The Forrester Wave™: B2B Global - Publicis.Sapient · For eBusiness & Channel strategy ProFessionals the Forrester Wave™: B2B global Commerce service Providers, Q1 2015 2 2015,

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The Forrester Wave™: B2B Global Commerce Service Providers, Q1 2015by Andy Hoar and Adam Silverman, February 9, 2015

For: eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Key TaKeaways

Companies are asking Global Commerce service Providers To expand servicesDigital is radically transforming businesses, and today’s companies are increasingly relying on GCSP partners to keep them current. eBusiness professionals are looking to GCSPs to expand beyond technical services into change management and eCommerce organizational design.

eleven Global Commerce services Providers stood Out as The Best In The spaceForrester identified 11 vendors that scored as either Leaders or Strong Performers. They included: Accenture Digital, Cognizant, Deloitte Digital, EPAM Systems, HCL Technologies, IBM Global Business Services, Infosys, Razorfish Global, SapientNitro, Tata Consulting Services (TCS), and Wipro.

Leaders Integrate Omnichannel and Digital Transformation with TechnologyAccenture Digital, Deloitte Digital, and SapientNitro lead for overall B2B eCommerce vision. They combine strong digital commerce strategies and significant technology implementation with proven execution experience.

access The wave Model For Deeper InsightUse the detailed Forrester Wave model to view every piece of data used to score participating vendors and create a custom vendor shortlist. Access the report online and download the Excel tool using the link in the right-hand column under “Tools & Templates.” Alter Forrester’s weightings to tailor the Forrester Wave model to your specifications.

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© 2015, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please email [email protected]. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com.

For eBusiness & Channel strategy ProFessionals

why ReaD ThIs RePORT

In Forrester’s 77-criteria evaluation of the top 12 global commerce service providers (GCSPs), we found that Accenture Digital, Deloitte Digital, and SapientNitro lead the pack with their integrated customer-facing and technology integration services. Razorfish Global, IBM Global Business Services, EPAM Systems, HCL Technologies, Cognizant, Tata Consulting Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro are strong providers in the space and offer differentiated capabilities and capacities. The purpose of this report is to help eBusiness and channel strategy professionals choose best-fit development and design partners to help them accelerate digital transformation both inside and outside of their companies.

table of Contents

Today’s GCsPs Must Create experiences, Not Just Technology solutions

Companies insist that gCsPs take a More Comprehensive approach

gCsPs are Being asked to Broaden their service offerings

Global Commerce service Providers evaluation Overview

Firms represented in our evaluation have a range of Backgrounds

how Criteria are organized

evaluated GCsPs stand Out as The Best In The space

Commerce service Providers evaluation

other Vendors Worthy of Consideration

Vendor Profiles

supplemental Material

notes & resources

Forrester conducted executive briefings in october and november 2014.

related research Documents

Commerce service Providers Market overview: Changing Market Dynamics Drive new strategies and alignmentsseptember 4, 2014

Market overview: Digital experience service ProvidersFebruary 26, 2013

the Forrester Wave™: global Commerce service Providers, Q1 2012February 24, 2012

The Forrester wave™: B2B Global Commerce service Providers, Q1 2015accenture Digital, Deloitte Digital, and sapientnitro lead, With several Key Players trailing Closely Behindby andy hoar and adam silvermanwith Zia Daniell Wigder, Peter sheldon, and laura naparstek

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the Forrester Wave™: B2B global Commerce service Providers, Q1 2015 2

© 2015, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 9, 2015

TODay’s GCsPs MusT CReaTe exPeRIeNCes, NOT JusT TeChNOLOGy sOLuTIONs

Today’s successful eBusiness professional realizes that when it comes to planning and operationalizing for modern commerce, it takes a village. The omnichannel world is simply too complex and fast-moving for companies to remain competitive on their own as they attempt to compete with omnichannel players, large Internet-only pure plays, and niche online sites.

They need partners that can handle the functions they increasingly require to outsource, such as IT development, usability, and even some elements of marketing (see Figure 1). In addition, they need partners that can offer an integrated view of their business — from understanding customer behavior to creating and meeting cross-channel business objectives to selecting and implementing modern technology infrastructure.

In short, they need global commerce service providers (GCSPs). GCSPs are firms that have deep roots in — and in many cases grew up as — technology services firms, digital and interactive agencies, and management and business consulting firms. However, these firms have evolved well beyond their original business models in recent years. These are companies that are now large, vertically integrated organizations that offer a breadth and depth of front-office and back-office services — all in the name of driving an end-to-end world-class customer experience. Forrester’s research indicates that eBusiness professionals expect to increase their spending with these firms in the next 12 months (see Figure 2).

Figure 1 Most Firms Rely On Technology Outsourcing

Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited.116073

“Do you outsource any of the following functions?”

