how is outsourcing fueling the oil & gas industry?

How Is Outsourcing Fueling the Oil & Gas Industry?

May 2011

© 2011, HfS Research, Ltd | www.hfsresearch.com 1

HOW IS OUTSOURCING FUELING THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY? Authors

Esteban Herrera, COO, HfS Research

Reetika Joshi, Contributing Analyst, BPO Strategies, HfS Research

Executive Summary

The oil and gas industry is, arguably, the most economically important sector in the world as it meets more than two-thirds of the global energy demand. This industry has been facing challenges such as declining production, rising consumption, and low reserves. The focus of the industry is now on cost containment as the global economy emerges from the recent financial crisis. As a result of the current scenario, there are opportunities for service providers in this domain to offer industry-specific solutions across the entire oil and gas value chain. The major points of discussion related to outsourcing in the utilities industry, as discussed in this report, are mentioned below:

» Key challenges facing the industry include high price volatility for oil products, a shortage of talent, aging

infrastructure, and constantly changing compliance requirements. Increased activity in the upstream segment is

adding to the high capital costs of oil exploration projects. There is constant pressure to maintain profit margins

and enhance shareholder value in the downstream segment.

» Cost containment is the biggest driver for outsourcing. Other benefits include increased efficiency, fewer errors,

better relationships with suppliers and vendors, and a greater use of technology for exploration and refining,

leading to lower costs.

» Popular outsourced services include energy trading and risk management (ETRM), supply chain management,

enterprise asset management, ERP platform integration, IT Infrastructure, and retail automation solutions.

Interspersed with these services are horizontal type offerings such as Finance and Accounting, and Human

Resource outsourcing. An increased focus on engineering has entered the outsourcing space with services such as

product design and automation for both upstream and downstream companies.

» Major industry trends include companies moving towards a digitally integrated oilfield set-up which involves

collating all data from various sources onto a common platform, a slow changing focus towards alternative

sources of energy such as bio-fuels, and a renewed interest in energy trading in order to reduce risks and increase

efficiency in trading options.


May 2011


Table of contents

Oil and gas industry review 3

The global picture 4

Key industry challenges 5

Building a case for outsourcing 6

Cost – a driving factor 6

Easing price volatility issues 6

Meeting training needs for the new workforce 6

Infrastructure upgrades 7

Addressing policy compliance 7

Key takeaways 7

Current outsourcing scenario in the energy industry 8

Types of oil and gas companies 8

Popularly outsourced services in the oil and gas industry 9

Latest deals 12

Key Service Providers 13

Major industry trends 14

Moving toward the digital oilfield era 14

Diversification into renewable sources of energy 14

Energy trading is back in the limelight 14

Appendix 15

About the authors 19

About HfS Research 20


May 2011


Oil and gas industry review The oil and gas industry is facing the challenges of rising demand, diminishing reserves, and controlling operating costs.

More than two-thirds of the global energy demands are met by this industry. Worldwide, infrastructure and development

projects depend on oil and gas, meaning that these two markets go hand in hand. The oil and gas industry has its origins in

the late nineteenth century, with the first oil wells in Russia, Europe, and the United States. The discovery of oil in the

Middle East and other parts of the developing world quickly transformed this sector into an internationally critical

industry. This short report focuses on this industry, which still constitutes the bulk of the global energy market. Energy is a

generic term for all industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including extraction of fuel, refining and

manufacturing, and distribution.

HfS Research divides the industry into five segments:

» Upstream: The upstream segment involves the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, from the

geological aspects to the latest technologies involving offshore drilling techniques.

» Downstream: The downstream segment includes the major refineries, which process barrels of crude oil, and the

transportation of the final products to service stations and retail outlets.

» Pipeline: This segment covers the pipeline network, which moves crude oil and natural gas from exploration

points on land and platforms in the ocean to refineries, and then to distribution terminals.

» Marine: The marine segment involves all aspects of transportation of petroleum and natural gas by water,

including port operations, oil tankers, and maritime fire fighting.

» Service and supply: This segment covers the companies that provide equipment, services, supplies, and design

engineering support for exploration, drilling, refining and other operations.

The pipeline, marine and service segments are also commonly referred to as the midstream segment, as the diagram

below illustrates.


