Category: Press Releases

COVID-19 Forces Healthcare Payers to Face Up to Modernization, Member Service Shortcomings | Press Release

Everest Group research details how COVID-19 has compelled healthcare payers to future-proof their technology and build more resilient care models.

COVID-19 acted as a forcing function for healthcare payers to future-proof their technology estate and enable more resilient care models, according to new research from Everest Group. The pandemic pushed healthcare payers to focus on modernization, automation, data and analytics and cloud.

The high-priority IT investments made by payers in 2020 included the following:

• IT for operational efficiency: With the onset of COVID-19, payers had to face some serious operational challenges such as disruption of member service operations as well as multiple administrative inefficiencies around provider network management, member communication and claims management. As a result, payers are transitioning to intelligent operations built on the pillars of cloud, artificial intelligence, automation and data to support growth, improve the customer experience and increase quality of care.
• IT for access to care: Telehealth and home care broke ground as a care channel in 2020. The pandemic pushed technology giants, governments and institutions from varied domains to pool their efforts to innovate to help fight the pandemic. As a result, the ecosystem introduced new applications, information guides, consumer wearables and other devices. Payers have heavily invested in this area through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.
• IT for member engagement: COVID-19 has irrevocably disrupted the traditional way of delivering care. Payers are developing strategies to reimagine member satisfaction by addressing challenges around communication, care access, coordination and responsiveness. They are increasing members’ access to health information, creating next-generation service desktops, launching health applications, and building member engagement platforms.

These findings and more are shared in Everest Group’s Healthcare Payer Enterprise Insights H2 2020 report. This report evaluates payer performance in H2 2020 and focuses on industry- and account-level financial and line-of-business performance, key business and IT investment themes, and the Global Business Services (GBS) landscape.

Additional key findings:

• Most payers exhibited sustained revenue growth in 2020. At the onset of COVID-19, payers posted strong numbers due to a drop in non-COVID-19 claims. Most of the U.S. payers witnessed a growth in revenue on a sequential basis, attributed to a temporary reduction in operating expenses due to deferred surgeries and procedures as a result of stay-at-home orders across the U.S. However, operating and net income saw a dip in Q3 and Q4 2020, impacted by COVID-19 care costs.
• The payer market experienced an uptick in the government membership enrollment along with a subsequent decline in commercial business. Large national plans with existing presence in Medicaid or exchange markets saw an increase in enrollees, while others looked to enter/expand into these lines of business through acquisitions and partnerships.
• Payers’ response mechanism to the pandemic involved significant focus and strategic investments to improve clinical outcomes, increase operational efficiency, reduce cost of care, improve access to care, and enhance member experience.
• Payers are investing in expanding their value-based care partnerships to enhance healthcare services for their high-growth Medicare Advantage member segment.
• Mental/behavioral health innovation and technology is gaining significant traction in the healthcare payer industry.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global companies, service providers, and investors. Clients use our services to guide their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com

Wavestone Acquires the Consulting Practice of Everest Group in the US Companies Announce Global Research Strategic Alliance

Wavestone SA (WAVE:PA), a leading international consultancy, and Everest Group, a US-based company, have announced a significant undertaking: first, the acquisition by Wavestone of the Everest Group Consulting division to strengthen its consulting presence in the US, and second, the initiation of a strategic alliance between Everest Group and Wavestone.

Everest Group Consulting: advising enterprise organizations to solve their toughest Technology and Business Process Optimization and Sourcing challenges

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Everest Group is a company made of two practices: Consulting and Research–the former being acquired by Wavestone.

For the past thirty years, Everest Group Consulting has focused on delivering business process optimization, sourcing, and transformation advisory services to corporate and IT leaders. It also advises service providers on how to effectively deliver and monetize services to their targeted markets.

Everest Group Consulting serves Global 500 clients across a variety of industry sectors, including Financial Services, Utilities, Retail, and CPG, on their most important global services challenges and opportunities.

A strengthening of Wavestone in the US, in line with its international development strategy

This acquisition accelerates the development of Wavestone in the US, which is a high priority market in Wavestone’s international development strategy.

