Global services advisory firm Horses for Sources will provide select members of the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON) with complimentary access to research reports and private roundtable discussions. This marks the first formal association alliance for the newly formed industry analyst firm.

As part of the new alliance, senior operations executives in SSON’s premium community can benefit from research being provided by Horses for Sources, including all aspects of Business Process Outsourcing, shared services and governance strategy. Under the terms of the agreement, the “Horses” expert analyst team are available to support SSON’s members with their outsourcing and shared services decisions.

In addition to the research analyst support, SSON’s buy-side executives can benefit from C-level discussion groups, which will be facilitated by Horses for Sources analysts on-site at SSON’s premium events. Upcoming groups will be featured at the forthcoming Shared Services and Outsourcing Week events in Orlando and Edinburgh.

Phil Fersht, Founder and CEO of Horses for Sources, explained in an email to Tekrati, "Premium buy-side members will get access to our premium research reports.  C-levels will be invited to a series of private roundtable discussions at SSON events where we will present and discuss key findings from new studies and facilitate discussion." Access to research includes all standard Horses research deliverables, including webinars.

Just as with Horses for Sources clients, SSON operations executives will pay standard fees for access to additional analyst time outside of SSON events.

Founding members of Horses for Sources have been working informally with SSON for the last two years. The success of previous buy-side discussion forums served as the impetus for the formation of a more formal partnership.

Fersht commented on the selection of SSON as his company's first formal association alliance: “Our goal at Horses is to deliver unbiased insight, research and advice to senior BPO and shared services decision-makers. We have found the community at SSON great to work with, and are excited to engage with their executives on a regular basis. Based on our long-standing relationship, we feel that SSON has the broadest and most comprehensive network of senior operations executives in the sourcing industry, and we are excited to be supporting them with some of the toughest - and most complex - decisions of their careers.”

Sarah Clayton, Global Head of Strategy at SSON added, “The proven depth of insight provided by the Horses for Sources team is exactly what our members demand, and their ongoing popularity and influence with many of our senior executives has driven us to formalize our partnership with Phil and his team. Our goal is not only to provide our community with great knowledge and networking opportunities, but also to help them benefit from the best and brightest minds in the industry. We believe Horses provides that for us, and are delighted to have them with us on this journey.”

Both Phil Fersht and Lee Coulter, Research Fellow and Distinguished Analyst, will present sessions at SSON’s 14th Annual North American Shared Services Week, Orlando March 22nd-25th 2010 and SSON’s 10th Annual European Shared Services Week, Edinburgh May 24th-27th 2010.

About Horses for Sources

Horses for Sources is the foremost social networking community and advisory analyst firm, focused on helping enterprises make complex decisions with their global outsourcing strategies. Horsesprovides the most impactful and frequently-visited collaborative community platform in the global services industry, providing rapid and insightful commentary, analysis and debate of enterprise outsourcing dynamics. The organization is unique in the fact that it integrates personable social networking with market research and advisory services. Horses’ mission provide a unique environment for collective research, opinion, experience and knowledge across the global outsourcing industry to help enterprises explore new performance thresholds. Led by industry expert Phil Fersht, the Horses for Sources team is a multi-disciplinary group of analysts and experts with deep domain knowledge in Business Process Outsourcing, Industry Specific Process Outsourcing and Cloud Computing.

About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)

SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 18,500 members and more than 350,000 visitors to the community portal per year. SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online. SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. Its staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.

AuraPortal, a global provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software, announced it will sponsor the Gartner Business Process Management Summit 2010 in Las Vegas, from 22nd to 24th March, at Caesar's Palace.

AuraPortal will be exhibiting the AuraPortal BPMS product during the conference, highlighting their “next generation”, business-resource-focused capabilities. Gartner has selected the AuraPortal BPMS as one of the best BPMS packages in the world, among hundreds of candidates, in its ‘Magic Quadrant’ report published, Feb. 2009, in which AuraPortal has been defined as 'an example of next-generation BPMS', and categorized as a “Visionary” vendor.

