Supplier Intelligence

Past Supplier Spotlights

The landscape of potential outsourcing suppliers has evolved rapidly over the last few years significantly increasing the number of credible supplier options available in the market today. As the requirements from sourcing programs become fairly complex and specialized, suppliers with niche capabilities are increasingly making their presence felt. These niche suppliers can be specialists in a function (e.g., analytics), an industry (e.g., retail), a region (e.g., Latin America) or even a technology (e.g., Lawson). Everest Research Institute’s Supplier Spotlight showcases such select niche suppliers that have differentiated and distinctive capabilities that buyers of sourcing services must take definite note of.

Headstrong – Capital markets specialist

As the world economy emerges from a global recession, financial services companies, especially capital markets players are expected to contribute significantly to the next wave of global sourcing growth. Capital markets companies are seeking to rationalize the costs of middle- and back-office operations, minimize operational risks, and ensure compliance, while maintaining high levels of service quality. Outsourcing of technology and business process operations in a global delivery model has emerged as an attractive option to meet these objectives. Catering to this high growth segment is Headstrong, a specialist supplier of information technology, operations, and consulting services to buy-side and sell-side capital markets clients. Headstrong’s specialist focus on capital markets, deep domain expertise across sub-segments, and investments in proprietary solutions for IT and operations delivery, make it a differentiated and a “must watch” supplier for capital markets players seeking global delivery solutions.

Global eProcure - Specialist S2P Supplier

Procurement Outsourcing (PO) targets a fundamentally larger cost base than more other BPO functions. However, an end-to-end ‘Source-to-Pay’ (S2P) scope is required to ensure that savings are actually realized in a PO contract. The current supplier landscape reveals very few players (largely the traditional onshore suppliers) with the capabilities and experience to offer S2P services. In this nascent space, Global eProcure has been successfully gaining foothold by being a specialist S2P player with a rich sourcing experience and  focus on compliance to ensure realized savings. Global eProcure’s innovative blended model encompassing sourcing consulting, technology tools, and offshore transaction processing, along with its expertise across a wide range of commodities and low cost country sourcing makes it a distinctive player in the procurement outsourcing space.

Sonata Software - Mid-Sized IT Services Supplier

Mid-sized suppliers are becoming increasingly attractive for large buyers looking for special requirements such as industry or geography expertise or mid-market buyers seeking “right-sized” suppliers for their global sourcing requirements. Publicly listed in India, Sonata Software is a mid-sized IT services company that has successfully differentiated itself by investing in specific offerings for clients in a select set of verticals and geographies. The company’s distinctive focus on solutions and services for clients in the Travel, Transportation, & Logistics (TTL) and Hi-Tech and Technology verticals, and Continental Europe stand out as its notable differentiators versus its peers. 

QuisLex – LEADING Pure-Play Legal Services Offshoring Supplier

QuisLex is a leading pure-play legal services offshoring supplier in the rapidly growing LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing) market.  Founded in April 2004 with three people, QuixLex has grown successfully in the last five years to a size of more than 250 employees, making it one of the top five companies in pure-play legal services offshoring space.

APPLABS – A LEADING INDEPENDENT TESTING SPECIALIST

The need for objectivity and expertise in software testing has triggered the market for independent testing services which has been growing at more than 50% in the last few years. With a “testing only” proposition, AppLabs is a leading independent testing services specialist supplier catering to the rapidly emerging testing services market. AppLabs has designed several tools and methodologies for testing and has developed a knowledge repository and reusable test assets that enable it to provide an exhaustive portfolio of testing services. The company serves global clients through its testing centers in India, UK, and the U.S.

NEUSOFT – THE CHINESE LEADER

As sourcing from China becomes increasingly mainstream, buyers are looking for credible Chinese suppliers for their IT sourcing needs. While there are a large number of suppliers in China, Neusoft, the largest offshore IT services supplier in China, stands out as the most impressive of them all. Its scale, strong IT capabilities, and its mature delivery infrastructure make it a must-watch supplier for any buyer evaluation China for their sourcing needs.