For Everest Group Consulting, the merger with Wavestone offers new opportunities for growth within a
‘pure-play’ consultancy.

“This acquisition is perfectly in line with our strategic plan in the US,” commented Pascal Imbert, CEO of Wavestone. “We were impressed with the practice’s first-class client base and the strategic character of its assignments. The skills and talent quality of the team are an ideal fit for us as Wavestone continues to expand in the US market.”

“After helping some of the largest and most complex organizations in the world solve tough sourcing and digital transformation challenges and achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business results, Everest Group’s Consulting division is looking for ways to expand the business and soar to new growth benchmarks,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of Everest Group. “Through this acquisition, the practice will be able to accomplish this goal by leveraging a deeper and wider talent pool, enhancing opportunities for faster growth, and becoming more competitive in the North American market.”

Terms of the operation

The transaction takes the form of the acquisition of all the assets of Everest Group’s Consulting practice from Everest Group by Wavestone.

The acquisition has been paid in cash and has been financed out of Wavestone’s own funds.

Everest Group Consulting division has been consolidated into Wavestone’s accounts as of May 1, 2021.

Everest Group and Wavestone establish a mutually beneficial strategic alliance

In addition to this acquisition, Wavestone and Everest Group have established a strategic alliance. As such, Wavestone will serve as the exclusive consulting partner of Everest Group in North America. Additionally, Everest Group’s former consultants will have access to a level of Everest Group research content that was available prior to the acquisition. The two firms also plan to contribute to joint intellectual property creation, as well as other joint go-to-market activities, such as webinars and thought leadership.

The partnership will extend to Europe, where Wavestone will support Everest Group’s ambition, while leveraging its research to bring more value to clients.

“We see this as an opportunity for each firm to focus on what we do best, and not only grow our core businesses but also provide better services to our clients through our partnership,” added Pascal Imbert.

“We are excited about the opportunity that stands before us to invest our full resources in our core research competencies and to build on our recent growth. This alliance allows us to accelerate the expansion of our research offerings to enterprises, which is our fastest-growing research area,” concludes Peter Bendor-Samuel.

 Wavestone’s advisors:

Innovation Advisors, Dentons, Grant Thornton

About Everest Group

Everest Group is a research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global companies, service providers, and investors.

Clients use our services to guide their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes.

Details and in-depth content are available at www.everestgrp.com

About Wavestone

In a world where knowing how to drive transformation is the key to success, Wavestone’s mission is to inform and guide large companies and organizations in their most critical transformations, with the ambition of a positive outcome for all stakeholders. That’s what we call “The Positive Way.”

Wavestone draws on over 3,000 employees across 8 countries. It is a leading independent player in global consulting.

Wavestone is listed on Euronext Paris. More information available at www.wavestone.com

About Wavestone in the US

Wavestone US is the North American arm of Wavestone. Over the past 15 years, we have supported the transformations of more than 200 Fortune 1,000 companies across a wide range of industries. Our model is unique—it leverages a strong peer-to-peer culture and offers a practitioner’s perspective on IT strategy, cost optimization, operational improvements, cybersecurity, and business management.

We strive to help business and IT leaders successfully deliver their most critical transformations and achieve positive outcomes.

More information about Wavestone US is available at www.wavestone.us.

68% of Enterprises Fail to Achieve Desired ROI on Digital Transformation, and Most Cite Change Resistance as Key Obstacle | Press Release

Report respondents value an effective change management strategy for successful digital transformation; Everest Group provides framework for success in Organizational Change Management (OCM)

About 68% of enterprises that embarked upon digital transformation have not realized the envisioned outcomes, according to Everest Group. A majority of enterprises attribute this shortfall in return on investment to having an undefined or ineffective change management strategy, with 58% of enterprises citing change resistance as a key obstacle.

These findings and more are shared in Everest Group recently published report, Digital Services State of the Market Report 2021: Fostering Value Through Rearchitecting Change Management. In addition to offering a full analysis of the Digital Services market, the report explores current change management strategies and exposes what works and what does not. Everest Group provides a framework for the future of change management, Organizational Change Management, and describes the implications for service providers and enterprises.

