Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Genpact, the largest pure play business process services (BPS) provider, is continuing its acquisitive spree, following the $550m takeover of Headstrong earlier this year (see Genpact completes Headstrong deal, buys again), this time buying US-based social networking researcher EmPower Research. Although terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, EmPower will bring on board some 360 people based out of offices in New York, Bangalore, Cincinnati, New Jersey, San Francisco, and London. It provides social and traditional media monitoring and measurement, event impact research, brand tracking, and data management, and has clients in the pharmaceutical, PR, technology, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) sectors. Genpact expects there to be particular opportunities cross-selling its broader set of capabilities services into the pharmaceutical and CPG sectors.
EmPower will become part of Genpact’s Smart Decision Services (SDS) analytics, research, engineering and risk management business, which it has been building up through acquisition. The SDS service really grew in scale in February 2010 (see here) when Genpact acquired Symphony Marketing Solutions, which added 1,200 people in sales and marketing analytics services. With EmPower, SDS will now have close to 4,000 employees.
EmPower will give Genpact scale in social media monitoring, which is a hot area for BPS providers right now. It offers various toolkits to keep track of social media activity, such as 'brand tracker' frameworks to monitor pharma, CPG and corporate equity and reputation, and event impact analysis, as well as monitor key opinion leaders in the pharma sector, and a 'media measurement dashboard' to assess the effectiveness of PR.
BPS players increasingly have to respond to client demands for service outcomes, rather than more out-dated transactional type relationships. So playing a more strategic role in service delivery is increasingly important. Social media monitoring provides a way for BPS providers to help their clients understand their own customers better, and seek ways of engaging with, informing and even influencing new target groups. For example, another BPS player we spoke to recently, which is also actively engaged in social media monitoring, is able to respond directly to messages on Facebook or Twitter referencing poor customer service, by offering credits or other incentives to help change the perception of that company. This should in theory also help the supplier become 'stickier' with its client. We therefore expect this to become an increasingly valuable service for BPS providers over the next few years.
