The Baffling Book of Outsourcing

I have been inundated in recent weeks with press releases, quotes, and data references to the The Black Book of Outsourcing.  "Great", I thought, "Now I can access a complete encyclopedia of outsourcing....".  So I decided to look up an area where I have some knowledge:

TOP 10 ACCOUNTS PAYABLE OUTSOURCING APO VENDORS

2006 RANK	COMPANY
1	Mellon SourceNet
2	Capgemini
3	Accenture
4	IQ Back Office
5	Outsource Partners International
6	XIGN
7	IBM
8	CorePay
9	API Outsourcing/ Wells Fargo
10	Harbor Payments/ADP

OK - all these guys do Accounts Payable to some extent, but wait... Genpact didn't even make the list - and neither did ACS, InfosysBPO (Progeon), WNS, VWA, CGI etc etc.  And then I looked at sourcing advisors...ITO vendors...HRO vendors etc.  I realized if you don't know much about an area, these lists can appear credible, but if you actually have some domain knowledge you quickly see that these rankings and selections of vendors make little sense.  What I'd like to know is who is reading these lists, and are business decisions being made on them?  Isn't there some sort or body that regulates this "stuff" floating around the industry?  Can anyone shed some light on this?

Comments

[Derek]

The incomprehensible rankings go far beyond the leading A/P outsourcng vendors. There is absolutely no rigor included in the BBoO analysis and most of us in the industry are left scratching our heads. Where are these guys spending their time?

I hope no companies are using this to decide on a short list of vendors.

[Jason Corsello]

Last year, an executive from a BPO vendor called me and said, we were ranked #1 in the "Black Book of Outsourcing". They want to charge me (I believe it was) $25K to license the report for distribution and use in any press activities. Should we do it?

There is your answer!

[Stephen Cohen]

Phil,

Very difficult to fathom how these lists have been compliled. Perhaps they would make more sense if they were listed as a directory of suppliers, rather than rankings?

Stephen.