May 2011


Exhibit 1 Segments of the oil and gas industry

Source: HfS Research, 2011

The global picture

The Middle East dominates proven reserves of oil and gas, with more than two-thirds of the world’s current reserves, which results in significant geopolitical importance. The second largest producing region is North America, followed by Africa, and South America. Governments around the world own and control the majority of oil resources. The greatest exception is the US, where private landowners play an important role and receive the royalty payments that flow to governments elsewhere.

In the US, oil production comes from a mix of land and offshore locations. The major offshore fields lie in the Gulf of

Mexico, while land production is dominated by Alaska, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and California. Since peaking in the

late 1980s, the US has seen gradually declining domestic oil production. This has led to increases in oil imports, and has

fostered increasing concern about the security of energy suppliers. Major imports come from Canada, Mexico, Saudi

Arabia, Nigeria, and Venezuela. In spite of all the imports, the USA remains the third largest producer of oil, after Russia

and Saudi Arabia.


May 2011


Almost all of the UK’s oil and gas production comes from offshore, with more than 350 oil fields in the North Sea region.

Other fields have been discovered in the Irish Sea, west of the Shetland Islands, and in the English Channel. The UK is the

fourteenth largest producer of oil in the world. Unlike, the USA, the UK oil and gas industry has been self-sufficient since

the 1980s. It is expected to remain self-sufficient in oil until 2016, and in gas well into this century.

The most recent major find, which occurred off the coast of Brazil in 2008, is possibly the third largest known oil reserve.

The national oil and gas company, Petrobras, started pilot pumping in 2010 and is expected to reach full-scale extraction

by 2013. This will eventually lead to Brazil joining the list of major oil exporters, and may even prompt them to join the

“Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries” (OPEC). OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve

developing countries which constitute major oil exporters.

As of 2010, the world production of crude oil, natural gas, and other hydrocarbons, was 87 million barrels a day. The

production capacity is expected to reach its peak by 2014, and it is estimated that the world’s oil reserves are being

depleted at a rate of 2.1 percent a year.

Key industry challenges

The global dependency on oil and gas, its increasing importance powering all levels of the economy, and the uncertainty

regarding its future make this industry arguably the most influential market on a global scale. In recent years, the industry

has been characterized by rising consumption of oil products, declining crude production, and low reserves. Adding the

recent severe economic downturn to the picture, controlling costs has become a major challenge for the industry.

Growing demand for oil and gas is leading to increased activity in the upstream segment, and this is resulting in larger and

more complex projects such as oil wells, refineries, and processing plants, involving high capital costs. In the downstream

segment, there is constant pressure to maintain profit margins and enhance shareholder value.

Other challenges for the industry include:

» Price volatility: Constantly fluctuating prices in the international energy market make it extremely difficult for

management in these companies to forecast sales figures and manage profitability targets. Some energy analysts

say that oil price trends can no longer be explained simply through supply and demand. Increasingly speculative

behaviour by influencers, such as investment banks and hedge funds – outside the oil industry – has made these

trends harder to predict.

» Talent shortage: The imminent retirement of close to half the industry workforce over the next decade has added

a new area of concern for oil and gas companies. Limited educational opportunities and a relatively unskilled

labour supply are resulting in a huge skill gap in the human capital requirements for these companies. Companies

are increasingly investing in training and knowledge management activities to help transfer knowledge to the

younger generations entering the industry. Even more challenging though, is the younger workforce’s lack of

interest in the industry.

» Aging oil and gas infrastructure: The energy industry is heavily dependent on large amounts of physical assets,

such as refineries, drilling rigs, and IT systems. A large part of the infrastructure has not changed much for the last

few decades, owing to the enormous asset size and complexity of the equipment in the field, both in oil wells

onshore and offshore oil rigs. As the infrastructure wears down, there is an urgent need to retire and replace

these components with newer assets.

» Uncertain energy policy: Constantly changing government regulations and compliance requirements in

conducting overseas business complicate matters for energy companies. Processes in these companies are

inflexible and still not fully automated, yet there’s a need to be global in execution. Lack of documentation and


May 2011


process repeatability, and an overall lack of agility can pose huge risks towards making operational changes at

high costs.

Building a case for outsourcing We’ve outlined how oil and gas companies are facing serious challenges in gearing up for the next generation in their

industry. Let’s explore how outsourcing can ease the growing pains for a large section of the market. Major benefits

include lower costs, increased efficiency, greater use of technology for exploration and refining, fewer errors, and better

supplier/vendor relationships.

