This document provides an overview of the research practice areas and key themes for 2017 for analysts at HfS Research, an analyst firm focused on business operations and IT services. The analysts' practice areas include intelligent automation, analytics services, HR technology, blockchain, and vertical industries like healthcare and manufacturing. Major themes for 2017 include the impact of technologies like artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and blockchain. Key research projects for 2017 include blueprints on intelligent automation, analytics in healthcare, and the intelligent OneOffice operating model.

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2017 – The Year of Making it Real
A Webinar by HfS Research
December 15th, 2016
Web: www.hfsresearch.com | Blog: www.horsesforsources.com

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Phil Fersht, Chief Analyst and CEO
phil.fersht@hfsresearch.com
@pfersht
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ IT Services Strategy and Consulting
§ Finance & Accounting Operational Strategies and the CFO’s challenges
§ As-a-Service Delivery Models
§ Design Thinking and Outcomes Strategies
§ People and Talent Strategies
The 4 Leading HfS Ideals of the As-a-Service Economy Impacting My Practice
§ Plug and Play Digital Services
§ Collaborative Engagement
§ Intelligent Automation
§ Design Thinking
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ The Intelligent OneOffice
§ How Digital and Cognitive Automation form the fabric of IT Services
§ Understanding how to make RPA meaningful
§ Augmenting human capabilities through the deployment of intelligent automation
§ The future role of the finance professional in the face of As-a-Service
§ The strategic response of IT and BPO service providers to revenue cannibalization
§ New buyer needs and evaluation criteria in selecting operational service

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2017: The Year of Making it Real
The year “Big really becomes Bad”
The year of “Human Justification”
The Death of “Meaningless Digital”
The year of “The Cognitive Crackpipe”
BPO becomes BPA as Automation gets a real place in the value
equation
Design Thinking no longer fancy fluff
Everyone throwing toys in and out of the blockchain pram

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The Endgame for Operational Value: The Intelligent OneOfficeTM

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2017 HfS Research Blueprint Publication Schedule - Preliminary
Q1 2017 (8)
• Capital Markets Operations
• Salesforce Services
• Managed Security Services
Blueprint
• Design Thinking 2017
(Blueprint Guide)
• Predictive Capabilities in
HCM Systems
• Smart Manufacturing/
Industry 4.0 (Blueprint
Guide)
• Application Testing Services
• Utility Operations
• IBM Watson Services
(Blueprint Guide)
Q2 2017 (9)
• Microsoft-on-demand Services
• BIM Services Blueprint
(Blueprint Guide)
• IT Infrastructure Management
& Cloud Services
• Analytics in Healthcare
(Blueprint Guide)
• Travel & Hospitality Services
• Strategy & Consulting Services
• Application Services
• IT Services Master (Blueprint
Guide)
• SuccessFactors Services 2017
• HRMS Platforms and the Big 4
- “SMAC”
• Energy Operations 2017
Q3 2017 (9+)
• Cognitive-enabled Analytics
Services
• Embedded Engineering
• Blockchain Services
• Workday Services 2017
• Payroll As-a-Service
• Comprehensive HR As-a-
Service
• Intelligent Automation
• OneOffice Retail Services
• IT Services Industry Spotlights:
• Banking
• Insurance
• Health
• Government
• Manufacturing
Q4 2017 & Beyond (12+)
• Virtual Agent Capability
Services
• Supply Chain Services
• Insurance As-a-Service
• Healthcare Payer Operations
• F&A As-a-Service 2017
• ServiceNow 2017
• IoT Smart Cities
• Salesforce 2017
• Procurement-as-a-Service
• HR Technology Services
• IT Services Industry Spotlights:
• Telecom
• Travel
• Energy
• Utilities

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Barbra Sheridan McGann, Chief Research Officer
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ BPO / Business Operations Strategies
§ Health Care and Life Sciences Vertical Markets
§ Design Thinking in the Outsourcing Services Industry
§ Talent Strategies for Intelligent Operations
Blueprints / Blueprint Guides for 2017
§ Design Thinking In the As-a-Service Economy (Q1)
§ Analytics Services in Healthcare Operations (Q2)
§ Healthcare Payer Operations (Q4)
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ The relevance and impact of health care consumer-centricity for healthcare and life sciences business
operations
§ Stories and examples of the use of Design Thinking to increase collaborative engagement in outsourcing
services
§ Emerging changes in operating models, governance, and talent management and development for Intelligent
Operations (human + machine)
§ The impact of digital technologies, in particular Intelligent Automation, Analytics, Mobility, and Security in
Healthcare and Life Sciences
barbra.mcgann@hfsresearch.com
@sheridanmcgann

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Tom Reuner, Research Vice President, Intelligent Automation
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Intelligent Automation (RPA, Cognitive Computing, AI, Autonomics)
§ Sourcing strategies
§ Application Testing
§ Application Management
§ Service Management
Blueprints for 2017
§ IT Services Master (Jamie, Phil & I)
§ Application Services (Tom Leading with Phil)
§ Application Testing
§ ServiceNow Services
§ Intelligent Automation
§ IBM Watson Services (with Reetika)
Other Major Projects in 2017
§ Evolution of service agents/virtual agents
§ Pega Services
§ Revisiting SIAM/MSI
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ Analyzing the evolution of service delivery
§ Identifying new players in the Intelligent Automation ecosystem
§ Understanding the adoption of AI
§ Assessing the notion of cognitive in application testing
tom.reuner@hfsresearch.com
@tom_reuner

