Industry news

Cloud service provider On Direct, is launching the search for new resellers and white-label partners as it seeks to go to market with its new Cloud Direct offering.

The new recruitment initiative sees the company aiming to double its partner numbers over the next three years, as part of its wider growth strategy. Companies that become partners will gain access to marketing resources, On Direct products and support services.

Eliza Rawlings, director at On Direct said, “We are searching for IT partners or those with a broad customer base who are looking to extend their offering to drive greater service revenues.

SAP software enjoyed a revenue growth of 26 percent in its second quarter with an increase to €1.06 billion (£837 million).

SAP also announced that software related services saw an increase of 21 percent with overall profits rising by nearly 1 billion Euros.

CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe said in a statement: "Our record performance speaks for itself. We delivered double-digit growth in all regions driven by strong momentum from the core as well as SAP HANA, mobile and the cloud".

Surrey police have declared that it will suspend involvement in a privatisation contract with West Midlands police.

The announcement came as campaigns for the role of Surrey’s police commissioner attacked the move. The difficulties that have affected G4S in providing security for the Olympics has been cited as a key factor.

Police authority chairman, Peter Williams said:"Members agreed today that it is right that we should suspend our involvement at this time and that we should look to withdraw altogether".

Eurotunnel Le Shuttle who provides transport services on the Eurotunnel has deployed a new business intelligence system.

The new systems is designed to provide greater focus on the understanding of data collected and replaces the use of Excel spread sheets to collect and analyse data.

Paul Lymath, strategic planning and analysis manager at Eurotunnel, said: "We used to spend 75 percent of our time collecting data and only 25 percent of the time analysing it. It’s now the other way around."

The Metropolitan Police is looking at employing specialist software companies to provide a digital media evidence system.

Talks have already begun with suppliers as the force looks at how it can take advantage at digital data available and collect content from the likes of smartphones and social media platfroms.

A Met spokeswoman said: “As part of ongoing contingency reviews and planning we have explored a number of technical options to enhance our ability to capture high volumes of data sent to the MPS from external sources,” she said.

The London Assembly's Economy Committee attacked BT for limiting the capitals economic performance through low broadband speeds.

The Assembly listened to a range of experts who detailed that London failed to appear in the list of 30 of the most performing cities and that the impact of low broadband speeds was hampering the growth of SMEs.

Chair of the Economy Committee, Andrew Dismore, said: "London's broadband is becoming the 21st century equivalent of tin cans on a string. There is no doubt that this is having a detrimental effect on the capital's competitiveness and is hampering both old and new businesses”.

BT's Andrew Campling said that the stats used by the committee were incorrect, saying that “I don't accept that it is slow in London”.

Mobile operator O2 suffered a disruption in service yesterday, just weeks before networks are expected to face a jump in demand from the London Olympics.

O2, owned by Spain's Telefonica, said on its website on Wednesday that it had a problem on its network causing some customers to have difficulty making or receiving calls, sending texts or using data.

Its engineers were dealing with the problem and the company hoped to restore full service as soon as possible, according to an update on the 02 website.

Atos has faced heavy criticism for its handling of 'back to work' tests on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, which disabled people and campaigners say are solely designed to cut the welfare bill. The union will this week begin balloting more than 1,500 of its members across Atos Healthcare and Atos IT Services after they voted by 95% and 89% respectively to reject below-inflation pay offers.

This could mean workers from sites across the UK taking strike.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "In sponsoring the Olympics Atos would like the world to associate it with a spirit of effort and success, but the reality is that it makes its millions on the backs of its low-paid staff.

"The treatment of its own workers is given an added significance by its connection with the government's brutal plans to cut vital benefits for sick and disabled people."

Aegis looks set to fall to a knockout Japanese takeover.

The deal will create the biggest media and digital communications group in Asia and second largest in Western Europe, with "the fastest growing agency network in the US", the companies said.

Dentsu's offer of 240p-a-share is a 48pc premium to the Aegis share price of 162.2p on Wednesday

Bill Crothers has taken over from John Collington as the government's chief procurement officer, with an extended job specification covering a range of commercial as well as procurement responsibilities.

The appointment, which follows Collington's departure for the private sector, has driven the merger of the existing procurement and commercial relationship functions in the Cabinet Office into a single Commercial Procurement and Relationships Directorate, which Crothers will run.

The Cabinet Office said the restructuring follows the publication of the civil service reform plan, which set out a clear need to improve commercial expertise in the civil service.