Phil Fersht
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HfS Research, the leading global research analyst organization covering global sourcing strategies. Acclaimed Industry Analyst and Consultant who scribes the leading blog for the services industry "Horses for Sources". Previously worked at AMR Research (Gartner Inc), Deloitte Consulting’s BPO Advisory Services, the Everest Group and IDC . In 2010, Phil was named “IIAR Analyst of the Year” by the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR). This is the most coveted global award for industry analysts in technology and services.
Barely a third of outsourcing deals are now safe: Window-dressing legacy engagements is over
We’ve been talking about the legacy model of butts-on-seats “mess for less” outsourcing fizzling out for years, but somehow the same old candidates have clung on grimly to the same old model, relying on clients that still find a modicum of comfort negotiating rate cards down to the lowest common denominator, content to hobble along […]
It’s Bots-on-Seats as IBM, Cognizant and Accenture lead the HFS TOP 10 Cognitive Assistants
The word “Chatbot” is officially banned: they treat conversations like they’re a game of tennis: talk, reply, talk, reply. There is little to no context and zero intelligence, just pre-programmed responses only set up to deal with a pre-set finite number of frequently asked questions. It’s a legacy customer experience that most of us go out of […]
Tinker, experiment, explore, then disrupt: The Hyper-Connected Enterprise will be driven by Intelligent Automation.
As business operations have advanced through several inflections points over the last three decades, the core component at the heart of these changes has been the emergence of digital interactivity driving the hyper-connected global business – only made possible by intelligent automation. Digital connectivity has transformed both front and back offices over the last three […]
Time to kick out quadrants, paralyse peaks and wash away waves. Hello HFS TOP 10
Yes, folks – the rumors are true. HFS is officially out of the quadrant business. We’re done, the whole quadrant craze is starting to smell pretty bad and we know the industry is fed up with it. Increasingly, many of these 2×2 matrices are missing several of the market leaders (who refuse to participate) and having them […]
Don’t dog nod your way to unemployment. Read this and get on your soap box
After yesterday’s slightly risqué rant, I received an interesting comment from Nigel Barron (pictured) this morning, an avid follower of HFS over the years, who spent much of his career with CSC and subsequently DXC before recently going independent (and clearly off the leash and wagging his tail!): “Since 2008 every job has become a hustle and analysts […]
Rant Warning: Nodding dogs and vendor marketing – this is all our industry deserves
As an analyst, you spend your time with a lot of other analysts – for better or for worse. And, recently, worse is taking up more than its fair share. It just seems like, as an industry, we’ve lost our collective teeth, our ability to question, challenge and find out the truth. We’d even go […]
Passionate about #AI? Then look no further…
We are hiring a Research Director, Artificial Intelligence, based in Cambridge, England, the home of AI!
Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath make up the top three in the inaugural HfS Top 10
The rise of RPA is nothing short of spectacular as the market closes on $2bn this year. It has captivated the attention of the digital operations executives with the promise of cost-savings beyond labor arbitrage, cost avoidance by extending the life of legacy IT, quicker implementation than traditional IT projects, business-user friendliness, auditability and […]
It’s time to give these poor Millennials a break
What is wrong with us old timers these days? We go to conferences where we make sure no one under age of 40 comes near the place, and we spend half our time bemoaning the lack of a “digital mindset” from our colleagues because we all have these world-class digital mindsets ourselves. And can someone please […]
Is Syntel worth $3.4bn? And does this bring Atos to the adult’s table?
Syntel brings to Atos a larger platform into the North American market, stronger IT automation capabilities to augment its data management and analytics heritage and, above all, access to quality long-term engagements. And not to mention a mighty Indian offshore IT depth that fills a lot of delivery holes for the firm. And don’t forget, […]
