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Industry Insight

July 21, 2008
Industry Insight from NelsonHall. For more comment, visit: www.nelson-hall.com
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Dear #FIRSTNAME,
  • Logica Awarded Major Application Management Contract by Michelin

    Jul 18, 2008 | Contracts by Rachael Stormonth
    industry: Automotive

    Logica has been awarded a major 3-year contract application management contract by Michelin. The contract has a 3-year extension option.

    Services to be provided by Logica include applications development and management for Michelin's operations in Europe and North America for the following domains:

    • Finance and Purchase Reporting
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Marketing and Sales (CRM)
    • Demand to Cash
    • Also related consulting services and systems implementation services.

    The service delivery model will include blended multi-shore delivery. Work has already commenced.

    Analyst comments:

    In what is one of the largest application management awards in Europe in 2008 to date, Michelin has outsourced its applications development and maintenance activities to four groups of vendors. The combined contracts have a total potential lifetime value of c. €300m for the three base years.

    The French headquartered tire manufacturer has been considering its sourcing options (whether or not to outsource, and if so, how) since 2005. Michelin eventually decided on tendering ten lots of work consisting of:

    • Eight major business functions, including supply chain, finance, HR, marketing and sales, covering both North America and Europe (initially treated as separate geographies)
    • Two geographic lots, covering all the applications management activities for Michelin South America and Asia.

    Many vendors were initially interested. The final four groups in contention were Logica, Atos Origin partnering with Accenture, IBM partnering with Sopra, and Wipro.

    • Logica has been awarded four out of the ten lots and becomes Michelin''s major applications services partner
    • The Accenture-Atos Origin partnership has won two lots covering industrial areas (decision support, research and development and manufacturing
    • In what will be a new relationship, Wipro won two lots, covering Asia-Pacific
    • IBM-Sopra has won two lots covering some support functions and South America. IBM is already managing all of Michelin South America's IT infrastructure through a contract signed in April 2006; this followed an 8-year €1Bn contract signed December 2003 to manage Michelin's IT infrastructure in North America and Europe. Michelin was unlikely to also award the major part of the management to its applications estate in Europe to IBM given the intention was to multi-source.

    The discussions with potential services providers have taken as long as the duration of the base contracts, which are short for deals of this size and nature (Michelin had been considering 5-year deals). In what was initially a cautious approach to outsourcing, not unusual behavior for French organizations, Michelin has spread the agreements between global, European, and offshore IT services vendors, with Logica as the major winner.

    The fact that Accenture and IBM both chose to partner with French service providers implies their lack of confidence in their local knowledge. The elimination late in 2007 of one strong French headquartered contender, Capgemini, from in Europe but not North America possibly reflects a geographically siloed approach to the opportunity.

    Logica's relationship with Michelin was based on consulting engagements delivered by Unilog on change management in working practices, with some applications development engagements. This deal illustrates Logica optimizing a local in-country relationship to win a major outsourcing deal requiring global service delivery.

    The contract will give Logica experience in providing major transformational application management services and should also demonstrate its capability to support multi-national outsourcing deals.

  • TietoEnator Announces Q2 2008 Revenues Up 11% to €480m

    Jul 18, 2008 | Financial Results by Dominique Raviart

    TietoEnator has announced Q2 2008 revenues, for the period ending 30 June 2008, of €480m, up by 11%. Organic growth was 11%.

    Operating income was €33.2m (excluding one-off items related to the restructuring program), representing an operating margin of 6.9%, compared with a margin of 3.4% in Q2 2007. Including one-off items, the operating margin in Q2 2008 was 6.2%.

    Q2 2008 revenues per business unit (and revenue growth on an actual and organic basis) was:

    • Banking and insurance €77m (9%; 10%)
    • Telecom and media €178m (10%, 10%)
    • Government, manufacturing and retail €51m (7%, 8%)
    • Healthcare and welfare €42m (25%, 25%)
    • Forrest and energy €46m (3%, 3%)
    • Processing and network €113m (16%, 16%)

    Overall, TietoEnator has been impacted by a favorable number of working days due to the timing of the Easter holidays, affecting primarily the company's telecom business.