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Jamie Snowdon, Executive Vice President, Research Operations
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Market Sizing & Forecasting
§ Competitive Analysis
§ PriceIndicator
§ Quantitative Surveys
§ Bespoke Research
§ Cloud and IT Service’s
Blueprints for 2017
§ IT Services Master (Tom, Phil & I)
§ IT Infrastructure Management & Cloud Services (Me leading with Phil)
§ Strategy & Consulting Services (Phil leading)
§ Application Services (Tom Leading with Phil)
§ IT Services Industry Spotlights
Other Major Projects in 2017
§ Top 50 BPO
§ Top 25 IT Services
§ IT & BPO Market Analysis 2017-2022
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ Giving our insights more visual impact
§ Looking at the impact of cloud on infrastructure managed services
§ Identifying the scenarios which will drive service adoption over the next 18 months
§ Identifying the market opportunities for traditional and plug and play digital services
Jamie.snowdon@hfsresearch.com
@thewizeone

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Reetika Joshi, Research Director, Operations & Analytics Strategies
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Analytics Services
§ Banking, Financial Services and Insurance
§ The Tech Enablement of Business Operations
Blueprints for 2017
§ IBM Watson Services Blueprint Guide
§ Insurance As-a-Service Blueprint
§ Cognitively-Enabled Analytics Services Blueprint
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ Fixing critical skills gaps and using talent as a differentiator in analytics engagements
§ Changing nature of BFSI engagements to realize vertical-specific business outcomes
§ Mainstreaming of intelligent automation technologies in BFSI operations
§ Rapid growth of platform based services and utilities in financial services
§ Impact of new data sources, infrastructure advancements, platforms and cognitive capabilities on analytics
services towards Analytics-As-a-Service
reetika.joshi@hfsresearch.com
@joshireetika

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Melissa O’Brien, Research Director, Contact Center and OneOfficeTM
Customer Experiences
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Vertical Specific Customer Engagement BPO: Retail and Travel/Hospitality
§ Digital Marketing Operations
§ Contact Center Operations and Omni-Channel Customer Experience
Blueprints for 2017
§ Travel and Hospitality Services
§ OneOffice Retail Services
§ Virtual Agent Capability
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ Impact of automation and analytics on contact center operations and customer experience
§ Changing talent needs as a result of consumer demands and automation
§ Digital marketing services and its role in customer experience
§ Social media as a channel for customer engagement
§ Customer experience related business outcomes driving connections between the front and back office
Melissa.obrien@hfsresearch.com
@MelissaJaneOB

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Steve Goldberg, Research Vice President, HR Technology
and Workforce Strategies
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Predictive Analytics in HCM
§ Emerging HR Technologies
§ The Intelligent Office Model in HR
Blueprints for 2017
§ Predictive Capabilities in HCM Systems
§ HRMS Platforms and the Big 4 (“SMAC”)
§ New Era of Payroll Services (U.S.)
§ HR Technology Services Landscape
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2016/2017
§ Time to Predictive Value in HCM Systems
§ “HR Data Distrust” and other HR Tech Value Drivers/Impediments
§ Industry-Specific Capabilities in HCM Solutions
§ Global Capabilities in HCM Solutions
§ HR Technology in Mergers and Acquisitions
§ Change Management in HR Tech Deployments
§ People Analytics Roadmaps
Steve.Goldberg@HfSResearch.com
@EmpoweredHR

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Khalda De Souza, Principal Analyst
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Service Provider SaaS Services Strategies
§ Enterprise SaaS Services Demands and Requirements
§ Tracking the development of key SaaS Services markets
Blueprints for 2017
§ Salesforce Services
§ Microsoft On-Demand Services
§ Workday Services
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ The change management required to deliver and consume SaaS services: still a journey
§ Service Providers:
§ The move away from the strict silos of delivering consulting, implementation and ongoing support
services, to a more flexible model of continuous advice and deployment using an agile methodology
§ The ability to provide onsite services
§ The focus on hiring, training and acquiring talent with technical and business skills, and the right
mind-set
§ Enterprise Clients:
§ Understanding the importance of organizational change management
§ Driving user adoption
§ Achieving real business process transformation
§ The need for ongoing, flexible support services
Khalda.de-souza@hfsresearch.com
@Khalda_De_Souza

