With global outsourcing expected to reach $1.2 trillion this year, outsourcing advisory firms should expect a busy year. Here is the Black Book’s ranking of top advisory firms — full service firms and those specializing in HRO, BPO, ITO and FAO.
The study, released today, crowns EquaTerra as the top full-service offshore outsourcing advisory firm with skills and resources to consult on every stage of an outsourcing deal. Morgan Chambers, neoIT, Everest, TPI and PricewaterhouseCoopers are the other leaders. (See Box 1 for the complete list of top full-service offshore outsourcing advisory firms.)
EquaTerra, Buck Consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Morgan Chambers are the companies that won the best advisory firm titles in the categories of ITO, HRO, FAO and BPO, respectively. (See Box 2 for the top advisors by initiative specialization.)
“The 2006 acquisition of Avanti Advisory was one of the reasons behind EquaTerra’s success,” says Lee Ann Moore, Managing Director, Business Development, EquaTerra. The company provides significant capabilities in the ITO space, but as its strengths have historically been viewed to be in the HRO, FAO and other BPO categories, it has taken a while for the market to understand its ITO offerings. For this purpose, “EquaTerra continues to hire expert advisors and thought leaders from the IT sector,” Lee adds.
Morgan Chambers has bagged two awards: First rank as Top BPO advisor and second as top full-service offshore outsourcing advisors. “Morgan Chambers has a solid and long-standing track record of delivering sustainable and innovative BPO transactions for clients in many vertical and horizontal processes,” says Phil Morris, CEO, Morgan Chambers.
The demand for boutique advisory firms is also increasing. 2007 winner of this segment is Pace Harmon that consulted its clients on outsourcing deals in excess of two billion dollars. (See Box 3 for the entire list of top boutique advisory firms.)
The Black Book also ranks other third-party outsourcing stakeholders — service providers that also have a consulting arm, market researchers, legal advisors, globalization advisors and benchmarkers.
Box 1
Top 10 Full Service Offshore Outsourcing Advisors
| EquaTerra |
| Morgan Chambers |
| neoIT |
| Everest |
| TPI |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers |
| Alsbridge Consulting |
| Ovum |
| Stardling Global Sourcing |
| PA Consulting |
| Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing |
Box 2
Top Advisors by Initiatives Specialization
| ITO Advisors |
HRO Advisors |
FAO Advisors |
BPO Advisors |
| EquaTerra |
Buck Consultants |
PricewaterhouseCoopers |
Morgan Chambers |
| RampRate |
Fidelity |
EquaTerra |
neoIT |
| Pace Harmon |
EquaTerra |
Capco |
TPI |
| BearingPoint |
Towers Perrin |
TPI |
EquaTerra |
| Diamond Consultants |
RSM mcGladrey |
Deloitte |
Alsbridge |
| Archstone Consulting |
Everest Group |
KPMG |
Everest Group |
| TPI |
Hager Group |
Ernst & Young |
Pace Harmon |
| Hitachi Consulting |
Watson Wyatt |
Compass |
Ovum |
| Booz Allen Hamilton |
Hay Group |
PayStream Advisors |
Quantum Plus |
| Threshold partners |
Mercer |
Everest group |
Marakon Associates |
Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing
Box 3
Top 10 Boutique Outsourcing
Advisory Firms
| Boutique Outsourcing Advisory Firms |
Specialization |
| Pace Harmon |
ITO, BPO, Supply Chain |
| RampRate |
ITO |
| NelsonHall |
BPO Tracking |
| Archstone Consulting |
ITO, Telecommunication |
| Global Equations |
BPO, ITO |
| Backes Crocker |
BPO, ITO |
| Tholons |
Outsourcing Investment |
| Quantum Plus |
ITO |
| ScottMadden |
ITO, BPO |
| Argea |
ITO, BPO, Midmarket |
Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing
Box 4
Top 10 Consulting Service Providers
| Capgemini |
| Atos Origin |
| ACS |
| IBM Global |
| Deloitte |
| Fujitsu |
| Tata Consultancy Services |
| Accenture |
| ACS |
| CGI |
| Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing |
Box 5
Top 10 Outsourcing Researchers
| Forrester |
| Everest |
| Gartner |
| McKinsey |
| IDC |
| Frost & Sullivan |
| AMR Research |
| Aberdeen |
| Yankee Group |
| Dimensions |
| Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing |
Box 6
Top Legal Advisors
| Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman |
| Cooley Godward Kronish |
| Milbank, Brown, Rowe & Maw |
| Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw |
| Hughes & Luce |
| Morgan Lewis & Bockius |
| Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner |
| Alston & Bird |
| Baker & Mckenzie |
| Kirkland & Ellis |
| Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing |
Box 7
Top Globalization
Advisory Firms
| neoIT |
| Boston Consulting Group |
| Proudfoot Consulting |
| Bain & Company |
| Navigant |
| IBM Global |
| Huron |
| Hitachi Consulting |
| McKinsey |
| Deloitte |
| Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing |
Box 8
Top 10 Outsourcing Benchmarkers
| Nautilus/ProBenckmark |
| The Hackett Group |
| IDC |
| EquaTerra |
| Compass |
| PA Consulting |
| Gartner |
| Maturity |
| Global Information Partners |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers |
| Source: The 2007 Black Book of Outsourcing |
