The KPMG 3Q11 Sourcing Advisory Pulse Survey of KPMG field advisors and leading global business and IT service providers reported that a "robust" 71 % of advisors said the most common approach buyers undertook to enhance their service delivery capabilities was to improve their current shared services and outsourcing governance processes and capabilities, an increase of 5 % from last quarter. The next most commonly cited approach by advisors was the use or expansion of IT outsourcing (ITO) (56 %), followed by internal process improvement or re-engineering efforts (46 %).
While investments in cloud computing services were ranked low by advisors (28 %), deeper analysis suggests that cloud investments are also growing in significance, though are more often represented as an enabler in other efforts such as ITO, business process outsourcing (BPO) or shared services, rather than a discrete investment in itself.
"These findings signal a maturing service delivery market, in which buyers are more focused on improving efforts already deployed in the field, versus just initiating new outsourcing or shared services arrangements," said Stan Lepeak, global research director in KPMG's Management Consulting group.
In terms of demand for different service delivery models, 51 % of sourcing advisors cited internal process improvement efforts as growing in demand, the same as last quarter. This was followed by IT outsourcing, in which 45 % of advisors saw increased demand, and shared services, in which 42 % of advisors saw greater demand. In the slowest growth category, BPO, the number of advisors citing demand growth fell to 27 % from 45 % in the previous quarter.
"There is no question that organisations realise that they need to utilise a combination of service delivery models to drive their services maturity efforts," said Cliff Justice, US leader of KPMG's Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory group. "However, it is important that buyers balance the pursuit of greater maturity against the cost and complexity of doing so, to ensure that their service delivery model is in line with strategic organisational goals."
When asked which functional areas buyers are applying these improvement initiatives within, 67 % of KPMG member firms' sourcing advisors named IT, followed by finance and accounting (F&A) (44 %). These findings, which were relatively consistent across geographies, illustrate that core back-office functions still receive the most attention.
"While growth for outsourcing remains positive, both service providers and KPMG advisors indicated that buyers are not as aggressive at pursuing outsourcing deals as in the past, especially when compared to 2003-2004, when the global economy was coming out of the last recession," said Lepeak.
Service providers and advisors identified several factors for this more modest rebound in outsourcing and related third-party services demand, which includes buyers more carefully weighing all their change options, including internal process improvement or waiting on the sidelines for now.
Nico Boot, partner, Sourcing Advisory, KPMG in the Netherlands said: "In Europe, we are seeing an increase in the number of multinational clients looking at shared service centre options - especially for finance and accounting, HR and procurement processes. Organisations are often looking at this option as the first step on the road to outsourcing these processes later on."
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Quelle/Source: Procurement Leaders News, 07.11.2011
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