Industry news

India's outsourcing chiefs crossed their fingers that Barack Obama would take a less hawkish stance on the industry during his second term, as they cheered his re-election as a possible boost to the U.S. economy.

Obama sharpened his rhetoric against industries that move jobs out of America during his re-election campaign, and his administration has been criticised by outsourcing industry bodies in India for tightening visa rules.

"Not the best news for India or the IT outsourcing industry," Phaneesh Murthy, chief executive officer of iGate Corp, said in response to Obama's victory.

Security group G4S appeared to bounce back from its Olympic contract shambles with a rise in revenues but the company admitted there was still work to be done to rebuild its reputation.

The company said revenues rose 4.1pc in the first nine months of the year, or 6.9pc including the London 2012 contract, Operating margins were lower compared with the same period last year.

The update from G4S was welcomed by the City and shares rose 3.5pc to 270p. However, contracts to run nine British prisons to be awarded this week will be a key test of whether the Government is willing to forgive its Olympics mishap and farm out new contracts to the company.

London & Capital chooses Oncore IT for Cloud-based backup services

Oncore IT, a Cloud and IT managed services provider, has announced that it has signed a three year contract with London & Capital, a leading firm of investment advisers and asset managers, to provide a cost effective and scalable public Cloud-based backup solution to maximise the level of data security, improve resilience and enhance its backup processes and procedures.

Oncore IT is supplying 3 TB of online backup on its Asigra-based Cloud storage platform, with London & Capital moving away from a legacy tape solution which was managed in-house for core company data.

Glenn Murphy, London & Capital’s head of IT says, “Shifting to a third party to manage our backup and restore systems reduces the management, IT and cost overhead on our business. Expenditure becomes operational rather than capital, and we commit to an established and compliant back up and restoration solution managed by a specialist.”

Some 16 million people in the UK lack basic online skills, a survey suggests.

The report, conducted by consultancy firm Booz & Company, defines basic skills as using a search engine, sending and receiving emails, completing online applications and accessing information online.

Go ON UK, a charity chaired by the UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox, commissioned the report.

The organisation aims to do more to improve digital literacy in the UK.

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The Outsourcing Yearbook Autumn Supplement featuring the National Outsourcing Association Awards is packed full of best practice and innovation. The supplement features all finalists and winners from the 2012 NOA Awards and contains 60+ case studies. Get the inside track on all the shortlisted entries and details of the very cream of outsourcing projects and people in 2012.

Please click here to read and share the Autumn Supplement.

IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is predicted to grow 1.4 percent in 2013 to reach $1.154 trillion according to a report released by Gartner.

The report identified investment in mobile technology as being a key driving force behind the growth.

The movement towards the creation and employment of mobile technology by businesses is expected to create millions of new jobs as well as leading software manufactures to make their services mobile friendly.

Gartner senior vice president and global head of Research Peter Sondergaard said: “The mobile device market is currently the bright spot of the IT industry".

89.33 percent of UK web searches in October were made using Google, the lowest percentage in five years after Bing and Ask made strong inroads into the market.

According to web traffic monitors Experian Hitwise, Bing now has 5 percent of the market share within the UK.

The decrease in market share has come from a push on Bing by Microsoft in the winter months and the inclusion of the product on all Windows 8 operating systems as default.

The private sector should inform and lead the public sector rather than the UK government attempting to become the leader of big data.

Former deputy government CIO Bill McCluggage said during a government discussion that the public sector should be looking to the private sector in creating best practice and harnessing bid data, rather than attempting to become the market leader in bid data.

Former deputy government CIO Bill McCluggage said during a government discussion today on bid data that: "I don't see central government being that agile yet. If you follow the current model you won't get there." He added: “You need a new model, a new way of rapid following. The best examples need to come to the forefront before government can follow".

Car giant Nissan have slashed their full-year profits by a fifth from the diplomatic conflict surrounding China and Japan over territory in the East China Sea.

Demand for Japanese products in China has fallen after goods have been boycotted, sales of cars from Honda, Toyota and Nissan have all fallen.

Nissan has the most to potentially lose from the on-going land debate with 27 percent of vehicle sales coming from within China.