Base: 52 eBusiness and channel strategy professionals(multiple responses accepted)

Source: Forrester’s Q3 2014 Global eBusiness And Channel Strategy Professional Online Survey

IT/development/infrastructure 69%

Usability/customer experience/creative 31%

Marketing 23%

Project management 17%

Business analysis/analytics 15%

Customer service 15%

Merchandising 12%

Operations 10%

Product management 6%

Other 8%




Figure 2 Decision-Makers Expect To Increase Spending With Global Commerce Service Providers


“How do you expect your business unit or IT department’s spending with third-partybusiness/management consultants, digital agencies, or technology

services providers to change over the next 12 months?”

Base: 1,532 global business and technology services decision-makers

Source: Forrester’s Business Technographics® Global Business And Technology Services Survey, 2014

Decrease 5% or more About the same Increase 5% to 10% Increase 10% or more

Management/businessconsultants

9%

47%

27%

10%

Digital/interactiveagencies

7%

37%32%

15%

Technology services�rms

6%

35%36%

18%

Companies Insist That GCsPs Take a More Comprehensive approach

As we wrote in recent research, digital is radically transforming businesses, and today’s companies need GCSP partners in order to keep up.1 eBusiness and channel strategy professionals are increasingly relying on GCSPs to bridge gaps in digital domain expertise and technology savvy (see Figure 3). They also have high and very specific expectations regarding the qualities they look for when selecting a GCSP (see Figure 4). In addition, companies are looking to GCSPs for support in establishing digital-first internal processes and in structuring eCommerce organizations. GCSPs are helping B2B companies face a variety of new challenges including but not limited to:

■ Reacting to customers’ omnichannel demands. Increasingly, B2B customers are demanding real-time visibility into both pricing and inventory. Such demands are forcing companies to upgrade enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that house such information, as well as order management systems that manage SKUs across several channels — in some cases across multiple geographies, languages, and currencies.2 In addition, B2B customers are making exponentially greater use of smartphones and tablets to research and buy products and services. As such, clients are asking GCSPs to develop technology platforms to support mobile assets as quickly as possible.




■ Integrating disparate systems. Many companies simply do not possess the expertise in-house to integrate their internal systems. In many cases they’re dealing with difficult legacy systems (especially on the back end) — and will continue to deal with legacy and custom-built systems for some time to come. In fact, nearly one-quarter of companies report they still use homegrown eCommerce systems.3 Unlike newer systems that often come with APIs and connectors included, older systems take a less efficient approach that usually involves building interfaces. Increasingly, B2B companies are bringing in GCSPs to help them do that work.

■ Realigning organizations and business processes. As companies become more digital, eBusiness and channel strategy professionals are turning to their GCSP partners to help them evolve both their staffing and their organizational structures. More mature eCommerce companies have found that becoming truly digital has necessitated initiating significant process changes and organizational realignments. Companies we interviewed report that they’re elevating eCommerce directors to senior marketing positions such as CMO and transitioning technology budgets out of IT and over to “digital or eCommerce” leadership.

■ Developing new deployment and payment models. Companies today are increasingly looking to GCSPs for guidance regarding hosted and managed solutions in order to accelerate their eCommerce operations. With many companies moving eCommerce operations into the cloud and expecting to pay on a monthly subscription basis from operation expenditure (OpEx) budgets, eBusiness professionals are increasingly asking GCSPs for performance-based contracts as opposed to a more conventional time-and-materials approach.

■ Serving multiple channels and partner models. GCSPs are increasingly being asked to help B2B companies develop channel-specific strategies that enable clients to both acquire new customers and retain existing ones. For manufacturers in particular, selling online necessarily involves navigating a complex and delicate web of direct and indirect selling channels. Selling simultaneously in several competing and complementary channels raises a variety of questions regarding challenging and complicated inventory, pricing, and sales attribution issues.




Figure 3 Companies Engage With GCSPs On A Variety Of Projects


“For which of the following have you previously (in the past 24 months) employed theservices of a systems integration �rm or digital agency?”

Base: 85 eBusiness and channel strategy professionals(multiple responses accepted)

Source: Forrester’s Q1 2014 Global eBusiness And Channel Strategy Professional Online Survey

Global market expansion consulting 52%

System/channel integration 51%

eBusiness technology selection support 49%

Quality assurance (QA) 46%

Post-implementation applicationdevelopment (enhancements)

44%

Site optimization services 43%

Platform and eBusiness technology upgrades 43%

Requirements development 41%

Channel strategy consulting 41%

Post-implementation application support 38%

System design and architecture 38%

Platform and eBusiness technologyhosting and maintenance

35%

eBusiness customer experience 34%

Development and technical implementation 33%

Program and project management 31%




Figure 4 Criteria That Matter When Selecting A GCSP


Base: 1,058 North American and European IT services decision-makers (1,000+ employees)*Base: 1,050 North American and European IT services decision-makers (1,000+ employees)

Source: Forrester’s Forrsights Services Survey, Q3 2013 and Q2 2012

“How important are the following criteria to your �rm when selecting IT service providers?”(4 or 5 on a scale from 1 [not at all important] to 5 [very important])

