Everest Group PEAK Matrix™ for RPO Service Providers
Focus on IBM-Kenexa
September 2014
Copyright © 2014 Everest Global, Inc.
This document has been licensed for exclusive use and distribution by IBM-Kenexa
EGR-2014-3-E-1232
Introduction and scope
Everest Group recently released its Recruitment Process Outsourcing – Service Provider Landscape with
PEAK Matrix™ Assessment 2014 report. This report analyzes the changing dynamics of the RPO landscape
and assesses service providers across several key dimensions.
As a part of this report, Everest Group updated its classification of 22 service providers on the Everest Group
Performance | Experience | Ability | Knowledge (PEAK) Matrix for RPO into Leaders, Major Contenders, and
Emerging Players. The PEAK Matrix is a framework that provides an objective, data-driven, and comparative
assessment of RPO service providers, based on their absolute market success and delivery capability. Everest
Group also identified seven service providers as the “2014 RPO Star Performers”, based on the strongest
forward movement demonstrated on the PEAK Matrix Year-on-Year (YoY).
Based on the analysis, IBM-Kenexa emerged as a “Leader”. This document focuses on IBM-Kenexa’s RPO
experience and capabilities, and includes:
 IBM-Kenexa’s positioning on the RPO PEAK Matrix
 Everest Group assessment of IBM-Kenexa
 Detailed RPO profile of IBM-Kenexa
Buyers can use the PEAK Matrix to identify and evaluate different service providers. It helps them understand
service providers’ relative strengths and gaps. However, it is also important to note that while the PEAK Matrix
is a useful starting point, results from the assessment may not be directly prescriptive for each buyer.
Individual buyers will have to consider their unique situation and requirements, and match them against service
provider capability for an ideal fit.
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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We define RPO as transfer of ownership of all or part of
recruitment processes or activities on an ongoing basis
Strategy
Judgment-intensive
Transaction-intensive
HR
strategy
Employee relations
Regulatory and compliance
Global mobility
Performance management
Learning
Recruitment
Compensation
Benefits
Payroll
Employee data management
HR information systems and reporting
Employee contact center
Recruitment
 Employer branding
 Sourcing
 Screening
 Applicant tracking
 Interview scheduling and
co-ordination
 Assessment
 Offer letter management
 Background verification
 Onboarding
 Vendor management
For this study, we include RPO deals in which:
 A minimum of four or more recruitment processes are included
 The outsourcing deal is active and is at least one year in deal length
 The deal scope should not be limited to only temporary hires
 The buyer employee size is 3,000 or more
This study does not include “out-tasking” arrangements (typically handled by recruitment agencies, staffing companies, or executive search
firms) that are managed on a project-by-project basis rather than through an ongoing long-term arrangement
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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IBM-Kenexa consolidated its position as a Leader on
the Everest Group PEAK Matrix for RPO
Leader
Everest Group Performance | Experience | Ability | Knowledge (PEAK) Matrix for RPO
Randstad Sourceright
PeopleScout
Pontoon
Star Performer
IBM-Kenexa
Allegis Global Solutions
AMS
Hays
Futurestep
KellyOCG
AON Hewitt
Accenture
25th percentile
Market success
Major Contenders
Cielo
Emerging Player
75th percentile
High
Low
WilsonHCG
Hudson RPO
Peoplestrong
Neeyamo
Resource Solutions
Seven Step RPO
Advantage xPO
Yoh
Emerging Players
Low
1
2
Source:
Major Contender
75th percentile
Leaders
The RightThing
ManpowerGroup
25th percentile
RPO delivery capability1
(Scale, scope, technology, delivery footprint, and buyer satisfaction)
