Capgemini, a European technology consulting and outsourcing services firm, is expanding its business process outsourcing (BPO) portfolio and its operations to pursue opportunities in North America. The North American market represents nearly two-thirds of the global BPO services market, according to a 2006 Gartner study, which pegged BPO spending at $152 billion worldwide.

Specifically, Capgemini is bringing two services to market: procurement services and assurance services for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Capgemini has been offering supply and BPO procurement services for some of its big clients in North America, such as TXU Corp. and Hydro One Inc., as part of larger deals, but now Capgemini will offer the procurement service as a standalone proposition. "We will provide both sides of the procurement proposition: the half that is procure to pay or the transaction processing half, and the more value-adding half of procurement BPO services, which is sourcing and category management or strategic sourcing," says Tony Kelly, Capgemini's global director for BPO product marketing.

The other new category is in assurance services, which is a focus of Sarb-Ox. "We can't sign off on the documents. But we do everything else: We support all of the management's attestation, documentation of design effectiveness, the walk-throughs, the control deficiency assessment, the operational testing, the reporting." Capgemini provides these assurance services through a shared-service center located in Bangalore, India, with a dedicated compliance unit. As a result, Kelly adds: "The cost basis is lower and the ability to bring to bear a global view to the client is much easier. This is a SOX compliance service delivered at BPO offshore Bangalore rates."