspective into Everest Group’s offerings, processes, and investments. As someone with over 20 years of background as an analyst and a deep familiarity with Everest Group, I hope to bring a unique nuance to our conversations. Thanks to all who have already shared with me their thoughts, and I look forward to speaking with many of you in the coming months. I’m available when you are!

Each of our newsletters focuses on a theme, and this issue is no exception. The dramatic events taking place in Ukraine have us all thinking about the impact to service delivery from locations around the region and the world more broadly. Perhaps no other research firm has the breadth and depth of readily available locations research. Not only do we have data about the facts on the ground, but we have the expertise to provide analysis and perspective on the impact of events as they unfold. Additionally, Everest Group’s Europe-based team offers nuanced perspectives only possible when you’re on the ground closer to developments.

In this issue, we highlight some of the thought pieces, roundtables, webinars, and assessments we’ve already published on the topic, but also those that are forthcoming. Our Global Locations team will continue to follow developments closely and will offer valuable insights to our clients on managing their global delivery centers and their sourcing relationships from various perspectives, including talent, security, and pricing, among other things.

Best regards –
Katrina Menzigian
Vice President, Analyst Relations Engagement

Talking Points

Explore our latest published research and events

2021 Wrapped, Unwrapping 2022

Global Locations State of the Market Report 2021: Embracing Uncertainties in a Disrupted World | Locations PEAK Matrix®

Explore our recent custom research

  • Client Success Story #1: Top 10 service provider effectively targets and engages Global Business Services acquisition prospects armed with research insights and account intelligence
  • Client Success Story #2: Global IT-BPO service provider confidently creates a robust European service delivery locations strategy as a result of workshops and deep-dive assessments, and research-informed recommendations

READ ON

Special Coverage: Ukraine-Russia Crisis

In response to the unfolding events in Ukraine, we have created a resource center where you’ll find our consolidated coverage of this evolving situation.

We begin with comments from our CEO, Peter Bendor-Samuel.

Featured Blog

Decoding the Location Mystery for Technology Services Talent Delivery

Upcoming Events

Can Africa Help Address the Talent Shortage? | LinkedIn Live Recording 

In this LinkedIn Live event, discover the regions where talent is growing, like Africa, and where organizations should double down now for existing talent.

Watch Now

Why Inclusivity Is Essential in Building Your Tech Talent Workforce | LinkedIn Live Recording

Join this LinkedIn Live session to learn how businesses are turning to alternative sources of talent to meet the tech talent need, and what they should be doing to search for tech.

Watch Now

Talent Spotlight

Prashray Kala, Vice President at Everest Group, leads the delivery location portfolio advisory practice and assists clients with global sourcing strategies, location decisions, and talent strategy design. He also leads a practice focused on country and industry associations helping create country-level strategies for the IT-BPO industry and designing enablers for further growth of the industry. You can follow him on LinkedIn.

In the News

5G Technology Advances Overshadowed by Ongoing Spectrum Wrangling | In the News

Nitish Mittal, Partner at Everest Group, says while there have been “a lot of initiatives in the US and European markets” from regulators focused on spectrum allocation, they have not been met by “equal improvement in 5G adoption and applications.”

Read On

The Coder Supply Chain Runs through Ukraine | In the News 

Ukrainian code can be found almost anywhere in the world. It’s on Wall Street (Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.) and in international banks (Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, and UBS Group AG). It’s in manufacturers of airplanes (Boeing Co.), cars (Daimler AG and BMW), mobile networks (BT), and phones (Samsung), said Anurag Srivastava, a London-based Vice President at Everest Group.

Read On

Edge Computing and 5G: What’s Next for Enterprise IT? | In the News

“The 5G and edge combination varies by the type of enterprise business,” says Yugal Joshi, Partner at Everest Group, where he leads the firm’s digital, cloud, and application services research practices.

