Phil Fersht is Founder, CEO and Industry Analyst for leading global analyst authority for the services industry, HfS Research. He is an acclaimed author, analyst and visionary in Global IT services and business operations and has been focusing heavily on automation, cognitive computing and evolving "digital talent" strategies. Fersht coined the term "The As-a-Service Economy" which is HfS Research's vision for the future of the global services and outsourcing industry and has become widely adopted by the global services industry.

Fersht founded HfS Research in 2010 and has masterminded the development of the HfS organization as a leading analyst for the firm, in addition to steering the business operations. He is also author and creator of the most widely-read and acclaimed blog in the global services industry, entitled “Horses for Sources” and now entering its ninth year, attracting over a million visits per year across the globe. At HfS, he directs the firm’s research, advisory and global knowledge community, which today totals over 100,000 professionals and is served by a respected global analyst team. HfS has been named Analyst Firm of the Year for 2016, alongside Gartner and Forrester, by leading analyst observer InfluencerRelations.com.

Over the past 20 years, Fersht has lived and worked in Europe, North America and Asia, where he has advised on hundreds of operations strategy, outsourcing, and global business services engagements. During his career, Phil Fersht has worked at Gartner Inc. (AMR Research), directing the firm’s BPO and IT Services practices and served as market leader for Deloitte Consulting’s BPO Advisory Services, where he led numerous outsourcing and offshoring advisory engagements with Fortune 500 enterprises. He began his career with IT analyst IDC.