    In processing and network, organic growth was driven by the Apoteket contracts. The company has also concluded a 7-year agreement with OP Pohjola Group and Ilmarien, described as the largest agreement by TietoEnator in 'recent year" and renewed an IT IM contract with TeliaSonera for managing IBM, Unisys and Digital mainframes.

    Operating margin by business unit was:

    • Banking and insurance 10%
    • Telecom and media 8.2%
    • Government, manufacturing and retail 10.3%
    • Healthcare and welfare 3.3%
    • Forrest and energy 4.1%
    • Processing and network 10.6%

    Headcount reached 16,301, up 6% at end of Q2 2008. Attrition was is 12.8%, up from 9.8% in Q2 2007.

    Headcount in low-cost countries reached 3,700 personnel, up from 2,500 in Q2 2008. Global delivery now accounts for 21% of headcount (of which c11% in Eastern Europe, 6% in Russia, Baltics and Belarus and the rest in Asia) . TietoEnator has maintained its objective of reaching 40% of its headcount in low-cost countries in the mid-term.

    Analyst comments:

    TietoEnator's Q2 2008 results (+11% organic growth and an EBIT margin excluding one-time items of 6.9%) compare favorably to those of EDB Business Partner (negative 3% organic growth, 7.4% in operating margin). Taking into account that TietoEnator was the subject of a formal takeover bid and in discussion with EDB and Telenor, the results look solid. Despite the competition of Indian vendors, its telecom and financial services businesses are resilient. In outsourcing, TietoEnator is outperforming EDB.

  • IBM Announces Q2 2008 Revenues Up 12.8% to $26,820m

    Jul 17, 2008 | Financial Results by John Willmott

    IBM has announced Q2 2008 revenues, for the period ending 30 June 2008, of $26,820m, an increase of 12.8% (6% in constant currency) compared to Q2 2008.

    Q2 2008 revenues (and revenue growth) by division were:

    • Global Technology Services $10,100m (+15.3%) (+8% CC)
    • Global Business Services $5,107m (+17.7%) (+9% CC)
    • Software $5,574m (+16.7%) (+9% CC)
    • Systems & Technology $5,212m (+2.2%) (-3% CC)
    • Global Financing $634m (+6.1%) (-2% CC)
    • Other $193m (-4.0%).

    Q2 2008 Global Services revenue breakdown and revenue growth by service element was:

    • Strategic Outsourcing 34% (+13%) (+5% in constant currency: CC)
    • Integrated Technology Services 16% (+16%) (+8% CC)
    • Maintenance 12% (+16%) (+8% CC)
    • BTO 4% (+29%) (+26% CC).

    Q2 signings increased 12% (+4% in CC) to $14.7Bn. Q2 2008 Global Services signings (and signing growth) by contract duration were:

    • Global Business Services - short-term $4.3Bn (+19%) (+9% CC)
    • Global Technology Services - short-term $2.7Bn (+16%) (+9% CC)
    • Global Business Services - long-term $1.8Bn (-9%) (-20% CC)
    • Global Technology Services - long-term $5.9Bn (+13%) (+9% CC).

    Q2 2008 Strategic Outsourcing signings increased 7% (+2% in CC) while BTO signings increased 45% (+44% in CC).

    IBM's backlog is $117Bn.

    Q2 2008 revenues (and revenue growth) by industry sector were:

    • Financial Services $7.6Bn (+15%) (+6% CC)
    • Public $4.0Bn (+11%) (+6% CC)
    • Industrial $3.2Bn (+13%) (+4% CC)
    • Distribution $2.7Bn (+10%) (+3% CC)
    • Communications $2.7Bn (+16%) (+10% CC)
    • SMB $5.1Bn (+13%) (+6% CC).

    Q2 2008 revenues (and revenue growth) by geography were:

    • Americas $10.9Bn (+8%) (+6% CC)
    • EMEA $9.8Bn (+20%) (+7% CC)
    • Asia Pacific $5.3Bn (+16%) (+6% CC)
    • OEM $0.7Bn (-18% CC).

