Industry news

The Capita Group Plc ('Capita') has acquired Right Document Solutions Holdings Limited ('RDS') for a consideration of £30m on a cash-free, debt free basis, plus a deferred consideration of up to £10m.

The acquisition provides a good strategic fit with a number of Capita's professional services businesses by building upon existing design, bulk print and document management capabilities. Established in 1988, RDS provides document consultancy and managed print services through long term contracts with a range of public and private sector clients. Clients include financial services companies, legal firms, media businesses and educational institutions.

RDS made a pro forma operating profit of £4.4m on turnover of £12.2m in the year to 30 June 2010. Commenting on the deal, Paul Pindar, Capita Group Chief Executive Officer, said: "The UK market for print solutions has been estimated to be worth around £650 million in 2010 and is shifting increasingly towards managed print services. The acquisition, alongside Capita's existing print and document management services, will ensure that Capita is well positioned to participate comprehensively in this market. These services also play an integral role in many of our businesses and contracts and we can therefore provide further service efficiencies to both Capita and its clients by delivering these services directly."

Paul Gillett, Managing Director of Right Document Solutions, said: "We have a strong track record in delivering customer value through reduced costs and improved efficiencies. I am confident that combining our core strengths, especially those in managed print, with Capita's capabilities in wider document related services will differentiate our market proposition and give us a range of compelling unique selling points. Being part of the larger Capita Group will allow us to reach our full potential across both private and public sectors."

As part its commitment to change the way that Government does business, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude has outlined new plans to improve the way that Government deals with its major suppliers.

From now on, ‘Crown Representatives’ will ensure that Government receives the best value for money, by ensuring that the Government acts as a single customer. They will put an end to the days when departments were able to sign up – without any central control or coordination - to a series of different contracts with the same supplier.

The Crown Representatives group will also be responsible for developing ‘emerging players’ to the market, ensuring best value through new competition for public contracts.

These appointments follow the renegotiation of contracts with over 50 suppliers since July last year. The renegotiations have saved the Government £800 million in 2010/11.

Francis Maude said: “Our priority is to make sure the taxpaying public gets the best possible deal - and one of the ways of doing this is to ensure we’re really using the scale of government to push down prices. That is why any dealings with our big suppliers have to be coordinated and our approach has to be strategic – the new Crown Representatives will make sure this happens.

“Today’s announcement shows that we were serious about changing the way that Government does business. We have already saved £800 million since May by starting to establish Government as a single customer. But, in doing this we also recognised that we need better, more efficient relationships with suppliers over the long term."

Fujitsu, one of the world’s largest technology and communications companies, has announced plans to work in collaboration with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco to deliver next generation internet services to 5 million homes in rural Britain.

The Fujitsu open access wholesale network will be underpinned by Cisco’s world leading technology. Virgin Media and TalkTalk intend to access wholesale products via this network in order to retail next generation services to customers in remote parts of the UK. The network will also be open to other service providers on wholesale terms.

The proposals will provide future-proofed connectivity to 5 million households and beyond that would otherwise be unlikely to benefit from commercial investment in next generation digital networks.

Duncan Tait, CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland said: “There is a unique opportunity for the UK to re-establish itself as a world leader by having the world’s most advanced fibre network. If done correctly this can be a key vehicle to accelerate recovery in the UK and bring genuine choice to generations of communities starved of participating fully in the UK economy. We believe our approach, in collaboration with these major industry leaders, will provide a future proofed network for at least the next 20 to 30 years.”

SITA to provide BAA with all telecom functions as part of Capgemini consortium improving information sharing across airports

SITA, the world's leading specialist in air transport communications and IT solutions, has announced that it has joined the consortium led by Capgemini UK plc to provide core IT services to all six BAA-owned UK airports including London Heathrow, the UK's only hub airport, in a €120 million outsourcing deal.

Rob Watkins, SITA Regional Vice President for Northern Europe, speaking at the Aviation ICT Forum 2011 in London, said: "This is a major outsourcing win. SITA, as part of the consortium, will provide ITIL based service management, contract management and transformation services across the six airports. We will orchestrate and manage telecom services across the whole BAA airport IT network environment. The five-year agreement covers the direct provision of network, telecommunications and radio services to six major airports including service transition, transformation and revenue generation. In addition to cost savings, outsourcing IT to an industry specialist like SITA will give BAA access to a much wider range of IT experience and know-how, allowing it to focus on its core business."

Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude and Business Minister Edward Davey have outlined plans for a new Public Data Corporation.

The Corporation will, for the first time, bring together Government bodies and data into one organisation and provide an unprecedented level of easily accessible public information and drive further efficiency in the delivery of public services.

Supporting the Government's growth agenda, it will open up opportunities for innovative developers, businesses and members of the public to generate social and economic growth through the use of data.

The Corporation will also have the potential to attract investment, reinforcing and accelerating the development of these world class assets and their contribution to the knowledge economy.

