Williams Lea
Encyclopedia
Williams Lea is a global company that offers business process outsourcing
(BPO) to large companies. Although founded in 1820 as a company providing printing services to the financial industry, the company has undergone a number of reinventions and nowadays offer 'corporate information solutions', a term that covers the full customer communication lifecyle from mail management, bulk mailing, reprographics, design and document management services to marketing solutions.
Williams Lea has undergone rapid expansion in recent years in consequence of the trend within large organisations to outsource support functions. Growth has been largely organic, although the company has made acquisitions in Europe, the US and Asia.
Although for many years a privately held company, in 2006 a majority stake in the company was taken by German postal and logistics company Deutsche Post
, parent company of DHL
. In Q1 2009, the company employed approximately 11,500 people with a turnover of approx £1b per annum.
Interestingly former Enlgand and British Lions rugby union player Tim Rodber is CEO of Willaims Lea's Americas operations.
Business process outsourcing
Business process outsourcing is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments...
(BPO) to large companies. Although founded in 1820 as a company providing printing services to the financial industry, the company has undergone a number of reinventions and nowadays offer 'corporate information solutions', a term that covers the full customer communication lifecyle from mail management, bulk mailing, reprographics, design and document management services to marketing solutions.
Williams Lea has undergone rapid expansion in recent years in consequence of the trend within large organisations to outsource support functions. Growth has been largely organic, although the company has made acquisitions in Europe, the US and Asia.
Although for many years a privately held company, in 2006 a majority stake in the company was taken by German postal and logistics company Deutsche Post
Deutsche Post
Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL, is the world's largest logistics group. With its headquarters in Bonn, the corporation has 467,088 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide and generated revenue of € 51.48 billion in 2010...
, parent company of DHL
DHL
DHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
. In Q1 2009, the company employed approximately 11,500 people with a turnover of approx £1b per annum.
Interestingly former Enlgand and British Lions rugby union player Tim Rodber is CEO of Willaims Lea's Americas operations.
Acquisitions
- In October 2004, acquired US-based Bowne Business Solutions for $190.8 million.
- In August 2005, acquired US-based Uniscribe for $36.1 million and Australian-based Creatis for $7.7 million.
- In November 2006, acquired UK-based The Stationery OfficeThe Stationery OfficeThe Stationery Office is a British publishing company that was created in 1996 when the publishing arm of Her Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. TSO is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, select committee reports, Hansard, and the London,...
for £130 million. - In 2007, Deutsche Post rebranded its German document management facilities business as Williams Lea Deutschland.
- In November 2007, Deutsche Post acquired Centric LPO, a legal process outsourcing (LPO) company for an undisclosed sum.