Industry news

The Servest Group has signed a full IT outsourcing contract with Dimension Data, the global IT solutions and services provider. The three-year agreement is worth approximately R43 million.

The Servest Group provides multiservice solutions such as cleaning, hygiene, interior and exterior landscaping, security, turf and parking to over 7 000 clients throughout the United Kingdom and South Africa.

By outsourcing its IT operations, Servest will have the flexibility to concentrate on its core business and react quickly to business demand, providing a flexible and highly responsive service that adapts to changing requirements and delivers operational efficiencies that will contribute to the company's growth and competitiveness.

According to Mike Bouw, Group IT Manager, Servest: “Dimension Data has the resources to deliver, offers flexibility, the ability to innovate and is willing to manage the environment to fulfil our business needs.”

Whisper Systems has announced that it’s been acquired by Twitter.

Twitter confirms that it’s acquiring Whisper, but it has not stated its intentions or anything about the terms of the deal.

“The Whisper Systems team is joining Twitter starting today,” reads a statement from the company. “As part of our fast-growing engineering team, they will be bringing their technology and security expertise to Twitter’s products and services. We’re happy to have Moxie Marlinspike and Stuart Anderson onboard.”

A 10% corporation tax rate will apply to profits from companies' worldwide trading activities which are attributable to qualifying patents, the Treasury confirmed in draft Finance Bill 2012 legislation published today, establishing the 'Patent Box' tax regime.

"The Patent Box will provide an additional incentive for companies in the UK to retain and commercialise existing patents and to develop new innovative patented products," the consultation response says. "This will encourage companies to locate the high-value jobs associated with the development, manufacture and exploitation of patents in the UK and maintain the UK’s position as a world leader in patented technologies."

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced it would be rolling out its ElastiCache capabilities to four more regions, including EU West – based in its Dublin data centre.

The company launched ElastiCache back in August for its US East region – run from Northern Virginia – enabling users to speed up the retrieval of information from web applications by introducing caching technologies.

Capgemini UK plc, has been selected as Unilever’s global business intelligence partner, to work alongside Unilever IT and business teams in delivering a major transformation programme over the next three years. Unilever is one of the world's largest consumer goods companies, with 2 billion people using its products every day across 180 countries, and this major global programme will create its first Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW), providing real-time data on its customers, markets and operations worldwide to support decisions on all the company's plans and activities.

The programme will involve migrating legacy data warehouses into the new EDW and providing new datamining and analytical tools to support Unilever management at all levels in achieving fast, informed and fact based decision-making based on comprehensive and up-to-date data. It is also expected to deliver significant sustainable cost savings both in IT and across Unilever business operations worldwide.

Willem Eelman, Unilever's Global Chief Information Officer, said: “This programme is one of our top strategic initiatives, not just for IT but for the Unilever business worldwide. It will transform the way our businesses around the world access and use information, bringing enhanced insight and consistency. Capgemini was the natural partner for us given their strong global Business Information Management experience and understanding of our business.”

Serco signs contract with Peterborough City Council to deliver service improvements and efficiencies

Peterborough City Council and Serco have now joined forces to create a strategic partnership that will improve services to residents and deliver at least £20m savings over the next 10 years.

The 10-year deal, with the option of two further five-year extensions, will see all 370 city council staff who currently work in these services transfer to Serco, with their terms and conditions protected under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations.

NSPCC, the UK’s leading children’s charity specialising in child protection, aims to deliver cost savings by using Rosslyn Analytics’ award-winning cloud-based spend analytics and contract management platform, RA.Pid.

“Rosslyn Analytics has developed a unique offering that significantly reduces time and cost spent manually obtaining, managing and reporting data – these resources combined with the savings that RA.Pid will help us to identify, can now be dedicated to helping children,” said Catherine Dixon, General Counsel & Company Secretary of NSPCC. “Employing best business practices and technologies used in the private sector that release funds to help even more children and assist us to navigate this difficult economic climate is a ‘win win’ for the Legal and Procurement teams.”

Transversal has been appointed by John Lewis to help improve its customers’ online experience through a new Web self-service solution.

The Transversal system will allow customers using johnlewis.com to find relevant information quickly and easily by keying in search terms in everyday language.

