Aug 20, 2009
Market Service: Supply Management
IBM Externalizes Internal Procurement Expertise With Expanded Offering
Mickey North Rizza, Phil Fersht
IBM is now poised to capture a large share of the business process outsourcing (BPO) supply management market. The company's banking on two differentiators: its procurement and sourcing skills and the potential for companies to consolidate their spend with IBM spend, leading to greater leverage and, ultimately, savings.
Jun 10, 2009
Market Service: Global Business and Outsourcing Services
The 2009 Supply Management BPO Landscape: Short-Term Body-Shopping Trumps Business Transformation
Phil Fersht, Mickey North Rizza
Supply management business process outsourcing has been red hot in recent years. The market grew 30% in one year, driven by procurement and strategic sourcing services being offshored to India in record numbers. However, because of the short-term mentality of companies jumping into engagements for the sake of short-term cost savings, this growth is not sustainable. Many of the companies have a long road ahead if they want to follow through with process optimization and make future efficiencies.
Jan 28, 2009
Market Service: Global Business and Outsourcing Services
India's Back Office Dominates Procurement Outsourcing
Phil Fersht, Mickey North Rizza
The Satyam mess has given Indian service firms a beating lately, but brand new data on the procurement business process outsourcing (BPO) market is proving good news for a change. Our forthcoming study into procurement outsourcing reveals the vast majority are coming from India. Here's why.
Nov 1, 2008
Market Service: Supply Management
Three Approaches for Transforming the Procurement Function To Remain Competitive in a Global Economy
Mickey North Rizza, Phil Fersht
Tough economic times are driving many enterprises to evaluate the economics of their global procurement functions. At a recent chief procurement officer (CPO) forum, AMR Research found companies struggling to devise a value-driven procurement strategy. This article discusses three procurement transformation delivery approaches that can be used in the development of your company's global procurement strategy.
Sep 16, 2008
Market Service: Global Business and Outsourcing Services
Why BPO Providers Need To Acquire To Stay Competitive, Part 2
Phil Fersht, Mickey North Rizza
As the global services market continues its path toward rapid maturation, enterprises are evaluating more complex services that encompass both IT and business process services at a global level. Part 1 of this article series discussed recent acquisition activity in the BPO industry and evaluated growth opportunities for BPO suppliers. In Part 2, we'll discuss why acquisitions give BPO providers far more competitive bite in this industry than opportunistic partnerships.
May 17, 2006
Market Service: Customer Management
SAP Buys Frictionless Commerce
Mickey North Rizza
SAP is buying privately held FrictionlessCommerce, a supplier relationship management (SRM) software provider. This should be a good deal for customers of both companies.
Feb 23, 2006
Industry Value Chain Strategies Service
i2 Buys RiverOne
Bill Swanton, Lora Cecere, Mark Hillman, Mickey North Rizza
The consolidation of the B2B e-commerce and supply chain markets continues with i2 Technologies acquiring multitier supply chain management vendor RiverOne. Following last week's acquisition of Viacore by IBM, it is part of a trend AMR Research expects to accelerate over the next year as small supply chain vendors reach for-or are pushed to-an exit strategy.