HfS Blueprint Report. Retail Operations Excerpt for TCS. July 2014

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1 Architects of Global Business HfS Blueprint Report Retail Operations Excerpt for TCS July 2014 Reetika Joshi Research Director, BPO & Analytics Strategies

2 Table of Contents Topic Page Executive Summary 3 Research Methodology 10 Service Provider Capabilities 19 Service Provider Profile 26 About the Author HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 2

3 Executive Summary

4 Introduction to the HfS Blueprint Report: Retail Operations The Retail Operations HfS Blueprint Report is the first application of HfS Blueprint methodology on the retail vertical. Unlike other quadrants and matrices, the HfS Blueprint identifies relevant differentials between service providers across numerous facets in two main categories: innovation and execution. HfS Blueprint Report ratings depend on a broad range of stakeholders with specific weightings based on 1,355 crowd-sourced responses. Stakeholders include the following: BPO Enterprise Buyers BPO Service Providers BPO Industry Influencers (Sourcing Advisors) HfS Analysts 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 4

5 Key Highlights A Rapidly Growing Market with Several Hopefuls. We believe the Retail Operations market is set for rapid growth in the next three years. This will largely be driven by the impact of digital requirements for retailers, which will lead them tolook for more and more external support. A Winner s Circle Showing Diversity of Entry Points to Retail. The leaders in our analysis represent a diverse mix of origins, approaches, and strategies for servicing the retail market: Cognizant, with a robust retail consulting and ecommerce practice, brings thought leadership, an array of retail-specific technology enablers, and a focus on digital support. Sitel, with customer experience management expertise and a collaborative approach, drives global best practices in retail customer engagement. TCS, with technology expertise and acquired captive retail assets, brings ecommerce thought leadership toan expansive retail clientele. High Performers Using a Mix of Technology and Services Strengths to Grow Presence. The High Performers in this study represent a similar mix of multi-dimensional strengths. Infosys, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra are continuing to expand their range of work with retail clients beyond IT services and are making the most investments in retail analytics and select core process support such as storefront operations and supply chain management (SCM). Similarly, Concentrix, Sutherland, and WNS are looking to leverage their analytics capabilities and customer experience management presence in retail to add new logos and update solution sets through new technology enablers (such as automation, social tools, etc.) 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 5

6 Retail Operations: Market Context A Slowly Growing Buyer Base. Retailers have typically lagged behind most other industry verticals in engaging with third-party service providers on BPO solutions. This is mainly due to being burdened with complex, home-grown, and poorly integrated platforms and processes onwards saw a few early adopters work with multinationals and outsource HR contact center processes, customer services, and document management onwards saw margin pressures in recessionary markets finally lead more retailers to evaluate outsourcing services beyond IT services, including horizontal business functions (e.g., customer experience management, finance and accounting, and human resources outsourcing) and, to a limited extent, retail-specific processes. The key motivations for buyers at this stage were still cost reduction and the consolidation of operations. The market saw a few acquisitions of captive retail operations along these lines onwards saw BPO demand from retailers continuing to grow, driven by new challenges facing the market. This included the need to modernize infrastructure and supporting services across retail operations to develop flexible fulfillment engines and integrate ecommerce and brick-and-mortar businesses, the impact of emerging technologies (e.g., analytics and mobility) on core processes, and making the best investments to address digital HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 6

7 Retail Operations: Market Context (contd.) A History of Providing Horizontal Services Support. The Retail Operations marketplace has thus evolved over the last decade in an opportunistic manner, addressing traditional BPO needs (e.g., customer service) and certain core BPO processes and, increasingly, consulting/reengineering services to help optimize supply chains and spend management or formulate digital roadmaps. To add to this mix, service providers have started to push technology-led solutions including point-based toolkits and analytics products and platforms alongside BPO support. An Offering Still in the Early Stages of Formulation. Service providers retail practices today resemble a patchwork quilt of experience across consulting, IT services, BPO (horizontal and vertical-specific), high-value service areas (such as analytics), and emerging technology solutions and platforms (including social, mobile and cloud components). We have outlined four service areas along the retail value chain, namely, sales and marketing, storefront operations, merchandizing and replenishment, and SCM. As of today, HfS Research sees a significant dearth of examples of service providers delivering comprehensive end-to-end services from these categories, with the exception of sales and marketing. Rather than a fully formed offering, retail operations for most service providers today constitutes a portfolio of related retail contracts that are yet to benefit from cross-engagement best practice sharing and standardization HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 7

