Industry news

Professional Outsourcing magazine has been appointed to the advisory board of the new Centre for Global Sourcing and Services at Loughborough University School of Business and Economics, and has also been chosen as media partner for the new centre.

The centre, led by Professor Ilan Oshri, will carry out independent research into key trends across areas such as captive shared services, outsourcing, offshoring and back-sourcing, with the aim of improving sourcing practice through ongoing engagement with both managers and policy-makers.

Managing Editor Chris Middleton said: "I'm delighted that Professional Outsourcing has been appointed to the advisory board and chosen as media partner for a brand new research centre at one of the UK's leading academic institutions. This magazine is founded on the principles of providing in-depth, independent research, expert analysis and thought leadership - aims that we share with Loughborough University School of Business and Economics. We look forward to working with the Centre for Global Sourcing and Services to bring our readers the very latest research from some of the leading academics in the field."

Professor Oshri said: "In many ways, this is a perfect time to launch a research centre on global sourcing of IT and business services. With mounting reports that many organisations struggle with their outsourcing and offshoring engagements, the unprecedented growth in shared service investments and - on the other hand - recent reports about significant back-sourcing, it has become imperative to understand the effects of such trends on management practices, policy making and society."

Oshri added: "Partnering with Professional Outsourcing is key to achieving the research centre's key objectives. First and foremost, we will work closely with the editorial team of Professional Outsourcing to disseminate the results of our independent research and achieve a high impact on the magazine's broad readership. At the same time, we will be looking for valuable input from the magazine and its readership about contemporary and long-term trends in the sourcing domain that will guide our research agenda."

The Centre draws upon an outstanding network of researchers from the School of Business and Economics, London School of Economics, Warwick Business School, Bath University and Said Business School

www.professionaloutsourcingmagazine.net

The first privately run NHS hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, has claimed that waiting times, cost savings and care have all improved under the new management.

The Hospital has been run by the private company Circle since February over a 10-year contract.

The hospital prior to the takeover had been identified as failing to offer effective clinical care as well as being financially unviable.

Circle chief executive Ali Parsa described how the hospital had been improved. “You let the doctors and nurses and the healthcare professionals - who know the patient best and who know their services best - and let them take charge.”

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Staff at Atos IT have voted to strike over pay. 89 percent of Atos IT workers and 95 percent of healthcare workers of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) voted against below-inflation pay offers.

In rejecting the new pay offers PCS Atos members then voted in favour of a strike. The action could impact on a range of current projects including BBC technological support, MoT test center facilities and backup services for the Welsh Assembly.

The strike action could take place as soon as the next few weeks according to the PCS. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said : "Atos is desperate to bolster its damaged image by its association with the Olympic spirit of hard work and success, but that the reality is that it makes its profits on the backs of its low-paid staff and from taxpayer handouts.”

Eric Van Der Kleij, the outgoing chief executive of Tech City Investment Organisation (TCIO), has become an advisor to the Canary Wharf Group.

The move comes as the development group seeks to enhance Canary Wharf’s offering, and increase the links between financial and professional services in the area, as they seek to attract new businesses and increased investment.

Sir George Iacobescu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canary Wharf Group, said: "We welcome Eric's expertise on to the team. He will help us to create new, customised business locations, fused with technology and an attractive lifestyle, that aim to match exactly what businesses will require twenty or thirty years into the future".

Microsoft has announced the closure of its acquisition deal with Perceptive Pixel (PPI).

In buying PPI Microsoft has added the company’s expertise in multi-touch large-scale displays to its roster of services and enhancing Microsoft’s presentation and collaboration products.

The deal was announced back in July and comes as Microsoft seeks to make large-screen touch displays the norm in workplaces.

Over the last few days and the weekend, reports have emerged demonstrating that digital communications have been unable to cope with the rise in users.

On Saturdays the BBC suffered technical difficulties with GPS services due to overloaded communication networks, including reports of twitter use being responsible.

Reuters quoted an International Olympic Committee as saying “if it's not an urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy” In reference to Twitter use.

HP have announced the release of new services from its Enterprise Services department, aimed at helping clients to enhance customer satisfaction and increase revenue.

The new Customer Engagement Management (CEM) services are designed to deliver greater customer experiences for clients across a range of mobile devices, as well as social media.

Danila Meirlaen, vice president, Business Process Outsourcing at HP, said in improving the customer experience: “HP consultants help drive this transformation based on our deep heritage of contact-center operations, industry experience and global presence, assisting clients so they can increase revenues and customer satisfaction.”

Mexican cement giant Cemex has entered into a deal with IBM to create savings of $1 billion over 10 years. The deal will see the company outsource jobs globally to IBM as part of the companies cost saving measures.

The move is expected to affect between 1,500 and 2,000 staff and comes after Cemex posted heavy losses from the housing market collapse in the US and a $16 billion acquisition of Rinker.

Cemex Chief Financial Officer Fernando Gonzalez spoke to Reuters, saying “Starting 2014 is when we will have a full year of savings.”

The contract ranks as one of the largest outsourcing deals in Latin America.

Oracle has announced the purchase of Xsigo which specialises in network virtualisation. While the finical details of the purchased were not released, the move is expected to be finalised by the autumn of this year.

The move comes as Oracle looks to create its own virtualisation offerings. Xsigo currently has companies such as eBay and BT among its customers.

Lloyd Carney, CEO of Xsigo, said “with Xsigo, customers can reduce the complexity and simplify management of their clouds by delivering compute, storage and network resources that can be dynamically reallocated on-demand".

CGI announces a net fall in income of 30 percent, the news comes as the Canadian IT firm seeks to acquire UK outsourcing giant Logica.

The third-quarter results posted saw profits fall by C$87.2 million.Michael Roach, CEO of CGI, said: “Our continuing ability to generate significant cash from operations positions us to fully meet our strategic and financial commitments, including the transformational business combination with Logica which we expect to close in the current quarter.”

The Logica deal will cost CGI £1.7biilion and a further £322 million when the company takes on Logica’s net debt.