During the course of the Global Services 100 study, fielded in conjunction with neoIT, a consulting firm specializing in services globalization, we collected over 250 data points from 147 respondents. The Global Services 100 includes large multinational service providers, emerging BPO providers, vertical specialists and leading customer-service firms.
The data points were clustered into four categories that included operations, services, client data and human-resource policies. Essays also play a significant role in helping us understand providers’ strategies and accomplishments. Respondents to the study included firms from 18 countries, representing the most popular service delivery destinations such as India, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Mexico.
Rather than rank each company from one to 100, the approach used in this study is intended to provide users a head start in the quest to maintain updated ‘short lists’ of the leading providers of globally delivered services, ranging from BPO and ITO to regions and emerging leaders. The methodology employed by the study to arrive at each Top List is based on a rigorous frequency analysis followed by a proprietary weighting system allocated amongst the four major categories. The weighting system considers the client’s perspective during the buying process. Sample weights for the IT, BPO and Call Center lists are presented in the figure below. This year, in addition to the Top Lists categories from previous years we have added an Engineering list to reflect the growing trend and interest in leveraging global talent for these types of services.
Similar to an RFI (request for information) process, companies that took the time to thoroughly complete entry forms and essays tended to score higher than those that did not. Through the data-collection process, the study aims to assess not just the actual responses but also how companies respond as an indicator of their ability to do so in actual client situations. The judges also paid particular attention to the quality and messaging of respondents’ essays on a range of subjects including competitive differentiation, client satisfaction and human development.