Key findings:

Digital services landscape

• The digital services landscape evolved in maturity and saw acceleration in adoption in 2020. There were increased and scaled engagements leveraging next-generation technologies for business continuity and resilience. Cloud (49%), artificial intelligence (AI) (41%) and analytics (11%) were the top 3 key enabling technologies included in digital services deals. Cybersecurity was another key area of investment.
• The top 3 objectives of investments in digital services were (1) reinventing stakeholder experience, (2) improving operational efficiency and (3) modernizing applications and infrastructure. Enterprises report a high level of benefits realized for investments in new-age technologies – especially Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and analytics – to enhance stakeholder experiences.

Accelerated transformations, unrealized outcomes

• As digital transformation became the default route to remain relevant, enterprises faced incomplete value realization, manifesting in slow adoption and resistance to change, eventually taking the form of attritions, unfavorable organizational culture and negative transformation outcomes.
• To counter the resistive forces, enterprises need to implement a fit-for-purpose change management strategy, that ensures early and active involvement of internal stakeholders, manages resistance proactively, leverages technology to smoothen the change curve, and creates an ecosystem to embrace the change.

Innovation in change management

• As enterprises realize the need to shift focus toward managing change and ensuring success from digital transformations, innovations in the change management strategy become imperative.
• Investment in facilitating technology, governance initiatives, data literacy, effective coaching, and innovating communication channels ensure that the organizational change management strategy is adopted and embraced without resistance.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com/

COVID-19 Has Changed the Way Money Moves, Ushering In Rapid Adoption of Real-Time and Alternative Payment Methods | Press Release

China, India and Singapore lead the world in adoption of alternative payment methods (APMs); US and Canada lag in comparison.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed not only the way we interact, but also the way money moves. According to Everest Group, the pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of payments and prompted consumers and businesses to rely on digital and contactless payment options when buying and selling goods and services.

Although cash and cards still dominate in many geographies, the pandemic has accelerated momentum for already growing traction for alternative payment methods (APMs) across the globe. Among the most popular APMs are Alipay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Stripe. With the rise of digital payments and increase in online shopping, retailers are partnering with banks and FinTechs to offer a Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) facility to customers at check-out. The pandemic gave a massive boost to BNPL adoption and is expected to come under more regulatory scrutiny going forward, but that isn’t going to slow down this trend.

• The Asia Pacific region, particularly China and India, has experienced higher adoption maturity, spurring the mobile payments revolution. APMs account for nearly 55-60% of total e-commerce spending across Asia. In China, the largest digital payments market in the geography, digital wallets account for nearly 45% of e-commerce transactions.
• Comparatively, the U.S. and Canada lag in adoption, in part due to reliance on payment cards; however, the North American region is seeing a rapid increase in adoption of contactless cards and mobile payments. APMs are expected to capture over 50% of the market by 2022. Digital wallets are leading the pack in the US and bank transfer in Canada.

Banks and Payments Service Providers (PSPs) have been investing in payment modernization initiatives to shift to an open API-based architecture and adhering to the ISO 20022 payments messaging standard, which allows them to capture rich and structured data. These initiatives will help improve the payment experience.

In addition, evolving regulations and customer demands for a seamless experience across multiple channels are pushing banks and payment services providers (PSPs) to invest heavily in modernizing their payments technology stack. Payments technology service providers are investing in next-generation digital technologies such as the cloud, API, and AI/ML to provide an integrated payment ecosystem with value-added services, while managing risk and reducing fraud. Usage of data, advanced analytics and AI is fueling the rapid growth in next-generation fraud management solutions and value-added services.

These findings and more are discussed in Everest Group’s recently published report, “Modernizing Data, Applications, and Infrastructure for the Next Phase of the Payments Revolution.” In this report, Everest Group examines the payments technology market trends across products, experiences, infrastructure, regulations, data and technology themes. The report also looks at how technology vendors and service providers are increasing their investments to cater to these demand trends.