8 Key Imperatives for Retailers that Create a Market Opportunity for Technology-Enabled BPO Services Reducing cost Reducing cost and creating process standardization in low margin businesses, especially for large retailers Surviving the Amazonization of retail Understanding digital retail and developing a progressive digital roadmap (strategy and execution) that aligns ecommerce and brick-andmortar operations (this not only includes integration from an inventory management standpoint but also elements that affect customers that services support can address, such as cross-channel pricing and promotion and merchandizing opportunities) Creating a future-proof supply chain Bringing visibility in supply chain operations, streamlining inefficiencies across geographies and units, and improving forecasting and time to market (as SCM becomes more complex, there is more of a need for proactive monitoring, reporting and dashboarding, customer impact visibility, cost, etc., which creates a BPO demand related to SCM, particularly in the analytics space) Elevating consumer experience Winning and retaining the loyalty of fickle consumers, increasingly digital natives who have heightened expectations for same-day deliveries, realtime promotions, and personalized in-store engagement (this is the most direct opportunity for service providers to pitch next-generation BPO services in omni-channel support, as retail has more consumer-facing BPO than back-office operations thus far) 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 8

9 Retail Operations Value Chain Service Definitions and Maturity Storefront Operations Merchandizing & Replenishment Supply Chain Sales & Marketing Operations support (Point of Sale (POS) help desk, resource planning, utilization analysis, payment authorization and processing) Category/Inventory management (stock audits) Store sales analytics Product analytics Space planning (planogramming, floor planning) Real estate (lease management, property management) Vendor data management (handling of routine vendor queries, assurance audits, duplicate payment control, negative balance vendor management) Pricing support help desk Forecasting and demand planning Spend management and analytics Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) data reconciliation Item master data Assortment planning and management Sourcing and procurement Logistics management (including delivery scheduling and planning, helpdesk) Visibility and tracking SCM analytics Sales support Voice Customer service Voice Core marketing operations (campaign execution, loyalty program management, coupon and gift card management) Content design, execution and management Ecommerce content support (online content management, web development) Ecommerce channel support (web chat and ) Ecommerce channel support (social media support) Campaign planning and strategies Customer analytics Legend More mature process HfS Value Chain Definition: Level of Maturity Reached Comparatively Across Service Areas Emerging process Value chain refers to the series of departments that carry out value-creating activities to design, produce, market, deliver, and support a company s product or service. In this usage, we refer to the range of primary processes and support services that providers offer to their clients. While we are not including back-office processes such as F&A and HR within the scope of services in this blueprint, we have considered uniquely retail-specific examples of work in the service areas of Procurement and Supply Chain HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 9

10 Research Methodology

11 Research Methodology Data Summary An analysis was conducted of more than 150 live multiprocess retail services contracts, covering 12 major service providers. Data was collected in Q2 Q3 of 2014, covering buyers, providers, and advisors/influencers of core retail services. Participating Service Providers This Report is Based On: Tales from the Trenches: Interviews were conducted with buyers who have evaluated service providers and experienced their services. Some were supplied by service providers, but many interviews were conducted by HfS Executive Council members and participants in our extensive market research. Sell-Side Executive Briefings: Structured discussions with service providers were intended to collect data necessary to evaluate their innovation, execution and market share, and deal counts. HfS State of Outsourcing Survey: The industry s largest quantitative survey, conducted with the support of KPMG, covering the views, intentions, and dynamics of 1,355 buyers, providers, and influencers of outsourcing. Publicly Available Information: Financial data, website information, presentations given by senior executives, and other marketing collateral were evaluated HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 11