The ability toprovision

standard off-the-shelfand less

customizedofferings

46%

61%

2012

The ability toprovide prebuiltor partially builtsolutions that

reduce thecost ortime to

implement

54%

66%

Expertisein new

technologieslike as-a-service,

mobile, andbig dataanalytics

48%

67%

Knowledge orexperience

with my �rm’sindustry

or businessvertical

66%

75%

Price orcost

savings

81%82%

2013*

GCsPs are Being asked To Broaden Their service Offerings

B2B eCommerce professionals are increasingly asking GCSPs to offer more than just conventional services. They’re asking GCSPs today to:

■ Perform talent acquisition and organizational design planning. Forrester’s research shows that companies are most challenged in hiring technology and customer experience professionals.4 The problem is especially acute for B2B companies. In response, many GCSPs are now building organizational planning and talent acquisition into their digital design plans from the start. Some GCSPs are even offering their own version of temporary outsourcing services to companies (e.g., interim VPs of eCommerce) to help clients set up an initial digital operation.




■ Offer eCommerce infrastructure and operations services. As a growing number of B2B companies look to lower the total cost of ownership associated with commerce services, GCSPs are being asked to advise on—and build within—new cloud-based environments such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Salesforce.5 As a result, GCSPs have been thrust into new roles: Many must now perform advanced automated site testing, offer performance management services, and conduct extensive security testing. Consequently, GCSPs are responding to increasing demand from B2B companies for new models to reduce the initial cost of entry into the digital space and speed time-to-market for commerce investments.6

■ Provide channel optimization and growth strategy consulting. Multichannel retailers and B2B distributors, as well as brand manufacturers selling direct to customers, are struggling to overcome complex channel management issues. They’re seeing competition not just from other multichannel retailers and B2B distributors but also from pure plays and consumer websites. Such challenges have forced GCSPs, in their capacity as trusted advisors, to augment their knowledge of both channel optimization and business growth strategy. In addition, GCSPs are now developing expertise in product pricing and inventory management strategies, cross-channel analytics and attribution, and selling through social media and peer networks.

GLOBaL COMMeRCe seRVICe PROVIDeRs eVaLuaTION OVeRVIew

To assess how well these global commerce service providers meet the evolving needs of our clients and to determine how the vendors stack up against each other, Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of top global commerce service providers regarding strategy, customer experience design, technology, and managed services capabilities (see Figure 5). The firms included in the evaluation all have capabilities across the spectrum of services that vary according to their history as service providers.




Figure 5 Commerce Service Providers Operate At The Intersection Of Three Distinct Skill Sets


Commerce serviceproviders

Managementconsulting

�rms

Interactivedigital

agencies

Technologyservice�rms

Firms Represented In Our evaluation have a Range Of Backgrounds

In this evaluation, Forrester focused on the leading vendors that have proven experience delivering successful omnichannel commerce projects. The vendors we evaluated offered similar types of services, the intersection of which constitutes a modern full-service GCSP. The types of firms that typically produce full-service GCSPs include (see Figure 6):

■ Firms with a management consulting background. This evaluation includes three firms steeped in a background as multinational management consultancy firms: Accenture Digital, Deloitte Digital, and IBM Global Business Services. They are aligned with world-leading consulting operations that have industry and domain-specific experience that’s particularly valuable in a B2B setting. Both of these firms have significant experience delivering a range of consulting services to digital businesses.

■ Firms with an interactive digital agency background. The evaluation includes two firms with backgrounds as interactive digital agencies: Razorfish Global and SapientNitro. Both of these firms have been acquiring new capabilities to fill historical gaps in services and now have solid capabilities to implement, integrate, and support commerce technology programs as well as digital experiences.




■ Firms with a technology services background. The evaluation includes six firms with extensive experience as systems integrators: Cognizant, EPAM, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro. All of these firms have recently advanced their capabilities in digital business strategy and design as a complement to their historical systems integration competencies, though to varying degrees. Many have also expanded existing technology innovation capacity into the realm of customer experience and design.

Figure 6 Evaluated Vendors: Vendor Information And Selection Criteria

Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited.

Vendor

Accenture Digital

Cognizant

Deloitte Digital

EPAM Systems

HCL Technologies

IBM Global Business Services

Infosys

Razor�sh Global

SapientNitro

Tata Consultancy Services

Wipro

Vendor selection criteria

Date evaluated

October 2014

November 2014

October 2014

October 2014

November 2014

October 2014

November 2014

October 2014

November 2014

November 2014

October 2014

The vendors had a dedicated commerce service practice with at least three years’ experience implementingcomplex B2B omnichannel commerce projects at the time of data collection.

Vendors included in this evaluation had at least 200 full-time employees dedicated to sales, support,training, and consulting services for omnichannel commerce.

The vendors had proven implementation expertise around at least two eCommerce platforms for largeenterprises, divisions within large enterprises, and/or midmarket companies and were able to demonstrateclient experience integrating enterprise platforms including CRM, OMS, PIM, and CMS.

The vendors demonstrated an ability to deliver B2B omnichannel commerce projects and forenterprise-class organizations across a diverse set of industry verticals and global markets.