One of the key issues in the BPM market today is the ability for business people to create and maintain business processes without the need to utilize IT resources. The AuraPortal solution is unique in its ability to support the creation of the most complex business processes and rules without the need of programming, allowing IT users to focus on the integration of other applications and systems maintenance.

AuraPortal‘s solution, which supports CRM Process automation with BPM, implies a true revolution which will change the future of CRM, as CRM features are solved and improved with processes built with a BPMS. Those attending the Gartner event are invited to schedule an interview with AuraPortal experts through the Gartner BPM Summit website.

About AuraPortal

AuraPortal is a global BPMS (Business Process Management System) provider, delivering a solution that creates Business Process Workflow Execution Models without the need for IT programming. AuraPortal is 100% Microsoft based, 100% Web-based, and is complementary to existing ERP and CRM systems. AuraPortal has more than 350 customers across 40 countries, including: Coca-Cola, Pepsico Group, Frito-Lay, Toyota, Yamaha, Pemex, Carrefour, ArcelorMittal, Eletrobras, Saras, Royal KPN, Bristol-Myers Squibb, etc. Several customers are included in Fortune 500 Global Report. For more information, visit: www.auraportal.com.

About the Gartner Business Process Management Summit

The Gartner BPM Summit 2010 offers the latest insight on creating and sustaining an agile process-powered organization. This Summit will deliver actionable insights to help companies through today's economic pressures and will showcase the latest process management strategies, implementation tactics and leading technologies.

Yankee Group today announced that industry veteran Christopher Nicoll has joined the firm as a distinguished research fellow. In addition to Nicoll, Yankee Group added three analysts to its research team.

In this role, Nicoll will leverage his more than 20 years of telecommunications industry expertise to provide thought leadership to Yankee Group clients, and will serve as a key member of the company’s Research Council, leading the exploration of service provider strategies and advanced radio access network technologies, including 4G. Previously with Alcatel-Lucent and his own Nicoll Consulting, Nicoll's expertise involves working with service providers and network builders to establish competitive positioning and achieve market leadership.

“Chris’ vast expertise in the key technologies and business strategies driving ubiquitous connectivity—what Yankee Group calls Anywhere—will make him a trusted advisor to Yankee Group clients,” said Emily Nagle Green, Yankee Group president and CEO.

In addition to Nicoll, Yankee Group announced three new members of its research team—analysts Terry Cudmore, Dmitriy Molchanov and Kuba Stolarski.

Cudmore is part of Yankee Group’s Anywhere Network team. Formerly with FX and Fox Reality Channel, he specializes in network-based media/content delivery systems and Anywhere media business models.

Molchanov is a member of the Anywhere Consumer team. Formerly with Marketing and Planning Systems (MaPS), he specializes in connected devices and contributes his expertise to Yankee Group’s consumer surveys and forecasts.

Stolarski is a member of the Anywhere Network team. Formerly with IDC, he specializes in the OSS/BSS space, including service management, network intelligence and deep packet inspection (DPI).

“Yankee Group’s mission is to help clients navigate the Anywhere global revolution—from the transformations of the communications network, to drivers of service demand, to the business models that must evolve to keep pace. These four newest additions to our research team will help serve our clients in defining, analyzing and supporting this dynamic marketplace,” said Green.

About Yankee Group

Yankee Group is the leading source of insight and counsel trusted by builders, operators and users of global connectivity solutions for 40 years. Uniquely focused on the evolution of Anywhere, we chart the pace of technology change and its effect on networks, consumers and enterprises.

BIA/Kelsey today introduces 'Digital Strategies for Broadcasting,' an advisory service for media and technology companies engaged in local broadcasting's transition to multiplatform strategies. In the debut report, BIA/Kelsey forecasts local advertising revenues for television and radio to reach $34.3 billion in 2014, up from $29.9 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8 percent. Free webinar.

