Over 100 buyers, providers, advisors, consultants, and European HR leaders who have made a major impact on HRO in 2006.
This year’s Superstars are leaner and meaner. As the times change, so does the HRO marketplace. HRO Today has published the Superstar listing for four consecutive years, and each time the selection process is a slog. As we set out to compile a list of the best and brightest HRO stars in the industry, we are reminded that many more leaders are deserving of recognition than we can fit into these pages.
The 2007 Superstars are a collection of the top buyers, service providers, advisors, opinion leaders, and others paving the way for HRO’s growth. This year’s list clocks in at 143, a little smaller than for 2006 but still packing as powerful a punch.
The Superstars included in the following pages are buyers whose foresight to get involved in HR BPO has put them ahead of the game; providers who have stuck around for the long haul to bring service delivery to the mid-market and global players; advisors who have officiated many of the HRO deals covered within these pages; and opinion leaders who write the rules for outsourcing engagements. This year’s list of European HRO leaders has also grown immensely, proving that HRO is finally gaining momentum on the European continent.
As HRO matures, some of the changes we predicted have come to pass. Not only has the market churned out more deals, but vendors are still playing the M&A game, especially when it comes to recruitment process outsourcing; bigger, stronger providers are gobbling up smaller niche players.
Buyers, too, have leveraged their power. If you don’t believe us, take a look at the new entrants on the buyers’ list; many of them are members of the HRO Buyers Group, an informal association of HRO users who share and discuss the good and bad of their outsourcing engagements.
This section is segmented by four categories: buyers, providers, thought leaders, and European Superstars. Only HR professionals engaged in multi-domain HRO are qualified as buyers. As you can see, many are senior leaders and may already have a seat at the table, so their perspective on outsourcing is from a board’s eye view.
Similarly, providers listed here are also mostly at the executive level, since they are setting the pace for the market. In the thought leadership category, you’ll notice the HRO household names of advisors, analysts, academicians, and others helping to grow the market. And our European Superstars section is a compilation of all three categories, except they are all leaders in the red-hot European market.
Many people ask, “How can I be a Superstar?” Compiling such a list of HRO industry leaders is no easy task, especially when almost half of the individuals recognized are new entrants. For more information about the selection process, turn to p. 38 to nominate a candidate for next year’s listing.
We hope you enjoy this year’s Superstars listing. As always, we encourage your input on how we can make the next Superstars listing even more informative and useful to your HRO endeavors.