The vendors demonstrated experience in guiding clients through omnichannel B2B commerce projects anddelivering business intelligence and customer insights. Vendors included had a proven portfolio ofdelivering CX, implementation, and strategic services or large market-leading system integration withan emerging strategy practice.

Vendors included in this evaluation reported revenues above $25 million and have signi�cant mindshareamong Forrester’s client base.




how Criteria are Organized

After examining past research, user needs assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we developed a comprehensive evaluation methodology. We developed 77 key criteria that we grouped into the following three high-level buckets:

■ Current offering. Forrester’s criteria to assess the strength of the vendors’ current offerings were weighted fairly evenly among expertise in commerce technology solutions, customer engagement and omnichannel strategy, and implementation and managed services. Historically, eBusiness leaders have generally engaged GCSPs to implement and integrate commerce technologies such as commerce platforms, order management platforms, content management platforms, and a wide range of point solutions. However, eBusiness professionals have recently started asking GCSPs to provide a broader set of services inclusive of training and cloud-based services. We evaluated each vendor against the following: omnichannel and commerce strategy, customer engagement and experience services, implementation services, managed services, hosting support, and solution expertise.

■ Strategy. We examined each vendor’s strategy for evolving its capabilities to meet the changing needs of clients, its vision for business transformation, and its plans for supporting its clients’ needs across industries and emerging platforms such as mobile. In addition, we looked at each vendor’s set of commerce accelerators as well as its ability to create innovative commerce solutions on behalf of its clients.

■ Market presence. eBusiness and technology leaders must look for service providers with a strong and stable customer base, steady growth, and a network of partners. To determine current market presence for our evaluation, we combined information about each vendor’s current customer base, recent sales momentum, revenues, relative size of each vendor’s commerce practice, and the financial resources to which it has access to support its strategy and growth.

eVaLuaTeD GCsPs sTaND OuT as The BesT IN The sPaCe

Forrester evaluated 11 service providers in this assessment: Accenture Digital, Cognizant, Deloitte Digital, EPAM Systems, HCL Technologies, IBM Global Business Services (GBS), Infosys, Razorfish Global, SapientNitro, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro. While we considered a wide range of services firms for this assessment, each of these firms has distinguished itself by having:

■ A significant focus on commerce solutions. Although many of the firms we evaluated have significant business across a range of solutions, each of these firms has made a significant commitment to serving clients with B2B eCommerce and omnichannel commerce programs.

■ The ability to support large and complex clients across multiple verticals. Each of these firms has a stable of clients that represent complex and mature omnichannel businesses in need of enterprise-class digital business strategy and commerce technology solutions. These




clients cross verticals including retail, travel, consumer products, manufacturing, media and entertainment, and telecommunications. Evaluated firms can also support clients across the key markets of North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Forrester defines enterprise-class as serving companies with more than $1 billion in total sales, or generating total eCommerce transactions of more than $100 million annually.

■ A profitable or stable business with client momentum. To ensure that the vendors we evaluated will remain viable in this evolving market, Forrester limited its analysis to firms that have the resources and momentum to sustain themselves through variable market conditions. Each of these firms has experience in implementing and supporting digital business transformation programs and has shown growth in its commerce services practice.

Forrester did not include dedicated commerce technology vendors in this assessment. We have written separate research on commerce platforms and related technology providers such as vendors of product information management solutions (PIM), content management systems (CMS), and order management systems (OMS).7 Many of these firms provide commerce services around their specific solutions.

COMMeRCe seRVICe PROVIDeRs eVaLuaTION

The global commerce service providers (GCSPs) we evaluated fell into fairly distinct groups based on a combination of strength of B2B commerce strategy, technical competency, and geographical and vertical footprint. We grouped the evaluated GCSPs into three tiers in which (see Figure 7):

■ Accenture Digital, Deloitte Digital, and SapientNitro lead for overall B2B eCommerce vision. These firms represent the emerging definition of a world-class B2B global commerce service provider. They possess a “sum equals more than its parts” combination of strong digital commerce strategies and significant technology implementation and execution experience. To varying degrees, vendors in this category also possess demonstrably large and concentrated global and industry vertical footprints. While no firms evaluated demonstrated mature digital transformation practices, these firms offer a differentiated approach across the aggregate of both front-office and back-office services to drive omnichannel commerce engagement. We expect these vendors to continue to evolve their digital transformation practices and advance within the Leaders category in subsequent GCSP Forrester Wave™ evaluations — especially as they embed themselves deeper into their client supply chains, business ecosystems, and cross-channel customer experiences.

■ Razorfish Global, IBM GBS, EPAM, HCL, Cognizant, and TCS are closing the gap. These vendors possess growing digital strategy practices that are in many cases quickly catching up with their more established and robust technical implementation and hosted services practices. Each of these firms has maturing digital strategy and omnichannel practices that are, to varying degrees, closing the gap with vendors in the Leaders category. In addition, a few of these




vendors lack a global footprint or concentration within specific industry verticals and will need to bolster those assets in order to compete with Leaders in future evaluations. However, these Strong Performers have an opportunity to break through in the next few years and challenge Leader GCSPs by doing B2B digital transformation work that goes beyond either mostly technology transformation or customer experience work.

