Industry news

A giant travel IT deal has been made, with Spanish tech firm Amadeus purchasing Navitaire, a subsidiary of Accenture, for $830 million.

Navitaire is a transport industry technology services subsidiary of Accenture, providing IT support for over 50 airlines. The company tends to focus on areas such as reservation and loyalty programmes.

The deal is expected to be completed towards the end of 2015.

“This transaction will give us the ability to serve all airlines with technology that can enable them to drive new revenues and contain their costs," said Amadeus head Luis Maroto.

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Related: Capgemini finalises acquisition of IGATE

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has announced plans to outsource a number of services within its application development and maintenance division to Indian service providers Wipro and Infosys.

The companies involved will now enter the formal consultation process with employee representatives but a spokesperson from AIB has confirmed that no redundancies will be made due to this outsourcing contract.

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Related: Wipro Introduces Wage Hikes to Stay in Line with Infosys and TCS

Serco CEO Rupert Soames has given the group’s shareholders a first half trading update, in which he stated that Serco is “in reasonably good order” and should meet full-year profit expectations.

During 2015 Serco has started to sell off a significant amount of its BPO portfolio, opting instead to focus on providing public sector services. £1 billion in new contracts – including a lucrative five-year deal with the Saudi Railway Company worth £120 million – supports Soames’ claim that business is stabilising after a volatile 2014.

According to the update, Serco’s trading in the first half of 2015 has been slightly better than anticipated. £1.7 billion by the end of June was the minimum expected, still down from £2 billion this time last year.

The jury is still out on whether Soames is capable of turning Serco’s fortunes around. One analyst informed Sam Knight at the Guardian, “If there is one person who can turn around a sinking ship it is probably Rupert” but went on to admit his success is far from guaranteed.

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Related: Serco is “Trading in Line with Expectations”

A female prison officer is fighting for her life after being attacked by a prisoner at Blackfriars Crown Court on Monday 29th June 2015.

The officer, a Serco employee believed to be in her 50s, has been taken to a hospital in east London where she remains in critical condition.

The attacker, Humphrey Burke, has been arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm.

Kevin Hagan, a contract director at Serco, commented: "We take a zero tolerance approach to violence against staff and we always press for the most serious charge to be laid against those responsible."

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Related: Soames says Serco in “good order” despite year-on-year profit decline

Digital services provider Atos has completed the purchase of Xerox ITO, for a net price valued at $966 million.

The acquisition has made North America Atos’ largest geography. The company is now ranked ninth for ITO services within the continent, where it will make a projected $2 billion a year in revenues.

The acquisition was first announced in December 2014, with both organisations working closely together to ensure a seamless operational transition.

Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of Atos, commented: “Today marks a major step in the development of the Atos Group, as we welcome 9,600 Xerox ITO employees to Atos.

“With the US now our largest market, we have a stronger and more balanced global presence, which combined with our digital skills, allows us to be the trusted partner for our clients’ digital journey anywhere in the world.”

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Related: Capita buys rival Vertex Mortgage Services for £35 million

The moment you decide to outsource your services is the very moment you need to ask yourself "WHERE TO?". This is the reason we decided to show you WHY Poland should be considered as a secure and well-established choice.

Poland as an outsourcing location is constantly gaining recognition worldwide. Just this year it has been listed as the 2nd most attractive location worldwide by KPMG report.

In addition, Bloomberg classified Poland as one of the 20 fastest growing economies, among such countries as China or India. What is more, Poland’s predicted GDP of 2015 is expected to grow by 3.1%, which is most likely to strengthen its importance even more.

Economic and political situation

While looking for an outsourcing partner there are a few aspects that should be taken into consideration.

The Polish economic and political situation is balanced, so there wouldn’t be any surprises during the cooperation that may disrupt the process of project development. Since 2004, Poland has been a recognised member of European Union, which means it follows and enforces the regulations, implementing them regularly.

Furthermore, Poland is a member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and has joined Schengen zone, which made international trade easier than ever, and companies are evidently taking advantage of that.

Geographical position

Choosing the right location for your software outsourcing is crucial for regular day-to-day communication. Here comes another advantage of Poland being very well-situated, close to most European countries. Working in the same time zone has its merits, since it guarantees easy scheduling of meetings.

Future Processing doesn't need a visa to travel around Europe, which makes it easy to meet with our clients in person. Besides, Polish working and leisure culture is similar to most Western European countries.

