Gartner's "Magic Quadrant for Help Desk Outsourcing, Western Europe, Rev. 1" is a useful starting point to identify and evaluate Western European help desk outsourcing external service providers (ESPs). This market is very complex because of European buyers' multilingual needs and because of the growing intricacy and requirements of multinational businesses operating in Europe and globally.

All ESPs in this Magic Quadrant can provide help desk services, but their competencies, offerings, geographic and language capabilities, and strategies vary. Base your selection on a detailed evaluation of your outsourcing objective; business; geographical, language and technical requirements; and an ESP's ability to fulfill these requirements.

The unique composition of multilingual Europe increases the challenges for multinational businesses operating in this region. Therefore, the European market appears complex, as compared with that of North America.

The help desk outsourcing service market is maturing and remains highly labor-intensive. Therefore, service providers look to processes, tools and geographic locations to reduce costs. During 2007, they continued to invest in enhancing the deployment of "nearshore" and global-delivery capabilities, while increasingly adopting self-help tools and alternative contact methods, such as e-mail and Web access. Most service providers in this study can offer Web scoreboards to report help desk service-level results and are implementing Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) practices to help standardize and reduce costs.

Despite these efforts, providers are still facing the challenge of fine-tuning the link between incident and problem management, with a focus on root cause analysis. This challenge appears even more complex in multisourcing relationships in which incident management crosses various “providers’ boundaries.” Global delivery and cost reduction through labor trade-offs will drive the market in the short term, but automation and industrialization (process and service standardization) and global workforce dynamic management will drive evolution and the quality-cost ratio.

Many help desk outsourcing deals are bundled into wider, single-provider desktop management initiatives. Given Europe's multivendor approach to sourcing, service desk ownership and related service and support processes will differentiate clients' sourcing strategies. The key position of managing the help desk often will determine whether providers act as service aggregators.

Western Europe

Western Europe includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.

IT Outsourcing

IT outsourcing can include a portfolio of product support and professional services that provide the IT infrastructure and enterprise application services needed to help ensure success. Outsourcing always includes some IT management services, and IT outsourcing is further segmented into data center, desktop, network and enterprise application outsourcing.

IT Help Desk Services

Help desk services are the provision of end-user support for all IT services. Services are as follows.

Help Desk

• First-level support
• Second-level support

Problem Management

• Problem categorization and logging
• Problem tracking and escalation
• Problem resolution

All inclusion criteria for this Magic Quadrant must be met. They are:

• Service providers must deliver help desk services as part of IT outsourcing engagements (related to infrastructures or applications delivered to end users) and not only as a product support service to external customers.
• Service providers must be able to demonstrate that they provide IT help desk outsourcing services as a sole source, direct provider (help desk services delivered entirely by partners or subcontractors are excluded).
• Because this study is aimed at evaluating Pan-European capabilities, service providers must be delivering IT help desk outsourcing services to clients headquartered in at least six Western European countries in the local languages.
• Because this Magic Quadrant is intended to evaluate Pan-European capabilities, service providers must not have more than 70% of their total Western European help desk outsourcing revenue from clients based in a single country, and a provider must have a minimum of 10% of its total Western European help desk outsourcing revenue in at least three Western European countries (for example, 65% of the revenue in Germany, 18% in the U.K. and 12% in Spain would qualify for the study).
• Service providers must have at least €15 million in annual Western European help desk outsourcing revenue.

Logica

TietoEnator

None

Gartner evaluates ESPs based on the quality and efficacy of processes, systems, methods and procedures that enable IT provider performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, while positively impacting revenue, retention and reputation. ESPs are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision. As part of the evaluation of the ability to execute, every provider was asked to submit five references. Gartner also considered the feedback collected from separate interactions with customers that are engaged in help desk relationships with the providers included in the study.

Gartner analysts evaluate service providers on their ability to convincingly articulate logical statements about current and future market direction, innovation, customer needs, and competitive forces and how well they map to the Gartner position. Service providers are rated on their understanding of how market forces can be exploited to create opportunity for the provider.