■ Infosys and Wipro are strong technically but need to mature digital commerce practices. Infosys and Wipro represent large, experienced systems integrators and outsourced IT services providers. Although these Strong Performers are making progress toward offering fully integrated solution services on par with the other GCSPs evaluated, they fall slightly behind a cluster of higher-achieving Strong Performers. Both Infosys and Wipro offer industry-leading capabilities, in particular around technical competencies, but are still maturing their commerce strategy and omnichannel engagement capabilities.

As with all Forrester Waves, the formal Forrester evaluation process is designed to present an informed and standardized perspective on the GCSP space. We encourage readers, in particular practitioners, to customize the scores and weightings available in the attached Excel-based vendor comparison tool spreadsheet to fit their individual needs. GCSPs possess strengths and weaknesses by strategic focus, technology platform, industry, and geographic region.




Figure 7 Forrester Wave ™: B2B Global Commerce Service Providers, Q1 ’15


RiskyBets Contenders Leaders

StrongPerformers

StrategyWeak Strong

Currentoffering

Weak

Strong

Go to Forrester.com to

download the Forrester

Wave tool for more

detailed product

evaluations, feature

comparisons, and

customizable rankings.

Market presence

Full vendor participation

Accenture Digital

Cognizant

Deloitte Digital

EPAM SystemsHCL Technologies

IBM Global Business Services

InfosysRazor�sh Global

SapientNitro

Tata Consultancy ServicesWipro




Figure 7 Forrester Wave ™: B2B Global Commerce Service Providers, Q1 ’15 (Cont.)


CURRENT OFFERING Background information Omnichannel strategy and commerce process consulting Customer engagement and experience services Implementation services Managed services Hosting support Solution expertise

STRATEGY Corporate strategy Industry strategy eCommerce focus (B2B specialties) Omnichannel commerce focus Digital business transformation Innovation and digital acceleration Mobile commerce focus Pricing structure Business process optimization

MARKET PRESENCE Clients Financials Global presence Vertical presence

Cog

niza

nt

3.310.003.25

2.80

3.903.203.203.35

3.253.003.004.00

3.003.003.00

3.002.004.00

2.581.403.154.702.20

Acc

entu

re D

igita

l3.820.003.65

3.50

4.053.953.804.05

3.654.004.004.00

4.003.003.00

4.004.003.00

4.515.004.555.003.20

Forr

este

r’sw

eigh

ting

50%0%

25%

20%

20%5%5%

25%

50%5%

10%25%

10%20%10%

10%5%5%

0%35%30%15%20%

Del

oitt

e D

igita

l

3.620.003.55

2.80

4.003.803.404.05

3.754.004.004.00

4.004.003.00

3.004.003.00

3.864.003.655.003.05

EP

AM

Sys

tem

s

3.350.002.80

2.50

4.404.353.803.45

3.353.003.004.00

3.003.003.00

4.002.004.00

2.491.752.903.502.40

HC

L Te

chno

logi

es

3.290.002.90

2.00

4.153.854.003.75

3.303.003.004.00

3.003.003.00

3.004.003.00

3.092.803.154.702.30

IBM

Glo

bal

Bus

ines

s S

ervi

ces

3.590.003.35

3.00

4.004.053.403.90

3.153.004.003.00

3.003.003.00

3.004.003.00

4.205.004.005.002.50

Info

sys

3.440.002.75

3.00

4.303.754.003.60

2.803.003.003.00

2.003.002.00

3.003.003.00

2.761.753.455.001.80

Raz

or�s

h G

lob

al

3.420.003.45

3.50

3.753.153.003.20

3.504.003.004.00

3.004.003.00

3.003.003.00

2.812.302.354.103.40

Sap

ient

Nitr

o

3.620.003.45

3.50

3.904.003.603.60

3.504.003.004.00

3.004.003.00

3.003.003.00

2.612.202.852.702.90

Tata

Con

sulta

ncy

Ser

vice

s

3.290.002.90

3.00

3.753.603.603.40

3.154.003.003.00

3.004.003.00

2.003.003.00

2.902.353.702.702.80

Wip

ro

2.960.002.75

2.00

3.703.553.003.20

3.102.004.004.00

2.003.002.00

3.003.003.00

2.621.753.304.801.50

All scores are based on a scale of 0 (weak) to 5 (strong).




Other Vendors worthy Of Consideration

The GCSP landscape is a diverse and evolving space. Beyond the evaluated vendors, the space includes several alternative vendors that offer digital agency services, systems integration, and business consulting. In the course of our research for the Forrester Wave, we discovered a few notable other vendors that filled niches and voids in the GCSP space. Our evaluation identified the following other vendors worthy of consideration:

■ DigitasLBi. DigitasLBi describes itself as a global “connected commerce” specialist with expertise in customer experience design, digital marketing, and integrating commerce technologies. With 6,700 employees in 26 countries, DigitasLBi casts a global footprint and offers services on a national and transnational basis. A GCSP with long-standing vendor and partner relationships, DigitasLBi is the largest digital agency within the Publicis Group and represents 10% of the group’s total revenue.

