Industry news

The Department for Work and Pensions has been criticised for failing to meet targets relating to its Work Programme.

The back to work initiative which is designed to get unemployed people back into long-term work, only managed to get 3.6 percent of the people on the scheme back into work in the first 14 months, between June 2011 and July 2012, compared to the target of 11.9 percent.

Opposition Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chaired a committee which attacked the DWP, said: “"It is shocking that, of the 9,500 former incapacity benefit claimants referred to providers, only 20 people have been placed in a job that has lasted three months”.

The Work Programme uses private firms to bring individuals into work on a payment by results basis to increase cost savings. Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O'Grad also agreed with the committee’s report.

In response to the criticism, a DWP spokesman said: “"This report paints a skewed picture. More than 200,000 people have moved off benefits and into a job thanks to the Work Programme.” The spokesman added that: "The Work Programme gives support to claimants for two years and it hasn't even been running that long yet, so it's still early days. We know the performance of our providers is improving."

More than 900 amendments to data protection laws have been approved by the European Parliament's industry committee.

The amendments are designed to benefit trading and boost economic development, allowing increased European trade, particularly with countries such as the US.

While the amendments have been welcomed by industry groups, some consumer organisations have raised fears over the safety of data in overseas locations, and the influence of industry lobby groups over the new data protection laws.

HP reported a 16 percent drop in profits for the last quarter as PC and printer sales are hit by slowing consumer demand.

Total revenue fell by 6 percent to $28.4 billion, with the last quarter representing the sixth quarter of consecutive declines in revenue.

HP has moved to undertake cost-cutting measures, with earnings for the next quarter up on analyst expectations.

CEO Meg Whitman said: “"While there's still a lot of work to do to generate the kind of growth we want to see, our turnaround is starting to gain traction as a result of the actions we took in 2012 to lay the foundation for HP's future".

Professional services firm Ernst & Young’s director of information, Mark Brown, has said today that the success of UK IT Offshoring in the late 90’s, allowed a domestic skill gap to open.

The success of Offshore IT service providers allowed UK based businesses to neglect the UK skill market.

IT businesses are now seeking to help train the next generation of UK IT employees, this includes the development of the national IT curriculum, which in the past has been criticised for failing to teach core skills that the IT industry desires.

Mr Brown said: “We have to look at how we address what we're teaching our kids at school today.”

Companies that delivered these past Offshored services, such as major corporations in India, are now helping to establish UK student skills, in order to develop the UK IT marketplace.

Mr Brown commented that the UK had already created a strong IT security industry set for future growth.

UK based HEROtsc, which employs more than 6,000 staff has been acquired by Paris based Webhelp, as part of the companies aim to increase expansion into UK markets.

Webhelp which operates 24 contact centres Europe and North Africa and employs 10,500 people, has the backing of majority stakeholders Charterhouse Capital Partners.

The acquisition will provide Webhelp with UK based infrastructure and English-language based capabilities, allowing the customer management company to expand towards an international client base.

David Turner, Webhelp TSC chief executive, said: “Under our new ownership, we will continue to provide the very best career opportunities and support to our people as we continue to expand our operations geographically and into new service areas.”

A consortium of suppliers led by Accenture have been awarded a three-year contracts to maintain the visa information system (VIS) which allows EU border-control agencies to cross share information and visa records.

The contract, valued at €70 million, will see the consortium provide technical support alongside identification services, integration and biometric capabilities.

Past problems with border travel within the Schengen Area have included visa shopping, in which individuals who have failed to gain entry into the EU, have been able to gain entry at another crossing, due to a lack of record sharing. The new VIS system is designed to modernise the EU’s border control system.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is planning to work with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), in a move that is designed to increase the departments assessments capabilities.

By analysing share price information from the LSE, the DWP will be able to accurately gauge the incomes of individuals claiming income-related state benefits who have assets tied up in stocks.

The proposed contract with the LSE will involve the provision of share price information from specific periods in time, even if the data is historically old. The planned service will allow the DWP to access the necessary records directly.

Virgin Media has been selected to deliver broadband network connectivity and services to 40 casinos operated by Genting Casinos.

The service is designed to facilitate communication between staff. Max Lintott, Head of IT, Genting Casinos, said: “Our network is a pivotal platform for our business, so we don’t want to take any risks. The previous generations of data networks were coming to the end of useful life and we need a service that’s going to provide the bandwidth we need now and in the future”.

The ‘superfast’ service, which will be scalable in nature, is expected to be deployed by the end of 2013 and will cover 3,600 casino employees.

A group of investment funds are suing the affiliates of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu after substantial investment losses from investments with ChinaCast Education.

Investors are seeking tens of millions of dollars from the action against Deloitte, who audited ChinaCast for 2007 to 2010.

The investors stated in the class action lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, that "Deloitte put its name and brand behind the certification of financial statements that were almost entirely false".

ChinaCast has been hit by reports of irregularities regarding its former chief executive Ron Chan, with the company’s’ assets being placed directly under Chan’s control, according to accusers.

Ashish Gupta, senior VP and head of HCL Technologies’ infrastructure services division, explains why greater cloud adoption could result in more collaborative practices

Does every cloud really have a silver lining? Perhaps not, if you speak to UK enterprises. According to recent studies, UK–based organisations are lagging behind other markets when it comes to the adoption of cloud computing services.

Only a few years ago, leading analysts and technology experts were convinced that by 2013, cloud computing would be a non-negotiable time and money saver. The common perception at the time was that cloud would be as pervasive as electricity and personal computers in the modern business, and that organisations would be falling over themselves to implement it. So what’s gone wrong?

It’s clear that the benefits cloud computing can provide are well understood and appreciated by UK organisations. Indeed, a study conducted by research firm OnePoll on behalf of HCL Technologies found that of 250 IT managers surveyed, a staggering 95 per cent of those who had embraced cloud computing found that it enabled them to work more collaboratively and efficiently. In addition to this, 63 per cent of cloud users said that it allowed them to more easily store data, while a third (35 per cent) said that it allowed them to communicate more easily without being inundated by email.

Tellingly – and perhaps a little alarmingly – the same survey also showed that although existing cloud users have reaped the benefits of the increased collaboration that it can provide, many still view it as a risk that they cannot afford to take. More than a third of IT managers surveyed (38 per cent) that had yet to implement cloud solutions said that they were reluctant to because they felt it is too unproven as a technology to be risked.

What this tells us is that there is a marked difference between people’s perceptions of cloud computing and the reality. We’ve all heard horror stories about new, so-called ‘fad’ technologies that ultimately prove to be unreliable, or, worse still, completely disastrous. What those who are reluctant to take the leap of faith need to understand is that cloud computing is no longer the unproven, risky investment that many initially considered it to be.

Today, cloud computing is one of the most important trends in the industry and one that is significantly changing the way that businesses are run. The figures show that cloud services have matured to the extent that they allow businesses to behave in a collaborative way, and to share resources and information much more efficiently. It’s clear that those who have taken the cloud computing plunge have experienced this, but if the dream of widespread cloud usage is to become a reality, perhaps more organisations need to join them in removing the cloud shackles and exploring it as a way to deliver value?