The ESPs in the Leaders quadrant are performing skillfully. They have a clear vision of the market's direction and are developing competencies to maintain their leadership position. They shape the market, rather than follow it. The leaders (in alphabetical order) are:

• Atos Origin
• Capgemini
• CSC
• EDS
• HP
• IBM

ESPs in the Challengers quadrant execute well but have a less-defined view of market direction. They must become more aggressive in outlining and communicating their strategy, and must expand geographical coverage outside their major markets. The challengers are:

• Fujitsu
• Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS)
• T-Systems

ESPs in the Visionaries quadrant have a clear vision of market direction and are focused on preparing for this, but they should optimize service delivery and should improve penetration of the Western European market. The visionaries are:

• Getronics
• TechTeam

ESPs in the Niche Players quadrant focus successfully on a limited number of Western European markets or on a limited market segment by size, vertical or service. Their ability to outperform or innovate may be affected by this narrow focus. The niche players are:

• Computacenter
• Logica
• TietoEnator
• Unisys

• Atos Origin's continued focus on standardization and deploying an integrated offering underpins its position in the Leaders quadrant. Its position is also supported by a consistent service size and the positive feedback from its client base.
• Atos Origin's clients cite its flexibility (in both contract and relationship management) and responsiveness to manage change, its positive ITIL and process orientation, and its focus on quality assurance.
• As a consequence of increased investment, Atos Origin's help desk global-delivery capabilities supporting the Western European market in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Morocco (Casablanca), Poland (Bydgoszcz) and Suriname (Paramaribo) have been strengthened.

• Atos Origin should improve its focus on automation and self-help solutions to optimize cost and enhance client experience.
• Atos Origin should aim at further leveraging on global-delivery capabilities, while increasing its penetration of the Western European market.
• Areas for improvement for Atos Origin include the technical knowledge of agents and related training programs to improve their knowledge, first-call resolution, proactivity in innovation and continuous improvement.

• Capgemini considers the help desk as a key area to strengthen individual relationships with clients. Capgemini remains focused on major help desk market themes — global delivery, standardization and improved efficiency/reduced calls.
• In execution, Capgemini's clients report strengths in terms of service improvement and understanding of the customers’ business, ability in managing knowledge transition, flexibility and ITIL-oriented processes.
• Capgemini's global-delivery capabilities for help desk services are expanding and focus on centers in Poland (Krakow and Katowice), Spain (Madrid) and the Philippines (Manila). A new center in Romania, which was anticipated for 1Q07, has not yet been opened.

• Capgemini's European help desk outsourcing business distribution leaves room for further improvement, with most of the business in Benelux, France, Spain and the U.K.
• Capgemini's focus on “rightshore” strategy is sound but has not yet delivered to its full potential: the high/low-cost balance should be further exploited.
• Areas for improvement include proactivity in innovation, service-level agreement (SLA) management (especially definition), and in some cases the ability to maintain a solid knowledge base overtime.

• Computacenter maintains a positive presence in traditional strongholds — product distribution and the U.K. market. Its recent focus on IT services and outsourcing is aligned to key themes, such as standardization and consolidation of offerings and capabilities.
• In execution, Computacenter's clients report satisfaction on areas such as flexibility, relationship management, quality of resources and a focus on end-user feedback/satisfaction.

• Computacenter's commitment toward enhancing global delivery capabilities remains limited compared with other players. Its reliance on partners (in Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur) and the facilities Computacenter owns in Spain (Barcelona) and South Africa (Cape Town) mean that most help desk locations remain in expensive areas.
• Main areas for improvement include business expansion in Western Europe beyond Germany, and continued focus on transition from a client-owned help desk into a consolidated mode. Additional areas for improvement include proactivity in innovation and continuous improvement, challenges in transition management and aspects of SLA management, such as reporting.

