DALLAS, June 26, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Everest Research Institute reported today that the global Finance & Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) market has grown by 40 percent between Q2 2005 and Q2 2006, and will continue to advance this rampant growth over the foreseeable future.
"The industry is now experiencing an aggressive growth phase fueled by cost reduction from offshoring and the integration of multiple accounting processes integrated with a single outsourcing provider," said Phil Fersht, Vice President, Everest Research Institute, and author of a new white paper,'Technology Transformation: How to Drive Higher Value in Finance and Accounting Outsourcing.' "Moreover, we have been observing a succession of successful FAO engagements with service providers that are quickly developing a critical mass of clients and achieving enhanced profitability for themselves."
"As the market reaches maturity in the next three years, we see technology transformation emerging as the fundamental issue," added Fersht. "As buyers seek more value from their FAO relationships, they are starting to seek out providers with the capability to deploy technology solutions that underpin, orchestrate and knit together their accounting processes. The ability of FAO providers to manage both the application and the business process is delivering new synergies to the industry that are further driving down costs and improving efficiencies."
As a result of these findings, Everest Research Institute is currently embarking on a major research initiative that delves deep into the minds of today's FAO buyers as they contemplate how to tackle the management of their Finance and Accounting technology when they outsource. The majority of high-end adopters are seeking "wrap-around" technology solutions that build on their existing ERP. However, an increasing proportion of mid-size organizations -- as well as companies that have legacy issues or have experienced extensive merger activity -- are considering entire system replacements. Moreover, FAO service providers are becoming increasingly specialized at delivering industry-specific platforms that can be leveraged across multiple "alike" organizations. Everest will highlight these findings in a major industry white paper to be released in October 2006.
"Enhanced FAO offerings with the added benefit of technology transformation represents a singular opportunity for buyers to improve their access to critical information," Fersht said. "With competition intensifying among FAO providers, buyers should be able to negotiate a powerful offering that bundles their financial processes with transformational technology within the scope of a well-defined contract."
About Everest Research Institute
Everest Research Institute (www.everestresearchinstitute.com) serves as a central source of strategic intelligence, analysis and actionable insight for corporate buyers, service providers and investors in the global business process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing marketplace. The Institute is dedicated to providing the global outsourcing community with the information it needs to build highly productive outsourcing relationships and programs, focusing on the drivers that are continually reshaping the industry landscape and analyzing how they impact member organizations and the success of their outsourcing strategies. The Institute's distinguished Board of Advisors, all senior executives and thought-leaders in global outsourcing, oversee the Institute's research agenda to ensure that it fully supports the business information needs of corporate buyers, service providers and investors.
Everest Research Institute was established by the Everest Group, which provides strategic advisory services that help companies harness the power of outsourcing. Since its formation in 1991, Everest Group has served as business advisors for hundreds of IT and business process outsourcing transactions worldwide.