Outsource Issue 23 - (Page 12)

this month: KPmG BUYs EQUAtERRA; noKiA-WinDoWs DEAL; XChAnGinG WoEs news & comment sourcing advisory KPmG acquires equaterra CommEntARY Mark Schrutt, Director, ServiceS & enterpriSe applicationS, iDc canaDa “From a numbers count, KPMG believes that this moves them up the ranks to be the largest intermediary in the marketplace. It’s a market which is still moving; from a traditional sourcing advisory perspective – understanding requirements, identifying vendors, developing negotiations, the traditional sourcing decision – the third-party advisory market is on the decline, so there’s a realisation that the TPAs have to expand their services to smaller firms, and into more pure IT consulting, and integrating their sourcing advisory practices into their legacy consulting arms. KPMG have a big advantage where it comes to that. In this industry, you have good tools, and good processes – but what makes the difference is the people, and that will be the key for EquaTerra and KPMG: retaining good people and ensuring they get high-profile thought-leadership amongst the partners.” Iconic KPMG office in Munich, Germany The sourcing advisory space saw significant consolidation in February when Big Four professional services firm KPMG acquired advisors EquaTerra for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition – “consistent with the KPMG network’s growth strategy, focusing on organic and inorganic opportunities in select high-demand market sectors” according to a company statement – brings EquaTerra’s well-respected advisory team into the KPMG network, augmenting the latter’s existing capabilities and ramping up the firm’s ability to compete with other major services organisations for supremacy in the increasingly volatile advisory space. “EquaTerra is an ideal fit for KPMG and we look forward to welcoming the EquaTerra team to the KPMG network family… Through this acquisition, clients of KPMG member firms will benefit from the addition of a market-leading sourcing adviser to help them transform their organisations into more flexible enterprises in a way that meets today’s complex market demands,” said Timothy P Flynn, Chairman, . KPMG International. The news of the deal came a few weeks after fellow advisory major TPI acquired IT consultancy Compass, giving the former a well-entrenched benchmarking arm to accompany its market-leading advisory position. As the organisational clout and spending power at the top of the advisory tree becomes increasingly potent – and intimidating to potential new entrants – rumours are now circulating around the outsourcing space that another Big Four firm will step in to acquire one of the remaining “boutique” advisory organisations. Want to comment on the news stories of the day? Write to the editor at jamie.liddell@ outsourcemagazine. co.uk In 2007 Nokia shares accounted for around a third of the total market capitalisation of the Helsinki stock exchange. 12 www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk ●● http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 23

Outsource Issue 23
Contents
News & Comment
IT Security
Ian Collard
More Than Just A Headcount
Call Centre Technology
Social Issues
Understanding Value
Cutting Through The Noise
All In The Genes?
It’s Time For Contact Centres To Get Socially Responsible
Right From The Start
All In The Game
Relationship Management Centres
NOA Roundup
Document Management
Digital Vision
Review Ructions
Provider Perspective
A New Reckoning?
Head-to-Head
The Music of Outsourcing
Accelerating Innovation
Labour Arbitrage
Top Ten Tips
The Legal View
HfS: New outsource Partner
Online Round-Up
Sourcebites
Inside Source
The Last Word

Outsource Issue 23