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RPO

Mar 06

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

By | 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.

Read more in Personnel Today

Aug 27

Next-Gen Solutions Add Fuel to Fire of Blazing Recruitment Process Outsourcing Market—Everest Group | Press Release

By | Press Releases

As enterprises face unprecedented talent acquisition challenges, recruitment process outsourcing soars as one of the fastest growing outsourcing markets in the world, growing at 15% for the past three years

The Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) market is one of the fastest growing outsourcing segments today, with growth hovering above 15 percent consistently for the past three years, according to Everest Group. Although the solutions applied in RPO have been slowly evolving for nearly two decades, the adoption of next-generation technologies is expected to surge and significantly alter the RPO market landscape in the near future, adding fuel to the fire of an already blazing RPO market.

Enterprises today are facing unprecedented challenges in talent acquisition, suffering from significant pain points such as forecasting workforce requirements, adapting to the changing nature of the candidate base, developing effective branding, and responding to rapid development in technology. According to Everest Group, RPO service providers are seizing this golden opportunity to help enterprises meet recruitment challenges with next-gen technologies like advanced analytics, benchmarking and workforce planning.

Evolving use cases of digital technologies in talent acquisition include the following:

  • Analytics: Use cases include spend analytics, supplier analytics, workforce analytics, peer benchmarking, and social media analytics to source, screen and engage candidates
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP): Chatbots can leverage NLP to improve candidate experience by engaging with candidates right from the sourcing and screening phases all the way to the interview scheduling and onboarding stages.
  • RPA: RPA can be used to parse key words in resume screening; automate job postings in job portals, banner advertisements and direct emails; and update all instances of workflow when a change is needed.
  • Machine Learning (ML): ML can be used to conduct first-level screening, including checking the relevance and quality of experience and the cultural fit of the candidate. ML also assists analytics applications with identifying and leveraging the most suitable sourcing channels.

“The technology in the RPO market to date has been largely focused on improving the efficiency of specific talent acquisition processes and has been limited to dealing with structured data,” said Vishal Gupta, practice director at Everest Group. “Going forward, we’ll see next-generation technologies such as RPA, analytics and AI that can deal with unstructured data and deliver insights and probabilistic solutions. The impetus to be on the front edge of this wave is driving significant technology investment on the part of RPO service providers. We’re also seeing more and more service providers embracing the RPO+ value proposition, offering value-added services such as employer branding, talent communities, and talent consulting services. These capabilities will become important differentiators in a fiercely competitive market where more than 700 deals are up for renewal in the next three years.”

These and other research findings are explored in a recently published Everest Group report: “Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Annual Report 2018: Orchestrating the Digital Talent Acquisition Symphony.” This research provides a comprehensive coverage of the market across dimensions such as evolving RPO value proposition, market overview, key trends, solution characteristics, buyer adoption trends, and digital in talent acquisition.

Other key findings of the report:

  • The RPO market touched the US$3.3 billion mark in annualized contract value in 2017.
  • As the RPO model gains maturity, the marketplace is witnessing the entry of hither-to unknown buyers. Industries such as retail, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, as well as small-sized buyers (less than 3,000 FTEs) are entering the market in increasing numbers, leading to new avenues for service providers to tap.
  • Total Talent Acquisition (TTA) is increasingly getting a prominent place in the discussion around the talent needs of enterprises. While still in its early stages, service providers would do well to develop TTA capabilities with an eye to the future.
  • North America continues to occupy the lion’s share of the market with the UK and Australia being the other major markets. Continental Europe and Asia Pacific are emerging markets with good potential for the future.
  • The competition in RPO remains intense, with not many players having a dominant market share, both in terms of number of deals as well as hires. With a large number of deals coming up for renewal in the next three years, service providers will have to be on their toes to maintain their market share as competition intensifies.

***Download a complimentary 10-page abstract of the report here.***

Aug 16

Where is the RPO Industry Headed? | In the News

By | In The News

Are organizations backing away from the traditional three-year RPO format?

If you follow the world of RPO, you may have noticed an interesting trend. According to the Everest Group’s annual report on the industry, the average deal length has been dropping, and for the first time since Recruitment Process Outsourcing emerged as a tool in the talent acquisition leader’s tool belt, it’s approaching just two years. Today buyers seem to be heading away from the traditional three year format.

