Forrester Outsourcing
Definition
Forrester Outsourcing
Forrester outsourcing refers to the analyst firm’s research on service providers, sourcing strategy and customer experience work. Its best-known format is the Forrester Wave, which is a graded comparison of the named providers inside one defined market segment.
The firm’s angle differs from its rivals — it frames most research around the customer rather than around the technology, which shows up in how it scores service providers.
For outsourcing buyers that emphasis is useful in customer-facing categories and less useful in back-office ones. A Wave on customer service delivery says more than a general sourcing report will.
Like all analyst research, it is subscription-gated — so most buyers encounter it as a badge on a vendor’s website rather than as a document they have read.
Key takeaways
- The firm publishes provider comparisons, sourcing research and customer experience work.
- The Forrester Wave is its graded provider comparison within a defined segment.
- Its customer-centred framing suits customer-facing categories better than back office.
- Most buyers see quoted placements rather than the full report and its caveats.
How it works
A Wave defines a market, sets inclusion criteria, evaluates participating providers against weighted criteria, and plots the results. Vendors are graded on current offering, strategy and market presence, then positioned relative to one another.
The firm states its own framing directly. It says it helps business and technology leaders use customer obsession to accelerate growth, and describes four decades of research across consumer, business and technology markets.
Named research products sit under that umbrella. Alongside the Wave, the firm publishes its Decisions research service and market insights work, each aimed at a different stage of a buying decision.
| Format | What it delivers | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Forrester Wave | Graded provider comparison in one segment | Narrowing a field of large vendors |
| Decisions research | Ongoing guidance by role | Framing a sourcing strategy early |
| Market insights | Sizing and trend analysis | Building an internal business case |
| Analyst inquiry | Direct questions to a named analyst | Testing assumptions before committing |
Competing series follow a similar shape, which is worth knowing when comparing badges. ISG describes its own provider research as spanning more than 3,350 service providers across 23 regions and countries, using its own set of placement tiers.
The candid limitation is that a Wave measures providers against the analyst’s weighting, not yours. Two buyers with different priorities should rationally pick different vendors from one grid — and the grid cannot tell them that.
Examples
Forrester research reaches outsourcing decisions through a few recognisable routes, and each deserves different weight. Every case here is real, and the dull ones have been included on purpose.
A retailer choosing a customer service provider reads a relevant Wave in full, including the criteria weightings, then reweights the scores against its own priorities.
A vendor displays a leader badge on its homepage. The badge is accurate and reflects one segment in one year, which the homepage does not say.
A buyer sourcing back-office finance work finds the customer-experience framing unhelpful and turns to sourcing-specialist research instead.
An enterprise uses the firm’s market definitions to write its requirements document, then runs its own evaluation without reference to any placement.
Related terms
Analyst research, advisory work and vendor governance are routinely confused, and the entries below separate them. The definitions here are deliberately minimal, and each marks where it ceases to apply.
- Gartner: the largest research and advisory firm, publishing its own provider grids.
- ISG: a sourcing-focused advisory firm with its own provider research series.
- Everest Group: a research firm concentrating on services and sourcing markets.
- customer experience outsourcing: the category this firm’s framing suits best.
- digital transformation outsourcing: change programmes the research frequently covers.
- vendor management outsourcing: governing providers after the selection decision is made.
- outsourcing consultants: advisers who run selection processes rather than publish research.
FAQ
What is the Forrester Wave?
A graded comparison of service providers within a defined market segment, scoring each on current offering, strategy and market presence.
How does it differ from other analyst grids?
Mainly in framing. The firm centres its research on customer outcomes, which shapes criteria weighting more than the underlying method does.
Can I read the research without a subscription?
Rarely in full. Vendors sometimes license reprints of reports they feature in, which are accurate but selected by the vendor.
Does a leader placement guarantee fit?
No. It reflects performance against the analyst’s weighted criteria in one segment and year, which may not match your requirements.
Is it useful for back-office sourcing?
Less so. Customer-facing categories benefit most from the firm’s framing, while transactional back-office work is better served elsewhere.
How should a buyer use a Wave?
Read the criteria, reweight them against your own priorities, and use the result to narrow a field rather than to pick a winner.
Search verified partners in the Outsource Accelerator directory and reweight any analyst criteria against your own priorities.
Independent
