The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCKT) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) today announced the launch of their Diploma in Global Business Services (DGBS). This is the third and final offering in their Certified GBS Professionals (CGBSP) program, a comprehensive career development system for global business services (GBS), shared services and business process outsourcing (BPO) professionals.

The Diploma in GBS, designed for current GBS team leaders, center managers and others running operational or functional teams, covers an array of topics relevant to operational excellence in finance, HR, procurement and IT. It is the middle level of certification offered by the CGBSP program. The program also offers an Advanced Diploma for leaders and members of a GBS organization’s senior management team as well as a Certificate in GBS designed for entry-level associates.

More than 150 organizations from over 27 countries are already engaged in offering certification to their GBS, shared services or BPO staff through the CGBSP program. Each level of certification is driven by a comprehensive syllabus that teaches the skills and competencies required by employers to achieve the highest standards of excellence. At the foundation of the course materials are The Hackett Group’s extensive knowledge of GBS and functional best practices, based on its strategy, design and implementation work with top global enterprises, combined with CIMA’s intellectual content and long-term education expertise. The certification programs are self-paced online interactive learning tools that employees can complete over three to four months. Computer-based objective test exams are available in over 5,500 centers worldwide and are professionally supervised to ensure the robustness of the assessment.

Participants in these programs also have access to an online knowledge center offering access to materials such as case studies, frameworks and performance metrics from The Hackett Group, CIMA and other organizations. The knowledge center is designed to support participants through exams and life-long learning, with additional material unlocked as individuals complete certification at each level. On successful completion of each course assessment, individuals earn the right to use the relevant professional qualification designation of CGBS, DGBS or ADGBS.

To coincide with the launch of the DGBS qualification, the CGBSP program is making available for download on a complimentary basis its first GBS research piece: “Building New Career Paths: The Emergence of the Global Business Services Professional,” at http://bit.ly/2dn01fp. A self-assessment tool, available at http://bit.ly/1X6kIMK, is also available to help organizations and professionals determine which of the certification programs is best suited to their needs.

“It’s exciting to be able to announce the availability of the final element of this comprehensive training and certification program,” said Ted A. Fernandez, Chairman & CEO of The Hackett Group. “As companies become more mature and sophisticated in their GBS operations, it’s critical that they improve the agility and flexibility of their workforce, to better meet the changing needs and expectations of the business. The success of a GBS organization is highly dependent on the knowledge and capabilities of staff, and the training and certification we’re offering can play an important role in helping companies accomplish this.”

“We are proud to bring to market a unique offering that combines CIMA’s training expertise with the empirically-proven best practices and intellectual property only The Hackett Group can provide,” said Mr. Fernandez. “The combination of training, testing, accreditation and a knowledge centre to help staff keep up with new developments and trends is unique and fills an unmet need across the GBS organizations we work with.”

Andrew Harding FCMA, CGMA, Chief Executive of CIMA, said: “We believe this is a major step forward for the GBS industry. Now that this final part of the offering is in place, GBS professionals have industry-standard qualifications available to them no matter where they are in their careers. We believe this will help the GBS and shared services sector, allowing organisations to provide their staff with the necessary skills to reach their full potential."

“We are living in a fast paced world and people need the right competencies to adapt to new challenges. Our program uses the latest technology and we are able to provide the opportunity for long-term success.”

The Hackett Group’s research clearly quantifies the bottom-line benefit of GBS excellence. World-class GBS organizations generate far greater initial savings over baseline costs than typical GBS organizations (35 percent savings versus 20 percent). They also drive 40 percent higher savings on an annual ongoing basis. Finally, better talent management drives an array of bottom-line benefits, including nearly 50 percent higher return on equity and higher net profit margins and EBITDA. Training plays a key role in achieving these results, with world-class GBS organizations offering managers and staff nearly three times the training hours of typical organizations.