Read more in Recruiting Daily

Jul 18

Recruitment Process Outsourcing Market Grows 16%, Bears Fruit for Companies of All Sizes in 2016 | Press Release

By | Press Releases

RPO providers seek more value from technology; industry leaders moving beyond efficiency solutions to advanced analytics and next-gen digital tools to enhance candidate experience

The global Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) market continued to remain one of the fastest growing single-process Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) markets in 2016, growing at a rate of 16 percent to reach a cumulative market size of US$2.85 billion, according to Everest Group. In 2016, RPO saw wider acceptance among companies of all sizes, including small (less than 3,000 FTEs) and mid-sized (3,000-15,000 FTEs) buyers, which captured an increased share of the market at 51 and 6 percent, respectively, as compared to large buyers at 43 percent.

Digital adoption is the trend most strongly attributing to this rapid growth. RPO service providers are increasingly differentiating themselves through technology, increasing their investments in both technology partnerships and proprietary solutions. The exact nature of the “partner+build” strategy adopted by each provider is dictated by the regional availability and quality of off-the-shelf talent acquisition tools. Annual technology investments vary considerably among providers, ranging from $1 million to in excess of $100 million.

Efficiency focused technology solutions such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) systems are readily available through technology partners and have essentially become “table stakes” in the industry. In fact, nearly half of all RPO engagements include provision of ATS solutions.

So, now, the focus for differentiation has shifted to technology solutions that either enhance the experience of candidates or generate better insights on various aspects of the recruitment value chain. Accordingly, RPO service providers are adjusting their “partner+build” strategies to rapidly assimilate into their service portfolios additional technology solutions such as self-service scheduling tools and chatbots (primarily acquired through partnerships) and advanced analytics (primarily developed through proprietary investments).

“The RPO service provider landscape is intensely competitive, with many players and very few with dominant market share; plus, the high growth in the global RPO market, combined with increasing adoption in emerging economies, is attracting even more new players,” said Arkadev Basak, practice director, Business Process Services, at Everest Group.  “In the coming year, technology orientation will be one of the key parameters by which RPO service providers will distinguish themselves in this fragmented market. Other key differentiators will be geographic focus; consulting capabilities, particularly with respect to strategic workforce planning and talent management; and Total Talent Acquisition capabilities.”

These and other research findings are explored in a recently published Everest Group report: Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Annual Report 2017 – Strategic Value Creation in a Rapidly Evolving Market.

This research provides comprehensive coverage of the RPO market and analyzes it across various dimensions such as market overview, key business drivers, buyer adoption trends, solution and transaction trends, and service provider landscape.

***Download complimentary report abstract here***

Other key findings:

  • The mature market of North America saw a decline in its market share, with the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Latin America gaining at its expense. The biggest growth of single-country RPO was seen in deals outside the mature markets of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Many countries in different regions across the world are emerging as strong RPO markets on their own, particularly in Latin America, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific.
  • RPO as a concept continues to gain wider global acceptability as evidenced by the rising number of multi-country deals. These are more complex deals, which require both the buyer and service provider to invest more time and effort in order to understand local nuances.
  • Value-added processes such as employer branding, talent communities, workforce planning and assessment are increasingly becoming table stakes; buyers are now demanding next-gen value-added services such as consulting (especially for technology strategy and implementation), talent engagement, and content creation and communication.
  • 2016 saw heightened activity in the market around Total Talent Acquisition (TTA) services, as demonstrated by a 41 percent increase from 2013 to 2016 in number of new TTA deals.
Feb 27

2017: The Utopian Year for Talent Acquisition? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

By | Blog, Talent

Talent acquisition teams across companies and countries have spent decades looking for a utopian talent acquisition solution through which they can find the right talent, at the right time, in the right place, and at the right cost. This rare, elusive combination may just start becoming a reality in 2017, as promising themes from 2016 begin to emerge on the mainstream, and new technologies and ideas surface.

Think about the unification of these, resulting in an ideal world order for talent acquisition teams in which:

  • Companies can leverage workforce planning tools to decide on the type of talent – permanent versus, temporary, internal versus external –they want to hire
  • Sourcers, in a split second, can decide on the talent source they want to leverage, immediately access their diligently cultivated employer-specific talent pools, and screen candidates by parsing resumes using cognitive, AI and NLP-enabled tools
  • There is a seamless flow of data between HRMS and talent acquisition systems, and recruiters can leverage this data to run predictive analytics to gauge the candidate fit
  • Employers can attract and engage candidates through their brand by continuously interacting with them leveraging chatbots for email, chat, and voice communication. Availability of add-on tools allows recruiters to interview candidates remotely, run background checks, and conduct mobile assessments
  • HR managers can identify candidates who are susceptible to attrition, and devise effective strategies to retain them
  • Recruiters are able to map the entire employment lifecycle of a potential hire, and leverage it for making an informed decision about the candidate

Integrating all these scenarios into one single solution offering might feel like fiction, but Everest Group feels it will start manifesting into reality later in the year. Enterprises and providers alike have been using video interviewing, self-scheduling, and background screening tools for quite some time. Other more advanced technologies such as AI, cognitive, predictive analytics, and NLP-enabled tools are evolving fast. And service providers that are the flag bearers of innovation in RPO are already investing in and working on some of these technologies. It will be interesting to see which service provider is able to integrate all these technologies into a one-stop solution, whether through new investments, or through partnerships and acquisitions.

