Industry news

Tech Mahindra has been selected by Circle Health to play the role of technology partner, as part of £50 million contract that is expected to last 10 years.

The Indian digital transformation specialist will be introducing and developing new technologies to improve patient care, operational delivery and reduce the cost of operations. Circle has granted Tech Mahindra access to its hospitals, clinicians and wealth of healthcare management experience.

Steve Melton, Chief Executive of Circle, said: “This deal is a sign of the times. Healthcare has yet to see the tech-led disruption that we’ve seen in other sectors, but we think that is about to change. At the same time, there is a big push in UK government policy for transparency and better patient access to data – while the need for healthcare operators to be efficient has never been higher.”

He added, “Tech Mahindra are a hugely respected firm with a track record of innovation. Its technology has made organizations across a vast range of sectors more connected, agile and efficient. We’re absolutely delighted our partnership with Tech Mahindra will support us to grow our business and improve our competitiveness through the adoption of new technologies.”

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Tech Mahindra Continues Philippines Investment

Computer Weekly has reported that the UK government is seeking advice on proposals to reduce the number of individuals working in the UK from outside of Europe.

Overseas service providers can currently transfer staff to the UK to work on contracts with UK-based companies, provided the workers specialise in areas where the country has a skills shortage and the wages paid meet the government’s minimum salary threshold.

The UK government is now looking to reduce the number of these workers by increasing the pay threshold, reforming the skills shortage list and introducing an additional charge for the visas involved – that money will go towards developing homegrown skills which the UK is currently lacking.

Kerry Hallard, CEO of the National Outsourcing Association, warned that these proposals could prove costly: "The government wants to invest in developing home-grown skills here in the UK and that's admirable, but progress will take years.

“In the meantime, the UK shouldn't simply shut out talent that's available around the rest of the world. To do so would damage our economy which British workers are reliant on, harming the very people these proposed changes are meant to help.”

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Disney Cancels Outsourcing Plans as US Government Investigates Indian ITOs

UK apprenticeship provider QA Apprenticeships has committed to getting 10,000 of the country’s young people into professional technology positions through a year-long campaign.

Seeing as 75 per cent of 16-24 year olds now believe they could not live without the internet, QA Apprenticeships say they see this as “harnessing what is already second nature to the youth population.”

This drive for digital apprenticeships comes at an appropriate time. Over the past few years, industry experts, outsourcing buyers and SMEs in particular have commented on the high demand for tech and IT skills in the UK, and the lack of native talent in those areas. With the government considering cracking down on intra-company transfers, a digitally-skilled younger generation could be more vital than ever.

QA Apprenticeships has already achieved 5,000 apprenticeships in the space of five years and is confident in its ability to reach 10,000 within the next year.

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Frustrated SMEs Outsource IT Due to Skills Shortage

Live polling conducted at the NOA Symposium has revealed that recruiting good people is the main concern those in outsourcing have regarding the future of their industry. The Symposium boasted a 50:50 ratio of buyers to suppliers, suggesting that this concern was shared by buyers, service providers and advisories alike.

When asked “which of the following will most drive the growth of outsourcing over the next five years,” the audience answered:

Proving the business value delivered: 43%

Opportunities from digital, cloud, robotics etc.: 33%

Better strategic alignment between buyers and service providers: 20%

Improving the UK economy: 3%

44 per cent of the audience then agreed that “recruiting good people” was their main concern about the future of outsourcing, more so than disruptive technologies or decreasing profit margins.

On a scale of one to 10, the significance of the UK outsourcing industry’s skills shortage was seen as a solid seven. Recent NOA research has found that those in the industry do not see apprenticeships as a priority for bridging this skills gap. This could be bad news for the Conservative party, which has pledged to provide three million new apprenticeships during their next five years in government.

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: QA Apprenticeships Tackles the UK’s Critical Tech Skills Shortage

At the Analyst Outsourcing Debate at the NOA Symposium 2015, many key topics were touched upon: new technology, automation, new skills requirements and catalysts for change.

Security, however, was one topic that was somewhat neglected. This was pointed out by outsourcing analyst and panellist Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research. Most are aware that security is a huge concern in this age of new technology, but it often takes a significant data breach close to home to really grab the attention of company executives.

Are the majority of service providers sufficiently concerned about cyber security? If not, it is likely they soon will be. A recent report from Frost & Sullivan has found that managed security services are “taking off like wildfire” due to a severe shortage of security professionals, making online security a potentially lucrative market for ITOs.

