High Buyer Satisfaction and Demand for Analytics and Technology Highlight State of the Global FAO Market According to Everest Group Report How to create a template in Outlook 2013

Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) May 21, 2013

Nearly two-thirds of the annualized contract volume growth in 2012 was contributed by contract extensions and renewals of existing Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) deals, according to a new research study by Everest Group, an advisory and research firm on global services.

The high levels of buyer satisfaction supporting this trend meant that only 10 percent of the deals that came up for renewal were terminated and mostly not because of lack of performance. The FAO market continues to witness dominance by three large firms, Accenture, Genpact, and IBM. However, competition is intensifying, with market share of the top three providers declining from 68 percent in 2002 to just under 50 percent in 2012.

The report, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) – Annual Report 2013, also highlights how demand for new technologies is rising, driven by buyers wanting to unlock additional engagement value. More than half of the contracts signed in 2012 included add-on tools and technologies, such as Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) and other cloud-enabled offerings, especially in the SMB segment. Demand for mobile F&A solutions and dashboards, as well as FP&A (financial planning and analytics) and operational analytics also is increasing.

?We?re seeing technology, global delivery and vertical industry specialization continue to bring innovation and new value to buyers in the FAO segment,? said Saurabh Gupta, vice president at Everest Group. ?These dynamics are preserving a highly competitive environment, one where incumbent players are continually challenged by the agility and specialization smaller service providers.?

The global multi-process FAO market witnessed a moderate growth of 10 percent in 2012, showing signs of a mature and stable market. Beyond the desire for cost reduction, process improvement, standardization, and scalability/flexibility drove FAO adoption, emphasizing a cost-plus-value proposition.

With an increasing FAO market maturity, the approach towards F&A transformation has become more sophisticated and practical. A ?world-class lift-shift-and-fix? approach is becoming prevalent where the service provider focuses on improving business outcomes vis-