    Within Asia Pacific, Q2 revenue growth was:

    • Japan +13% (-2% CC)
    • Rest of Asia Pacific +18% (+13% CC).

    Revenue growth in selected countries was:

    • G7 countries +11% (+5% in CC)
    • Canada +20% (+11% in CC)
    • Germany +25% (+7% in CC)
    • France +23% (+6% in CC)
    • Italy +21% (+5% in CC)
    • U.K. +3% (+4% in CC).

    IBM's "new growth markets organization" accounted for 17% of H1 2008 revenues and reported Q2 2008 revenue growth of 21% (+14% in CC), with 31% (+20% in CC) revenue growth in the BRIC countries.

    Analyst comments:

    The pattern of activity and revenue growth experienced by IBM continues to diverge between mature and emerging markets.

    IBM is benefiting from infrastructure build-out in emerging markets with revenue growth in constant currency of 20% in BRIC countries, 14% in "growth markets", and 13% in Asia Pacific outside Japan.

    However the emphasis within mature markets, where Q2 revenue growth was approximately 4% in real terms, continues to be on cost reduction initiatives and quick results. IBM's short-term services contract signings grew globally by 9% in constant currency in Q2 2008 while long-term contract signings grew by just 2%.

    In addition, business transformation continues to grow in importance. While IBM's BTO services only account for 4% of the company's total revenues, their revenues grew by 28% in constant currency in Q2 2008.

  • HCL Technologies Acquires Liberata Financial Services

    Jul 16, 2008 | Mergers and Acquisitions by Rachael Stormonth
    industry: Life Insurance

    HCL Technologies is to acquire Liberata subsidiary Liberata Financial Services (LFS). Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

    LFS, the majority (c. 85%) of whose activities are focused on BPO services within the U.K. life and pensions (L&P) sector, has c. 800 personnel working out of 4 sites in:

    • Romford (2 sites), the former operations of Century Life Services acquired by Liberata in September 2000 and the core L&P BPO services delivery centers
    • Croydon
    • Preston.

    Analyst comments:

    NelsonHall estimates that LFS is the 4th largest provider of L&P BPO services in the U.K. market, with a 6% share. LFS provides administration services in support of approximately 3 million L&P policies of which nearly 95% are closed block.

    This marks the end of a long period of speculation about who would purchase this business, which has been struggling in recent years:

    • In April 2008, LFS was severely criticized and fined £525,000 by the FSA for failing to issue statutory policy holder documents on at least 17 occasions over a two year period from January 2005. This has led to a loss of credibility around LFS' L&P processing capability
    • There has been no significant new business in nearly 4 years. The last contract win was back in 2004 when Chesnara (formerly Countrywide Assurance) awarded Liberata a 10-year £30m contract involving the transfer of 180 staff from Chesnara's delivery center in Preston, to provide policy administration services for 220,000 life and investment policies
    • Outsourcing of closed block business is primarily a cost reduction play and LFS has no offshore capability: significant offshoring by HCL is to be expected
    • While the majority of LFS' L&P business is in closed blocks of business, U.K. L&P BPO contracts are increasingly requiring management of elements of open book processing, an area in which LFS has very limited experience.

    This acquisition brings to HCL:

    • An onshore presence for front ending its L&P BPO offering in the U.K. with a client list also including Barclays, AXA Sun Life and JP Morgan Chase (Save & Prosper) bringing revenues of c. $60m per annum
    • The capability to manage more complex L&P support activities
    • Access to LFS internally developed core L&P processing platform, based on SunGard's Amarta platform. With the exception of Chesnara, all of LFS' clients have been migrated to the platform. The last major migration was for Barclays in mid 2006.

    Despite the maturity and size of the U.K. L&P BPO market, NelsonHall estimates that just 20% of L&P policies are currently outsourced. This is likely to rise to 30%-35% by 2012. The greatest opportunity for vendors lies not in cost-focused policy administration but in service-focused policy administration where cost reduction is a given. One of the challenges for vendors is in improving customer service levels whilst increasing the proportion of activities handled offshore. Capita, who currently dominates the U.K. L&P BPO market and has historically offered an onshore service, is beginning to move more activity offshore.