When asked why they outsource operations involving security, 49 per cent of those surveyed cited “a lack of in-house skills,” 30 per cent a “temporary need for flex force capacity” and 26 per cent “recruitment limitations.”

Find out more about the report here.

For more pieces like this, subscribe to our email newsletter.

US datacentre provider IO has opened a new facility on the Slough Trading Estate and has confirmed that Goldman Sachs will be the first client using the datacentre.

The site covers 10,000m² with space to accommodate 90 high-density modules. IO has claimed that their new facility is top-of-the-range when it comes to security and efficiency.

“Each module has its own security. So, if you’re a bank or a customer with strong security requirements, you get your own locked room, as it were, within the datacentre,” IO managing director Nigel Stevens said.

“Most datacentres have trouble being efficient when they’re not full. Someone described the average datacentre setup as buying some beer, putting it on the kitchen table and turning on the air-conditioning to cool it down.

“With our approach, you only cool the parts you need to, which helps to make the whole thing far more efficient.”

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Equinix Buys UK Rival Telecity for £2.3 Billion, Scorning Interxion Merger in the Process

UK outsourcing giant Capita has been granted a £400 million contract to provide the NHS with administrative support services over the next four years.

Capita will be the sole provider for the contract. Reuters has reported that the deal is part of a larger framework that could be worth anything up to £1 billion in total.

Capita already provides a number of divisions within the NHS with various ITO and document management services, including the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Worcester NHS Trust Signs Contract with Computacenter to Boost IT and Connectivity

Outsourcing: Beyond technical expertise, part of the Grant Thornton International Business Report, has revealed that “intangible factors” are considered more important than “technical factors” when making an outsourcing business relationship work.

A higher number (56 per cent) of the 2,571 business executives interviewed thought service reliability was most important when selection an outsourcing provider, followed by provider cost (43 per cent), trust in the supplier (35 per cent) and understanding of the buyer’s business (35 per cent).

The report also found that payroll and HR are the most commonly outsourced back-office processes globally – 34 per cent of those surveyed outsource those functions or intended to do so. Finance and accounting processes was just behind at 27 per cent.

Read the full report for more.

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Equinix Buys UK Rival Telecity for £2.3 Billion, Scorning Interxion Merger in the Process

Sigma Financial Group, the Redditch-headquartered credit management and customer service specialist, has announced plans to expand into Birmingham, brining over 700 new jobs to the city.

The move into the McLaren Building on Priory Queensway will double the business outsourcing firm’s workforce. 200 new administration and contact centre staff will be recruited and trained by December 2015, followed by a recruitment drive for 500 further roles by the end of 2016.

Sigma CEO Tim Freeman drew on HSBC’s planned move to Birmingham’s Arena Central as proof of what a vibrant business community Birmingham is becoming: “Birmingham is booming and the city is on the cusp of becoming an even more important economy and centre for business in the UK.

“That makes it a hugely exciting time for us to be expanding and investing into the centre of Birmingham. It represents the beginning of a new chapter as we continue to grow our already significant ‘white label’ client base.

“To achieve that, we need to recruit the best people and we plan to have established a team of almost 750 in the city by the end of 2016. Those roles will be spread across middle and senior management, contact centre staff and specialist commercial and finance jobs.”

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Teleperformance USA Expands Killeen Facility Bringing 400 New Jobs to Texas

Europe’s top football governing body UEFA has extended its outsourcing contract with Interoute, meaning the telecoms provider will host roughly 98 per cent of UEFA’s IT services (including digital media such as websites) during the next international UEFA European Championship, hosted in France in 2016.

The four year contract extension includes the launch of new Interoute-hosted services, including the use of Microsoft Lync and a new Bring Your Own Device strategy. Interoute will also be responsible for maintaining UEFA websites, with 160 million page visits expected around the time of Euro 2016.

"Interoute's networked cloud is the infrastructure platform for 98 per cent of all the IT services that UEFA provides, from digital media to vital back office activities," said Daniel Marion, head of ICT at UEFA.

"Interoute understands its events process and has an agile operating model to fit with the needs of supporting and managing the ICT systems it uses to run some of the most high-profile football competitions in the world.”

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Related: Europe Overtakes Asia in Setup of New Outsourcing Facilities for First Time