High
Refer to page 13 for more details on RPO Star Performer methodology
Service providers scored using Everest Group’s proprietary scoring methodology given on page 11
Everest Group (2014)
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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IBM-Kenexa (page 1 of 4)
RPO service capability and strategy
Company profile: IBM-Kenexa has been a business solutions provider in the field of
human resource management for 25 years. IBM-Kenexa delivers software solutions,
business processes, and expert consulting that helps organizations impact business
outcomes through HR. It offers a comprehensive suite of unified products and services
that support the entire employee life cycle from pre-hire to exit. The Smarter Workforce
solution measures employee engagement, talent management, and leadership
development
Headquarter: Wayne, Pennsylvania, United States
Leadership: Phil Stewart, President
Website: http://ibm.co/1qRuYtC
Offshore1
Nearshore1
Onshore
Not Available (N/A)
N/A
N/A
Total RPO delivery FTEs = N/A
Functional capabilities within key RPO areas across regions
Coverage – self
Through partners
Not offered
North
America EMEA
Regions
Employer branding
Current RPO market segment focus
 Buyer segment: Targets both the mid-market (3,000 to 15,000 employees), as well as
the large market segment (>15,000 employees)
 Geography: North America, Central and South America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific
Partnership
 RPO service provider: None
 HRO service provider: None
Sourcing
Screening
Applicant tracking
Interview scheduling and
co-ordination
Assessment
Offer letter management
Background checking
Recent RPO-related developments/announcements
 January 2014: Announced the Software-as-Service (SaaS)-based IBM Kenexa Talent
Suite
Onboarding
Vendor management
South
America
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Other capabilities Offered Description
Other capabilities Offered Description
Analytics
Yes
Assessment
Yes
Employer
branding
Yes
Mobile-based
solutions
Yes
Smarter Workforce measures employee engagement,
talent management, and leadership development
IBM Kenexa Employment Branding that includes both
Organizational Cultural Insight Survey and
Recruitment Marketing
N/A
Asia
Pacific
Proprietary assessments on capacity, capability, and
cultural fit
Technology solutions – BrassRing and various
recruitment portals
Talent
N/A
Proprietary addYes
Onboarding, organizational culture, performance
Community
on tools
management, engagement survey, and leadership
1 FTEs in offshore (e.g. India) or nearshore (e.g. Eastern Europe and Latin America) locations, and delivering services to North America or Western Europe
Source: Everest Group (2014)
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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IBM-Kenexa (page 2 of 4)
RPO client portfolio
RPO experience
 Total number of current RPO clients: 54
 Total number of annual hires managed: 65,000
Frequency of inclusion of geographies in RPO deals
100% = 54 clients
Major RPO clients
North America
80%
EMEA
40%
N/A
Asia Pacific
Central and South America
RPO split of hires by type
100% = 65,000 hires
RPO split of hires by job family
100% = 65,000 hires
Finance & legal professionals3
Technology
Senior
professionals2
management
5%
11%
25%
Blue
collar1 14%
15%
100%
Permanent
1
2
3
Source:
15% Sales &
marketing
15%
Call-center
professionals Healthcare
professionals
RPO split of clients by industry
20%
28%
RPO buyer-size mix
100% = 54 clients
Government / public sector
Others
Manufacturing
15%
20%
100% = 54 clients
3,000-15,000
employees
5%
BFSI 5%
Energy
and
utilities
35%
20%
15%
20%
65%
Healthcare
/Pharma
>15,000
employees
Hi-tech and telecom
Blue collar includes jobs in operations, production, mining, construction, maintenance, technical installation, facilities, janitorial, security, etc.