■ Capgemini. With more than 130,000 people in 40 countries, Capgemini is one of the world’s largest integrated consulting, technology, and outsourcing services firms. The company takes an industry-specific approach to client engagement and offers an integrated suite of digital services within several large industries including retail, financial services, utilities, and telecommunications. Capgemini’s sheer size, with reported 2013 global revenues of just over $12 billion, warrants its inclusion in this list.

■ Salmon. In business for over 25 years, UK-based Salmon is a well-rounded global commerce service provider with origins as a marketing agency. Although Salmon is a smaller organization than the firms that participated in this evaluation, the company is a subsidiary of the WPP Group, the world’s largest communications services firm. Operating as an independent entity within WPP has given Salmon the ability to retain its boutique feel while still having access to conglomerate-scale resources. Beginning in 2010, Salmon was engaged by UK-based B2B electronics distributor Premier Farnell to complete a sweeping eCommerce replatforming project and currently helps Premier Farnell maintain 46 websites on a global basis. Salmon’s range of services include customer experience, end-to-end architecture design, migration services, and robust testing and analytics capabilities.

■ Smith. A boutique firm that bills itself as “an independent digital experience agency grounded in technology,” Smith has a long history of doing digital agency and systems integration work in both the eCommerce and the content management systems (CMS) spaces. For several years, Smith enjoyed a deep relationship with commerceserver.net (now Sitecore Commerce) and in recent years has performed dozens of projects on dot net platforms, Magento platforms, and hybris platforms. Headquartered in Seattle and with several offices across North America, Smith performs GCSP-grade projects on a global basis and has done significant work for B2B clients such as Honeywell, Aramark, and Corning.




VeNDOR PROFILes

Leaders

■ Accenture Digital. Accenture Digital is a global footprint company that offers the full stack of services ranging from back-office expertise to front-end/customer-facing capabilities. With the acquisition of Acquity Group and a now-explicit focus on “digitalizing” the whole enterprise, Accenture Digital has carved out particularly strong offerings in commerce selection, data management, and strategy but is also solid across a broad range of functions. Accenture Digital is now actively investing in its innovation lab function, building out eCommerce accelerators and growing a promising analytics practice. The company has an especially large global client base and has carved out a relatively strong position in B2B. Clients of Accenture Digital indicate that the firm possess deep experience in the B2B space and is effective at managing project scope — even in the face of changing requirements and timelines and multiple tracks of work.

■ Deloitte Digital. Deloitte Digital is a good match for firms that seek to transform their digital business strategy and processes or modernize their commerce technology. It is often called upon by large organizations to help define and optimize enterprise fulfillment initiatives. The firm increasingly employs performance-based pricing models that align with its clients’ performance metrics. Products and accelerators allow clients to rapidly deploy leading digital experience and commerce technology. Deloitte Digital differentiates in B2B through a global presence and expertise in organizational transformation, enterprise fulfillment, omnichannel strategy, growth strategies, commerce process consulting, and commerce technology selection services. Clients we spoke to said Deloitte Digital is a trusted partner for both strategy and tactics at both the customer engagement and the technical implementation level.

■ SapientNitro. SapientNitro is an experience-centric marketing and technology services firm that has its roots in front-end design strategy. SapientNitro is strong in the retail and branded manufacturing space and offers an array of commerce platform selection capabilities. The firm is a consistent performer on implementation services and boasts strong B2B eCommerce customer engagement, growth strategy and road map development capabilities, and channel optimization offerings. SapientNitro is further developing its B2B industry focus and managed services capabilities, as well as testing more flexible pricing models. Clients of SapientNitro told us that the firm is skilled at commerce platform implementation and delivering effective front-end/visual/UX work — in particular story flow and user scenarios.

strong Performers

■ Razorfish Global. The past year saw the convergence of multiple agencies to form Razorfish Global, creating a commerce services firm with expertise in implementing enterprise commerce applications as well as facilitating digital customer experiences. Still in its relative infancy, Razorfish Global was formed by consolidating four agencies (Razorfish, Rosetta, digital agency




Level, and design firm Nurun) into one entity. Mid-last year, Razorfish also acquired Crown Partners, specialist at integrating hybris and Adobe products, and incorporated the Crown team into Razorfish. In addition to expertise in implementing several leading commerce platforms, Razorfish Global offers a depth of experience in making media buys and leveraging cross-channel data to generate insights to enhance digital customer engagement. The company has an especially strong presence in key verticals such as CPG, pharmaceuticals, and branded manufacturing. The Razorfish Global clients with whom we spoke indicated that the firm was particularly strong in the content management space. They also indicated that they were generally bullish about the consolidation of several former independent GCSP brands (e.g., Rosetta and Crown Partners) under the Razorfish Global roof.

