SSON announce 2010 North American Shared Services Excellence Awards winners

March 26, 2010, Orlando - The 2010 North American Shared Services Excellence Awards, presented at the 14th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week in Orlando, honour, recognize and promote both captive and outsourced shared services that demonstrate outstanding practices and leadership.

Announced during a gala dinner hosted by Donald Trump’s "Apprentice" winner Bill Rancic, these awards form part of what has become the key shared services & outsourcing event for the US East Coast -- Shared Services & Outsourcing Week, now in its 14th year. The five-day event was held in Orlando Florida from March 22 to March 25, 2010.

Awards submissions are accepted online up to January, and are evaluated by a panel recruited for its industry experience and expertise. This year’s judging panel included Lee Coulter, formerly SVP & Global Shared Services of Krafts Foods; Craig Ackerman, Director Process Improvements of SAIC; Richard Rowan, Director Global Shared Services, TRW; Karen Huwyler, VP Financial Shared Services, Schering Plough and Sreekanth K, SVP Global HR Shared Services, CA.

"We are delighted to be able to count on such an experienced panel of judges for these awards," commented Naomi Secor of SSON, conference producer. "Each judge has made a terrific commitment to the awards. Shortlisted entrants were interviewed for an hour on the phone, to give the judges the proper insights necessary to make their decisions."

In announcing the winners, the judges commented on the exceedingly high quality of entrants, this year. A winner and runner-up was announced for each of the five categories except for Thought Leader, where only one winner was announced."These awards really highlight leading practices in today’s corporations," said Craig Ackerman. "I am delighted to be affiliated with them."

Awards were as follows:

Best New Captive Services Delivery

Winner: The Charmer Sunbelt Group
Judges comments: This group stood out by the results it achieved. Having started as a purely F&A-oriented services, its mandate was quickly rolled out to an increased scope. What really stood out was its use technology.

Runner Up: Northrop Grumman

Best New Outsourced Services Delivery

Winner: McClatchy/Infosys
Judges comments: The challenge to this group lay in the fact that its business units are widely dispersed and very independent. Added to this are the challenges presented to the newspaper industry at large. A truly great partnership with impressive results. Infosys is pioneering the "newspaper in a box."

Runner Up: Procter & Gamble/Infosys

Best Mature Captive Services Delivery

Winner: HP Guadalajara
Judges comments: HP’s services center in Guadalajara. Voted "second best employer in its industry in the country," this services center has taken customer service to a different level altogether, achieving 4.3 out of 5 marks. Center staff speak not only with its BU clients but also with HP’s end-users. Its talent base is highly educated, with 93% of its staff having a BA or a masters degree. And perhaps most impressive: the center has realized that what truly counts for its customers is a measure of "yield" impact in the client's process.

Runner Up: McCormick

Best Mature Outsourced Services Delivery

Winner: Accenture/Microsoft
Judges comments: Outsourcing is tough to do well, but it is really difficult to do phenomenally. For an example of a services provider that not only passed the test but "aced" it - look no further than the close relationship between Accenture and Microsoft. Their services delivery collaboration is now in its fourth year and spans the globe, touching almost 100 countries; covers multiple processes; and is based on a clear vision. The results - the teams have managed to achieve serve as a benchmark to all the rest of the players in the industry.

Runner Up: McAfee/Sutherland Global Services

Contribution to Industry Thought Leader

Winner: Paul Bartley, Director Program Support Services, Department of Health & Human Services
Judges comments: What Paul has achieved would be impressive in any scenario. But to achieve so much within a Federal Government Agency makes his results all the more awe-inspiring. Paul leads with a clear mandate for growth, his team of delivery agents provide a host of services that anyone resident in the US depends on, he has bravely incorporated best practices from the private sector in a heavily regulated government environment, and he has made measurement of value through metrics a cornerstone of his center. Additionally, Paul recognizes the value of the shared services model and is pushing to share its benefits across the wider Federal Government customer base -- at present, over 50% of the center’s customers are already outside the Department of Health & Human Services. He is truly a leader in our field.

For more information call Barbara Hodge (1) 904 824 3631