12 Key Factors Driving the HfS Blueprint Evaluation Criteria Two major factors were evaluated: Execution, which represents service providers ability to deliver services. It includes: Solutions in the Real World Quality of Customer Relationships Flexibility Innovation, which represents service providers ability to improve services. It includes: Vision for End-to-End Process Lifecycle Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost Leveraging External Drivers Criteria Weighting Criteria are weighed by crowdsourcing weightings from the four groups that matter most: Enterprise Buyers (revenues >$5B) (20%) Buyers (20%) Service Providers (30%) HfS Research Analysts Team (20%) Advisors, Consultants, and Industry Stakeholders (10%) Weightings from this report come from HfS s January 2013 State of Outsourcing Study 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 12

13 How the HfS Blueprint Scores are Compiled Provider A Provider B Provider G vs. vs. vs. Provider B Provider G Provider J After service providers respond to HfS s Blueprint RFI and client references and fact checking have been completed, HfS analysts conduct a paired comparisons survey of service providers in each category of evaluation. This can be as many as 1,100+ unique service provider comparisons. The data/rankings are compiled and compared across all provider comparisons to identify inconsistencies within the scores. After a further data refinement, the criteria weightings are used to give each service provider a score in each evaluation criteria component. Once aggregation and scoring are complete, the service providers scores are plotted, producing the HfS Blueprint HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 13

14 HfS Blueprint Scoring Percentage Breakdown EXECUTION 64.26% Quality of Customer Relationships 33.99% Quality of Account Management Team 12.63% How Service Providers Engage Customers and Develop Communities 10.78% How Service Providers Incorporate Customer Feedback 10.58% Real-World Delivery Solutions 21.42% Actual Delivery of Services for Each Sub-Process 8.23% Merchandizing and Replenishment 1.93% Supply Chain 1.93% Storefront Operations 1.93% Sales & Marketing 1.93% Others (excluding back-office processes) 0.50% Geographic Footprint and Scale 3.18% Usefulness of Services to Specific Client Needs of All Sizes 10.01% Flexibility to Deliver End-to-End Solutions and Point Solutions 3.79% Experience Delivering Industry-Specific Solutions 6.58% Flexible Pricing Models to Meet Customer Needs 8.86% INNOVATION 35.74% Vision for End-to-End Process Lifecycle 16.40% Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost and Investment in Future Capabilities 5.67% Integration of Technology Into Business Process 9.67% Continuous Improvement Methodology and Capability 1.07% Vision for Industry-Specific Solutions 9.72% Ability to Leverage External Value Drivers 9.62% Leverage New Technology, Security, Social Media, Mobility, and Cloud Capabilities 7.98% IncorporateRegulatory Requirements Quickly and Proactively 1.63% TOTAL % 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 14

15 Execution Definitions EXECUTION Quality of Customer Relationships Quality of Account Management Team How Service Providers Engage Customers and Develop Communities How Service Providers Incorporate Customer Feedback Real-World Delivery Solutions Actual Delivery of Services for Each Sub- Process Geographic Footprint and Scale Usefulness of Services to Specific Client Needs of All Sizes Flexibility to Deliver End-to-End Solutions and Point Solutions Experience Delivering Industry-Specific Solutions Flexible Pricing Models to Meet Customer Needs How well does the provider execute on its contractual agreement and how well does the provider manage the client/provider relationship? How engaged are providers in managing the client relationship based on the following metrics: quality of account management, service provider / client engagement, and incorporation of feedback? What is the quality level of professional skills in the account management team? How well does the service provider engage clients and develop client communities? How have service providers taken feedback and incorporated that feedback into their product/solution? Does the solution provided compare favorably to the service agreed upon when taking into account delivery of services for each sub-process and geographic footprint and scale? Taking into account each sub-process and the entire macro process, does each sub-process sum to successful delivery of the service being provided? For example, in the Finance and Accounting macro process of Order to Cash, are all sub-processes being delivered upon successfully? Specific to the category, to what degree do service providers have geographic locations that offer strategic value, and do they have scale? How flexible and experienced are providers when tailoring solutions based on client size, location, and type of solution (end-to-end and single point)? How flexible are providers with delivering multi-process end-to-end solutions versus single point solutions? How well does the provider deliver industry-specific or horizontal-specific analytics solutions (for example, depth in verticals such as insurance, retail, or major processes such as Finance and Accounting or Supply Chain)? How flexible are providers when determining the pricing of contracts? Are they willing to make investments into the client s firm for long-term growth? 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 15