Technology professionals category includes engineers, IT professionals, researchers, and scientists
Finance & legal professionals include accounting, finance, and legal professionals
Everest Group (2014)
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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IBM-Kenexa (page 3 of 4)
Key RPO delivery locations
Toronto
Wayne
Lincoln
Boston
Frisco
Raleigh
Amsterdam
London
Krakow
Paris
Budapest
Munich
Dalian
Tokyo
Suzhou
Dubai
Vizag
Hong Kong
Manila
San Jose
Cyberjaya Singapore
Hortlandia
Buenos Aires
Auckland
Melbourne
Source:
Everest Group (2014)
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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IBM-Kenexa (page 4 of 4)
Detailed assessment of RPO capabilities
Delivery capability assessment
IBM-Kenexa is a Leader on Everest Group PEAK Matrix for RPO
75th
High
percentile
Assessment
dimension
IBM-Kenexa
25th percentile
Market success
Major Contenders
75th percentile
Leaders
Low Emerging Players
Low
25th percentile
High
RPO delivery capability
(Scale, scope, technology, delivery footprint, and buyer satisfaction)
1
Source:
5%
5%
2012
2013
Low
Rating Remarks
Scale
High number of RPO FTEs employed; part of IBM, a
Fortune 50 company
Scope
High industry and job family coverage; strong multi-country
RPO capabilities; however, lacks blended model experience
Technology
capability
Strong analytics capabilities; launched IBM Kenexa Talent
Suite recently
Delivery
footprint
Widespread delivery footprint with good usage of offshoring
Buyer
satisfaction
High buyer satisfaction rating based on strong score in
relationship management and implementation capabilities
Overall
Overall remarks
IBM-Kenexa is a Leader on RPO PEAK Matrix with significant scale, high
technology capability, and wide delivery footprint
 With the integration of IBM-Kenexa under way, clients are cautiously optimistic of
potential future gains
 It is one of the very few providers that can offer technology-integrated and truly
end-to-end recruitment services including the value-added components (such as
analytics, branding, and assessment) along with broader talent management
services. It has also added these capabilities into a broad talent management suite
 It is also one of the few providers with large multi-country RPO capabilities and
delivery experience in a single provider model
 Buyers cite its sourcing capabilities, collaboration, and global delivery capabilities
as its key strengths. However, the lack of proactive-ness in servicing new
initiatives is a gap cited by buyers

Market success assessment
RPO market share1
Percentage share by number of
contracts
High
Percentage share by annual
number of hires
6%
2012
5%
2013
Based on contractual and operational information as of October 2013
Everest Group (2014)
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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Appendix
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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Everest Group classifies the RPO service provider
landscape based on its PEAK Matrix
Performance | Experience | Ability | Knowledge (PEAK) Matrix
Everest Group Performance | Experience | Ability | Knowledge (PEAK) Matrix for RPO
High
Leaders
Top quartile performance
across market success and
capability
2nd or 3rd quartile performance
across market success and
capability
25th percentile
Market success2
Major Contenders
Low
Emerging Players
4th quartile performance
across market success and
capability
Low
1
2
Source:
75th percentile
75th percentile
25th percentile
RPO delivery capability1
(Scale, scope, technology, buyer satisfaction, and delivery footprint)
High
Service providers scored using Everest Group’s proprietary scoring methodology given on page 11
Based on a combination of total number of RPO clients, revenue from RPO, and total number of hires managed per year
Everest Group (2014)
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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Service providers are positioned on Everest Group
PEAK Matrix, based on evaluation of two key
dimensions
Measures success achieved in
the market. Captured through a
combination of total number of
RPO clients, revenue from RPO,
and total number of hires
managed/ year
Market success
Leaders
Major Contenders
Emerging Players
Delivery capability
Scale
Measures the scale of
operations through:
 Overall company
revenue
 FTEs employed
1
2
Scope
Measures ability to deliver services successfully.