Additional Highlights:

• With the rise of APMs such as cryptocurrencies, digital wallets and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), regulators are amplifying their scrutiny of new players and offerings. It has become mandatory for banks to upgrade their risk and compliance management systems for better fit to regulatory requirements and emerging security risks as a result of adoption of new forms of payments processing.
• Cryptocurrency as a payment method will soon become mainstream, as regulatory uncertainties gradually settle down and the market sees more institutional investments.
• Digital fiat might not replace cash, but the hesitation toward CBDC adoption will not last long; emerging economies are leading the race for CBDC development.
• Real-Time Payments (RTP) platforms—which initiate and settle payments nearly instantaneously—are being embraced globally; however, RTP maturity varies across countries due to differences in legacy infrastructure, richness of overlay services and the FinTech ecosystem, and openness to alternative payment methods.
• Banks and technology vendors are taking a partnership-led approach to offer innovative payment solutions for merchants, corporate entities, and specific industry verticals. BigTech firms are also getting into the race, tapping into the changed consumer behavior for payments by launching new offerings to grab wallet share.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com/

COVID-19 Drives Distributed Approach to Agile Software Development, Offering 13-15% Cost Savings, Up to 5X Improved Access to Talent | Press Release

Distributed agile is emerging as the de-facto software development model, especially among high-performing enterprises.

Roughly two in every five enterprises are expected to adopt distributed agile as their de-facto operating model, according to Everest Group. Everest Group reports the pandemic has jettisoned concerns around the viability of the distributed agile model,
with 47% of enterprises accelerating their programs for agile development in the past year, 45% reporting increased productivity with remote working, and 40% reporting a reduction in quality defects by developers.

Prior to COVID-19, the success of agile development projects was traditionally attributed to close collaboration and regular communication among team members and with customers. Pandemic-induced remote working has disrupted the agile model and tested its limits. With enterprises rapidly transitioning to a remote delivery model, they have replicated the processes, governance, and workflows of traditional agile development. However, the increasing need for continuous value delivery along with risk-efficient, employee-centric operations is driving enterprises to adopt a more sustainable software development methodology.

The next generation of agile will embrace a natively distributed construct – with communication, processes, and workflows optimized for remote delivery. The model will be poised to deliver benefits such as increased productivity, higher talent availability, and cost savings. According to Everest Group, the business case for distributed agile includes an estimated 13% cost savings and an up to 5 times increase in access to talent. Other advantages include enhanced business continuity and resilience, improved delivery model flexibility, and societal and environmental benefits.

These findings and more are shared in Everest Group’s recently published report, “Making Distributed Agile Work – An Enterprise Adoption Guide.” In this report, Everest Group examines the key considerations for charting a path to distributed agile, including the changes required in the workflow, processes, talent, and governance constructs to operationalize and scale the model.

Highlights:

• Truly distributed agile delivery moves away from the concept of locations and passes accountability to self-governing feature pods.
• Core teams typically comprise multiple feature pods of architects, managers and business owners connected virtually and situated in similar or close time zones for ease of collaboration. Feature pods are responsible for end-to-end product features.
• Certain digital-native organizations—such as Etsy, Basecamp, GitHub and Bleum—are already leading the way, debunking myths about the distributed agile model. These organizations are demonstrating the following:
• Distributed agile is much more than remote working. It requires process, people and structural changes.
• Distributed agile involves a cultural and mindset shift.
• Non-invasive governance and autonomy are key.
• Productivity increases with stronger teams and more flexibility.
• Distributed agile practices need to be built on a foundation of TRUST: transparency, resilience, understanding, self-reliance and a technology bedrock for collaboration and engagement.
• Stronger emphasis on softer work aspects such as empathy, independence, and team bonding are requisites for successful distributed agile.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com/

Everest Group is Bullish on the Global Services Industry, Expects It to Move Past COVID Challenges in 2021 | Press Release

Companies are firing on both thrusters—leveraging outsourcing and global business services—to drive growth momentum in global services.