Read On

Top 4 Mistakes to Avoid When Digitally Transforming Your Business | In the News

An Everest Group study further found that 73% of companies failed at providing any business value from the transformations they initiated. With digital transformation spending predicted to increase to $3.3 trillion by 2025, the loss is poised to only get worse.

Read On

EXPLORE MORE NEWS ITEMS

PEAK Matrix ® | Recent Releases

Analyst Relations Newsletter Q1 2018 | Key Highlights from Custom Research

Advised a leading Engineering Services provider on refining its market positioning and improving articulation of capabilities to customers

Client overview and background: The client believed that while it had strong engineering capabilities, it lacked in impactful messaging and effective articulation of business impact created

Our approach: Everest Group conducted a detailed analysis of client impact created across marquee projects in four areas of focus:

  • Design Thinking
  • AI/ML/Automation led engineering efficiency improvements
  • Transforming traditional products to smart products
  • Industry 4.0/Factory of the future

Client benefits: Everest Group was successful in bringing out compelling differentiation for the client, emphasizing on innovation and unique strengths, and enhancing articulation of outcomes. Everest Group’s inputs and insights served as a direct input into the client’s marketing strategy, sales pitch documents, and overall branding material.

Case Study II: Assisted a leading Engineering Services provider in identifying best-fit European location for delivery of engineering services

Client overview and background: The client’s current delivery presence in Europe was spread across small-scale centers and client sites. The client wanted to identify the best-fit location for establishing a large-scale delivery center which would service some of its existing clients as well as support a new large client.

Our approach: Everest Group conducted a detailed assessment of multiple locations in Southern Europe and Central & Eastern Europe. The analysis was based on a combination of analyst visits, interviews with market participants, and proprietary databases and IP.

Client benefits: The analysis provided views across Automotive Engineering skills and other adjacent verticals (Semiconductor, Electrical & Electronics, Medical, Telecom & networking, Software/Internet). The detailed assessment consisted of a deep-dive on skills availability, operating costs, incentives, infrastructure, existing player landscape, and business environment assessment. Everest Group also provided insights on scalability potential and forward-looking talent sustainability across the cities.

Five Ways to Reduce Contact Center Costs with Automation and Chatbots | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Everest Group’s recent research revealed that successful adoption of RPA and chatbots in contact centers can reduce the total cost of contact center operations by 11-16 percent. Yet, very few enterprises have achieved these levels of automation-driven cost reduction in their contact center operations. Why? Technology is just one piece of the puzzle. In order to unlock the true benefits of automation solutions in your contact center, you also need to focus on organizational readiness, effective change management, and better governance mechanisms.

Five ways to reduce contact center costs with RPA & chatbots


Analyze and select the right processes for automation

Enterprises should start by identifying the contact center processes that are most suitable for automation. To achieve breakeven in quick time, it’s best to start by automating highly repetitive and less complex business processes with RPA. For example, a process wherein agents spend exorbitant amounts of time navigating through multiple systems and applications to fetch the required information is ideal to automate with RPA.

Re-engineer business processes before automation

Automating business processes that aren’t standardized or simplified can result in more exceptions. But optimizing them before automating them, with IT and operations jointly looking at them through the RPA lens, can greatly reduce exceptions. Learnings from best-in-class RPA implementers also suggest that business process re-engineering is a significant step to realizing the strategic objectives of RPA adoption.

Build winning partnerships

Building a partner ecosystem with leading RPA technology vendors and/or system integrators that offer best-in-breed automation platforms and specialized domain expertise is crucial to achieving successful RPA adoption. Doing so can help enterprises save time and effort at every stage of RPA adoption, which eventually manifests in effective cost savings.

Make a quick transition from pilots to large-scale deployments

Enterprises that achieve significant financial impact and rapid return on their RPA investments quickly scale-up from the pilot stage to large-scale deployments. To move fast successfully, it’s important to foresee challenges ahead while in the pilot stage, and begin mitigation efforts earlier. Enterprises can also follow an agile implementation approach, which could enable their RPA deployments to quickly and flexibly adapt to changes in business requirements or underlying applications.