But, one thing is certain: this whole ecosystem is about to be disrupted, to such an extent that we believe that 2017 will probably be remembered as the year in which the concept of technology became deeply entrenched in the talent acquisition function psyche. This will also result in technology slowly becoming an extension of a recruiter’s physical being in the years to come.

For more insight into some of these technologies, please see our reports including Technology in Recruitment Process Outsourcing – Enabling a Paradigm Shift, and Giving Talent Acquisition the “Analytics Nirvana” Edge.

Jan 11

More Employers Embrace RPO as Hiring Battles Heat Up | In the News

By | In The News

Everest Group’s practice director for business process services, Arkadev Basak, finds that RPO buyers are expecting more proactivity and innovation from service providers. “Providers are responding to this opportunity by developing niche areas of expertise, adding talent advisory capabilities and improving their internal efficiencies by leveraging technology,” he said.

Read more at SHRM.org

Dec 12

Recruitment Process Outsourcing Market Remains Hot, Posting 17 Percent Growth Rate in 2015 | Press Release

By | Press Releases

New deal activity tops 18 percent growth as service providers from all backgrounds, diverse regions taste success in highly competitive, fragmented RPO market.

The global Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) market continued to remain one of the fastest growing single-process HRO markets. Buoyed by a resurgence of growth in the North American market, RPO posted a strong growth rate of 17 percent in 2015 over 2014 and touched the US$2.4 billion mark. A majority of the global growth is attributed to new deal activity, which grew at a rate of more than 18 percent year on year.

From a regional perspective, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia are the relatively more mature and bigger RPO markets, and they account for a large chunk of the global deal activity. Nonetheless, many countries in different regions across the world are emerging as strong RPO markets on their own, particularly in Latin America, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific.

“Across the globe, the key challenge in today’s recruitment landscape is the need to find and engage the required talent, especially for high-skilled roles, and buyers are expecting greater proactiveness and innovation from service providers in that regard,” said Arkadev Basak, practice director, Business Process Services, at Everest Group. “Providers are responding to this opportunity by developing niche areas of expertise, adding talent advisory capabilities, and improving their internal efficiencies, by leveraging technology, providing targeted training, and addressing division of labor fundamentals.”

Over 40 percent of RPO deals are bundled with a technology capability. In particular, many service providers are making dedicated investments in developing bundled RPO offerings that include advanced analytic services.

“Service providers are using technology as a productivity lever as well,” adds Ranjan. “For example, we are beginning to see providers adopting Robotic Process Automation to improve efficiency and save on costs, and we expect RPA adoption to rise rapidly in the future.”

These and other research findings are explored in a recently published Everest Group report: Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Annual Report 2016 – Opportunities Abound in a Buoyant Market.

This report provides comprehensive coverage of the RPO market across dimensions such as market overview, key business drivers, buyer adoption trends, solution and transaction trends, emerging themes and areas of investment, and service provider landscape.

Other key findings in the report:

  • Single-country RPO accounts for a majority of the deal activity. Interest in Multi-Country RPO (MCRPO) engagements is high; however, the size and scope of such deals is witnessing a downward trend. In fact, very few incidents of global mega-sized deals were witnessed of late.
  • Emerging RPO markets, such as India, China, Poland, and Colombia, which were mostly included as part of multi-country deals earlier, are now increasingly witnessing greater single-country deal activity, characterizing the growing maturity of RPO in these markets
  • While cost reduction is an important RPO driver, operational scalability and flexibility is what most buyers, especially the large ones, seek from an RPO engagement.
  • With growing maturity of the RPO market, inclusion of value-added services, such as employer branding, talent communities, workforce planning, etc., has almost become table-stakes in RPO, especially among second- and third-generation buyers
  • Service providers are increasingly offering separate, more targeted offerings around niche areas such as veterans, diversity hiring and outplacement. Not only does this trend help address buyer needs better, it also provides differentiation for the service provider
  • Almost all major RPO service providers are investing in developing talent advisory capabilities. Such services bulk up the value proposition of existing RPO offerings, especially among the first-time buyers, and can also act as potential door openers for new business opportunities

The RPO market continues to remain intensely competitive and fragmented. Providers from all backgrounds (including staffing, broader BPO, and pure-play RPO) have tasted success in this fast-growing market