    The U.K. L&P BPO market is characterized by the award of large value contracts of $200m to $1Bn+ TCV. Of the last 6 such awards Capita has won four and TCS/Diligenta two.

    This acquisition positions HCL as a second serious offshore contender for new U.K. L&P BPO opportunities.

    NelsonHall has recently produced a market assessment of L&P BPO: for details contact paul.connolly@nelson-hall.com.

    Liberata is now focusing on its local government business, targeting some opportunities in partnership with Fujitsu Services.

  • Perot Systems Awarded 3-Year BPO Contract by Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Health Insurance Connector Authority

    Jul 16, 2008 | Contracts by Rachael Stormonth
    industry: State/Regional Government

    Perot Systems has been awarded a 3-year BPO contract by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Health Insurance Connector Authority to support the state's Commonwealth Care program to assist low-income eligible Massachusetts residents who are not offered employer-sponsored insurance by giving them access to certain subsidized private insurance health plans. There are currently 174,000+ such residents.

    This initiative is to provide eligible residents help in choosing their benefit coverage options. Services to be provided include:

    • Call center services
    • IT services.

    Some of the services will be provided by Vecna and the Public Consulting Group.

    Analyst comments:

    The Massachusetts health care reform law of 2006 provides almost free health care for residents earning less than the federal poverty line, and subsidized access to health care for those earning up to three times the poverty threshold.

    The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority established by this law runs the Commonwealth Care subsidized health insurance program designed for low-income residents not eligible for Massachussets' Medicaid scheme, MassHealth.

  • Sogeti Opens Microsoft Expertise Center in India

    Jul 16, 2008 | New Offerings by Dominique Raviart

    Sogeti, the local professional services arm of Capgemini, has announced the opening of an expertise center in Mumbai (India) dedicated to SharePoint server technology. Sogeti is aiming for a headcount of 200 SharePoint Server specialists by end of 2008 and 1,000 by end 2009. Services offered will include enterprise search, portals and content management services.

    Analyst comments:

    Sogeti, once a pure staff augmentation vendor has been working on its reinvention . The company is emerging over time as a provider of specialized services such as software testing, R&D services and services around IBM and Microsoft products.Sogeti estimates it has 6,000 personnel with Microsoft capabilities out of a total headcount of 18,000.

    Sogeti is gradually building its offshore presence. In 2007, 2% of its headcount was based in India and the company is aiming for 4% by end of 2008. Sogeti India is currently providing testing services (circa 500 personnel) and R&D services (100-150). The development of offshore capabilities is increasingly important for Sogeti, not only for its Dutch clients where it is highly present but also for its U.S. ones. Sogeti is planning to make acquisitions in the U.S. to increase its scale there.

  • TCS Announces Fiscal Q1 2009 Revenues Up 20.8% to $1,525m

    Jul 16, 2008 | Financial Results by Rachael Stormonth

    Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced fiscal Q1 2009 revenues, for the period ending 30 June 2008, of $1,525m, up 20.8% year-on-year in U.S.$ terms under U.S. GAAP.

    Operating income was $336.5m, representing an operating margin of 22.1%, compared with a margin of 22.4% in fiscal Q1 2008.

    Fiscal Q1 2009 revenue share (with comparative share for fiscal Q1 2008) by region was:

    • Americas 55.2% (55%)
    • - North America 51.1% (51.1%)
    • - Ibero America 4.1% (3.9%)
    • U.K. 19.5% (20.7%)
    • Other Europe 10.1 % (8.6%)
    • India 8.7% (9.0%)
    • APAC 4.9% (5.1%)
    • Middle East/Africa 1.6% (1.6%).

    Fiscal Q1 2009 revenue share by vertical (with comparative share for fiscal Q1 2008) was:

    • Financial services 42.5 (43.1%)
    • Manufacturing 10.7% (10.0%)
    • High-Tech (a new reportable segment) 7.0% (5.6%)
    • Telecoms 15.5% (16.6%)
    • Life sciences & healthcare 5.3% (6.1%)
    • Retail & distribution 8.6% (8.0%)
    • Transportation 4.3% (4.0%)
    • Energy & Utilities 2.9% (2.4%)
    • Media & entertainment (a new reportable segment) 1.7% (1.5%)
    • Others 1.5% (2.7%).

