Industry news

BT has signed a multi-million contract with Oracle which will see 88,000 HR staff of the telecoms giant moved to a cloud hosted platform as part of a transformation programme.

HR staff will be transferred on to the Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) system, which will cover HR staff based internationally that provide services including management, analytics, recruiting, and other end-to-end services.

The new service provides an easier user interface, improved administration and standardises tool sets across a global employee base.

“Oracle’s comprehensive HCM portfolio will help enable BT to increase productivity, accelerate business performance and empower its people,” said Oracle president Mark Hurd.

BT completes Visa communication upgrade

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has said that the UK is facing improving prospects with improving business and consumer confidence.

While the committee said that it was, “too soon to draw a firm conclusion from recent labour market outturns about the extent to which productivity would increase", minutes from the meeting revealed optimism surrounding the UK’s economic prospects, with a fail in the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent, and expectations of overshooting a unemployment target of 7 per cent within three, years now deemed as probable.

The committee decided that interest rates should remain static at 0.5 per cent with a unanimous vote upholding the current rate.

Bank of England Announce £100bn Stimulus Package

The latest Information Services Group (ISG) outsourcing index posted significant market growth with an 89 per cent rise in the annual contract value compared to the last quarter.

The latest figures posted in the index recorded record numbers of outsourcing deals in the EMEA, with nine out of ten outsourcing contracts in the world worth over €80 million occurring in the region, confirming it as the world’s largest outsourcing market.

The index recorded a total of 125 ITO contracts taken out in the Q3 alone, overtaking the previous EMEA record.

On a regional level, the United Kingdom showed strong third-quarter results, recording €680 million in annual contract value, up 35 percent over the prior quarter. However, Germany led the region’s growth, posting €810 million in annual contract value and surpassing the UK for the first time.

“EMEA achieved the highest third-quarter results on record, a strong rebound from the weakness observed in the first half of the year,” said John Keppel, Partner & President, ISG North Europe. “While the improvements we are seeing are in comparison to weak performances in the first half, we believe the high level of contracting activity speaks volumes about the underlying strength of the current market.”

Bank of England reports improving economic forecast

Wipro announce strong Q2 results with 28% net growth

Smartphone giant HTC is rumoured to be looking into outsourcing phone manufacturing according to sources.

HTC’s top management are moving to separate design and manufacturing with a look to outsourcing the manufacturing side of the business, according to sources speaking to Reuters.

The planned programme would resemble a similar model employed by apple, which outsources manufacturing services, to Chinese based Foxconn.

The move comes as HTC sees a reduction in sales from increasing competition from Samsung and Apple, causing the company to seek to create cost savings and flexibility from the implementation of an outsourced manufacturing model.

HTC and Apple settle outstanding patent disputes

HTC Expands Cloud Services with Dashwire Acquisition

Wipro has announced its second quarter results ending September 30th with strong results.

The IT outsourcing services giant posted 28 per cent year-on-year net income growth, with net revenues from operations of $309 million, an increase of 28 per cent year-on-year.

Suresh Senapaty, Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer of Wipro, said: “Our sustained execution towards increasing operational efficiencies in the business coupled with currency benefits helped offset the impact of wage hikes resulting in strong improvements in operating margins.”

Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro stated that the results “are positive indicators on the global economy. Client confidence is on the uptick and we see it reflected in our results.”

The strong results follows similar reports from other Indian based outsourcing companies, reflecting the strong growth that the services industry is currently enjoying.

Wipro wins 9-year contract renewal

Wipro leads Greenpeace electronic rankings

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is set to strike this Friday in opposition to plans by the government to outsource back office functions.

The governments planned contract with French based IT services provider Steria is expected to affect over 1,200 workers.

The planned contract is expected to be finalised by the November 1st, and comes as part of the Civil Service Reform Plan, which aims to deliver increased efficiency and savings.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We will not stand by and watch while yet another piece of the civil service is parcelled up and handed to a private company to make a profit.”

A Government spokesperson said that reform plans called for a more efficient, smaller civil service and that shared services and private sector involvement was key to delivering “more efficient and cost-effective services."

Prime Minister acknowledges public sectors shortcomings when outsourcing

Cabinet Office outsources department services according to union

Research carried out by Efma on the behalf of outsourcing firm Infosys, revealed that 77 per cent of international banks surveyed, where intending to increased investment in innovation funding.

Rising areas of innovation include new customer interaction services brought about by improvements in technology, including mobile and online banking services and internal data analytic services.

The research surveyed 148 banks in 66 different countries, with the survey showing a large percentage of banks planning for innovation promotion, compared to just 13 per cent of banks who had increased investment in a similar report in published in 2009.

Despite the desire to increase the development of innovation through greater funding, many banks have been limited by the continued use of legacy systems with limited infrastructure, which prevents the application of innovative practices.

Financial institutions move to outsource data

HMRC places tender for financial transaction system

China’s largest technology outsourcer Pactera, is set to go private under a consortium led by Blackstone Group LP, for $625 million.

The Beijing based outsourcer, which provides international consulting and technology based services, was formed from the merger of HiSoft Technology International Ltd and VanceInfo Technologies Inc.

Buyers including members of Pactera’s management team, succeeded after a revised premium offer was placed on the table, with a price of $7.30 per American depositary share (ADS). The offer is less than an previous offer of $7.50 ADS made in May, after financial results failed to meet predictions.

In response to the privatisation, the market saw a 39 per cent increase in the value of Pactera’s ADS.

Alibaba Group set to build $48 billion logistics network in China

US trade group send letter to congress criticising Chinese IT supplier ban

HMRC has published a prior information notice in the search for a supplier to deliver fraud prevention and tax credit intervention services, in a bid to cut down on abuses within the system which last year led to losses of £2 billion.

The notice for tender asks for a supplier to provide additional capacity to the HMRC workforce, and undertake over four million reviews over a three year period. The supplier would also be required to host HRMC IT systems on its premises, requiring sufficient security measures to be in place, to ensure data protection.

The search for a supplier comes after the success of a 2013 trial which succeeded in reducing error and fraud in the tax credits system, and resulted in savings of £20 million.

HMRC will hold an engagement event on November 14th which will allow suppliers to present to the department project team.

HMRC places tender for financial transaction system

HMRC drives savings as a savvy customer

Capita have been selected to operate a nine-year IT contract, providing managed services to Croydon Council.

The contract is expected to deliver significant savings of around 50 per cent on current costs, with Capita delivering IT support, support, infrastructure, new desktop solutions and mobile services.

The service management contract is designed to safeguard frontline services from increased efficiency.

The council contract comes after Capita secured a ten-year £320 million BPO contract with Barnet Council.

John Gladman, Head of ICT at Croydon Council, said: ““This contract gives us cost savings and an improved IT service at a time when resources are extremely limited, when frontline services need as much protection as possible and when staff need all the support that we can give them”.

Six London councils employ shared services to save £18 million

Call Britannia Calls for Companies to Outsource to Croydon