Cost – a driving factor

Cost containment remains the biggest challenge for most companies, mainly due to post-recessionary effects and rising

capital costs. After implementing industry standard ERP platforms, companies are now looking at the second phase of

streamlining their business processes. This involves collaboration with technology-led service providers to implement

integrated digital field management systems, which will help improve production, reduce exploration costs and improve

the safety of operations. Cost is managed very differently in the upstream vs. downstream businesses. Downstream, there

is constant margin pressure and business units are usually happy to capture the “natural” savings from outsourcing, such

as labor arbitrage and improved effectiveness/efficiency of business processes. Given the capital expenditure required in

the upstream business, the entire back office budget is like a rounding error. Here, the value proposition of outsourcing

has to be about speed, making fewer mistakes, and generally reducing risk in a business that is all about risk. The

challenge is, of course, to find an outsourcing solution that meets the needs of both sides of the business.

Easing price volatility issues

To mitigate the effects of uncertain prices, companies are transferring some of their core business processes onto an

online global model, whereby all the processes are aligned across all locations. This will allow various centers and

departments across geographies to capture and disseminate information effectively. The global model will also allow

companies to analyse and forecast trends in this volatile market. Global process design and implementation is a challenge

for an industry that has been notoriously decentralized with vehemently independent business units, but it is a challenge

that outsourcing providers can help address.

Meeting training needs for the new workforce

It is estimated that as much as 50% of the energy workforce will retire by 2017. To prepare for a possible shortage in

quality talent, organizations have started to document existing business processes and tasks, understand and capture best

practices from their retiring workforce, and automate them using process models. The result is an interesting new set of

offerings that service providers are working on, to help the next generation of workers learn from past experience,

shorten their learning curve, and share ideas and innovative methods to improve business. In mature areas such as IT,

F&A, and HR, the outsourcing industry can ease the pain of the retirement crunch just by supplying competent

professionals to replace the retiring boomers. These non-core functions such as human resources, finance and accounting

services, and back office billing can be offset by outsourcing to low cost locations in partnership with trusted service

providers, effectively mitigating some of the risk caused by the energy workforce shortage. The benefit of this offset will

allow companies to concentrate their hiring and training needs on the core engineering and production workforce

requirements.


May 2011


Infrastructure upgrades

Service providers are identifying areas within the current infrastructure setup to upgrade, replace, and expand

components. These areas cover everything from system upgrades, to new equipment deployment, to customer delivery

models. Enterprise architecture platforms are being developed to effectively maintain and protect valuable capital

infrastructure, which forms the core foundation of this industry. Lean and agile operational methods are forcing

companies to invest in sleeker and more efficient infrastructure setups, which will reduce process leakages, and increase

profitability in the long run. While oil and gas companies retain ownership of all hardware, software and physical assets,

service providers are responsible for running all infrastructures, including IT setup and managing third-party relationships.

This model of collaboration helps energy companies increase their efficiency and lower maintenance costs.

Addressing policy compliance

The constant changes to the increasingly complex local and international energy policies can hamper growth for oil and

gas companies. Regulations such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Air Act, ISO 14064, and the EU IPPC Directive are some

of the many regulatory issues that oil and gas companies are facing. Applying for permits and monitoring the progress of

implementations can involve high costs. Service providers are increasingly helping the industry predict and prevent

financial and environmental risks with services such as compliance management and permit management. Once

implemented, the service provider will be responsible for managing processes across all locations for compliance tracking

and regulations monitoring. They will also help optimize the application processes for obtaining various licences and

permits needed as per local rules and regulations.

Key takeaways

» The oil and gas industry is one of the most important sectors, as more than two-thirds of the world’s energy

demands are met by this industry.

» There are five segments in this industry – upstream, downstream, pipeline, marine, and service and supply.

» Production capacity of oil is expected to reach its peak by 2014 and it is estimated that the world’s oil reserves

are depleted at a rate of 2.1 percent a year.

» Key industry challenges include high price volatility, talent shortage, aging infrastructure, and uncertain energy

policies.

» Major benefits of outsourcing include lower costs, greater use of technology for exploration and refining, fewer

errors, and better supplier/vendor relationships.


May 2011


Current outsourcing scenario in the energy industry This section discusses the various types of companies in the oil and gas space, popularly outsourced services, and a

snapshot of the latest outsourcing deals signed in this market.

