Staff Writer, Author at Everest Group

Mar 15

Will Swiggy’s Non-food Bet Deliver Right Dividends? | In the News

It has been a long 12 months in waiting. And in February, it finally came true for Swiggy. The company wanted to corner everything that could be delivered in a city: from fresh fruits to health supplements to becoming your personal courier.

Swiggy’s plans were rooted in a tenet integral to building a solid habit-forming product: acquire users through a core offering, cultivate loyalty, which then leads to higher transactions — this was exactly what Swiggy did with food since its launch in 2014. Then, in 2017, it started working on taking the business beyond food delivery.

“Swiggy does have the basics in place, the biggest being it’s a trusted brand for food delivery, which is more time and experience critical than grocery. This good brand perception will have a positive rub-off effect,” Yugal Joshi of consulting firm Everest Group told ET.

How Microsoft Positioned Itself for Hybrid Cloud Leadership | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

Microsoft graduated from its rebellious, ’90s, teenage years to become an enterprise leader across some of the hottest computing domains, from software and cloud to analytics and AI.

It was a journey not without bumps, but one that has solidified Microsoft at the top of a market largely dominated by consumer-focused tech companies. Smart is the new sexy, and Microsoft has expertly played the market.

Six years ago, Abhishek Singh, vice president at the Everest Group, would not have expected Microsoft to hold the position of power it does today, he said in an interview with CIO Dive. But the company has pivoted from trying to be a dominant platform player to establishing a presence across platforms, reacting to a cloud market where customers can tap into new sources of storage, compute and platforms.

The Three ‘I’s of CX Digital Transformation | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

Ask any retail CEO what keeps them awake at night and most will come up with a list that includes:

how to transform customer experience, infrastructure and operations at the same time as reducing costs
demands on them to facilitate new business opportunities and better customer experience at the same time as implementing an agile, flexible, scalable digital platform
how to nurture innovation and creativity to attract and keep customers and the kind of employees who can build a digital future

They’re big issues which demand bold solutions, yet according to analysts Everest Group, only 10% the C-suite are ready to take action and make digital transformation happen. It takes a degree of business bravery to set the digital store ball rolling, knowing that it may take out a number of existing structures on its way through the business.

Even as Everyone Goes Gaga over Digital, TCS may Have Taken the Lead | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh in a recent interview harped on the growing importance of digital services, and how the company plans to ramp up its digital capabilities both organically and inorganically.

Though companies are seeing success, analysts said that a few companies are faring better than their peers. Chirajeet Sengupta, Partner, Everest Group, said that companies which are faring better in the digitisation space are TCS and Accenture.

Companies like TCS Harder hit By H1-B Rejections than Google or Microsoft | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

While the denials of temporary H 1-B visas for high-skilled workers increased steadily in the last few years of the Trump administration, the action hit consulting companies like TCS, Infosys, and Cognizant Technology Solutions harder than IT giants like Microsoft or Google, reports say.

A Forbes report on Feb. 25, however, noted that “a major disconnect exists” between those making U.S. immigration policy – now designed to make it very difficult to hire people with sought-after technical skills – and the role digital platforms play in determining the competitiveness of companies.

It quoted Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder and CEO of Everest Group, one of the world’s top research firms focused on information technology, business process and engineering, as saying in an interview that the U.S. faces an acute shortage of digital and IT skills and these digital transformations and digital platforms require a significant amount of these skills to build and maintain.

Almost Half of Women in IT Think Gender is their Biggest Barrier to Promotion | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

Nearly 1 in 2 women (45%) working in IT believe their gender is the main barrier to getting ahead in their career. That’s according to a recent opinion survey by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, released on International Women’s Day.

“These findings are seriously worrying. If 30% of women think that gender is the biggest barrier to getting a first job in IT, and 45% believe gender is the biggest barrier to progressing a career in IT, they are not going to even try,” said Sarah Burnett, Chair of BCS Women and is Executive Vice President and Distinguished Analyst at Everest Group.