• CSC's position is supported by the focus of its Enterprise Service Desk model on automation, global delivery and service delivery quality. Customers’ feedback is also generally positive.
• In execution, CSC's customers report positive results in terms of first-call resolution, continuous improvement, knowledge management, quality of the agents and ITIL orientation.
• CSC's focus on nearshore and offshore capabilities for Europe has accelerated in 2007. CSC now relies on help desks in Canada (Montreal), India (Noida), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Spain (Asturias) and the newly added help desks in the Czech Republic (Prague) and Lithuania (Vilnius).

• The newly expanded role of global account relationship managers is expected to improve performance in key areas, such as service assurance, and importantly, they expect continuous improvement.
• Areas for improvement include more effectively managing user profiles, proactivity in promoting new solutions (for example, self-help), innovation in general, and managing service-level targets and definitions overtime.
• While the rapid enhancement on global delivery is sound, CSC must continue to focus on aligning local teams to global processes and procedures to deliver a seamless customer experience.

• EDS's presence in the Leaders quadrant is underpinned by its penetration of the European market (with a positive win rate in 2007), and by a focus on key themes, such as standardization (with a drive to move business toward standard SLAs). EDS also plans to expand the portion of price-per-seat contracts, with an emphasis on quality of services rather than volume of incidents.
• In execution, clients praised EDS for its flexibility and speed of response, focus on quality assurance, SLA performance and end-users satisfaction and positive ITIL expertise.
• EDS's global-delivery capabilities serving the Western European market include help desk sites in Hungary (Budapest and Miskolc), Italy (Bari), South Africa (Johannesburg), Spain (Barcelona) and Argentina (Cordoba).

• EDS’s aim at delivering and pricing help desk services “by quality” must be supported by an increased focus on innovative solutions based on proactivity to prevent incidents, a focus on self-help solutions, automated tools and the required client change management.
• Areas for improvement include proactively driving innovation and continuous improvement, keeping the end user informed of the incident status, and fine-tuning the transition of knowledge.

• Fujitsu remains focused on expanding its presence in continental Europe by organic growth, outsourcing and acquisition.
• Internal, long-lasting initiatives, such as Triole and Sense and Respond, are supporting its growth in help desk outsourcing business while improving agents' productivity and addressing key trends, such as proactivity, automation and quality improvement (call reduction).
• In execution, clients praised Fujitsu's performance against SLAs, its end-user orientation and flexibility. These are supported by solid technical knowledge.

• Despite some improvements in terms of help desk services delivered from low-cost locations (primarily Lisbon, Portugal and Johannesburg, South Africa), Fujitsu remains behind in terms of global-delivery capabilities of multilingual, multiclient help desk services for the Western European market.
• Fujitsu's ability to leverage Sense and Respond outside of key accounts has not yet reached its full potential, especially in those established deals that do not include a Six-Sigma/lean approach.
• Areas for improvement include knowledge management and agents’ transition, redefinition and reporting of SLAs, innovation and deploying ITIL processes to a wider customer base.

• Getronics reputation for delivering desktop environment and help desk services (Future-Ready Workspace) remains strong. The company's vision is underpinned by a focus on standardization, global delivery and proactivity (empowering the agents to increase first-call resolution).
• In execution, clients praised Getronics for quality assurance, transition management, first-call resolution, professionalism and the service orientation of its agents.
• As part of a network of global-delivery hubs serving the Western European help desk outsourcing service market, Getronics' main capabilities are located in Budapest, Hungary.

• While keeping the contractual relationship with clients, Getronics continued the dismissal of key country operations in Europe (Spain and Portugal to Tecnocom Telecom). If its largely untested sales model based on partner relationships fails to deliver, Getronics' continued dismissal of country operations in Europe could leave it with no option but to target a leadership role in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) market.
• Areas for improvement include communication in incident management, agent retraining (and in some cases retention), proactively driving continuous improvement and deploying ITIL processes to a wider customer base.