Types of oil and gas companies

The global oil and gas market comprises two broad categories of companies:

» National Oil Companies (NOC), fully or majority owned by a national government. Major NOCs include Saudi

Arabian Oil Company (ARAMCO) and Petrobras, in Brazil.

» International Oil Companies (IOC), also called supermajors, are the six largest, non-state-owned energy

companies. The supermajors include BP (UK), Chevron Corp. (USA), ConocoPhillips Company (USA), ExxonMobil

Corp. (USA), Royal Dutch Shell plc (Netherlands-UK), and Total SA (France).

Exhibit 2 Largest energy companies by crude oil output

Company Country Output (barrels per day, million)

Saudi Aramco Saudi Arabia 8.2

National Iranian Oil Company Iran 3.8

Petroleos Mexicanos Mexico 2.9

Iraq National Oil Company Iraq 2.5

ExxonMobil USA 2.5

BP UK 2.5

CNPC (PetroChina) China 2.3

ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil

Company)

UAE 2.3

Kuwait Oil Company Kuwait 2.3

Petroleos de Venezuela Venezuela 2.2



May 2011


Exhibit 2 shows that the largest companies are dominated by NOCs, with just ExxonMobil and BP representing the IOC category. Ironically, the moniker “Big Oil” refers to publicly listed IOCs, which account for only 23% of the world’s oil reserves. The remaining 77% lies in the hands of state owned National Oil Companies.

Popularly outsourced services in the oil and gas industry

Services outsourced in this industry mainly cater to all three segments – upstream, midstream, and downstream. There is

a strong element of engineering and product design mixed with ITO and BPO solutions. The increasing criticalities of price

volatility and complexities of energy policies have added domain consulting services to the outsourcing landscape. Major

providers are looking to service all components of the oil and gas industry value chain.

Exhibit 3 Popular outsourced services across the oil and gas value chain



May 2011


Service providers are adopting a global delivery model to ensure an integrated end-to-end network of operation centers

with a range of BPO and ITO services, in addition to business consulting support.

The horizontal services include:

» Finance and accounting – Order to cash, working capital management, procure to pay.

» Back office services – Clearance and settlements, operations support, order management.

» Human resources and learning – Performance management, compensation and benefits, training development.

» IT applications and infrastructure outsourcing.

Among industry-specific services, an important emerging solution is Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM). The

purpose of ETRM is to minimize risk in the entire energy trading process cycle. This is done by ensuring complete co-

ordination between the decision makers and the trading process, and by integrating all trading related data with the

company’s enterprise and supply chain solutions. This reduces any error scope which may happen due to manual

intervention, and speeds up the entire decision making process for energy trading activities.

In the midstream segment, the management of pipelines for natural gas is gathering popularity among service providers.

Companies involved in distribution are seeking help from service providers to select storage units, access efficient means

of gas distribution, and help in procuring distributors for the companies.

An increased focus on engineering has entered the outsourcing space with services such as product design and

automation for both upstream and downstream companies. The need to upgrade and expand infrastructure has added

services such as equipment design, piping and layout design, control and instrumentation, and design-automation

support, as part of the overall product design services.

The discussion on outsourcing in this industry would not be complete without mentioning the support offered by IT

companies and the role they play as systems integrator. Oil and gas companies are looking to standardize and streamline

their applications and processes across a single network globally rather than have multiple systems and services in

different locations. The enormous scale and size of the oil and gas companies, and the increasing emphasis on technology

and innovation, has created demand for services such as ERP installation and maintenance, application development, and

data support.


May 2011


Case study: Infosys provides POM solutions to a leading Oil and Gas major

Business challenge The client, a leading Oil and Gas company wanted to revamp their purchase order

management (POM) creation process for materials and services. Their existing system

had multiple non value adding steps (e.g. duplication of quality checks) with

inappropriate load balancing (idle time due to varied time requirement of process

steps) leading to bottlenecks in productivity

Solution Infosys implemented lean technology to identify all the non value added steps in the

process. These steps were then either automated or merged with other links to

shorten the overall process. Group Allocation methodology was then used to reduce

the service queue and avoid load imbalance in the POM process

Benefits accrued As a result of this partnership, the company cited the following as some of its benefits:

13 of the 20 steps were identified as non value added steps and eliminated

Efficiency enhancement of over 100% leading to lower investment costs and

order creation assets

Savings of USD 791,000 per year



May 2011


Latest deals

The following table captures some of the significant outsourcing deals in the oil and gas industry over the past five years.

