Industry news

Research conducted by the Cloud and Data Centre specialist Node4 has found that almost half of the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling to hire IT staff with the necessary skills and qualifications.

The skills shortage is most severe in South East England, where 65 per cent of SMEs find it difficult to recruit qualified staff for their in-house IT operations. 60 per cent are struggling in the North East and the East Midlands, and things aren’t much better in the capital, with 46 per cent of London’s SMEs suffering from an IT talent shortage.

It is no surprise then that 79 per cent of the UK’s SMEs see IT outsourcing (ITO) as a highly viable option. The vast majority agreed that outsourcing IT infrastructure ‘removes the headache’ of IT management and finding the right personnel.

Paul Bryce, Business Development Director at Node4, commented: ‘The nationwide struggle for skilled talent is a major concern for businesses. With a large number of SMEs frustrated with technical limitations and the day-to-day administration of their infrastructure it’s hardly surprising that local outsourcing has become a preference so that organisations can continue to win more business, beat the competition and succeed.’

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Lithuania-based Atea has bought UAB Baltnetos Komunikacijos, a leading cloud and IT outsourcing provider in Lithuania.

The acquisition is reportedly worth €10.4 million and will come into effect on 9 April 2015. Atea is a leading IT infrastructure and systems integration provider with 6,500 employees across 90 locations.

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HP and Microsoft will be working together to provide digital solutions for the public, automotive and financial sectors.

The new relationship will see HP providing ‘Business Process as a Service (BPaaS)’ solutions for Microsoft’s Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.

HP’s BPaaS solution is expected to help organisations with tailored industry solutions, enabling them to deliver digital, mobile and social interactions with their customers.

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Thousands of workers across 12 of Brazil’s cities have taken to the streets in order to protest a proposed congressional bill that will promote outsourcing.

Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest business hub, saw peaceful protests of just under 1,000 people. However, thousands turned out to protest in the capital Brasilia, resulting in clashes with police, who fired tear gas at the demonstrators.

The discussed legislation would facilitate outsourcing across a wide array of industries in both the private and the public sector.

Brazil’s Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) union organised the demonstrations, claiming that ‘the bill withdraws, in practice, rights won by workers with difficulty and gives bosses the legal right to employ as they see fit.’

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Sourcing consultancy Alsbridge has acquired Source, the end-to-end sourcing advisory specialist, for an undisclosed amount.

Alsbridge is huge in the US market with a large number of global and multinational clients. The company launched its own UK sourcing practice in March 2015 and the acquisition of Source is the first step in its planned rapid expansion in the UK.

Chip Wagner, CEO of Alsbridge, said: ‘Through this acquisition Alsbridge benefits from a strengthened presence in the rapidly growing UK and Northern European markets for IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing and network sourcing, which is one of is one of the most advanced, vibrant and competitive in the world.’

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The mystery surrounding Apple’s outsourcing relationship with Indian providers has been revealed, thanks to research by the Times of India (ToI).

Service providers are secretive about their agreements with the California-based giant, signing non-disclosures in exchange for lucrative contracts. However the ToI has spoken to research firms and industry sources to reveal that TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra are all Apple’s primary vendors, working across various divisions including enterprise applications, customer care and product lifecycle management.

Speaking to the ToI, Peter Bendor Samuel, CEO of the research advisory Everest Group, said “It looks like Apple is considering a significant reworking of its provider portfolio. Given their spend and what they are doing in the market place, this could be very substantial not only in terms of the revenue from Apple, but also in terms of partnerships.”

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Humber NHS Foundation Trust expects to roll out its new mobile solution in June – the technology will support access to patient records via phone and tablet.

The solution was made in partnership with BT and procured by Humber through the G-Cloud Framework.

Valued at a little over £1 million, BT will provide an end-to-end service offering Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G mobile connectivity. Belfast-based Total Mobile are providing the workflow management software.

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The NOA is pleased to announce its shortlist for the 3rd annual Professional Awards. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony taking place on Thursday 21st May at the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC.

The Professional Awards exist to recognise the individuals, teams and companies who do their utmost to make outsourcing work, and celebrate their talents. The shortlist spans a wide variety of functions and industry sectors, but all those included have one thing in common – a drive to achieve outstanding success through sourcing.