Captured through five sub-dimensions:
Technology capability
Measures the scope of
Measures the capability
services provided through: and investment in
 Process coverage
recruitment technology
 Geographic coverage
 Industry and job-family
coverage
 Blended RPO experience
 Multi-country RPO
capability
Delivery footprint
Buyer satisfaction
Measures the satisfaction
Measures the delivery
levels2 of buyers across:
footprint and the global
 Goal realization
sourcing mix through:
 Delivery footprint across  Process delivery
 Implementation
ten regions1
 Relationship
 Offshoring capability
management
Ten regions are North America, Latin America, United Kingdom, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle-East and Africa, Australia and New Zealand,
India, China, and rest of Asia-Pacific
Measured through responses from three referenced buyers for each service provider
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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Additionally, Everest Group confers the “Star Performers”
title to providers that demonstrate the strongest forward
movement over time on the PEAK Matrix
Market success
Methodology
Everest Group selects Market Star Performers based on the relative year-on-year movement of each
service provider, on the PEAK Matrix
Year 1
Service
provider
Year 0
In order to assess advancements on market
success, we evaluate the performance of
each of the service providers on PEAK
Matrix across a number of parameters
including:
 Increase in number of RPO clients
 Growth in revenue from RPO
 Increase in number of hires managed
Capability
In order to assess advancements on
capability, we evaluate the performance of
each service provider on PEAK Matrix
across a number of parameters including:
 Annual growth in scale
 Increase in scope of services
 Expansion of delivery footprint
 Technology enhancements/investments
RPO STAR Performers
The top-quartile performers on each of the
identified parameters are identified and the
“Star Performer” rating is awarded to the
service providers with:
 The maximum number of top-quartile
performances across all of the above
parameters
and
 At least one area of top-quartile
performance in both market success and
capability advancement
The “Star Performers” designation relates to year-on-year performance for a given service provider
and does not reflect the overall market leadership positions. Those identified as the Star Performers
may include “Leaders”, “Major Contenders”, or “Emerging Players”
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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FAQs
(page 1 of 2)
Does the PEAK Matrix assessment incorporate any subjective criteria?
 Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix assessment adopts an objective and fact-based approach (leveraging service
provider RFIs and Everest Group’s proprietary databases containing providers’ deals and operational capability
information). In addition, these results are validated / fine-tuned based on our market experience, buyer interaction,
and provider briefings
Is being a “Major Contender” or “Emerging Player” on the PEAK Matrix, an unfavorable outcome?
 No. PEAK Matrix highlights and positions only the best-in-class service providers in a particular functional/vertical
services area. There are a number of providers from the broader universe that are assessed and do not make it to
the PEAK Matrix at all. Therefore, being represented on the PEAK Matrix is itself a favorable recognition
What other aspects of PEAK Matrix assessment are relevant to buyers and providers besides the “PEAK
Matrix position”?
 PEAK Matrix position is only one aspect of Everest Group’s overall assessment. In addition to assigning a “Leader”,
“Major Contender” or “Emerging Player” title, Everest Group highlights the distinctive capabilities and unique
attributes of all the PEAK Matrix providers assessed in its report. The detailed metric level assessment and
associated commentary is helpful for buyers in selecting particular providers for their specific requirements. It also
helps providers showcase their strengths in specific areas
What are the incentives for buyers and providers to participate/provide input to PEAK Matrix research?
 Participation incentives for buyers include a summary of key findings from the PEAK Matrix assessment
 Participation incentives for providers include adequate representation and recognition of their capabilities/success in
the market place, and a copy of their own “profile” that is published by Everest Group as part of the “compendium of
PEAK Matrix providers” profiles
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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FAQs
(page 2 of 2)
What is the process for a service provider to leverage their PEAK Matrix positioning status ?
 Providers can use their PEAK positioning rating in multiple ways including:
– Issue a press release declaring their positioning/rating
– Customized PEAK profile for circulation (with clients, prospects, etc.)
– Quotes from Everest Group analysts could be disseminated to the media
– Leverage PEAK branding across communications (e-mail signatures, marketing brochures, credential packs,
client presentations, etc.)
 The provider must obtain the requisite licensing and distribution rights for the above activities through an
agreement with the designated POC at Everest Group
Copyright © 2014, Everest Global, Inc.
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At a glance

With a fact-based approach driving outcomes, Everest Group counsels
organizations with complex challenges related to the use and delivery of the
next generation of global services

Through its practical consulting, original research, and industry resource
services, Everest Group helps clients maximize value from delivery strategies,
talent and sourcing models, technologies, and management approaches

Established in 1991, Everest Group serves users of global services, providers
of services, country organizations, and private equity firms in six continents
across all industry categories
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