What Makes Mindtree an Attractive Acquisition for L&T Infotech? | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

L&T Infotech has been a front runner in the race to acquire a 20.4 percent stake in Mindtree. Reports suggest LTI is willing to offer close to Rs 975 a share to acquire this 20 percent. This pegs the value of this stake, owned by VG Siddhartha, the Founder of Coffee Day Enterprises that operates the Café Coffee Day chain of cafes, at roughly Rs 3,400 crore.

According to Chirajeet Sengupta, Partner, Everest Group, “L&T Infotech (LTI) has been on a very strong growth path over the last few quarters. They have been growing significantly better than their peers.” To sustain this growth path, the company has been making investments to grow inorganically. “If you look at the last few quarters, they have made some very interesting acquisitions,” Sengupta pointed out.

As Offshore Outsourcing Grows, HR Tries to Measure Impact | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

Offshore outsourcing can be a traumatic event for employees — both for those who lose their jobs and for those who survive. It’s HR’s job to figure out the real impact it’s having on employees — a task that may benefit from new technology.

In response to the Trump administration, but also for other business reasons, outsourcing firms are making adjustments.

They are increasing their hiring of U.S. workers and investing more in local facilities, said Chirajeet Sengupta, analyst and partner at Everest Group, an outsourcing consultancy and research firm in Dallas.

Some of these changes were prompted by client necessity that resulted from digital transformation efforts — work that involves changes to a firm’s core business model. For that kind of work — which could involve changes not just in tech, but in business culture — outsourcers have to be in close proximity to the business. “You really need to understand the business; you need to understand the business processes,” Sengupta said.

Sourcing Digital: 3 Core Viewpoints For Enterprise Buyers | Webinar

By Staff Writer | Webinars

60-minute webinar on Thursday, March 7, 2019 | 9 a.m. CST, 10 a.m. EST, 3 p.m. GMT, 8:30 p.m. IST

Download the Presentation

Digital adoption is changing the services marketplace – and procurement and sourcing teams must understand the many implications. With their potential to improve both customers’ and employees’ experiences, digital platforms are quickly becoming today’s lead value driver of outsourcing. In addition to shifting the value proposition, these new platforms are also changing the vendor landscape. Behind the buzz around AI, analytic platforms, customer interactions, and RPA is the big question: How should you buy it? In parts and components? Layers and bundles? Whole box?

From this session, you will:

Understand how the new digital approaches are changing the way enterprises are consuming BPO services, and how providers are delivering them
Learn how peers are buying their digital “platform of platforms” to create new value propositions, including improved process efficiency, user experiences, and business outcomes
Gain insight on the changing vendor landscape informed by our latest research on vendors and market offerings, including the 5 key challenges enterprise face when buying digital

Who should attend, and why?
Enterprises: Executives responsible for pricing strategy, strategic outsourcing, vendor management, as well as business unit executives.

Can’t join us live? Register anyway!
All registrants will receive an email (typically within 1-2 business days of the live delivery) containing the link to session slides and on-demand playback.

Presenters:
Michel Janssen
Chief Research Guru
Everest Group

Shirley Hung
Vice President, Research
Everest Group

Mar 06

Recruitment Process Outsourcing: The Future is ‘Total Talent’ | In the News

By Staff Writer | In The News

Employers are battling economic uncertainty but still struggle to source much-needed skills. In such a volatile jobs market, what role does recruitment process outsourcing have in workforce planning and hiring strategies? Jo Faragher investigates.

Traditionally, the drivers for outsourcing have been around cost savings and support with volume recruitment. But while saving money remains important, there’s a lot more focus now on candidate quality and experience, according to industry analysts Everest Group.

“For those who have not adopted RPO before cost is an important driver. Apart from that, it’s about scalability and adaptability. It means they can add to employee base or reduce more flexibly,” explains Vishal Gupta, practice director of Everest’s business process services division.