Digital revenues for these media are expected to grow at a 17.8 percent CAGR during the same period, illustrating the continued shift toward digital media. The five-year outlook for local broadcast media is detailed in BIA/Kelsey's 2010 U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast (2009-2014), which is available to clients of the firm's new advisory service.

Digital Strategies for Broadcasting (DSB) provides research and analysis on how the changing local media landscape will affect the broadcaster community and its supporting network of vendors and technology providers. A conference will take place in May 2010.

“Broadcasters must evolve to participate in more areas of the media ecosystem,” said Rick Ducey, BIA/Kelsey’s chief strategy officer and program director, Digital Strategies for Broadcasting. “This means developing the right multiplatform and multiple revenue stream strategies, which in turn requires new workflow, partnerships, business models and resources. The mission of DSB is to provide the strategic guidance and market intelligence to the media and technology companies that can help broadcasters successfully transform.”

DSB clients are companies with a stake in the future of the local broadcast business, including broadcast groups, local TV and radio stations, digital advertising technology and service providers, broadcast sector-focused financial institutions and investment firms, suppliers and advisors, advertising agencies, and trade associations.

“We already provide the most complete view available of local media through our research and forecasts, included in ‘Investing in Television™,’ ‘Investing in Radio™’ and Media Access Pro™, as well as our existing advisory services focused on interactive local media, Yellow Pages and directories, mobile local media and online marketplaces,” said Neal Polachek, president, BIA/Kelsey. “The addition of the DSB advisory service, which offers access to the top broadcast and digital media analysts in the business, is a natural extension of our coverage and a powerful resource for our clients.”

In addition to BIA/Kelsey’s annual forecast, clients of Digital Strategies for Broadcasting have access to the firm’s team of knowledgeable analysts, as well as informative and timely reports covering the subjects that are pertinent to the local broadcast community. Upcoming report topics include:

• Over The Top (OTT) Video
• Building Cross-Platform Audiences and Revenues
• Broadcasters Finding Success in Hyperlocal
• Radio on Mobile Devices: What Are the Business Models?

This spring, BIA/Kelsey will host a companion conference to the advisory service -- Digital Strategies for Broadcasting 2010 (www.kelseygroup.com/dsb2010) -- which takes place May 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency on the Hudson, in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the river from Manhattan. The conference will focus on the theme “New Platforms, New Revenues” and will offer access to the top digital media executives from across the local media ecosystem.

About the Webinar, Report

BIA/Kelsey will present additional findings from its broadcast forecast in a free webinar on Tuesday, March 16 titled, “Capitalizing on the Shift to Local and Digital Media.” For details and online registration, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/200234297.

Additional findings from BIA/Kelsey’s 2010 U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast can be viewed online at http://www.kelseygroup.com/press/pr220210.asp.

About BIA/Kelsey

BIA/Kelsey advises companies in the local media space through consulting and valuation services, research, Continuous Advisory Services, and conferences. Since 1983 BIA/Kelsey has been a resource to the media, mobile advertising, telecommunications, Yellow Pages and electronic directory markets, as well as to government agencies, law firms and investment companies looking to understand trends and revenue drivers. BIA/Kelsey’s annual conferences draw executives from across industries seeking expert guidance on how companies are finding innovative ways to grow. Additional information is available at www.bia.com and www.kelseygroup.com. The company’s blogs are located at http://blog.bia.com/bia/ and http://blog.kelseygroup.com/, and it can be found on Twitter through http://twitter.com/BIAKelsey.

Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm, has recruited Craig Beattie and Karen Monks as insurance analysts. Jim Pelis also joined, as a senior account manager for the insurance group.

Craig Beattie

Craig Beattie joins as an analyst in Celent’s insurance practice, based in the firm’s London office. Prior to joining Celent, Mr. Beattie was an applications architect with Royal Bank of Scotland Group's Strategy and Architecture team, working extensively with RBS Insurance. He held roles in strategy and architecture during mergers within the division and consulted on a number of internal divestment opportunities. Mr. Beattie was actively involved in defining the roadmaps for the core systems, including vendor selection and defining programs of work to achieve strategic change.