• HP's continued focus on automation, IT support for mobility, standardization and global-delivery enhancement allows HP to remain positioned in the Leaders quadrant.
• In execution, clients commended HP for the motivation and professionalism of its agents, its focus on ITIL process expertise, its focus on quality assurance and its flexible attitude in managing client relationships.
• HP's comprehensive presence in the European market is reinforced by global-delivery capabilities for help desk in Bulgaria (Sofia), the Czech Republic (Prague), Ireland (Dublin), Slovakia (Bratislava), Spain (Barcelona and San Cugat), and Tunisia (Tunis).

• HP maintains a relatively small business in this service line in Europe. This indicates limited synergy between product and services and unrealized potential of its industrialized offerings.
• Areas for improvement include strengthening problem management, improving SLA reporting, driving proactive innovation, and continuous improvement and training of new agents.

• IBM remains by far the largest help desk outsourcer in the European market. IBM’s vision focuses on standardization of service delivery and offerings, increased automation and problem reduction.
• In execution, IBM's clients confirm its reputation for deep technical excellence and service attitude, which drives solid performance to the SLAs. Clients also praised IBM’s process discipline with a renewed focus on ITIL and end-user satisfaction.
• IBM has continued to focus on global delivery and has successfully transitioned a consistent part of its help desk outsourcing business to this model. IBM's help desk global-delivery capabilities serving Western European clients include facilities in the Czech Republic (Brno), India (Bangalore), Ireland (Dublin) and South Africa (Johannesburg).

• The ongoing transition to integrated delivery centers and a global delivery model will continue to require a great focus on process and service homogeneity and operating excellence. This approach is likely to challenge IBM in terms of balancing flexibility with discipline to maintain a positive customer satisfaction.
• Areas for improvement include a perception of inflexibility, lack of innovation and continuous improvement, and some challenges around the help desk tooling (interface and usability).

• Logica is an emerging Pan-European outsourcing provider with a heritage on application services and an increasing focus on infrastructure outsourcing. Logica considers the help desk as a key platform to optimize end-to-end service delivery.
• Logica’s portfolio of services, its Pan-European presence and its size makes it attractive for European midsize-to-large organizations that, while focused on one country, need operational support in more European geographies.
• In execution, clients reported positive feedback in terms of relationship management, incident management and ITIL orientation. Its focus on quality assurance generally drives positive customer satisfaction.

• Logica’s limited global-delivery capabilities serving the Western European help desk outsourcing market are located in Lisbon, Portugal, and Bangalore, India.
• Logica is consolidating and standardizing toward virtualized help desk services after a period of inorganic growth. As such, customers should therefore evaluate Logica’s ability to balance standardized services with local/client-specific requirements across different countries.
• Areas for improvement include the ability to manage knowledge transition, keeping the end users effectively informed as incidents are managed, a dependence on people for process solidity and lack of proactivity in driving innovation.

• SIS maintains a strong foothold in Germany and in global voice services. Its reorganization and delivery consolidation has succeeded in assuring its stability in the market and clarifying its go-to-market strategy.
• In execution, clients reported a positive feedback around responsiveness, technical capability, performance and flexibility of service-level management.
• SIS’s low-cost delivery locations include help desk facilities in Ireland (Cork) and, although heavily reduced, in Turkey (Istanbul). An additional location is planned in the Baltic region.

• SIS’s alignment to Siemens’ business lines and its leverage on key vertical segments/accounts is likely to consolidate its market position. However, an integrated solution, go-to market model will need time to gain market traction. As such, it is not likely to quickly improve SIS’ penetration in Europe, which remains uneven.
• Areas for improvement include working toward deployment of standardized services, knowledge management, speed of communication and resolution, and becoming more innovative.
• SIS's plans to drive the SieQuence offering in Europe have not matched early success in the U.S. Help desk services are at the foundation of the SieQuence methodology for continuous improvement. However, this requires an enhanced focus on migrating new and established business to a “pay per quality” (for example, price per user per month), rather than per-incident/volume mechanism.