Integrate RPA with chatbots to achieve incremental cost reduction

Once RPA has delivered some quick wins, enterprises can deploy chatbots alongside RPA to realize incremental cost savings. For example, chatbots can resolve less complex customer queries more quickly when RPA bots fetch the necessary information and relevant insights from multiple systems and applications. Enterprises should envision building a digital workforce with both RPA and chatbots in their contact centers to achieve long-term benefits that can extend well beyond the incremental cost savings.

Adoption of best practices for contact center automation can help enterprises achieve tangible business outcomes. And the returns can be quick: our latest research shows 9-15 months with RPA, and 18-24 months with chatbots adoption.

To learn more about how you can build a successful business case for automation adoption in your contact center, check out Everest Group’s recently released report: The Business Case for RPA and Chatbots in Contact Centers.” And, please feel free to share your automation adoption experiences in contact centers with us: Katrina Menzigian ([email protected]) and Jayapriya K ([email protected])

Omnichannel CX: Conquering the Challenges | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Customers have stopped thinking about channels. It’s the experience that matters to them now – regardless of the channel they choose at any point of time. Thus, it’s no surprise that 73 percent of buyers responding to Everest Group’s 2016/17 Contact Center Outsourcing (CCO) surveys and interviews rated omnichannel as their top priority for adoption, and that 23 percent of buyers want to integrate the face-to-face customer touchpoints with their contact centers.

Omnichannel is a Priority for Adoption among CCO Buyers

CCO omnichannel CX adoption

Regardless of this intention, very few enterprises have achieved delivering a true omnichannel experience or built competitive advantage through exceptional CX.

Six Challenges Enterprises are Facing in their Transition to Omnichannel CX

Challenge 1: Lack of strategic leadership support: Most omnichannel transition efforts lack direct involvement from senior leadership to prioritize investments, communicate urgency for transition, and mitigate any implementation roadblocks. This contributes to misplaced priorities and execution inefficiencies.

Solution: An internal transition team consisting of experienced senior leadership can be set up to manage and drive the organization-wide change towards omnichannel.

Challenge 2: Inadequate focus on human capital challenges: Omni-channel investment decisions are primarily focused on technologies and solutions. But even with sophisticated tools and technologies in place, lack of investment in human capital makes it difficult to practically achieve the desired outcomes.

Solution: Organizations need to place equal importance on investments in human capital and begin their omnichannel transition efforts by assessing the talent requirements to manage omnichannel CX.

Challenge 3: Organizational skills gap for omnichannel: IT teams often lack the necessary skills to support the integration of tools, channels, and databases. Contact center managers also require upskilling on sophisticated technologies, systems, and processes to effectively manage omnichannel contact centers. Agents, usually trained in supporting individual channels, have limited knowledge to work across multiple channels.

Solution: Enterprises should conduct a gap analysis to identify training requirements for the existing talent at all levels of the organization, with the necessary skills for omni-channel and hire for new profiles. They should also revise employee performance metrics and align the incentives with common omnichannel KPIs

Challenge 4: Historically siloed functions and channels: Lack of integrated front-office functions such as sales, marketing, and customer service with back-office functions such as business intelligence, reporting, procurement, inventory management, etc., makes it impossible to create a unified view about customers.

Solution: Back-to-front office integration is crucial for a great end-to-end customer journey. The first step to achieving this is through customer journey mapping for all end-to-end processes to identify changing behaviors, capture unmet expectations, optimize processes, and encourage cross-functional collaboration.

Challenge 5: Lack of clarity on requirements for data integration from all channels: Enterprises are not clear about the business and operational needs to support data integration across all channels. Management of disparate CRM, voice and other technology systems also hinder integration.

Solution: Enterprises need to assess the implications of data standardization and integration across channels and identify an appropriate mix of tools to achieve integration of disparate datasets and applications.