The global services industry is on a growth trajectory and will overcome COVID-19-related business disruptions in 2021, according to Everest Group. The firm has released research findings that summarize the performance and shifts of the sourcing industry in 2020. The report also forecasts the key trends that will shape the market in 2021.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

Everest Group highlights the following as key developments in the global services industry in 2020:

• 1.    Despite the pandemic, the global services industry witnessed an increase in number of outsourcing deals in 2020 as compared to 2021, with a significant growth in share of IT outsourcing deals.
• 2.    2020 saw significant momentum in new Global Business Service (GBS) center setups by the technology and communication vertical.
• 3.    The past year also saw a rise in M&As (mergers and acquisitions) and alliances among service providers, driven by providers’ desire to augment digital capabilities and expand geographically. Also, many cash-rich service providers found startups to have attractive valuations driven by COVID-19.

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2021, Everest Group suggests that multiple forces will drive growth of the global services industry:

• Positive enterprise sentiments
• Vaccine roll-out
• Fiscal stimulus across demand geographies
• Pent-up demand
• Digital acceleration
• Need for cost optimization

Everest Group research indicates that enterprises are firing on both thrusters—leveraging outsourcing as well as GBS centers.

• Outsourcing revenue is recovering sharply and bookings have accelerated significantly. Large deals are expected to increase, driven by large-scale transformation initiatives, vendor portfolio consolidation to drive cost efficiency, and a rise in asset-leveraged deals as enterprises monetize their non-core assets.
• GBS center executives expressed optimistic sentiments about accelerated growth in 2021. More than 70% of those surveyed anticipated growth in IT functions, especially application development and maintenance, cloud and datacenter services, and infrastructure services. More than half expected growth in analytics, industry specific business process outsourcing (BPO), finance and accounting BPO, and human resources (HR) BPO.

Two HR-related trends will also factor significantly in 2021:

• The war for talent will intensify. Solutions to talent challenges will be found in increased training and development, automation and building a longer-term talent pipeline. Additionally, enterprises will need to revise workforce strategies to make them future-ready, examining skills needed, application of automation and robotics, organizational structure and whether traditional models of workforce engagement still apply.
• Work From Home (WFH) is here to stay. While WFH model adoption will decline from current levels, it will continue to be a part of the delivery model strategy, but with a more intentional approach. Organizations will need to invest in a wide array of tools, technologies and platforms to enhance the employee experience.

These findings and more are shared in the Everest Group report, “Market Vista™: 2020 Year in Review and Outlook for 2021.” The Market Vista report highlights the key trends and developments in the fast-evolving global offshoring and outsourcing market. The study captures the key developments across outsourcing transaction trends, health of GBS centers, location risks and opportunities, and service provider developments.

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com/

Everest Group Identifies Most, Least Favorable Locations to Do Business in a Disrupted World | Press Release

New Everest Group ‘Risk Watch’ report assesses risks of outsourcing to and setting up Global Business Service Centers in major delivery locations around the world.

The risks and uncertainties of doing business in a disrupted world cannot be entirely avoided, but Everest Group can assure enterprises that some countries are a far better bet than others when it comes to outsourcing and setting up global business service centers (GBSs).

Everest Group has released its Global Locations State of the Market 2021: Risk Watch, which includes a risk assessment of 61 countries. For each location, Everest Group rates the risk of doing business in each location; the assessment covers important occurrences in the past year and captures positive and negative movements in risk ratings based on these events.

Everest Group uses seven parameters to evaluate overall risk across locations:

• Infrastructure quality
• Geopolitical stability
• Macroeconomic stability
• Regulations and ease of doing business
• Safety and security
• Digital readiness
• Quality of life

In addition, Everest Group offers insights for buyers of IT, business process and engineering services and service providers in the sourcing industry by identifying key risks to watch out for and major developments underway in each region.

Key Findings
In general, the Asia Pacific (APAC) region offers a safe and secure business environment with relatively high macroeconomic stability. The Americas offer a high quality of life in general; however, there are some concerns in this region, primarily in Central and South America, with respect to regulatory environment, digital readiness, and quality of infrastructure. In general, locations within the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region offer high-quality infrastructure, high quality of life, and a safe and secure business environment.

Asia Pacific: 14 countries assessed

• Most favorable – Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are characterized by high quality of infrastructure, stable economy, high safety and security and quality of life.
• Least favorable – Cambodia’s poor infrastructure and concerns in the geopolitical and regulatory environment make it the least favorable business environment in the region.

