Jason of the Human Capitalist posted some analysis of Accenture's seeming decline in the HRO world. While we differ slightly in our HRO rankings, I think we'll see some interesting developments as Accenture begins to play in the mid market space. They are currently courting several prospects in the sub-20K employee market with what I consider an odd assortment of software partners. The obvious ones are WorkBrain, RecruitMax and Success Factors. However, their HR/PR suite for the mid market is quite a bit more surprising. (hope to post this later in December if they release data publicly).
What is even more surprising is how agressively Accenture is controlling scope. The mid market is a tough game to play. Companies think they are large and deserve the services of a $500M contract. But then they don't want to spend the money. ADP has long had the best lock on this market. Nobody understands how to sell to it better, so the big guns better be ready for a competitor they see little of in the Fortune 500 space.
Jason is right though - Accenture better get a big win soon before momentum shifts again.