The shortlist is as follows:

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Rising Star of the Year

Abby Bennett, Team Manager, Capita

Natalie Thomsen, Customer Experience Advisor, Capita

Bryan McGovern, Head of MI & Dialler Support Services Private Sector, Serco Global Services

Laura Burns, Assistant Contact Centre Manager, Teleperformance

Gareth Fegan, Service Delivery Manager, Ulster Bank

Manager of the Year

David Wyer, Strategic Supplier Development, BBC

Clare Enstone, Framework Team Leader, Capita

Mel Holmes, General Manager, Capita

Gavin Cox, Head of Operations/Operations Manager, Serco Global Services

Advisor of the Year

Paul Silver, Senior Associate, CMS

Mark Crichard, Partner, RPC

Martin Hunt, Senior Sourcing Advisor, Source

Strategic Leader of the Year

Rosaleen Blair, CEO and Founder, Alexander Mann Solutions

Matthew Sanders, CEO, Brookfield Rose

Christopher Stancombe, CEO, Capgemini Business Process Outsourcing Strategic Business Unit

Rob Johnson, Head of Consulting Service and Solutions Architecture, Dimension Data UK

Valeriy Kutsyy, Chief Executive Officer, Miratech

Sadiq Mohammed, Retail Sales Director, Serco Global Services

Award for Professional Development (Individuals)

Samantha Kelly, Outsourced Operations Manager, Aviva

Simone Hammer, Content Delivery Manager – Offshore Operations, Thomson Reuters

Alison Haigh, Head of Procurement, UKAR

Award for Excellence in Supplier Management

Argos and Elixirr

Capital One

McCarthy & Stone and Xchanging

NHS Blood and Transplant

Phoenix Group

UCB

Award for Excellence in IT Delivery

Attenda and Greenergy

Cognizant

Cognizant Technologies Solutions UK and Lloyds Banking Group

eClerx Services Ltd – Performance Assessment for Investment Banking Operations

NashTech and Civica

Soitron UK and HP Enterprise Services

Award for Excellence in FAO

EXL and British Gas

Genpact and British Gas

Sykes Financial Services

Tata Consultancy Services and National Grid

Award for Excellence in Outsourced Customer Service

60k and Thomas Cook

Convergys and O2

eClerx Services Ltd – Quality and Compliance Interaction Monitoring, Insight & Analytics for TalkTalk

Mindpearl

Teleperformance and E.ON

Teleperformance and Vodafone Ireland

Award for Excellence in BPO

60k and Sky

Capgemini BPO and Unilever

DDC OS and Brandbank

eClerx Services Ltd - Search Conversion Rate Optimization

eClerx Services Ltd - Product Data Preparation for Platform Migration

Xchanging and Federal-Mogul

Best Offshore Team

Capgemini India – Peopleshop Team

First Data Corp

Intetics Co.

Mindpearl

NashTech and Civica

Serco Offshore Mortgage Services Team

Best Shared Services Team

60k and Sky

CGI

First Data Corp

Serco's Support Services

Siemens

Sykes – Shared Resources Group

Skills Development Programme of the Year (Corporate)

Alexander Mann Solutions Sourcing Academy

Capita’s Regulatory Solutions, Active Manager Programme

EXL Utilities Academy

Genpact’s Black Belt Build Programme

Mindpearl’s Leadership Development Training Programme

Ulster Bank’s Outsourced Services Team

To find out more about the Professional Awards and buy your ticket, visit the NOA website.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has urged banks to ensure high standards of care and accountability when outsourcing financial services.

In a circular issued to the banking sector, the RBI urged that banks “take steps to ensure that the service provider employs the same high standard of care in performing the services as would be employed by the banks, if the activities were conducted within the banks and not outsourced“.

The RBI went on to ask that banks put into place a “robust system of internal audit” to manage all outsourced activities, to be continually monitored by the adjusted cost base (ACB) of the bank.

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Denbighshire County Council has agreed a seven-year contract with Civica to provide its revenue and benefits services.

The contract, which is due to save the council £200,000 annually, will see Civica create a transactional processing centre to deliver the services locally.

74 employees of Denbighshire Council will be transferred to Civica to help with their contact centre strategy.

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