16 Innovation Definitions INNOVATION Innovation is the combination of improving both services and business outcomes. Vision for End-to-End Process Lifecycle Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost and Investment in Future Capabilities Integration of Technology Into Business Process Continuous Improvement Methodology and Capability Vision for Industry-Specific Solutions Ability to Leverage External Value Drivers Leverage New Technology, Security, Social Media, Mobility, and Cloud Capabilities Incorporate Regulatory Requirements Quickly and Proactively The strategy for delivery of services to each part of the value chain of processes. For example, in Finance and Accounting, the components of the value chain may include order to cash, record to report, and procure to pay. In Customer Relationship Management, the components may include outbound service, inbound service, quality, training, workforce management, call routing, self service, and customer insights/analytics. A clear understanding is present about what value levers exist and how the service provider will deliver that value. Examples of value may include labor arbitrage, technology, analytics, quality, revenue, global scale, and flexibility. How does the service provider integrate applications with manual labor to improve value to clients? Service providers may provide cloud-enabled technology, SaaS, workflow, or analytics applications. How well does the provider execute on improving business process and capabilities of their solutions? Does the provider have a vision for services specific to certain industries? How well have providers integrated external value drivers into their services? Examples include cloud solutions, security enhancements, incorporation of regulatory changes, and use of new collaborative tools. How well does the provider leverage new technologies / enhancements, mobility functionality, and cloud capabilities into their solutions? How well does the provider incorporate the latest regulatory requirements and proactively integrate future regulatory requirements? 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 16

17 Definitions of Types of Innovation Used By Service Providers Innovation Value Chain Operational Incremental Radical Breakthrough New to function or division, but achieved elsewhere in client s company New to client, but achieved elsewhere in client s industry New to client s industry, but achieved in other industries New to client s industry and fundamentally new to any industry 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 17

18 Winner s Circle and High Performers Methodology To distinguish service providers that have gone above and beyond within a particular line of delivery, HfS awards these providers a Winner s Circle or High Performer designation. Below provides a brief description of the general characteristics of each designation: Winner s Circle: Organizations that demonstrate excellence in both execution and innovation. From an execution perspective, service providers have developed strong relationships with clients, execute services beyond the scope of hitting green lights, and are highly flexible when meeting clients needs. From an innovation perspective, service providers have a strong vision, have concrete plans to invest in future capabilities, have a healthy cross-section of vertical capabilities, and have illustrated a strong ability to leverage external drivers to increase value for their clients. High Performers: Organizations that demonstrate strong capabilities in both execution and innovation, but are lacking in an innovative vision or execution of their vision. From an execution perspective, service providers execute some of the following areas with excellence, but not all areas: high performers have developed worthwhile relationships with clients, execute their services and hit all of the green lights, and are very flexible when meeting clients needs. From an innovation perspective, service providers typically execute some of the following areas with excellence, but not all areas: have a vision and demonstrated plans to invest in future capabilities, have experience delivering services over multiple vertical capabilities, and have illustrated a good ability to leverage external drivers to increase value for their clients HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 18

19 Service Provider Capabilities

20 Issues for Retail Operations Service Providers in the Current Market Moving beyond a scattered retail experience to a robust and integrated offering. BPO service providers looking to seriously grow their retail businesses will need to take a strategic decision regarding investments at the practice level hiring industry experts at leadership levels and funding the development of comprehensive technology-enabled services that go beyond individual pilots/projects with select retail clients. This is one of the key reasons our Blueprint map positions service providers ahead on the Execution axis based on buyer feedback on existing voice-based sales and marketing solution, but behind on the Innovation axis because of a lack of vision of next generation retail customer engagement. Retailers want access to domain knowledge and expect service providers to bring them global best practices, most notably helping them address digital opportunities. Delivering beyond green dashboards to meet rising client expectations. Our Blueprint analysis was informed by clients changing expectations of their service providers to go beyond good enough service delivery to proactively effect client outcomes not just deliver on the base key performance indicators (KPIs). Developing a practice with the required range of specialized skills. Areas such as planogramming, supply chain analytics, storefront operations support, core marketing operations, and ecommerce support may often be outside of the traditional definition of BPO skills. Successful service providers will stitch together a multidisciplinary band of skillsets to successfully target retail operations, and in doing so will further broaden their own service capabilities HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 20