Exhibit 4 Latest oil and gas outsourcing deals

Date signed Service provider

Client Key processes Core details

September, 2009

IBM, TCS, Infosys, Wipro

BP IBM – Manage enterprise applications and integrated service desk operations.

TCS – Manage energy trading operations.

Infosys – Manage and operate certain business systems.

Wipro – IT applications development and maintenance services.

Tenure: 5 years

Value: NA

September, 2009

DCS ExxonMobil Manage overall invoice processing and accounts payable services.

Tenure: NA

Value: NA

September, 2008

PWC Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

Manage supply chain and logistics support.

Tenure: 5 years

Value: $12 million

March, 2008 T-Systems, AT&T, EDS

Royal Dutch Shell

AT&T – Manage network and telecommunications. EDS – Manage desktop and helpdesk support. T-Systems – Manage data center support.

Tenure: 5 years

Value: $4 billion

July, 2007 HP-EDS Total SA Provide HR support for administrative and employee benefits.

Tenure: 4 years

Value: $8 million

January, 2005 Accenture Talisman Energy

Manage finance and accounting services and back office finance operations.

Tenure: 10 years

Value: $140 million



May 2011


Key Service Providers The following table lists the key service providers in the oil and gas outsourcing market. A detailed version of this list is appended at the end of the report.

Exhibit 5 Key service providers in oil and gas outsourcing

Name of provider

Accenture

Aegis

Capgemini

Cognizant

CSC

HCL

HP

IBM

Infosys

TCS

Wipro



May 2011


Major industry trends Oil and gas companies are currently facing a combination of opportunities and challenges, including streamlining processes, automating design, containing costs, and increasing the focus on alternative sources of energy. There is also greater focus on managing end-to-end components along the industry value chain. Companies are moving towards a global model which will synchronize their business processes across diverse working environments, a radical departure from how most have operated previously. This section focuses on the current trends that are impacting the oil and gas industry.

Moving toward the digital oilfield era

A new concept, namely the Digital Oilfield, is becoming prominence in the industry. Oil and gas companies are struggling to manage the increasing amount of data that is being generated on a daily basis from all domains such as exploration, drilling, finance, operations, and reservoir management. This new digital information is created by real time data gathering systems, employees, and modelling/simulation tools. Management of this data is very important, as it not only leads to better decision-making, but it also involves a huge amount of investment in talent and capital. The essence of the digital oilfield is to integrate all the data from various sources onto a common platform, and to provide processed actionable information to the correct users in the company. Service providers are actively developing these solutions.

Diversification into renewable sources of energy

With uncertainty looming over the future of petroleum – with depleting reserves and increasing demand, oil and gas companies are slowly shifting focus to alternative sources of energy such as bio-fuels and geo-thermal resources. Research is being done by the US federal government to bridge the gap between fossil fuels and renewable energy by tapping into low temperature geothermal resources in America’s oil and gas wells, and exploring the long-term viability of ethanol as a commercial fuel. Service providers are joining this effort by increasing research and service capabilities in this domain. Major players are opening laboratories and centers of excellence to promote inter-disciplinary studies in this area. This will allow the oil and gas sector to share ideas and information with clean technology sectors to offer cheaper and more eco-friendly options for fuel in the future. There is an element of skepticism though, as most of these companies do not believe that alternative sources can be a mainstream business, but can act as a support base for the oil and gas industry.

Energy trading is back in the limelight

The collapse of Enron and the ensuing energy crisis in the US forced many players in the industry to ramp down their trading operations in order to reduce exposure and risk in the financial markets. During this period, regulations became more stringent, and companies started to pay more attention to risk control and asset optimization. We are now experiencing a gradual increase in trading activity, often supported by leading IT service providers. Aspects such as regulatory compliance, data control, efficiency in trading options, and master data alignment are crucial for a company to minimize risk and make the right choices in this highly volatile market.


May 2011


Appendix

Key service providers in oil and gas outsourcing

Name of provider

Headquarters Oil and gas service areas Key insights

Accenture Dublin, Ireland Contact center

Billing and payments

Debt collection

Back office billing

Finance and accounting

HR

Learning and development

Procurement

Founded the Accenture Global Energy Board,

whose members comprise directors of

leading energy companies, and whose

purpose is to open a forum to discuss major

energy issues.