Mr. Beattie’s earlier work with RBS Insurance and Direct Line Group involved deployed e-commerce solutions in multiple territories around Europe. He won the BCS Software Architect of the year award in 2007 for his work with RBS Insurance and is a TOGAF certified Enterprise Architect.

Karen Monks

Karen Monks will work as an analyst in Celent's insurance practice. Ms. Monks’s areas of expertise were developed through 12 years of consulting in the financial services industry. Most recently, Ms. Monks was an analyst for a financial valuation company in Virginia. Prior positions included three years of consulting for a leading financial services research and advisory group and seven years in John Hancock’s internal management consulting practice.

Ms. Monks began her consulting career with the Financial Services Consulting group at Coopers & Lybrand. She also completed General Electric Company’s Financial Management Program. Ms. Monks has a wide spectrum of consulting expertise including operations in life, annuity, and long-term care insurance, business process redesign, strategic planning, business case development, communication and training, new product and market assessment, competitive analyses, benchmarking, and process measurement/customer satisfaction.

Jim Pelis

Jim Pelis joins the firm as a senior account manager in Celent’s insurance practice and is based in the Boston office. Jim has been in the research, advisory, and consulting industry for 10 years. His expertise is in growing relationships with senior IT leaders at Fortune 500 enterprises and large technology providers.

Mr. Pelis began his career in the industry as an account executive with Forrester Research’s strategic account team, where he spent six years building relationships with multinational enterprises. He later moved on to the IANS, a boutique advisory firm in the information security space where he built a community of over 40 C-level executives. Most recently, Mr. Pelis was with Collective Next and Datamonitor, where his success building an enterprise account base continued.

“We’re delighted to welcome Craig, Karen, and Jim to the team,” says Craig Weber, Senior Vice President of Celent’s insurance practice. “We’re looking forward to deepening our relationships with our clients, and all three new hires bring direct experience that will help our clients address critical issues.”

About Celent

Celent is a research and advisory firm dedicated to helping financial institutions formulate comprehensive business and technology strategies. Celent publishes reports identifying trends and best practices in financial services technology and conducts consulting engagements for financial institutions looking to use technology to enhance existing business processes or launch new business strategies. With a team of internationally experienced analysts, Celent is uniquely positioned to offer strategic advice and market insights on a global basis. Celent is a member of the Oliver Wyman Group, which is part of Marsh & McLennan Companies [NYSE: MMC].

Springboard Research, a leading innovator in the IT market research and analyst industry, has announced its acquisition of Hydrasight, a very well respected independent IT industry analyst firm based in Australia.

The acquisition is effective immediately, with integration expected to be completed by midyear 2010. The Hydrasight business will continue to operate as normal until the integration is complete.

The acquisition of Hydrasight is expected to both expand Springboard’s coverage areas in the Asia Pacific region and to provide services specifically targeted at enterprise-class consumers of technology. Hydrasight’s Research Director, John Brand, will drive a new end-user focused capability for Springboard that will draw upon both company’s strengths.

“Springboard Research has continued to grow exponentially since its inception and we believe the global financial crisis strengthened our company rather than weakened it. The acquisition of Hydrasight enables us to deliver new research services tailored to the unique end user needs of commercial enterprises and public sector organisations in the Asia Pacific region” said Dane Anderson, CEO and EVP of Research for Springboard.

The acquisition signals the inevitable merging of independent IT industry research firms in the face of increasing market consolidation driven primarily by North American-centric analyst firms. Enterprise technology consumers have previously had to accept global IT research or utilise niche analysts from a variety of local or specialist firms. This acquisition will provide a significant Asia Pacific based and focused alternative for the provision of IT industry research services relevant to geography, industries and organisations of various sizes with specific technology environments.

