Adecco forays into managed services

Adecco, a global staffing services firm, has been adding a few services to keep ahead of the curve. It is now entering a new vertical in India and is starting to offer managed BPO services to a host of sectors. It is now in talks with a few firms.

The company has trained manpower on its rolls and has also taken up office space to get this service going. Adecco, in its efforts to become an end-to-end HR solutions firm in India, will offer services spanning assessments to staffing to a new product, managed services. Adecco sees managed services as a line of business that will get it greater realisations and better margins, said sources from the industry. When companies are coming out of the ‘correction’, they need to innovate.

A managed services provider is typically an information technology services provider, who manages and assumes responsibility for providing a defined set of services to their clients either proactively or as they determine what services are needed. Most providers bill a flat or near-fixed monthly fee. This benefits clients by providing them predictable IT support costs. Customers should look at managed services differently. It would help firms cut costs.

Justifying the move, Sudhakar Balakrishnan, CEO, Adecco India, “The staffing services firms that innovate will thrive. We see five-six core areas that will push growth in future.” To stay ahead of the curve, all firms need to distinguish, said Balakrishnan. Companies need to innovate in order to get higher realisations, he added.

Adecco operates in 60 countries and with revenues of Euro 20 billion in 2008 it provides temporary and permanent staffing for industrial, office, financial, engineering and information technology positions. Adecco has over 61,000 temps onboard today in India.

The staffing giant had launched its brand Lee Hecht Harrison career services some time ago. It deals with outplacement, leadership development, coaching, and career development. Outplacement services mostly includes counselling for fired employees. This product is said to have been used by many a firm in India when the slowdown hit. It helped many companies looking to find ways to cut their staff numbers.