Industry news

National Services Scotland (NSS), which supplies support services to NHS Scotland, are preparing to look for new services to replace outdated legacy child health surveillance systems.

The NSS have revealed that the child health surveillance systems have become increasing inefficient and increasing expensive, with the systems having been developed for the NHS, up to 15 years ago.

The NSS said that the systems “now have a number of challenges including legacy technology, inflexibility, poor architecture and poor value for money.”

In tendering for replacement services, the NSS are looking for systems which are able to support a large service base of more than 5 million Scottish children, migrate past data easily from the legacy systems and provide a modern online interface allowing for flexibility and accessibility regardless of location.

NHS selects three suppliers for recruitment system

NHS Shared Business Services secures supplier framework contract

Airbus has awarded a contract to Atos, to develop, maintain and transform the enterprise management content system of the aerospace giant.

The five-year contract is designed to transform the management content system, which is employed by 59,000 employees, as well as customers and suppliers, in joint collaborative tasks and in transferring large numbers of documents relating to aircraft engineering and design.

The new contract is expected to reduce the overall costs of the content platform, while simultaneously driving innovation and growth.

Jean-Marie Simon, CEO Atos France: “We are extremely proud to have been chosen, from a number of competitors, as Airbus' global partner to transform the management of its information assets.”

Airbus looks to reduce rising energy costs

Airbus signs ITO deal with CSC

Northeast Utilities (NU) have moved forward with outsourcing their IT services to India, the contracts would see the outsourcing of part of NU’s IT operations to Indian based Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys.

Northeast Utilities which operates the largest energy delivery system in the Connecticut, has said that the move will generate savings, with Tata and Infosys being placed to deliver enhanced IT capabilities, in order to meet customer expectations.

The ITO operation would see the migration of the roles carried out by 200 IT workers based in New England to India.

The move to ITO to India is expected to affect around 200 U.S. based jobs, with Utility jobs having been viewed as being relatively secure. The move to outsource has been attacked by local government representatives, with Democrat state rep. Joe Aresimowicz, saying: "Shipping these good-paying jobs away will not just hurt Connecticut's economy, but it could also pose a serious security threat".

Calls for a clear up of U.S. outsourcing visa regulations

Tata awarded £13 million contract

Outsourcing provider Infosys has been awarded a four-year contract to deliver application management services to Japanese car giant Toyota.

The contract will see Infosys provide services to Toyota’s European operations as part of a programme to reduce overall costs.

The contract will include management of more than 150 European operational applications, including those used in manufacturing, the supply chain and in sale processes.

In outsourcing application management services, Toyota is looking to refocus its manpower on delivering project development and the optimisation of services.

Pierre Masai, Chief Information Officer, Toyota Motor Europe, said: “standardisation, global delivery model coupled with scale, productivity benefits and continuous improvements will help optimise application management costs.”

Infosys and Tata awarded ITO contract from U.S. based energy organisations

Infosys wins five year BMW IT infrastructure contract

IT giant IBM have moved to purchase analytics firm The Now Factory, in order to gain access to data analytics software designed to monitor customer behaviours and network performance.

The Now factory software allows the collection and analysis of real time data, with the technology being employed by leading telecommunications firms around the world.

The move to increase analytic capabilities comes as the development of mobile networks such as 4G, increases the amount complexity of raw data.

In a statement, IBM said: “The demand for this type of software is being driven by the explosion of growth in the volume of real-time data that is being produced by mobile devices and the strain it is putting on mobile networks to collect and process events instantly, monitor their performance, and understand the impact of customer interaction”.

Big Data still yet to mature

CSC moves to extend data analytics capabilities with start-up acquisition

Four major banks have moved to outsource data through a of a shared IT platform in an effort to reduce costs.

The four banks, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, have joined to create a shared data repository which will house client and compliance data.

The plan to join together to create a shared platform, comes as financial institutions come under increasing pressure to meet a wide range of regulation demands, with a shared storage service allowing the banks to refocus on growing revenue.

The banks have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), in preparation for the creation of the data storage platform.

Michael C. Bodson, DTCC president and CEO, said of the programme: “Our ultimate aim is to support the industry’s call for a comprehensive, centralised platform to effectively manage virtually all client reference data”.

IBM acquires analytics firm for network monitoring

Big Data still yet to mature

The Internet of Things (IoT), which includes smart meters and machine-to-machine services, is expected to reach a value of $8.9 trillion as a market by 2020, according to analysts.

U.S. based analyst firm IDC have predicted a 7.9 per cent growth rate up to 2020 as customer demand promotes rapid growth.

The demand is being driven by an increasing use of smart technology, with smart cars, houses and city projects driving investments in the market.

London Mayor develops plan for ‘Smart London’

British Gas award £600 million contract to smart meter manufacturer

Sainsbury’s have broken the £1 billion milestone for online sales in its second quarter.

The supermarket recorded a 16 per cent increase in online sales year on year, with more than 190,000 customers accessing the site every week.

The online sales success comes as supermarkets move to capitalise on the increasing trend of online shopping as customers move away from the high street.

Jon Rudoe, Sainsbury’s online director, said: “We’re confident there is still a huge amount of potential for growth as our online grocery operation continues to complement our core supermarket business.”

Sainsbury’s have reported record-breaking sales

Sainsbury’s modernises supply chain technology

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has moved to encourage SMEs in tendering for services, with plans to create a SME friendly framework.

The hospital is planning to let out framework contracts in order to create a shop window for the NHS as a whole to view and purchase SME services.

By allowing other NHS trusts to view tendering processes and services, SMEs will have the opportunity to receive further contracts from within the NHS, without having to undergo further tendering exercises

NHS selects three suppliers for recruitment system

An IT error has resulted in the cancelation of more than 700 appointments with NHS Glasgow and Clyde, which represents the largest health board in Scotland.

The cause of the IT error has been attributed finally to a software glitch with the Microsoft Active Directory which supports the trust’s network, after blame was originally placed on server and back-up system failures.

The IT system was rebooted on Thursday with the support of Microsoft engineers and is now fully operational.

IT technicians have now moved to identify how the Directory became corrupted and increase the resilience of the IT framework and back-up systems.

The network framework is set to come under increased strain, as more users are added, as part of the NHS’s digital strategy.

NHS selects three suppliers for recruitment system

NHS Scotland looks to replace legacy child health surveillance systems