“The way organisations generate and consume information about IT trends and technologies has changed considerably over the last decade” said Hydrasight’s John Brand. “No longer are the trends being dictated by industry analyst ‘thought-leaders’. Now, they’re being driven by the consumers of technology themselves.”

As a result, Hydrasight provided access to much of its published research free-of-charge in recognition of its clients own contribution to relevant IT industry research. Rather than generic mass-published research or consulting services, Hydrasight’s business model has always focused on providing an independent oversight role, advising steering committees and project teams, and helping to bridge the expectation gaps between business users, technology vendors and internal IT organisations. Now, with the combined resources of Springboard and Hydrasight, end users will further benefit by being able to access a wealth of high quality, timely and localised industry research.

“Enterprise consumers of technology previously utilised consultants to provide independent advice. However, most organisations now have plenty of service providers with ‘skin in the game’. What they ultimately lack is truly independent, objective advice that provides analysis of both IT products and IT service providers. In this regard, IT industry research analysts must be less thought-leaders and more thought-movers” says Brand.

Springboard Research already has a reputation for providing valuable IT industry research and analysis, and high quality advice to clients in the Asia Pacific region. Hydrasight has a reputation for strong client relationships and the ability to provide pragmatic, accessible and actionable advice. By bringing together the strengths of the two organisations, enterprise consumers of technology – particularly those with substantial investments in IT – will now be able to access more relevant, valuable and tailored analysis for the Asia Pacific region.

About Springboard Research

With visionaries others pursue, methods others neglect and ideas others don’t consider, Springboard Research not only seeks to lead an industry – we seek to transform it. Leveraging our pioneering research model and industry thought leaders, Springboard provides greater insight, analysis, and innovation specific to global emerging markets. Working with leading technology vendors, IT professionals, and local channels, Springboard helps our clients lead, rather than follow, market trends. Springboard has a global presence with research centers in Singapore, Australia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the UAE, and the US. We have been acknowledged as an emerging leader and for the last three years been named a “Rising Star” in the global IT market research industry by Outsell, the leading research and advisory firm for the information industry. For more information and access to Springboard’s research, please visit www.springboardresearch.com

About Hydrasight

Hydrasight is an Asia Pacific focused, independent IT industry research and advisory firm that helps enterprise consumers of IT optimise their investments in technology. Hydrasight differs from other research and advisory firms by offering ongoing subscription services and independent oversight of IT projects. The company advises some of the biggest and most complex organisations both regionally (Asia Pacific) and globally. Hydrasight’s unique research and advisory services helps organisations to lower IT project risks, optimise IT budgets, communicate more effectively with key business sponsors and break deadlocks on internal decision making. Hydrasight was launched in October 2005 and is headquartered in Sydney Australia. It serves the strategic information needs of private enterprises, government departments, and technology vendors in the Asia Pacific region by coaching and advising organisations to make better decisions faster. Hydrasight provides independent, objective, futuristic, and pragmatic advice to navigate real-world business and technology needs.

Gartner, Inc. has updated its customer relationship management (CRM) conference with a renewed focus on business and IT collaboration and on harnessing the potential from the emerging "social" dimension of the customer experience and relationships. As part of the event, Don Peppers will host the CRM Excellence Awards, and panel and Paul Greenberg will present on social CRM and social media for customer service.

The Gartner Customer 360 Summit, taking place June 28-30 in Los Angeles, brings Gartner's CRM research to life concentrating on strategic advice and best practices for creating a customer centric enterprise, social CRM, analytics & performance management, customer experience management, marketing and sales optimization.

The Customer 360 Summit brings together senior business and IT leaders along with Gartner analysts and leading expert practitioners to collaborate in learning and discussing the strategies and technologies that enable organizations to better understand, grow and engage customers.

“If your organization is not a customer-centric culture, one that listens, learns, adapts and ultimately innovates continuously around customer needs, you will find yourself at a competitive disadvantage relatively soon,” said Adam Sarner, research director at Gartner and Summit co-chair. “In this new market driven by a whole new order of social customer engagement, it is critical for organizations to fully understand the range of the customer relationship and expectations and how to derive the most value from it.”