■ IBM Global Business Services. IBM Global Business Services (GBS) is a global, analytics-driven commerce service provider. While IBM GBS still focuses fairly heavily on supporting IBM stack technologies, the company implements systems for a variety of other world-class eCommerce vendors (SAP, Oracle, etc.) as well as broader eCommerce ecosystem software players in the CRM, ERP, and other spaces. IBM GBS excels at analytics-centric work (with its Watson-driven technology solutions) and at executing key supporting services for eCommerce development (e.g., testing and privacy services). The company is actively building expertise in, but still in development on, B2B digital business restructuring and cloud-based services. IBM itself has made some recent high-profile announcements in the mobile experience space (most notably a partnership with Apple), but IBM GBS is still in the early stages of operationalizing its mobile commerce capabilities. IBM Global Business Services clients consistently expressed in interviews that IBM GBS is a reliable partner. They indicated that IBM defines and manages projects well and reacts quickly to changes in scope and timelines.

■ EPAM Systems. EPAM is a company that has been providing software engineering solutions and technology services worldwide for just over 20 years. As a contractor, the company played a role in developing early versions of now-prominent eCommerce software packages and within the last few years has made a transition into the broader commerce services provider space. Owing to its heritage as a software development shop, EPAM excels at product and project management, system design and architecture, and testing services. To bolster its front-end design and customer strategy capabilities, EPAM acquired Empathy Lab in 2012 and Great Fridays in 2014, and is actively rolling out B2B eCommerce-focused strategy and digital business transformation offerings. EPAM’s clients spoke at length about the firm’s commitment to partnership, repeatedly mentioning its reliability and technical competence.

■ HCL Technologies. Long a fixture in the systems integration and offshore IT space, HCL has made the transition into the B2B digital business space and has begun offering front-end design and strategy consulting services. Traditionally strong in technical implementation and supporting services like reference architectures and testing, HCL now finds itself building out omnichannel customer engagement and customer-experience-driven mobility solutions.




The company has developed a number of productized eCommerce tools and offers a set of platform-specific accelerators that offer time-to-market and time-to-value advantages. However, corporate strategy is still early in its life cycle and the company is in the process of developing industry-specific expertise and domain knowledge. Clients we contacted spoke highly of HCL’s classic systems integration skills and expressed a desire to see HCL bolster more of its front-end design capabilities.

■ Cognizant. Cognizant is augmenting its legacy development and software integration experience with a set of B2B omnichannel strategy and emerging digital customer engagement capabilities. As a historical provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, Cognizant excels in process consulting and product and program management as well as commerce technology selection services. Recently, Cognizant has begun to build out its capacity for leveraging data to improve performance and customer engagement and differentiates by offering mature business process consulting capabilities. Cognizant offers services in a broad set of industries such as retail, financial services, and media and entertainment. Cognizant’s customers told us that the firm differentiates itself with its product management initiatives and actively leads discussions with clients about the future of specific technologies and markets.

■ Tata Consulting Services. Tata Consulting Services (TCS) is a large IT services, consulting, and business solutions vendor with systems integration experience across a broad array of industries. Strong in the traditional system integrator categories such as design and architecture and program management, TCS is beginning to emerge within the B2B omnichannel and commerce engagement space. The company describes its overall strategy by way of detailing “five digital forces” comprised of mobility, big data/analytics, social media, the cloud, and artificial intelligence/robotics. In addition, TCS has created numerous commerce accelerators for the leading eCommerce platforms, with each accelerator focused on a unique industry or vertical. It has augmented development capabilities with automated tools designed to gather requirements faster and identify feature/function conflicts before they arise. TCS’s customers stated that the company specializes in focused and flexible technical delivery.

■ Infosys. A strong player in the systems integration space, Infosys has begun to augment its strengths in project management and technical implementation with a fast-growing B2B digital commerce practice. Although the organization has made a strong push into commerce, its offering is still evolving and not on par with its technical execution skills. However, Infosys has created several custom accelerators and applications to speed integration and drive new commerce projects. The firm has a mature practice around IBM (Sterling) and Oracle order management technologies, which will benefit clients — especially those with operations in multiple countries — that are undertaking omnichannel fulfillment projects. Infosys’ clients spoke highly of Infosys’ offshore technical implementation resources and the agility, responsiveness, and flexibility inherent in Infosys’ project management approach.




■ Wipro. In 2014, Wipro created Wipro Digital to serve as a dedicated and separate business unit focused on digital customer experience design and strategy. Created for the express purpose of advancing the company’s efforts in the commerce space, Wipro began consolidating people, processes, and technologies under one “digital” roof. However, while Wipro has made progress augmenting its core development and program management capabilities as a means of meeting the needs of digital businesses, the company still largely lags behind its competitors in the B2B space. Wipro remains strong in core technical areas such as technical implementation services, testing services, and managed solutions. In addition, Wipro has significant implementation experience focused on the top eCommerce platforms as well as order management and web content management. Wipro’s clients told us that the firm is strong at the implementation level and has built multilayered “benches” of skilled developers that the company can mobilize in anticipation of client needs.

suPPLeMeNTaL MaTeRIaL

Online Resource

The online version of Figure 7 is an Excel-based vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product evaluations and customizable rankings.