21 Issues for Retail Operations Service Providers in the Current Market (contd.) Consolidating technology investments across the retail value chain. During our analysis, we observed multiple examples of service providers opportunistically funding/coinvesting/piloting technology investments with retail clients. Some of these have resulted in productized offerings in the last couple of years, such as cloud-based trade promotions, management applications, and analytics platforms for ecommerce revenue optimization and supply chain visibility. This approach can be helpful for establishing the business case for certain emerging technologies (e.g., in-store ibeacon mobile technology applicability). However, service providers must craft and, more importantly, communicate a well-thoughtout strategy for impacting the retail value chain through technology beyond these siloed projects. What this market doesn t need is a wide variety of client-specific solutions that lack ongoing investment and roadmaps; instead, we need to move to more consistent business platforms that span across clients. This will call for service providers to actively enable their non-competitive retail clients to collaborate and contribute towards new solution development and a wider understanding of existing core service capabilities, where applicable. Educating and further shaping the market. Given the evolving nature of the market, formal Request For Proposals (RFPs) for core retail operations support are few and far between, and most deals are still signed with existing IT/horizontal BPO clients. To accelerate market growth, BPO service providers will need to continue to invest in educating the market on the business advantage of retail operations and, in particular, of solutions that work across the of the retail value chain HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 21

22 HfS Blueprint 2014: Retail Operations Winner s Circle INNOVATION High Performers Concentrix Tech Mahindra Wipro Infosys Sutherland WNS Xerox Cognizant Sitel TCS Serco Aegis EXECUTION 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 22

23 Key Market Dynamics The vertical retail story has a long way to go. Over the years, service providers have developed significant relationships with global retailers through IT services or customer care BPO services. While they may have verticalized their businesses to align with client industries, we do not see the same level of maturity in wellthought-out retail value chain services support as with other verticals, such as banking and insurance. Industry alignment will help service providers bring domain experience to effect core industry outcomes across IT services, business processes, and consulting for retailers, but only in the medium long term. Contracts represent a wide range of work done for retailers today. Historically, retailers have outsourced horizontal business processes (e.g., finance and accounting, customer care BPO) and IT services. However, in the last few years, new opportunities and challenges have helped service providers build a case for more retail-specific services, powered by technology. As a result, service providers retail engagements today feature a wide range of work across consulting, IT services, BPO (horizontal- and vertical-specific), high-value service areas (such as analytics), and emerging technology solutions and platforms (including social, mobile and cloud components) all managed by the BPO delivery team. Buyers desperately seek domain knowledge, perceived to be predominantly missing from the provider set. The majority of buyers in our study called for their service providers to demonstrate a greater leverage of wider industry thinking and to push thinking about transformation opportunities harder. We believe this is a symptom of the evolving nature of the retail vertical practices of service providers, as something beyond an aggregation of contracts from retailers to a well-crafted portfolio of services in which best practices are shared and replicated and non-competitive clients are encouraged to interact to get more value from their service providers. At this stage, we see the Winner s Circle companies and a few of the High Performers (namely, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, and Infosys) push for a broader vision of servicing the retail value chain HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 23

24 Key Market Dynamics (contd.) Multiple delivery models developingto cater to the seasonal variability of retail demand. Retailers have the highest demand variability among industries for customer engagement management (CEM) services, creating staffing, retention, and quality issues over the years. We are seeing certain service providers try to address this with alternate delivery models that have been appreciated by clients in our study. Examples include relying on a much higher percentage of work-from-home agents that are retained long term and leveraging part-time university talent pools at nearshore destinations. The challenge of seasonality is not going to go away, and cracking the code on it has the potential to impact revenues at peak times making retailers particularly amenable to working with innovative service providers in this area. Early days with mobility integration. With a host of emerging mobile technologies to choose from, retailers need help with making meaningful investments based on their priorities. Some are looking at mobility more as a way to enhance in-store engagement with the use of near field technologies and location and sensor data. Others are preferring to stick to using mobile channels more as promotion vehicles for their customers. Service providers with large/growing mobility practices are using retailers as the first few strategic clients to experiment with these types of pilots, with the most successful ones co-invested/incentivized with a view to long-term outcomes (such as incremental revenues and loyalty). Digital proliferation is placing new demands on managing the customer experience. Retailers are looking to service providers most notably to help them address changing customer channel preferences, ecommerce and brick-and-mortar integration, and the nuances of digital marketing. With this study, we saw the most demonstrated capabilities of innovation from these three areas. Service providers are aggressively trying to differentiate their CEM offerings by weaving in technologies that address the digital (e.g., gaining a single view of customers and social media monitoring and promotions). Some service providers are starting to productize their offerings such as omni-channel customer analytics recommendations engines, monitoring tools, etc. Success here will hinge on the ability of a service provider to integrate insights back into campaign strategies, provide consultative marketing support, and ultimately transform traditional CEM processes to align with its retail clients digital roadmaps HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 24