The updated event will focus on the following key areas:

• Business & IT Collaboration: How to align and foster collaboration from all stakeholders to ensure buy-in, adoption and success of customer-focused initiatives.
• Social CRM: How to leverage fast-growing user-driven social communities, practices and platforms, and cut through the hype around social media to get real return on investment (ROI).
• Create a Customer-centric Enterprise: How to make the customer the center of the business and IT strategy, processes and culture of the organization.
• Understand the Customer: How to capture, measure and analyze the right customer information to better manage the current and future needs of customers.
• Grow Revenue: How to empower sales and marketing functions with the strategies and tools to acquire, retain and grow profitable customer relationships.
• Engage Customers: Focuses on the practices, tools and processes to engage the customer and provide the best possible customer experience.

Session content will balance tactical recommendations and next steps with big-picture insights and strategy designed to help business and IT leaders collaborate and better align with business goals and deliver greater business value.

“Stakeholder alignment and shared definition of success are crucial to the customer experience,” said Gareth Herschel, research director and Summit co-chair. “With this concept in mind, the Customer 360 Summit will provide the critical knowledge on how to bring together CRM strategies and technologies to foster the customer-centric culture and the sort of innovation to match pace with the newly empowered customer and ultimately drive more revenue."

Special guest speaker Paul Greenberg, author of the best-selling book “CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century” will provide his insights and outlook for social CRM and into social CRM and how to use social media for customer service.

Don Peppers, founding partner of the Peppers & Rogers Group, will host the Gartner & 1to1 Media CRM Excellence Awards announcement. Winners will be chosen in five categories: Enterprise-wide, Growth, Efficiency, Customer Experience and Innovation. Mr. Peppers will also moderate a best practices panel with the award winners. The winners will be featured in an issue of 1to1 Magazine and on both the Gartner Events and 1to1 Media web sites. More information on the Gartner & 1to1 Media Customer Awards and the online entry forms are available at the Gartner website. The deadline for submissions is April 7, 2010.

For complete event details, please visit the Gartner Customer 360 Summit Web site at www.gartner.com/us/crm.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

The NPD Group today announced that it has acquired Solarbuzz LLC, an international solar energy market research and consulting company. DisplaySearch's existing solar energy research reports and services will be folded into Solarbuzz's product portfolio.

Solarbuzz will operate in conjunction with The NPD Group Company’s DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in flat panel display and electronics market research and consulting.

The acquisition extends The NPD Group’s global market and supply chain research expertise into the burgeoning solar energy sector. Solarbuzz will keep its brand name, and the Solarbuzz team will report to Tim Bush, General Manager of The NPD Group’s analyst-based services. DisplaySearch’s existing solar energy research reports and services will be folded into Solarbuzz’s product portfolio. As a result of the acquisition, clients will be able to leverage more reports, services, and expertise in the solar research market. By operating in partnership with DisplaySearch, its sister company, Solarbuzz will gain access to an extended network of sales and research support around the world, especially in Asia.

“We anticipate the solar energy market will expand rapidly as we continue to witness increased government and industry efforts focused on renewable energy,” noted Tod Johnson, Chairman and CEO of The NPD Group. “As the flat panel display (FPD) supply chain matures and extends its manufacturing expertise into the solar energy sector, we see an opportunity to quickly expand our business in this segment by acquiring Solarbuzz, an established brand in the solar industry since 2001. The company will complement DisplaySearch’s supply chain expertise in the FPD segment.”

Craig Stevens, who will continue to serve as Solarbuzz’s President, states, “We share a common vision to provide comprehensive, high quality solar market research to our respective client bases. We are delighted to become a part of The NPD Group family and have taken advantage of our discussions in recent months to plan further expansions to the existing range of Solarbuzz reports and consulting services.”