Challenge 6: Incompatible legacy systems: Most legacy systems in enterprises, especially CRM systems and voice technologies, are incompatible with omnichannel platforms and solutions. This leads to inconsistency in capturing and transferring data to achieve a unified view of customers in a single platform.

Solution: Enterprises should adopt non-invasive omnichannel platforms and solutions that can seamlessly communicate with their legacy systems.

To learn more, check out Everest Group’s two-part study on omnichannel customer experience: “From Multi-Channel to Omni-Channel Customer Experience,” and “Delivering Omni-Channel Customer Experience.” Both include checklists to help enterprises successfully plan and execute their transition to omnichannel. And, please feel free to share your omnichannel experiences with us: Katrina Menzigian ([email protected]) and Jayapriya K ([email protected].)

Analyst Relations Newsletter Q3 2017 | Key Highlights from Custom Research

Case Study I: Everest Group supported the India GIC of a global top-5 technology company in its growth plans for software product engineering teams leveraging digital skills

Client overview and background: As the client was preparing for growth of its India delivery center, it was evaluating opportunities to expand the scope of services delivered in the GIC, especially in software products based on new horizon skills areas (e.g., cloud, mobility, SoA, big data and analytics, design-thinking, customer-centric engineering). The client sought support in identification and prioritization of key talent investment areas involving product engineering based on expected future business needs and market evidence of successful delivery models, capabilities, and services maturity at GICs of peer technology/internet software companies.

Our approach: Everest Group assessed the current talent model and team capabilities in product engineering skills at the client GIC and also conducted a detailed market assessment of how GICs at peer companies are leveraging the India delivery centers (scale, penetration, breadth, and complexity, and level of ownership of global service delivery for product development and digital skills). We identified gaps in the talent model and skills-sets at the client GIC across specific roles, skill-sets, and level of ownership/maturity. Everest Group presented perspectives on key thrust areas for investment and industry momentum in skills/role development by peer GICs. We also identified growth opportunities for client and provided best-in-class examples of increasing ownership and growing talent on niche skills (e.g., data scientists).

Client benefits: Everest Group identified and prioritized skill-areas for investment based on gaps in the client’s current delivery talent/skills portfolio for software product engineering and level of maturity achieved at peer GICs. Through a series of discussions with the client’s leadership in India and the U.S., Everest Group guided the client’s internal thinking on how to grow talent for niche digital skills and establish product engineering teams with higher level of global product ownership.

Case Study II: Everest Group Supported a large European engineering company in an assessment of the talent landscape in the Indian city of Bangalore. This was for a new engineering and R&D center the firm wanted to set up in the city

Client overview and background: The client was facing challenges in hiring mid-level talent in its home markets owing to reducing enrolments in STEM. It was looking to offshore high-end design, engineering, and innovation work and identified Bangalore as a location for setting up its in-house / shared services center. To be better prepared for this, the client wanted a comprehensive assessment of the talent landscape in the city across the following aspects: availability of talent across 7 functional areas, key competitors for talent (including Indian engineering companies), future outlook for talent sustainability, workforce preferences for office location within the city, employee value drivers in choosing an employer, and benchmarking of compensation and benefits.

Our approach: Everest Group conducted in-depth desk research to size talent (at both entry- and experienced-levels) across the 7 functions in focus. This was followed by primary research with engineering companies operating in Bangalore, recruiters, industry experts, and a cross-section of employees to analyze aspects such as future outlook for talent sustainability, employee value drivers, and workforce preferences. Finally, we conducted a compensation and benefits benchmarking assessment in collaboration with a recruitment firm.

Client benefits: The client leveraged this in-depth study to set design parameters for its new delivery center. The mapping of functional areas by scalability and level of possible congestion in the future helped identify possible constraints and frame appropriate mitigation mechanisms (e.g., invest in training, move talent from home market). Our research also enabled the client identify the sources for talent (universities, competitors, other adjacent industries) and the optimum level of compensation/benefits across functional areas and seniority. Finally, the assessment on employee value drivers helped the client finalize the optimum value proposition for candidates.

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