25 Key Market Dynamics (contd.) Flexible fulfillment is at the top of the agenda and brings opportunities for service support. Retailers view supply chain optimization as one of the biggest areas of investment today, to address heightening customer expectations. The key imperative for retail companies is developing omni-channel servicing expertise, translating into the need for faster ways to get to the market, packaging optimization, and a more flexible fulfillment infrastructure. Beyond systems consulting and IT infrastructure modernization for supply chain optimization, we believe the opportunity for service support is significant. Currently, a handful of service providers run returns management, warranty management, and logistics management support for their retail clients, while analytics projects in areas such as multi-modal transport, SCM visibility, and pricing optimization is another growing trend. Storefront operations and merchandizing and replenishment are still nascent service areas. These categories are onthe to-do list for service providers that are interested in investing in areas such as inventory management support for core merchandizing and replenishment, and point of sale support for storefront operations. Service delivery in these areas is currently limited to a few examples. In these cases, retailers have outsourced data management and analytics projects, including forecasting and demand planning, spend management and analytics, EDI data reconciliation, item master data, and store sales and product analytics HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 25

26 Service Provider Profile

27 TCS Winner s Circle A technology leader bringing ecommerce expertise to an expansive retail clientele Blueprint Leading Highlights Quality of Account Management Team Delivery of Merchandizing and Replenishment Support How Service Providers Incorporate Customer Feedback Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost and Investment into Future Capabilities Integration of Technology into Business Process Vision for Retail Vertical Continuous Improvement Methodology and Capability Strengths Strong execution of ecommerce support. TCS has a large footprint in digital content management, promotion management and search engine optimization and is helping several retailers grow and integrate their ecommerce business alongside the brick-and-mortar business. As an example, TCS is helping a retailer manage 600,000 products as the sole provider working on onboarding products and managing vendor interactions, running over 400,000 promotions annually on their ecommerce platform. Existing client relationships. TCS has existing IT relationships with retail clients, to whom it can cross-sell core retail operations services with relative ease, along with analytics and other emerging technology solutions. IT-BPO synergy. TCS demonstrated multiple examples of how using both IT and BPO strengths collaboratively has impacted outcomes for retailers. For example, inventory management processes were improved by bringing in a scanning and electronic record retention solution and automated process controls in workflows. Challenges Current breadth of delivery locations. TCS delivers its BPO services to retailers today primarily out of its Indian delivery centers. Retailers increasingly want to work with service providers that have other Asia Pacific (APAC), nearshore, and onshore capabilities, and while TCS does have them for other BPO services, it will need to transition some retail processes to locations beyond India to make the case. Integrating external value drivers. TCS has growing capabilities around areas such as mobility and cloud, which its technology practices are bringing to strategic clients, including retailers. However, we do not see a concerted effort to position or differentiate its retail business along the lines of these technology-driven value adds. TCS is integrating analytics and reporting well at the moment, but must continue exploring other modern technology and service partnerships with retail clients. Pulling together retail best practices towards a robust industry offering. The service provider faces the challenge of moving beyond its current delivery of various sub-processes, technology, analytics, and consulting for a collection of retail clients. Individual delivery teams and subject matter experts must collaborate, non-competitive retail clients must interact, and TCS must come together to use accumulated retail knowledge for continuous improvements and best practice formulation. Relevant Acquisitions/Partnerships Key Clients Global Operations Centers Technology Offered Acquired captive US retail IT and BPO operations, 2010 Fortune 50 retailer Leading US specialty construction & distribution company Leading US specialty retailer Fortune 50 discount retailer Mid-range retail department chain in North America Fortune 100 food retailing company North American retail chain Top-5 UK specialty retailer Headcount: 1,500 FTEs India (Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, and Kolkata) TRAPEZE Robotic Automation Suite TRAPEZE Process Management TRAPEZE Knowledge Management TRAPEZE Governance Suite 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 27

