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Eversheds to become Accenture’s ‘apostle’

13 December 2010 | By Luke McLeod-Roberts

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Eversheds has begun rolling out its support services outsourcing deal, sending procurement work to Accenture in Milton Keynes.

The arrangement is the result of a seven-year agreement, which will also see Eversheds outsource HR, administration, accounting and business processes over the next 12 months.

The vast majority of the work will be offshored to India, meaning that almost 100 roles are to go.

The firm has offered the staff concerned the option of staying on for a minimum of six months. “We don’t make savings in the first year, we’ll be spending money,” said managing ­partner Lee Ranson.

He said shipping out the procurement work allowed Accenture to “bring much greater purchasing power to the proposition” by bundling together deals for Eversheds with other major clients.

The deal is relatively small fry for Accenture, which is used to signing deals with the likes of BAE Systems and Shell. But Ranson argued that this does not necessarily mean that Eversheds had little negotiating power with the outsourcing provider.

“We’re the first in legal they’ve looked at. They want us to be an apostle because they want to grow in the legal sector,” he said.

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Readers' comments (12)

  • Anonymous | 13-Dec-2010 1:22 pm

    Even more redundancies at Eversheds? Its a miracle there is anyone left. How can they expect client and staff loyalty when they are prepared to walk over so many people without even a glance back?

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  • William | 13-Dec-2010 3:10 pm

    @ Anonymous | 13-Dec-2010 1:22 pm

    It's a business not a charity, if they need to cut jobs in order to maintain margins then so be it.

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  • JohnBloom | 13-Dec-2010 3:27 pm

    Milton Keynes is the place to be?

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  • Rural bliss | 13-Dec-2010 3:35 pm

    @ William (aka Scrooge)

    How intensely glad I am that I don't live in your mean little world, where margins are more important than people.

    A classic example of a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

    The concept of law as a profession, with the responsibilities that increasingly archaic term implies, are completely lost on such as you, and the profession as a whole is the worse for it.

    Happy Christmas (and remember you can charge double on Christmas Day).

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  • the old man of the sea | 13-Dec-2010 4:00 pm

    I still don't get it. Why pay a business £300+ per hour for "cutting edge" legal advice on HR issues when they don't bother to manage their own HR?
    It is sad when you look at the way people are treated as a cost rather than valued for what they add to the business. HR is a great example of something which - well done - can add value to an organisation but in the world of commodotised lawyering is just an expense to be more cheaply handled in a Bangalore call centre.
    100 more souls lost from the monolith. Still it might put £100 on PEP so it MUST be worth it.

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  • Anonymous | 13-Dec-2010 4:23 pm

    Whatever happened to the "great place to work" ?

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  • Anonymous | 13-Dec-2010 11:11 pm

    To: Anonymous @ 4.23pm
    I have absolutely no idea, it was once.

    Do they still apply for Investors in People accreditation ????

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  • Deidre Dave | 14-Dec-2010 10:30 am

    Why the surprise? The clue is in the name. Eversheds. Because they are forever shedding staff.

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  • Grinch | 17-Dec-2010 2:46 am

    Communication is key with things like HR and Admin. How is that going to work with trying to track down someone in India to get a quick answer ? We've all come across those terrible outsourcing of call centres. It is a disaster in the making. They might save a few pounds but the cost in terms of time, efficiency and people will be far more. Short term money grabbing with no conscience. Merry Xmas to you too.

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  • Anonymous | 20-Dec-2010 2:54 pm

    The ignorance demonstrated in these threads is staggering. I struggle to understand how those making the comments in this and other threads make a living out of delivering legal & commercial advice

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  • Rahmen | 21-Dec-2010 11:30 pm

    End of the day business is business if they have to get rid of people to cut costs then so be it.
    But please don’t insult by calling it an innovation cause there is nothing innovative about outsourcing, your just getting rid of a few expensive people and employing a few cheap ones. (Management at Eversheds believe outsourcing to a box in Bangalore is innovative).
    I really really really hope that this does not work out for Eversheds and their brand name goes down the toilet, more than it has already.

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  • Mark | 14-Jul-2011 8:37 pm

    It is all very easy to jump on the the people bandwagon. People are losing their jobs here people are gaining jobs in India. People are people the rest is geography.

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