Bush added, “We are thrilled about the acquisition of Solarbuzz and believe their globally recognized name, commitment to quality research, and deep roots in the solar industry will greatly enhance our capabilities in the solar research market. The synergies between both companies are substantial, and we look forward to blending our combined market research expertise in the solar and renewable energy sectors.”

About Solarbuzz LLC

Solarbuzz LLC is a globally recognized market research-based business focused on the solar energy and photovoltaic industries since 2001. The company has an experienced team of industry experts, who have worked at some of the most successful companies in the solar energy industry today. Solarbuzz clients include all of the largest global PV manufacturers, together with major investment banks, equipment manufacturers, materials suppliers, hedge fund companies, a wide range of other multi-nationals considering participation in this industry, and the largest PV system integrators. Solarbuzz offers a wide-array of reports, including Marketbuzz™, an annual global PV industry report, and Solarbuzz™ QUARTERLY, which provides historical and forecast data on the global PV supply chain. The company’s research also provides annual Downstream PV Market Reports by region for the European, Asia Pacific and US markets. In addition, Solarbuzz.com is a recognized and respected online resource for the solar industry. For more information, visit http://www.solarbuzz.com/

About DisplaySearch

Since 1996, DisplaySearch has been recognized as a leading global market research and consulting firm specializing in the $770 billion display supply chain, as well as the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries. DisplaySearch provides trend information, forecasts, and analyses developed by a global team of experienced analysts with extensive industry knowledge and resources. In collaboration with The NPD Group, its parent company, DisplaySearch uniquely offers a true, end-to-end view of the display supply chain from materials and components to shipments of electronic devices with displays to sales of major consumer and commercial channels. For more information on DisplaySearch analysts, reports, and industry events, visit us at http://www.displaysearch.com/. Read our blog at http://www.displaysearchblog.com/ and follow us on Twitter at @DisplaySearch.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us or visit http://www.npd.com/ and http://www.npdgroupblog.com/. Follow us on Twitter at @npdtech and @npdgroup.

Phil Fersht today launched an outsourcing advisory analyst firm, Horses for Sources. Horses for Sources, also known as Horses, covers business process outsourcing (BPO), information technology outsourcing (ITO), and industry-specific process outsourcing.

Focused on end users as its primary client base, the firm is using innovative research tools based in its established social media presence. For example, for an industry survey conducted in January, the firm leveraged the its expansive network to survey over 1000 senior-level participants across the industry on their outsourcing intentions and experiences.

According to Fersht, no other analyst entity has a network platform to deliver such rapid insight to market across buy and sell-side outsourcing communities.

Fersht explained, “Originally launched in 2007 as a blog that now has more than 80,000 regular visitors from around the world, the Horses for Sources analyst firm is a logical progression. We’re widely recognized as the leading destination for collective insight, research and a forum for open debate on industry issues and developments. The launch of our analyst firm gives enterprise buyers a unique channel for independent outsourcing domain expertise, where they can draw upon research that leverages our huge industry community, in addition to our analyst knowledge and experience.”

The core analyst team at Horses is comprised of experienced researchers, writers and industry practitioners who are deeply engaged in tracking outsourcing markets to deliver insights and deep research as well as provide client-centric strategic advice. Fersht, whose credentials include significant expertise in finance, HR, supply chain BPO, and the convergence of BPO, SaaS and Cloud in a business utility context, is joined by:

• Lee Coulter, former senior vice president of Global Shared Services, Kraft – Coulter is an expert in Shared Services, Information Technology, and Business Process Outsourcing.
• Mindy Blodgett, former analyst with Yankee Group as well as former senior editor at CIO and Computerworld magazine – Blodgett is Horses’ Research Director with a focus on Human Resource and BPO services.
• Bruce McCracken has extensive experience as an analyst and writer in the outsourcing industry over the last decade – McCracken covers finance and accounting, as well as call center outsourcing services for Horses, with a particular emphasis on how customers can achieve improved levels of productivity and innovation from outsourcing engagements.