28 About the Author

29 Reetika Joshi Research Director, BPO & Analytics Strategies, HfS Research Cambridge, MA Overview Tracks verticalized technology-enabled BPO opportunities in insurance and retail Tracks enterprise analytics services and marketing & digital customer experience management services Conducts Blueprint reports on service providers across service areas in global sourcing Previous Experience Project Manager at the sourcing research wing of business research and consulting firm ValueNotes, encompassing a range of responsibilities including research product design and development for the outsourcing community, managing custom research engagements, and developing thought leadership through targeted content and community interaction Niche BPO and KPO coverage such as analytics, medical transcription, market research, and e- learning Bespoke engagements including in-depth competitive intelligence studies, market and investment opportunity assessments, demand-side surveys, and marketing communication optimization for outsourcing buyers, providers, consultants, and investors Education Bachelor s in Business Administration, Symbiosis International University, India Master s in Marketing Management with Beta Gamma Sigma honors, Aston Business School, UK 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 29

30 HfS Research is a Leading Analyst Authority for the Global Professional Services and Sourcing Industry Twenty dedicated analysts across the US, Europe, and Asia/Pac Industry-leading focus on demand-side trends, market landscapes, competitive evaluations, pricing dynamics, market sizing, and forecasting Educates and facilitates discussion among the world s largest knowledge community of services and operations executives, currently comprising 120,000 subscribers. 19,000 LinkedIn Group members; leading blog and research portal in the services industry The largest web and social media presence in the sourcing industry A major following from the buy-side: 40% of readership comes from sourcing buyers Leverages its vast community of sourcing professionals to deliver rapid insights on global sourcing industry trends and developments: surveyed over 15,000 organizations in on their sourcing intentions and dynamics 2014 HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 30

31 About HfS Research HfS Research is the leading independent global analyst authority and knowledge community for the business and IT services industry. HfS serves the research and strategy needs of business and IT operations leaders across finance, supply chain, human resources, marketing, customer management, and core industry functions. HfS provides detailed and thoughtful analyst coverage of the various areas that impact successful business outcomes, namely, process automation and outsourcing, global business services frameworks, mobility, analytics, and social collaboration. HfS also focuses heavily on talent acquisition, development, and motivation strategies. HfS applies its acclaimed crowdsourced Blueprint Methodology TM to evaluate the performance of service providers in terms of innovating and then executing against those business outcomes. In addition to researching business operations strategies and their technology enablement, HfS educates and facilitates discussions among the world's largest knowledge community of enterprise services professionals, currently comprising 140,000 subscribers. HfS Research facilitates the HfS Sourcing Executive Council, the acclaimed elite group of sourcing practitioners from leading organizations that meets bi-annually to share the future direction of the global services industry and discuss the future enterprise operations framework. HfS provides sourcing executive council members with the HfS Governance Academy and Certification Program to help its clients improve the governance of their global business services and vendor relationships. In 2010 and 2011, HfS was named Analyst of the Year by the International Institute of Analyst Relations (IIAR), the premier body of analyst-facing professionals, and achieved the distinctive award of being voted the research analyst industry's Most Innovative Analyst Firm in In 2013, HfS was named first in rising influence among leading analyst firms, according to the 2013 Analyst Value Survey, and second out of the 44 leading industry analystfirms inthe 2013 Analyst Value Index. Now in its seventh year of publication, HfS Research s acclaimed blog Horses for Sources is widely recognized as the leading destination for unfettered collective insight, research, and open debate about sourcing industry issues and developments. To learn more about HfS Research, please research@hfsresearch.com HfS Research Ltd. Proprietary Page 31