A Global Media and Events Entity Serving Today’s HRO Market
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The parent of HRO Europe and SharedXpertise merge to form a new global firm offering more options for the HRO marketplace.
by Elliot Clark, Jay Whitehead, & Richard Crespin
It was a year ago that Crossing Media, LLC acquired HRO Europe magazine. During this year, we have worked to improve the quality of the content provided to our readers and upgrade our web sites. We recognize that there is still much room for improvement, and we continue to stand ready to face that challenge.
Crossing Media, LLC has been, however, a company based in the U.S., and we believe that the magazine can benefit from more input from European HRO practitioners and leaders in the development of content. We have delayed this first issue of 2008 to make an important announcement about a bold step we have taken to address these opportunities to become a better service to our loyal customers and readers.
As we celebrate our cover story on the emergence of the HRO Buyers Group and the HR Outsourcing Association (HROA) and the successful partnership of Accenture’s John Hindle and Unilever’s Guy-Joel de Lhoneux to manage the European chapter (see this issue’s cover story on p. 24), Crossing Media/HRO Europe has a partnership announcement of its own. We have merged with SharedXpertise.
SharedXpertise is the provider of association and event management services to the HROA globally. It also manages other associations in the areas of finance transformation and provides market research on the BPO markets.
Originally founded as the SBPOA in Europe, SharedXpertise Forums will be a brand managed by Crossing Media, LLC, with European headquarters in a new building located in Diegem. A reinvigorated staff—some you know and some who are new to you—will be involved in member services, editorial, and conference management. The Diegem staff will work closely with Crossing Media staff around the world to put out the best media and membership products possible. Globally, Crossing Media will continue to focus on the three “Cs” of the rapidly evolving B2B trade media industry: Content (in print and online), Conferences (e.g., HRO World Europe, CRO Conferences, Finance Transformation, and FAO Summits) and Community (membership associations such as the HROA, Finance Forum and CRO).
What does this mean for members of the HROA and readers of HRO Europe? The simple answer is more choices and better content. Many membership associations have companion magazines, and this creates more synergy between the publication and the HR Outsourcing Association, creating better coverage of the European market, its trends, and the people advancing HRO in Europe.
In addition, we offer a broad array of integrated print and online products that will coordinate more effectively with the association’s many educational programs. We can also offer members better access to magazine content. This will allow Crossing Media to shift some of the publishing functions to Europe and gain the valuable local insight that will improve the quality of our editorial product by having a better perspective of the European marketplace.
We are planning an organizational transformation of our own as we determine the best solutions for the members, and we will add resources and program options to create more value and generate more enthusiasm for outsourcing in the European HR community.
This is an exciting time for us, and we want to share our optimism for the future and ask for your support as we build on our strong foundation. You will soon see a better platform for association management, education, and communication with the industry. We also encourage your input in helping us build a more useful and meaningful organization serving the industry.