• T-Systems has a major foothold in Germany in automotive (achieved through Gedas), and strong expertise and capabilities in telecommunications and voice services. T-Systems' focus on offering nearshore options and enhanced standardization is sound.
• T-Systems is still recognized for its strong technical capability and the positive attitude of its agents, which normally drive positive levels of first-call resolution.
• T-Systems' global-delivery network serving the Western European market includes help desk facilities in France (Toulouse), Hungary (Budapest) and Spain (Barcelona and Madrid).

• T-Systems' current expansion in the Pan-European market has not been sufficient to withstand the negative growth experienced within the captive client base and German market.
• Following large German accounts in their international expansion around the world affects delivery because these clients want service providers to accept customer-defined architecture and service delivery processes. This will continue to limit the extent of service standardization and requires careful management of staff costs to deliver profitability.
• Gartner clients' interaction confirms that areas for improvement include driving innovation, managing change and proposals in a timely way, and improving ITIL focus while reducing reliance on key people to guarantee process solidity and flexibility in managing the relationship. T-Systems has not submitted any new references in 2008.

• TechTeam maintains a focus on CRM and help desk services. Ideally, it targets midsize to large enterprises operating in at least five countries by leveraging on global delivery and proactivity. TechTeam's ambition is to use the help desk to solidly underpin key business processes and deliver operational (today) and business benefits in the future via business management services.
• In execution, clients reported strength in ITIL orientation, the quality and variety of language skills, relationship management, and a generally positive level of customer satisfaction.
• TechTeam's global-delivery capabilities serving the Western European help desk outsourcing market are located in Poland (Krakow) and Romania (Bucharest and Sibiu).

• TechTeam maintains a limited penetration of the European market. Future growth coming through volume selling (standardized offerings and telco partnership) and through value selling at the business process level may be hampered by limited resources with account management and vertical-market expertise.
• Areas for improvement include reducing the effects of agent turnover, showing proactivity to drive innovation outside of key accounts, focusing on the specific needs of different customers’ profiles and managing escalation consistently.

• TietoEnator is a leading provider in the Scandinavian market, with a solid reputation and focus on customer intimacy and industry specialization. TietoEnator's geographical strategy is based on specialized solutions for selected industry: telecom, forest, oil and gas.
• TietoEnator focuses on key help desk themes, such as proactivity, improved customer experience and end-user support of innovative collaboration tools.
• In execution, clients reported strength in terms of services attitude, knowledge of the customer pressure points beyond IT, flexibility and quality assurance.

• TietoEnator has a limited penetration of the Western European market and a limited scale in terms of help desk outsourcing capabilities. To implement its international strategy, it will need to balance customer intimacy with the delivery of consolidated, standardized and industrialized service offerings.
• TietoEnator’s global-delivery capabilities serving the Western European help desk outsourcing market are limited and are mainly located in Ostrava, the Czech Republic.
• Areas for improvement include managing incidents that involve subcontractors, keeping the end users informed in terms of incident management, and a lack of innovation and retraining as part of turnover management.

• Unisys' commercial strategy focus on midsize Europe-headquartered multinational clients and prospects represents a positive growth strategy that matches Unisys' ability in maturing product support deals into services relationships. Its position is underpinned by new wins, a small number of relatively large help desks and a focus on global, standardized processes.
• In execution, clients reported positive feedback in terms of ITIL and process orientation, the agents' technical knowledge and relationship management.

• Unisys' approach to a Pan-European services strategy to improve commercial Western European market penetration is sound, but its limited size and reliance on the installed base are likely to limit the speed and scale of growth in Europe.
• Areas for improvement include agent attrition and retraining, proactivity in innovation and a focus on customer satisfaction monitoring.
• Although not yet in line with key market players, Unisys' global-delivery capabilities based in Budapest, Hungary, have improved. Its current capabilities include Bangalore, India, while its locations in South America offer further leverage potential to support European operations in the future.