A recent study we conducted on behalf of the NOA (National Outsourcing Association) found that seven percent of organizations think SaaS will assist in improving business costs, and nearly 100 percent believe that SaaS plus BPO services will reduce business costs. In HR, a key enabler of this business cost reduction is the implementation of self-service for processes ranging from payroll to learning to benefits to wealth management.

So it’s no surprise that ACS just launched SyncHRO, a multi-pronged, Oracle-based self-service portal for companies with 4,000+ employees, and joined the ranks of other HRO providers like NorthgateArinso, Logica and ADP, whose existing SAP-based portal technologies are giving them good traction in the transactional multi-process HRO space.

Self-service’s value proposition for HRO buyers and providers alike cannot be underestimated. Buyers can save up to 20 percent annually by driving employees to an online portal rather than a people-staffed call center. And providers – whether onshore, nearshore or offshore – can increase their margins through the economies of scale enabled by self-service…and doing so is critical for profitability purposes.

My recommendation to the provider community? Develop and deliver a robust, one-to-many HR portal for your HR outsourcing services today, or whither away and die (indeed, some already have in cases in which one-to-many models have proved elusive.) Yes, doing so will consume some development and marketing resources. But the pay-off, for you and your clients, can be enormous. In fact, it can be life saving, and the time to invest is now.


Until next time, happy sourcing!

Helen Neale
Research Director, Human Resources Outsourcing
NelsonHall