The research also shows that the GBS evolution is accelerating. The Hackett Group estimates that there are now over 6,000 GBS centers globally, with a total staff of more than 4.5 million. The majority of GBS organizations have moved beyond single-function centers, to establish multi-function centres. But less than 10 percent of all GBS organizations have completed the evolution to create fully integrated services environments with an end-to-end process orientation and a comprehensive service catalogue.

For more information on the Certified Global Business Services Professionals program and its Advanced Diploma in GBS, please visit: http://www.thehackettgroup.com/expertise/gbs-training.

About the Certified Global Business Services Professionals Program

The Certified Global Business Services Professionals program is a collaboration between The Hackett Group and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). This unique collaboration combines CIMA's certificated global professional development program capabilities with The Hackett Group's global business services (GBS) best practice intellectual property. This brings to market the first comprehensive talent management and professional development qualification program specifically tailored for GBS and shared services professionals. By working together, The Hackett Group and CIMA are addressing the need for GBS and shared services organizations to provide clear, consistent and structured talent development programs based on best practices to grow the professional skills and knowledge needed to achieve and maintain world-class performance standards.

About CIMA

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), founded in 1919, is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with over 229,000 members and students operating in 176 countries, working at the heart of business. CIMA members and students work in industry, commerce, the public sector and not-for-profit organisations. CIMA works closely with employers and sponsors leading-edge research, constantly updating its qualification, professional experience requirements and continuing professional development to ensure it remains the employers’ choice when recruiting financially-trained business leaders.

Professionalism and ethics are at the core of CIMA’s activities with every member and student bound by robust standards so that integrity, expertise and vision are brought together.

CIMA has formed a joint venture with the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to establish the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation. CGMA is the global quality standard that further elevates the profession of management accounting. The designation recognises the most talented and committed management accountants with the discipline and skill to drive strong business performance.

CIMA is proud to be the first professional accounting body to offer a truly global product in the fast-moving area of Islamic Finance.

For more information about CIMA, please visit www.cimaglobal.com.

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About The Hackett Group

The Hackett Group (NASDAQ: HCKT) is an intellectual property-based strategic consultancy and leading enterprise benchmarking and best practices implementation firm to global companies. Services include business transformation, enterprise performance management, working capital management, and global business services. The Hackett Group also provides dedicated expertise in business strategy, operations, finance, human capital management, strategic sourcing, procurement, and information technology, including its award-winning Oracle EPM and SAP practices.

The Hackett Group has completed more than 11,000 benchmarking studies with major corporations and government agencies, including 93% of the Dow Jones Industrials, 86% of the Fortune 100, 87% of the DAX 30 and 52% of the FTSE 100. These studies drive its Best Practice Intelligence Centre™ which includes the firm's benchmarking metrics, best practices repository, and best practice configuration guides and process flows, which enable The Hackett Group’s clients and partners to achieve world-class performance.

More information on The Hackett Group is available at: www.thehackettgroup.com, info@thehackettgroup.com, or by calling (770) 225-3600.

Cautionary Statement Regarding “Forward-Looking” Statements

This release contains “forward looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements including without limitation, words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, seeks”, “estimates” or other similar phrases or variations of such words or similar expressions indicating, present or future anticipated or expected occurrences or outcomes are intended to identify such forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are not statements of historical fact and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that may impact such forward looking statements included without limitation, the ability of Hackett and the Certified Global Business Services Professional program and/or CIMA to effectively market the Certified GBS Program, the Certificate in GBS and the Advanced Diploma in GBS against competition from other consulting and professional/trade associations/companies who may have or develop in the future, similar offerings, the commercial viability of the Certified GBS Program, the Certificate in GBS and the Advanced Diploma in GBS, changes in expectations regarding global business services and shared service centres, the ability of Hackett to attract skilled employees, changes in collections of accounts receivable, risk of competition, price and margin trends, changes in general economic conditions and interests rates as well as other risk detailed in Hackett’s reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither Hackett nor the Certified Global Business Services Professionals program undertakes any duty to update this release or any forward looking statements contained herein.