NelsonHall BPO Index Identifies 118% Growth in BPO TCV in 12 Months to March 2008

BOSTON, MA and LONDON and KOLN, GERMANY and PARIS--(Marketwire - April 14, 2008) -

NelsonHall, the leading BPO analyst firm, announced the results of its "BPO Index" market monitor for the period ending March 2008. NelsonHall's BPO Index shows that the BPO market is prospering with year-on-year TCV (total contract value) growth of 118% and that the leading indicators for BPO in 2008 remain strong.

The defense sector is becoming an increasing source of "white-collar" BPO and two U.S. military contracts worth a combined total of $17.4Bn made a major contribution to BPO TCV growth over the past 12 months. Removing these contracts to show the underlying level of BPO TCV growth in the commercial sector and civil government agencies gives year-on-year global BPO TCV growth of 20%. Europe recorded particularly strong performance with year-on-year BPO TCV growth of 30%.

Front-office and middle-office (industry-specific) BPO continued to strengthen over the past twelve months at the expense of back-office BPO, with front-office and middle-office BPO now accounting for 82% of BPO TCV compared to 56% for the 12 months ending March 2007. This reflects both the absolute increase in activity in customer management service and industry-specific BPO activity, particularly in the government and financial services sectors, and the decline in back-office BPO.

While the level of F&A outsourcing contract activity continues to grow and Capgemini's contract with Unilever to support its Latin American businesses further validates the outsourcing of finance and accounting shared service centers, major multi-process HR outsourcing have been notable by their absence for the past three quarters with a number of contract negotiations failing to come to fruition. Indeed the principal HR outsourcing activity in Q1 2008 was the continuing build of specialist single service line capability in support of talent management functions. For example, Kenexa acquired Quorum International to strengthen its recruitment process outsourcing capability in Europe, while Manpower acquired CRI and Vitae. Hewitt focused on extending the global reach of its compensation consulting capability through the acquisitions of New Bridge Street Consultants and CSi.

At the same time, there were signs in Q1 2008 of the anticipated increase in mortgage processing BPO activity. IBM was awarded a mortgage services processing contract by Coastal Federal Credit Union, while Zenta also expanded its mortgage processing services capabilities in the U.S.

NelsonHall's quarterly BPO Index reports are available as part of NelsonHall's BPO subscription services. For more information about accessing this report and NelsonHall's BPO subject matter experts, please contact the following NelsonHall representatives:

Tony West at tony.west@nelson-hall.com, or call 617-520 6699

Rob Hughes at rob.hughes@nelson-hall.com, or call +44 (0) 870-770-5967

Paul Connolly at paul.connolly@nelson-hall.com, or call +44 (0) 870-770-5967.

About NelsonHall

Founded in 1998, NelsonHall is the leading global independent analyst firm in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The company provides buy-side and sell-side organizations with deeper research and analyses in major BPO disciplines than any other research firm in the world. These include Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Procurement, Banking, Insurance, Government and Customer Management Services. The company's subscription-based model provides subscribers with robust market analyses, case studies, vendor assessments, contract analyses, market reports and access to a content-rich BPO contracts database. The firm covers a wide range of industries, including financial services, government and utilities sectors, and tracks worldwide and regional BPO activity. For more information on NelsonHall, please visit www.nelson-hall.com.