Vast pool of professionals

The education system in Poland gives the possibility of 22 years of uninterrupted, free education. This puts it in 23rd position among best the education systems in the world, according to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This year’s ABSL report revealed that over 70,000 future IT specialists study at Polish universities right now. Most of them speak fluent English, which guarantees easy communication. Moreover, among them there are also highly competent speakers of German, Russian and French. Needless to say, Polish universities win many international competitions leaving their opponents behind.

This is the reason why Polish engineers are adaptable and able to work in multidisciplinary domains, within standard global IT project frameworks. Apart from the fact that IT specialists from Poland are recognised internationally as highly-skilled, their work ethic allows them to deliver quality software. Also, Agile methodologies, used within outsourcing market, are incredibly popular in Poland.

Being cost-effective

Lack of skills and exuberant costs can be a concern while looking for an outsourcing partner.

Poland, once again, is the answer since it is possible to be cost effective, compared to domestic markets. Despite increases in salary, you are still likely to outsource to Poland at very competitive rates, compared to similar positions in the UK.

What do clients look for?

According to the above mentioned KPMG report, reasons for outsourcing software development change. However, the will to improve the quality of products and services remains the main driver. Having skilled professionals at your fingertips can help to outrun the competition. Also, clients expect the process to go smoothly, shortening time to market.

Summing up, Poland as your outsourcing location is the decision you will not regret. If you are still in doubt, listen to one of our Clients, Tom Horvei, talking about the advantages that Poland has over other countries:

We also encourage you to download a whitepaper entirely devoted to choosing a perfect outsourcing location.

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Future Processing is an experienced Polish company that specialises in providing offshore software development services.

To find out more about Future Processing, visit the company's website.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has called for the government to seek greater access to, and make better use of, information regarding public-private outsourcing contracts, particularly where costs and profits are concerned.

The NAO report “Open-book accounting and supply-chain assurance," published on 1 July 2015, has revealed that information on how much outsourced public services cost service providers and what profits they are making is currently only available in just 31 per cent of contracts outsourced by the government.

Based on case studies featured in the report, the NAO has identified five approaches that should be adopted by contract managers in the civil service:

• Ensuring price complies with the contract

• Making better informed commercial decisions

• Assuring processes

• Maintaining control of risk

• Achieving step-changing innovation

The NAO went on to recommend that every government department should have a solid policy on when it will apply open-book accounting – only 23 per cent of government organisations do so now.

In addition to this, the NAO has advised contract managers on the government-side to be more “hands-on” with their outsource service providers.

“Contract management is not a desk job,” said Amyas Morse, NAO head. “We are reminded of this in all the best practice and the worst failures we see. For government to be accountable for contracted out public services; for it to understand its suppliers; for it to exercise oversight; and for it to promote value for money, it requires its contract managers to take a ‘hands-on’ approach and to go and see for themselves what their suppliers are doing.”

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Related: Tory MP calls for David Cameron to crack down on protected NHS spending

Capita has acquired third-party supplier and rival mortgage provider Vertex Mortgage Services in a deal worth £35 million.

Vertex employs 340 workers and achieved an annual turnover of £22.9 million at the close of its last financial year.

Capita chief executive Andy Parker commented: “As part of our strategy to support the financial services industry, Capita’s ambition is to become the mortgage processing partner of choice for existing mortgage providers and challenger banks.

“The acquisition of Vertex MS is another key step towards achieving this goal. This is a market-facing continuous regulatory change and changing customer behaviours, and with Capita’s breadth of services and expertise we are well placed to help organisations with these challenges. This market therefore offers significant growth potential for Capita.”

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Related: NHS Awards Capita with £400 Million Contract for Administrative Support Services

Capita has retained its position as the leading supplier of software, IT and business process services in the UK and won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, a report by TechMarketView has revealed.

The top five UK service providers, in terms of their revenue, is as follows:

• Capita

• HP

• IBM

• Capgemini

• Accenture

The report claims that there was no change in the ranking of the top five suppliers since last year. In 2015 Capita has successfully managed to widen the gap between itself and second-placed HP.

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Related: Capita buys rival Vertex Mortgage Services for £35 million

Outgoing Cisco Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior has been approached by Wipro and offered a position on its board of directors, The Times of India has reported.

Warrior could also potentially take up a role at Wipro in an advisory capacity. The news comes after Cisco revealed that three of its executives, including Warrior and services executive Edzard Overbeek, will be headed for the door, making way for a “next generation” leadership team.

Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, stated that the move would make perfect sense for Warrior: "Wipro has been a large Cisco reseller for years - she already has a relationship there. The tech industry in India is certainly doing very well… We're looking at India as being one of the early adopters of the Internet of Things and being a digital economy.”

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Related: Wipro in Talks to Buy Equiniti in Deal Valued at Over £1 Billion