Americas: 19 countries assessed

• Most favorable – Canada, Chile and the United States offer the most favorable business conditions, given the high quality of infrastructure and stable political and macroeconomic environments.
• Least favorable – Nicaragua offers the least favorable business environment in the region, given its geopolitical instability and poor regulatory environment.

EMEA: 28 countries assessed

• Most favorable – Germany, the United Kingdom, Estonia and the Czech Republic are among the leading locations offering low risk across all parameters.
• Least favorable – Nigeria has one of the least favorable business environments given its poor state of infrastructure, macroeconomic instability, and concerns around the regulatory and business environment.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com/

Global Business Services (GBS) Model Sees Strong Growth in 2020, With More than 200 New Centers Established | Press Release

More than 50% of GBS centers expanded their digital capabilities in areas such as advanced automation, analytics, cloud and platform-based engineering

2020 was not a bleak year for Global Business Services (GBS*) organizations after all. According to new research from Everest Group, the GBS market witnessed improvement in performance, enhancements in role, and growth across verticals and functions.

Despite the pandemic, the GBS center set-up activity continued to experience strong growth, with 200+ GBS centers established across onshore and offshore/nearshore locations in 2020. Approximately 27% of the US$214 billion global services (sourcing) market is attributed to the GBS model.

The COVID-19 crisis further strengthened the value proposition for evolved GBS organizations, as GBS centers exhibited resiliency and earned spikes in Net Promoter Scores in 2020. The pandemic acted as a catalyst across most verticals for accelerating adoption of digital initiatives, thus providing an opportunity for GBS organizations to step up and deliver higher value-add services for enterprises. More than 50% of GBS center set-ups expanded their digital capabilities in areas such as advanced automation, analytics, cloud, and platform-based engineering to meet evolving business expectations and priorities.

The GBS focus on value addition beyond cost arbitrage remains critically important to future growth. Everest Group, tracking more than 3,500 offshore and nearshore GBS centers, reports that the top 5 expectations from the GBS model going into 2021 are (in rank order from highest importance):

• 1.    Enable digital transformation
• 2.    Drive cost excellence
• 3.    Accelerate innovation
• 4.    Drive agility and cross-functional collaboration
• 5.    Enhance service delivery resiliency.

Accordingly, Everest Group advises that GBS priorities include:

• Reevaluation of operating models, especially geographic diversification
• Designing a workforce strategy that is holistic and based on design principles.
• Winning the talent wars
• Embracing productivity as a superpower
• Addressing issues with the Work from Home model
• Ensuring cost-competitiveness to overcome inevitable third-party economic comparisons

These findings and more are discussed in Everest Group’s “GBS State of the Market Report: Top 2021 Priorities for GBS.” This report provides an extensive assessment of the GBS landscape and adoption trends, along with a deep dive into emerging trends driving the future of GBS organizations.

Key findings regarding the GBS landscape:

• India continued to be a leading delivery location for GBS market activity, accounting for more than one-fourth of center set-ups in 2020, followed by Rest of Nearshore Europe and Rest of Asia.
• While the overall GBS center set-up activity was dominated by U.S.-based companies, firms based in Asia Pacific have gained significant traction over the last three years (increasing APAC’s share of center set-ups from approximately 10% to nearly 25%).
• Enterprises are increasingly leveraging the GBS model to establish digital hubs and Engineering, Research and Development (ER&D) centers in order to create successful digital customer and employee experiences, thus driving differentiated strategic capabilities.
• The contribution of new adopters in the overall GBS model has increased significantly over the last three years; more than 70% of the companies that established GBS centers in 2020 were new entrants with no existing offshore/nearshore GBS center.
• Interestingly, small companies (i.e., with revenue less than US$1 billion) accounted for almost half of the center set-up activity in offshore/nearshore locations in 2020, with technology and communication companies leading in terms of center set-ups.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report here.***

About Everest Group
Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com/

*Everest Group uses GBS as the preferred term for in-house set-ups, which are otherwise also referred to as Global In-house Centers (GICs), shared services, global capability centers, or captives. GBS centers are enterprise-owned, centralized units that deliver IT, business process or engineering services to other business units of the enterprise.