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Accenture moves up in HR BPO market share with 10-year BT deal
 
 British Telecom and
Accenture have signed a
10-year, $575 million
(GBP306 million)
business process
outsourcing (BPO)
contract for human
resource (HR)
administration services.
   According to research
from the Yankee Group,
the deal puts
Accenture's market share
in the HR BPO space at
16% - just a percentage
point behind current
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 five-year contract,
which covered employees
and pensioners only the
UK. Under the new
contract, Accenture will
also provide services to
another 10,000 BT
employees in 37
countries around the
world.
   The services to be
provided under the new
contract include
customer contact/call
centre, recruitment,
pension administration,
 
 payroll and benefits
administration,
performance management
administration, health
and safety, and HR
advisory and information
services.
   The new contract will
take effect August 1,
2005, and it will be
preceded by a jointly
developed transition
program to define the
service delivery
framework.
   Two of Europe's
 
 incumbent telecom
operators, BT and
Telecom Italia, have now
adopted HR BPO services
and both of them partner
with Accenture HR
Services. Globally,
communications providers
such as Nortel, Lucent
and Avaya are also
engaging with
outsourcing their HR
processes to companies
such as Convergys,
Hewitt and ACS.
  
 
 market leaders Hewitt
Associates.
   The contract
significantly expands
the geographic reach of
services that Accenture
has been providing to BT
under a previous
 
 
EDS not looking to sell A.T. Kearney
 
 While EDS posted
higher-than-expected
quarterly profit, its
consulting business, AT
Kearney, posted an
operating loss, as the
company continues to
struggle to integrate
Kearney's high-end
advisory business into
its IT and outsourcing
operations.
   A.T. Kearney posted
an operating loss of $17
million on revenues of
$193 million for the
fourth quarter of 2004.
Its full-year results
are yet to be released.
In 2003, when it was
granted greater autonomy
from EDS in an effort to
win back clients, it
lost $7 million on
revenues of $846
million.
   Speaking to analysts
EDS Chairman and CEO
Michael Jordan said he
expects A.T. Kearney to
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 including an
acquisition, expanding
in low-cost countries
and investing in
technology.
   Analysts expect that
2006 will be another
difficult year for EDS,
as it bids to keep its
largest customer,
General Motors Corp.
   Investors were
concerned by a decline
in revenue, a big
shortfall in new
contract signings, and
the company's unexpected
weak earnings forecast
for the first quarter
and all of 2005.
   New contract signings
fell to $US3.8 billion
from $US4 billion as
some deals that had been
expected to close in the
fourth quarter were
moved to the first
quarter.
  
 
 show "a little bit of a
rebound this year, but
not much. I think most
of the high-value
consulting companies are
struggling a little
bit."
   While many analysts
view Kearney, or large
parts of it, as prime
candidate for sale,
Jordan was adamant the
consultancy was not for
sale, calling published
reports that EDS was
shopping Kearney
"completely erroneous."
   EDS is trying to
expand outside its
slow-growing core
business of IT and
Jordan said EDS would
spend more than $1
billion this year on
growth initiatives
 
 
IBM expands consulting unit with new acquisition
 
 In a move to strengthen
the finance and
administration
transformation services
offered by its
consulting unit, IBM
will acquire Equitant
for an undisclosed sum.
IBM said it is paying a
"fair market value" for
the company.
   Equitant, a provider
of business
transformation
outsourcing services, is
a private company with
operations in Dublin,
Ireland and Stamford,
Connecticut. It has been
reported that all 200
Equitant employees will
move to IBM.
   Citing research from
IDC that the finance and
accounting business
process outsourcing
services market will
reach $16.5 billion this
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 year, IBM has said it is
focusing its efforts
towards strengthening
its business
transformation services
and that it is open to
making similar
acquisitions in the
future.
   Equitant was created
in 1987 to provide
working capital
management to large
corporations and has
since evolved to focus
on consulting customers
how to manage the
order-to-cash cycle. The
company counts Cisco
Systems,
Hewlett-Packard, and
Microsoft among its
clients.
 
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