    Revenue growth has slowed down in the BFSI sectors because of client specific issues with 2 clients in the U.S. and also with ABN AMRO,

    Fiscal Q1 2009 non-India revenue share by service type (with comparative share for fiscal Q1 2008) was:

    • Application development/maintenance 46.9% (51.5%)
    • Business intelligence 9.0% (9.6%)
    • Enterprise solutions 13.0% (12.4%)
    • Assurance services 4.5 (3.3% )
    • Engineering and industrial services 5.6% (5.3%)
    • Infrastructure services 7.7% (5.7%)
    • Global consulting 3.7% (3.0%)
    • Asset leveraged solutions 3.5% (3.3%)
    • BPO 6.1% (5.9%).

    The contract type mix (with comparative share for fiscal Q1 2008) was:

    • 57.2% (57.3%) time & materials
    • 42.8% (42.7%) fixed price/fixed time.

    TCS had 885 active clients at end fiscal Q1 2009, down from 908 at end fiscal Q4 2008, though the reduction in numbers only came from clients generating under $1m in business. In terms of client concentration, TCS now has

    • 105 clients contributing >$10m per annum, up from 100 at the end of fiscal Q4 2008
    • 21 clients generating >$50m revenues per annum, up from 18 at the end of fiscal Q4 2008.

    TCS' top client contributed 6.2% of global revenues (6.5% in fiscal Q1 2008)

    Its top 10 clients contributed 28.3% of global revenues (29.1% in fiscal Q1 2008)

    The revenue mix according to delivery location (with comparative mix for fiscal Q1 2008) was:

    • Onsite 54.9% (54.8%)
    • GDC/RDC 4.2% (4.%)
    • Offshore 40.9% (41.1%).

    Total headcount at end fiscal Q1 2009 was 116,308 including Indian subsidiaries comprising:

    • TCS 112,593 (up from 107,698 a end fiscal Q4 2008)
    • Indian subsidiareis 3,715 (up from 3,709 at end fiscal Q4 2008).

    The net increase in headcount was thus 4,895. There was a gross addition of 8,982 employees.

    Attrition rate in the 12 month period ended June 2008 was 12.8%, an increase from 11.5% in the prior year period, with:

    • IT services 12.1%
    • BPO 20.5%

    Utilization rate was 78.3% excluding trainees, 74.6% including trainees (79.1% and 76.0% respectively in the prior year quarter). Although there has been a slight decline, TCS is targeting a 100 bp improvement in attrition rate by the end of FY 2009.

    Analyst comments:

    Given its dependence on the financial services sector and on North America, the fact that TCS has achieved revenue growth of over 20% in a challenging market while managing to maintain its operating margin is impressive.

    The growth areas have been:

    • Infrasucture services up >60% to c. $117m
    • BPO up nearly 25% to c. $93m
    • Assurance services up >60% to c. $68m
    • Consulting nearly doubling to c. $56m.

    TCS has been challenged this quarter in Latin America where revenue contribution from Latin America declined by 14% sequentially, due to the impact of restructuring in ABN AMRO, also with negative sequential revenue growth in its financial software products business ("asset leveraged solutions") because of delays in decision making. In addition, growth in other emerging markets, including the Indian domestic market has been slower than anticipated.

    Overall, while TCS' attrition rate is very low for Indian IT services companies, it has slowly but steadily been increasing over the last few years; utilization rates meanwhile have slowly but steadily been decreasing.

    TCS' management is somewhat cautious, although positive, about the current outlook.

Regards, Rachael Stormonth

Welcome to Industry Insight

Welcome to the Industry Insight newsletter from NelsonHall.

The Industry Insight newsletter is published weekly and complements NelsonHall's subscription services by providing commentary and insight on key industry developments which impact your sourcing decisions.

Our articles are all written by experienced analysts who understand the industry and are specialists in the areas that they cover.

I hope you enjoy using this service and welcome your feedback
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