Has an extensive global delivery network with

centers in five continents – Asia, North

America, South America, Europe and Africa.

Aegis Mumbai, India Finance and accounting

Supply chain management

Sales management

Receivables and collections

Meter operations and billing

Customer surveys and email

support

Operations in three countries – USA, South

Africa, Australia.

Strong near-shore/onshore capabilities for

traditional BPO services.

Capgemini Paris, France Asset lifecycle management

Supply chain optimization


Retail and distribution support

IT support

Operational performance

improvement

Capgemini has over 200 oil and gas clients in

more than 30 countries.

Provides an oil and gas Center of Excellence

to offer consulting, technology and

outsourcing services.

Has over 20 years of experience in this sector.


May 2011


Name of

provider


Cognizant Teaneck, New

Jersey


CRM

ERP support

Data management

Offers high value ITO services such as data

warehousing and business intelligence

solutions, in addition to traditional BPO

services.

CSC Falls Church,

Virginia

Systems integration

Application management

Data center operations

IT infrastructure support

Carbon managed service

Offers a unique solution for oil and gas

companies to reduce their carbon footprint

and ensure regulation to the EPA 40 CFR

Greenhouse Gas reporting compliance.

HCL Noida, India Customer care and billing

Work and asset management

Content management

Engineering and automation


Strong capabilities in ERP services since

acquiring Axon, a UK based transformation

consultancy in 2008.

Has over ten years of industry experience.

Robust background in engineering design and

automation services.

HP Palo Alto, USA Business intelligence

Procurement


ERP support

Focuses on next generation business

intelligence solutions with an emphasis on

cloud computing modeling.

IBM Armonk, New

York, India

Business process management

IT support

Workflow management

Business intelligence

Regulatory compliance support

Application management

Offers a vast range of industry specific IT

tools and services for all segments of the Oil

and gas value chain.

Has opened a dedicated Centre of Excellence

in Norway for the oil and gas industry.


May 2011


Name of

provider


Infosys Bangalore, India Finance and accounting

HR support

Order management

Procurement

Digitization and document control

Data quality and master data

management

Knowledge services

Offers a robust end-to-end data management

framework.

Strong delivery model consisting of on-site,

offshore and nearshore support across

twelve delivery centers in eight countries.

TCS Mumbai, India ERP support

Risk management


Design automation

TCS has over 2,000 consultants and has

completed over 100 engagements in the oil

and gas industry.


May 2011


Name of

provider


Wipro Bangalore, India Upstream

Consulting

Digital Oil Fields

Upstream Data Management

Collaboration

Downstream

Fleet Card Management

Retail Automation

Corporate Functions

HSE/Green IT

Security

Learning

SoX Compliance

Support/ Maintenance

Trading

End to end automated test suite

for ETRM systems

System Support and Maintenance

for mission critical ETRM apps

Investment Analytics

Recently acquired SAIC’s global oil and gas IT

services business which brings with it new

domain capabilities in the upstream Oil & Gas

space, especially in the areas of Digital Oil

Field, Petro-technical Global Data

Management and Petroleum Application

Services.

Wipro will use its new positioning for making

further inroads in the Upstream space and to

offer end to end O&G services.

Wipro and SAIC combined have 40+ O&G

customers, including all of the Top 6 Majors.

Serving O&G majors in 25+ countries

including US, UK, Canada, France, Russia,

Brazil, Australia, China, Netherlands, Poland,

South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uganda, Nigeria,

Tunisia, Morocco, Qatar, etc.



May 2011


About the authors

Esteban Herrera

Esteban Herrera is COO at HfS Research, where his prime focus is developing and delivering compelling and rapid research, data, insight and practical advice for our buy-side enterprise clients. He also over sees the company's commercial operations.

Esteban focuses on the issues and challenges of outsourcing buyers, ensuring they have the best insight to create and manage their outsourcing relationships. His responsibilities include providing outsourcing buyers with solid research that leverages both deep expertise and the power of social media.

A committed globalist, Esteban is an outsourcing thought leader who is passionate about the opportunities of globalization and specialization in the industry. A popular speaker and author, he advises organizations on issues of business process and IT outsourcing on- and offshore. Through his involvement in hundreds of enterprise outsourcing initiatives, he has developed unique insight and the ability to ask the right questions to set an organization on the correct outsourcing path.