Expert contributors to Horses include Jason Busch on procurement and strategic sourcing and Yasha Stelzner on human resources and talent strategies. Additional staff announcements are expected shortly.

When asked to explain his firm’s name, Fersht pointed to the “mostly British expression urging someone to stick to the thing he knows best. ‘Horses for courses’ comes from the horse racing world, where it is widely assumed that some horses race better on certain courses than on others. We always felt this phrase summed up the experiences of both vendors and buyers that have danced around with outsourcing relationships over the years. An outsourcing engagement that works well for one firm in its particular circumstances may not be as successful for another; there is no one-size-fits-all solution, when you are dealing with a company's people, processes and technology. And it’s our intent to deliver this focused intensity to our research.”

Horses for Sources says it has booked several new clients prior to today's public launch, and is actively soliciting additional business.

More information about Horses for Sources can be accessed at www.horsesforsources.com. The company can be followed on Twitter at @horses4sources. It has formed a LinkedIn group, “The BPO and Offshoring Best Practices Forum”.

The Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) (CEB), a leading provider of best practice research and analysis focusing on corporate strategy, operations and general management issues, announced today that the Mayflower Group has selected the CEB's Professional Services division, CLC Genesee, as their benchmarking services provider.

The partnership will give the Mayflower Group access to CLC Genesee’s powerful combination of science, technology and best practice research. CLC Genesee has over 40 years of experience in partnering with global organizations to resolve critical HR issues.

The Mayflower Group is a consortium of companies founded in 1971 with the goal of measuring employee attitudes and engagement and sharing benchmarking results with each other. It represents a network of more than 40 industry-leading national and international companies that regularly survey their employees, and then confidentially submit their data to a survey service provider who generates global norms which permit precise comparison and in-depth understanding.

“With more than 40 member companies operating globally, we needed a survey services partner with experience and longevity in the marketplace, proven service capabilities, state-of-the art technology and expertise in survey research,” stated David Oliver, PhD, Chairman of the Mayflower Group. “CLC Genesee has the proven expertise to fully support us with these efforts.”

CLC Genesee will manage Mayflower’s extensive database of employee survey data of more than 3 million employees from around the world, report benchmark results to the Mayflower member companies and provide the insights required to help inform the members’ key business decisions.

“CLC Genesee’s systems are built to support the largest groups in the world and to scale easily. We have a wealth of experience managing these global projects as well as acting as thought partners to help organizations achieve measurable business outcomes,” stated Nathan Blain, Executive Director of CLC Genesee.

Sarah Johnson, PhD, Survey Practice Leader for CLC Genesee, commented, “We are thrilled with the opportunity to partner with the Mayflower Group. As a consulting and research organization, we consistently work with the more influential survey practitioners from a wide variety of industries in order to support their strategies with detailed and insightful employee research.”

About the Mayflower Group

The Mayflower Group is a recognized global consortium of large private-sector companies focused on employee attitude measurement, benchmarking, and research to help its members influence and inform key business decisions. Mayflower achieves this through active member participation, the sharing of normative data and effective business practices. Mayflower members are considered leaders in their respective industries and many which are included in Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies in America” list. In addition to providing high-quality benchmark data, Mayflower offers companies access to a vast reservoir of knowledge and experience on survey and research practices. For more information on the Mayflower Group visit http://www.mayflowergroup.org.

About the Corporate Executive Board

The Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) drives faster, more effective decision-making among the world's leading executives and business professionals. As the premier, network-based knowledge resource, it provides them with the authoritative and timely guidance needed to excel in their roles, take decisive action and improve company performance. Powered by a member network that spans over 50 countries and represents more than 80% of the world's Fortune 500 companies, the Corporate Executive Board offers the unique research insights along with an integrated suite of members-only tools and resources that enable the world's most successful organizations to deliver superior business outcomes. Based in Washington, DC, the company employs more than 2,500 professionals in offices around the world. For more information, visit www.exbd.com. For more information on CLC Genesee, visit www.clcgenesee.com.