Answers to the common questions that consumers ask are stored in a knowledgebase which is continually updated with relevant information on products, services and deals. The implementation is part of John Lewis’ strategy to further improve its online shopping experience. The Transversal solution will help improve the already successful Web presence that continues to deliver market-beating growth.

The implementation comes at a time when online shopping is booming. Google announced that retail searches in this year's third quarter were 35% higher than in Q3 2010. This trend is only likely to rise with the Christmas period as British consumers search for their favourite products.

Sean O’Connor, Web site manager at John Lewis, explains: “The way consumers shop is changing rapidly. John Lewis needs to ensure it is at the forefront of this change, and that it gives customers the best shopping experience it can through all channels. People want the ease that the Internet can provide, and when they shop online they expect convenience - the Transversal solution will help us achieve that. By allowing people to search for relevant information easily and quickly it helps ensure the Web site is as usable as possible.”

SAP AG, the largest maker of business-management software, agreed to buy SuccessFactors Inc. for $3.4 billion in cash, stepping up competition with archrival Oracle Corp. in the cloud-computing market.

SAP will pay $40 a share for San Mateo, California-based SuccessFactors, which makes software used to manage employee performance.

Steve Jobs revolutionised the way in which consumers use technology to communicate – a legacy which will carry on for many decades to come. Up until a few years ago the Internet was almost exclusive to desktop and laptop computers, but the introduction of smartphones and tablet computers have made mobile access to the World Wide Web a reality. Prior to the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 the term ‘app’, the abbreviation for application, was mainly used in specific technical contexts. Today, most people would associate the term with their mobile phone or a tablet computer.

It is estimated that half the UK population owns a smartphone and there are said to be over a million mobile phone apps . 1 in 5 mobile users say that they now only use their handheld, instead of a PC or laptop, to access the Internet. So whilst consumers have been quick to embrace new technology, have businesses followed suit?

Not quite. Despite the growing numbers of people accessing the web via their smartphones, Google found that in the US nearly 80% of advertisers did not have a mobile-optimised landing page. Similar to the US, much of the web in this country is still not tailored for mobile devices leaving users with a poor web experience. This is particularly evident within the public sector and SMEs who can be slower to adopt new technologies owing to a lack of resources.

Mobile apps have become the latest must have feature for a number of businesses. However, what many failed to realise is that the lifespan of an app has decreased. Research has found that about 20 per cent of users return to an app after the first day they downloaded it and the average app has a less than five per cent chance of being used for more than 30 days.

Today’s technology enables organisations to reach customers through a number of platforms from telephones and mobile apps to websites and interactive TV via the push of a red button. Therefore, implementing a well-planned, multi-channel communications strategy which integrates new technologies could ensure that an organisation’s outreach is more effective and consistent. Of course this is easier said than done.

It is easy to envisage what a successful multi-channel strategy looks like: the organisation’s latest products, special offers and critically any information and advice to consumers would all be linked, updated automatically, consistent and accessible across different platforms – from the mobile apps to contact centres. For example, in instances such as a product recall where effective, accurate and up to date information, advice and guidance (IAG) is vital, reaching the public across multiple platforms fast is especially critical. Given the opportunities and challenges of multi-channel communications, it is no surprise that businesses choose to outsource their IAG requirements to specialists.

There is no magic formula to implement an effective communications strategy – either outsourced or implemented in house - however there are a number of standard questions an organisation must ask itself before implementing a multi-channel strategy:

- What are the business objectives?

- Who are the organisation’s customers?

- Would new technology fit into its corporate strategy?

- What does the business want the communications to achieve?

- What new technologies are appropriate to reach customers?

- At present, how do people receive IAG from the business?

In summary before embarking on a multi-channel communications strategy, a business needs to ensure that this approach fits with its objectives. Implementing a multi-channel approach can take time as it does involve a cultural and technological shift for most businesses. If the business provides information and advice to the public, making sure that it is accurate and consistent across platforms is critical. This in turn demonstrates expertise, builds trust and cements a relationship between an organisation and its customers.

How much a business can invest in technology and/or outsource its communication requirements will ultimately determine its level of outreach. Even if it has limited resources, businesses must at least explore how the current website performs against various mobile devices and consider some form of mobile optimisation. What’s worth bearing in mind is that even in today’s ‘austere’ times, if the sales figures for some of the latest smartphones are anything to go by, consumer demand for new technology is still strong. We overlook them at our peril.