Data sources used In This Forrester wave

Forrester used a combination of three data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each solution:

■ Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation criteria. Once we analyzed the completed vendor surveys, we conducted vendor calls where necessary to gather details of vendor qualifications.

■ Executive briefings. We asked vendors to conduct demonstrations of their product’s functionality. We used findings from these product demos to validate details of each vendor’s product capabilities.

■ Customer reference calls. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester also conducted reference calls with two to four of each vendor’s current customers.

The Forrester wave Methodology

We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in this market. From that initial pool of vendors, we then narrow our final list. We choose these vendors based on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand. We eliminate vendors that have products or services that don’t fit the scope of our evaluation.




After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria, we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires, demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their review, and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and strategies.

We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies — and/or other scenarios as outlined in the Forrester Wave document — and then score the vendors based on a clearly defined scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and we encourage readers to adapt the weightings to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and vendor strategies evolve. For more information on the methodology that every Forrester Wave follows, go to http://www.forrester.com/marketing/policies/forrester-wave-methodology.html.

Integrity Policy

All of Forrester’s research, including Waves, is conducted according to our Integrity Policy. For more information, go to http://www.forrester.com/marketing/policies/integrity-policy.html.

survey Methodology

Forrester conducted its Business Technographics® Global Business And Technology Services Survey, 2014, a mixed methodology phone and online survey fielded in July and August 2014 of 1,532 business and technology decision-makers located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, the UK, and the US from companies with 100 or more employees.

Each calendar year, Forrester’s Business Technographics fields business-to-business technology studies in 10 countries spanning North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. For quality control, we carefully screen respondents according to job title and function. Forrester’s Business Technographics ensures that the final survey population contains only those with significant involvement in the planning, funding, and purchasing of business and technology products and services. Additionally, we set quotas for company size (number of employees) and industry as a means of controlling the data distribution and establishing alignment with IT spend calculated by Forrester analysts. Business Technographics uses only superior data sources and advanced data-cleaning techniques to ensure the highest data quality.

Forrester’s Forrsights Services Survey, Q2 2012, was fielded to 1,058 IT executives and technology decision-makers located in Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US from enterprise companies with 1,000 or more employees. This survey is part of Forrester’s Forrsights For Business




Technology and was fielded during May and June 2012. LinkedIn Research Network fielded this survey online on behalf of Forrester. Survey respondent incentives include gift certificates and research reports. We have provided exact sample sizes in this report on a question-by-question basis.

Forrester’s Forrsights Services Survey, Q3 2013, was fielded to 1,050 IT executives and technology decision-makers located in Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US from enterprise companies with 1,000 or more employees. This survey is part of Forrester’s Forrsights for Business Technology and was fielded during August 2013 and September 2013. ResearchNow fielded this survey online on behalf of Forrester. Survey respondent incentives include points redeemable for gift certificates. We have provided exact sample sizes in this report on a question-by-question basis.

Each calendar year, Forrester’s Forrsights For Business Technology fields business-to-business technology studies in more than 17 countries spanning North America, Latin America, Europe, and developed and emerging Asia. For quality control, we carefully screen respondents according to job title and function. Forrester’s Forrsights For Business Technology ensures that the final survey population contains only those with significant involvement in the planning, funding, and purchasing of IT products and services. Additionally, we set quotas for company size (number of employees) and industry as a means of controlling the data distribution and establishing alignment with IT spend calculated by Forrester analysts. Forrsights uses only superior data sources and advanced data-cleaning techniques to ensure the highest data quality.

eNDNOTes1 To read a full market overview of global commerce service providers, see the September 4, 2014,

“Commerce Service Providers Market Overview: Changing Market Dynamics Drive New Strategies And Alignments” report.

2 For more information about what B2B customers need when it comes to their commerce back end, see the July 29, 2014, “The Forrester Wave™: Omnichannel Order Management, Q3 2014” report and see the December 19, 2014, “Deliver An Effective Technology Infrastructure For Global B2B eCommerce” report.

3 For more information about eBusiness professionals’ commerce technology investments, see the September 22, 2014, “Commerce Technology Investment And Platform Trends — 2014” report.

4 For more information about the challenges eBusiness professionals face in hiring for certain roles, see the May 15, 2014, “Trends 2014: Staffing And Hiring For eBusiness” report.

5 To read more about public cloud application platforms, see the December 29, 2014, “The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Public Cloud Platforms, Q4 2014” report.

6 Until recently, most B2B companies relied on thick print catalogs, armies of sales reps, and well-staffed call centers to drive and support commerce, but B2B companies are now fundamentally rethinking core investments in commerce infrastructure to enter the digital space. For more information about what B2C eCommerce professionals can do (and are doing) to become digital businesses, see the February 10, 2014,

“The New And Emerging World Of B2B Commerce” report.













7 For more information about PIM vendors, see the May 21, 2014, “The Forrester Wave™: Product Information Management (PIM), Q2 2014” report. For an overview of order management vendors, see the July 29, 2014,

“The Forrester Wave™: Omnichannel Order Management, Q3 2014” report.




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