A respected practitioner, adviser and researcher, Esteban has worked with Global 2000 companies in the United States, Asia, Latin America and Europe, helping them manage the entire lifecycle of back office transformations. He has lived and worked on four continents and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

He has run outsourcing delivery organizations in India, North America, Latin America and Europe, and has advised on over 100 ITO and BPO transactions.

Esteban started his career at Accenture, delivering “offshore” enterprise solutions before that was a common term. At Infosys, he was responsible for delivery of services to major Fortune 100 clients. He has spent the last decade as an outsourcing advisor to global enterprises, founding and managing The Concours Group’s Outsourcing Advisory practice and most recently as a Managing Director with Alsbridge.

Esteban’s work has appeared in publications such as MWorld and Directorship. He is a co-author of the influential book Outsourcing: The Definitive Point of View, Applications and Implications published by Wiley & Sons in 2006. In 2003 he led the landmark Research Life after Outsourcing, which was the first to comprehensively focus on the behaviors and processes that can make or break outsourcing success.

Esteban is a graduate of Babson College, where he majored in Entrepreneurial Studies and Marketing.

Esteban Herrera can be reached at [email protected]. He can also be found on Twitter: @eherrerahfs.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.hfsresearch.com/http;/twitter.com/eherrerahfs


May 2011


Reetika Joshi

Reetika Joshi contributes regularly to HfS Research's BPO research coverage, in areas such as analytics and vertical processes.

Reetika is a Senior Research Analyst at ValueNotes Sourcing Practice, based in Pune, India. She currently tracks the outsourcing industry, with a special research focus on the fast-growing technology-enabled learning segment.

Based in India, she has undertaken several research assignments across the outsourcing spectrum, including market studies in niche BPO and KPO areas such as medical transcription, research and analytics and e-learning. Over the last few years at ValueNotes, she has had the opportunity to work on multiple bespoke research services for outsourcing providers, including in-depth competitive intelligence, investment opportunity assessment and custom publishing.

Reetika’s work has appeared in many industry-relevant publications and websites, including Outsourcing magazine, Global Services Media and the Horses for Sources blog. She has presented her views on the state of the outsourcing at various conferences. A strong believer in the power of communities, she manages ValueNotes Sourcing Practice’s corporate blog, as well as an e-learning industry knowledge-sharing group on Linkedin.

Reetika has completed her Masters in Marketing Management with distinction from Aston University, UK, receiving Beta Gamma Sigma honors. She was awarded the Accenture prize for Best Student on her course. Her final year dissertation was titled Learning from Management Mistakes: Are Today’s Top Business Students Prepared for the Flawed Realities of the Business World?. Prior to this, she received her Bachelors in Business Administration with distinction from Symbiosis International University, India.

You can contact Reetika at [email protected].

About HfS Research HfS Research (www.HfSResearch.com) is the foremost research analyst firm and social networking community, focused on helping enterprises make complex decisions with their business process operations, IT outsourcing and shared services strategies. It has the largest audience and regular following in today’s global sourcing industry.

With 50,000 subscribers, HfS Research provides the most impactful and frequently-visited global collaborative community platform in the global services industry, providing rapid and insightful commentary, analysis and debate of enterprise outsourcing and shared services dynamics. The organization is unique in the fact that it integrates personable social networking with market research and expert advisory services.

The HfS Research mission is to provide a unique environment for collective research, opinion, experience and knowledge across the global outsourcing industry to help enterprises explore new performance thresholds. Led by industry expert Phil Fersht, the HfS Research team is a multi-disciplinary group of analysts across North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions, with deep domain knowledge in business process outsourcing, information technology services and cloud business services.

Launched in 2007, HfS Research's acclaimed blog Horses for Sources has more than 120,000 monthly visitors across the global outsourcing industry, and is widely recognized as the leading destination for collective insight, research and open debate of industry issues and developments. The HfS LinkedIn community, The BPO and Offshoring Best Practices Forum, is thriving with over 12,000 industry professionals sharing views and information daily. You can access information about HfS at HfSResearch.com and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/horses4sources.

To learn more about HfS Research, please email [email protected].


http://www.hfsresearch.com/

http://www.horsesforsources.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/BPO-Offshoring-Best-Practices-Forum-99434

http://www.hfsresearch.com/

http://www.twitter.com/horses4sources


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