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Mike Cook, Research Director, Human Resource Services
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Competitive Analysis
§ Bespoke Research
§ HRO Services
§ SaaS
§ Cyber Security
§ Buyer Focused Research
Blueprints for 2017
§ Trust-as-a-Service (Christine & I)
§ SuccesFactors Services (Khalda & I)
§ Human Resource-as-a-Service.
Other Major Projects in 2017
§ Buyers Guide Program
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ The ability of organizations to leverage outsourced Managed Security Services (MSS) to drive Trust within
their operations.
§ How MSS providers and organizations are dealing with the shortage of Cyber Security talent.
§ The continuing adoption of cloud HCM platforms within organizations and the optimization of these to drive
business outcomes.
§ Identifying emerging HCM platform innovations and the increasing role of intelligent automation within
these.
§ The changing shape of MPHRO service delivery and buyer requirements to move beyond the current scope
of meeting pre-defined service metrics and into business outcomes focused contracts.
§ Employee retention optimization
Mike.Cook@hfsresearch.com
@MikeMarkC

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Christine Ferrusi Ross, Research Vice President, Strategy & Product
Development
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Blockchain
§ Security and Digital Trust
§ Contract Negotiations
§ Governance and Vendor Management
§ Supplier Risk Management
§ Supply Chain Management
§ The Intelligent OneOffice
Blueprints for 2017
§ Managed Security (with Mike Cook) Q1
§ Blockchain Services Q3
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ Contracting For Emerging Areas
§ Strategic Impact of Blockchain on Businesses and Supply Chains
§ Managing Risk In The Connected Economy
Christine.ferrusi.ross@hfsresearch.com
@ferrusi

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Derk Erbé, Research Vice President, Supply Chain, Procurement and
Energy
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Natural Resources & Energy
§ Supply Chain & Procurement
§ Digital Business Transformation Services
§ SaaS and the Tech Enablement of Services
§ Commercial Model Innovation
Blueprints for 2017
§ Utility Operations 2017
§ Energy Operations 2017
§ Supply Chain Management As-a-Service 2017
§ Procurement As-a-Service 2017
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ The impact of digital technologies, in particular Intelligent Automation, Analytics, Mobility, IoT and Security in
energy, natural resources and utilities
§ Business model transformation and its digital enablement
§ The impact of digital platforms and technologies like Control Towers, IoT and Blockchain in Procurement and
Supply Chain
§ The strategic response of IT and BPO service providers to changing needs of enterprise services buyers in
energy, natural resources and utilities
§ Understanding how digital services can help energy providers differentiate in an undifferentiated market
§ The adoption of Software-as-a-Service in the effort to write off legacy
derk.erbe@hfsresearch.com
@DerkRB

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Pareekh Jain, Research Vice President, Engineering Services, IoT,
Telecom & Manufacturing
My Research Practice Areas for 2017
§ Engineering Services (Mechanical, Embedded, Software & ISV, PLM)
§ Internet of Things ( Consumer IoT, Industrial IoT, Smart Cities)
§ Manufacturing Operations (Industry 4.0, IT Services & Business Processes)
§ Telecom Operations (IT Services & Business Processes)
My Blueprints for 2017
§ Industry 4.0 Services
§ BIM Services
§ Embedded Engineering Services
§ IoT (Smart Cities) Services
Key Themes Impacting My Research Practice in 2017
§ How business models are changing in manufacturing/ industrial products as products are becoming services
§ What trends are impacting enterprise R&D and how these trends will impact engineering services outsourcing
§ What is real in IoT
§ How digitalization is impacting some of the core industries – manufacturing and construction
§ How engineering service providers are developing their capabilities both organic and inorganic
§ How engineering services enterprises can realize value from their sourcing engagements and R&D Operations
§ How telcos are transforming and its impact on outsourcing opportunities
pareekh.jain@hfsresearch.com
@pareekhjain

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About HfS Research
HfS Research is The Services Research Company™—the leading analyst authority and global community for business operations
and IT services. The firm helps enterprises validate and improve their global operations with world-class
research, benchmarking and peer networking. HfS Research was named "Independent Analyst Firm of the Year for 2016" by the
Institute of Industry Analyst Relations which voted on 170 other leading analysts. HfS Chief Analyst, Phil Fersht, was named
Analyst of the Year in 2016 for the third time.
HfS coined the terms "The As-a-Service Economy" and "OneOffice™", which describe HfS Research's vision for the future of global
operations and the impact of cognitive automation and digital technologies. HfS' vision is centered on creating the digital
customer experience and an intelligent, single office to enable and support it. HfS’ core mission is about helping clients achieve
an integrated support operation that has the digital prowess to enable its enterprise to meet customer demand - as and when
that demand happens. With specific practice areas focused on the Digitization of business processes and Design Thinking,
Intelligent Automation and Outsourcing, HfS analysts apply industry knowledge in healthcare, life sciences, retail, manufacturing,
energy, utilities, telecommunications and financial services to form a real viewpoint of the future of business operations.
HfS facilitates a thriving and dynamic global community which contributes to its research and stages several OneOffice™
Summits each year, bringing together senior service buyers, advisors, providers and technology suppliers in an intimate forum to
develop collective recommendations for the industry and add depth to the firm’s research publications and analyst offerings.
Now in its tenth year of publication, HfS Research’s acclaimed blog Horses for Sources is the most widely read and trusted
destination for unfettered collective insight, research and open debate about sourcing industry issues and developments.
HfS was named Analyst Firm of the Year for 2016, alongside Gartner and Forrester, by leading analyst observer
InfluencerRelations.