Industry news

NHS England is set to move forward with its patient data collection program from this spring.

The move is according to the NHS, designed to improve health care services through the utilisation of modern data services, focusing on areas that show best practice and those that are struggling.

The patient data program is expected to provide data that is similar to information already gathered in hospitals, allowing the NHS to analysis care in GPs and create an overall picture of services.

In preparation of the spring launch date, the NHS has undertaken a PR offensive including a leafleting campaign, in order to mitigate patient fears given current fears surrounding data protection and government intrusion.

NHS England said in a statement that: “Using this combined information, we can now obtain low-cost answers to questions about the quality of care that would have been difficult or impossible to answer only a few years ago.”

NHS launches £100 million fund for innovative IT

NHS Shared Business Services announces legal services framework appointments

The latest forecast from analyst giant Gartner predicts global IT spending will reach $3.8 trillion in 2014.

The latest forecast expects a total rise of 3.1 per cent compared to spending 2013. The predicted increase in spending suggests confidence in strong IT growth compared to the limited 0.4 per cent growth in 2013.

The forecast pointed to increased investment in tablets, PCs and mobile devices driving spending with enterprise level software spending continuing to represent the greatest growth over the 2014 forecast.

Industries are also expected to increase funding in customer marketing while employing analytics. Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner, said: “The focus is on enhancing the customer experience throughout the presales, sales and post sales processes.”

The forecast also expected companies to increasingly refocus investments away from data centre development, instead moving to cloud based platforms.

Insight into IT set to be a key focus for 2014

Ayala Corp have undertaken the sale of its BPO unit to Convergys in a deal valued at $820.

The Ohio based customer management and information management Product Company is expected to complete the purchase of the BPO unit called Stream at the end of the first quarter.

The purchase will lead to the creation of a company with a combine revenue of over $3 billion, with more than 125,000 employees operating in 35 different languages.

Convergys President and and chief executive Andrea Ayers, said: “This acquisition is an important step forward in our plan for strategic growth and value creation."

She added that: “We believe this combination will strengthen Convergys by diversifying our client base and enabling us to offer a wider range of customer transactions in a more cost effective manner from multiple geographies, at scale".

Convergys Recruiting for 370 Positions in Costa Rica

Convergys Announces Expansion into Colombia With State-of-the-Art Contact Center

The City of Boston have moved to Google away from Microsoft following a review of services based on cost and capabilities.

The decision will see all public service employees including, emergency services, education and transport staff move away from using Microsoft Exchange to using Google Apps.

Google was chosen based on the view that past Microsoft services had taken a high level of resources to maintain and took too much time, while Google offered a 99.9 per cent uptime guarantee on email services.

“Our new unified, cloud-based communication system is pretty big change from our old set-up. Our agencies worked together to manage their mail environments, with resources focused on mail administration and working across the group structures”, said Boston’s CIO Bill Oates.

Google reveals outsourcing mantra

The UK nuclear supply chain has received a £13 million investment designed to boost services through the development of innovative practices and products.

The funding comes from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and a range of other public bodies, and follows the decision to construct Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear pwer station in over 20 years.

Energy minister Michael Fallon said: “This funding will help UK companies to compete for contracts in areas like construction, manufacturing, operation, maintenance and decommissioning and waste. We want to build a robust UK-based supply chain for existing and future nuclear power stations.”

Expectations turn to China for future power as Centrica pulls out of nuclear project

George Osborne has warned of further cuts over the coming year, which he described as a "year of hard truths".

He said that £25 billion in savings would need to be achieved in order to balance UK spending, saying that the UK was currently: "borrowing around £100bn a year - and paying half that money a year in interest just to service our debts".

Mr Osborne suggested that the cuts would come from reductions in welfare spending, including cutting housing benefits for under-25s, and restricting housing for those with an income of over £65,000 a year.

The announcement comes as the Chancellor seeks to cement the government’s economic strategy in preparation of the next general election.

UK government cuts see borrowing drop

UK prepares for 2013 budget

HTC has reported worse than expected profits for its fourth-quarter, with a net profit of T$0.3 billion despite significant cost-cutting practices.

The net profit compares to T$1.01 billion in the same quarter of 2012, and fails to meet the expected amount of T$721.71 million according to Reuters.

Despite marketing campaigns HTC has struggled to differentiate its brand from the likes of Samsung and Apple, while attempting to move away from continued poor market performances, which seek to put off customers from investing in devices which may not be supported should the company fail.

Currently HTC hold a 2.2 per cent global market share, compared to the 10.3 per cent it used to hold in 2011.

HTC rumoured to be looking at outsourced production

HTC and Apple settle outstanding patent disputes

The UK’s services sector showed slow-down in December according to the monthly services purchasing managers' index (PMI), with PMI falling to a six month low of 58.8.

The slowdown in activity saw the services sector underperform against analyst predictions, who had expected a continuation of Novembers PMI of 60.

Despite the underperformance, the PMI shows continued growth with expectations of further growth in 2014, with businesses seeking to expand while banks are still lending.

UK services sector reports strong growth

Telecommunications giant Telefonica is moving ahead with plans for a joint offer takeover of TIM Brasil.

The joint offer according to sources quoted in Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore (which owns a stake in TIM Brasil), is part of Telefonica’s plan to acquire and break up the unit.

The joint offer could potentially be ready by the end of this month. News of the potential purchasing plan comes despite pressure on the telecommunication giant to reduce its grip of the Brazilian telephone market.

Telefonica agrees on $1 billion sale of O2 Ireland to 3

Telefonica sells online travel agency Rumbo to Bravofly

Cybersecurity company FireEye Inc has bought computer forensics specialists Mandiant Corp in a $1.05 billion deal.

Mandiant has hit the headlines in the past for its role in revealing the involvement of a specialised Chinese military unit’s involvement in hacking major U.S. companies.

The markets responded favourably with FireEye shares rising by 20 per cent on the announcement of the merger, which creates a cybersecurity company focused on contemporary cloud based services.

FireEye has said that it expects to see revenue growth of 50 per cent this year.

Shortages in IT security specialists fail to meet demand

New cyber-crimes unit looks to create links with the City