By bringing valuable Government data together, governed by a consistent set of principles around data collection, maintenance, production and charging, the Government can share best practice, drive efficiencies and create innovative public services for citizens and businesses. The Public Data Corporation will also provide real value for the taxpayer.

Francis Maude said: “We have entered a new era of transparency in Government and have already made an unprecedented level of data available. But we want to go further and faster, this agenda is more important than ever.

“Public sector information underpins a growing part of the economy. The technology that is around today allows people to use and re-use this information in new and different ways. The role of Government is to help maximise the benefits of these developments. At present many state agencies face a conflict between maximising revenues from the sale of data and making the data freely available to be exploited for social and economic gain. Creating the PDC will enable the conflicts at the least to be managed consistently with a view to opening up access, and at best to be eliminated."

A consortium of water companies is inviting tenders for call handling services during major operations.

The contract is to ‘provide a consortium of water companies with a call handling contingency plan’ in the event of a major operational incident that causes an unexpected increase in incoming customer calls. This could be during a burst water mains when customers are trying to call suppliers.

The members of the consortium are Veolia Water East, Veolia Water Central, Bristol Water, South Staffs Water, Scottish Water, Cambridge Water, Dee Valley Group, South East Water, Wessex Water, Northumbrian/Essex and Suffolk Water.

CSC has announced that it has signed a seven-year information technology (IT) outsourcing contract renewal with Tryg, the second-largest insurance company in the Nordic region. The new agreement expands the scope of the existing contract to include new services and extends to include Tryg’s most recent acquisitions in Finland and Sweden with Moderna. This extension, which was awarded during CSC’s fiscal 2011 fourth quarter, adds $348 million to the previously announced contract, which now runs through December 2017, if all options are exercised.

As part of the agreement, CSC will deploy a series of innovative new technologies including CSC Dynamic Desktop and private cloud technologies that will provide further IT cost efficiency and flexible support for the transition and business development of Tryg.

Under the terms of the contract, which supersedes the previous agreement signed in 2007, CSC will continue to provide IT infrastructure services, including help desk, mainframe, midrange, network, Web hosting, project work, print and distributed computing. These services will support approximately 4,500 users at Tryg locations in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. These services have resulted in continued cost reductions over the course of the previous seven-year partnership, while delivering high-quality IT services to support Tryg’s business and its partners.

“We are pleased to confirm our partnership with CSC in signing this new agreement to support our insurance activities across the Nordic countries,” said Morten Hübbe, group chief executive officer, Tryg. “It is important to Tryg’s future business development that we establish an affordable and world-class IT support with the geographical breadth and depth that matches our ambitions.”

“This expansion and extension represents a milestone in our partnership with Tryg,” said Andy Williams, president of CSC’s Northern European Operations. “This renewal is testament to the benefits Tryg has received from outsourcing. CSC’s expertise and growth within the financial services industry will provide Tryg with the next generation of innovative, flexible and cost-effective IT services to support its business agenda.”

Water Treatment Outsourcing Agreement With GE Provides Italy’s Yara S.p.A. With Secure Water Supply, Cost Savings

An $18 million outsourcing agreement and facility upgrade for Yara S.p.A.’s Ferrara, Italy, plant with industrial water treatment leader GE is helping meet increasing customer demands for profitability and reliability. The plant in Ferrara supplies ammonia and urea liquids fertilizers to agricultural markets, which are growing strongly. But while production of these products requires copious amounts of clean water, the plant must rely on brackish, low-quality surface water sources.

Yara S.p.A., a unit of Yara International ASA, world leader in mineral fertilizers, outsourced its Ferrara water treatment operations to GE in 2005 to reduce costs, increase reliability and focus on its main businesses. With the recent contract expansion, GE will continue to build, own and operate the water treatment plant with onsite GE personnel through 2020. The facility currently produces up to 320 m 3 /hr of demineralized water using two proprietary GE technologies: brackish water reverse osmosis filtration and electrodeionization.

“The arrangement we have with GE enables us to capitalize on more favorable market conditions, which can be fleeting. We are confident we can meet the strong demands for fertilizers at acceptable margins because we can find alternative sources of water, and it also gives us substantial cost savings,” said Frank De Vogelaere, plant manager, Yara’s Ferrara, Italy, plant. “The cost savings come in two ways: we don’t have to buy expensive demineralized water from an outside supplier, and we have avoided production losses caused by low-quality water. Our expanding activities with GE are a direct result of GE’s performance over the years, and thus we have evolved out of a traditional supplier-vendor relationship into a more effective collaboration.”

BT is world’s largest financial services cloud provider with 15,000 member sites

BT has announced that its BT Radianz dedicated financial services cloud now reaches 15,000 member sites globally, consolidating its position as the world’s leading managed cloud for the financial services community. BT's Radianz cloud now supports the largest secure networked financial community in the world. This includes over 3,000 applications provided by over 400 service and content providers to users in 64 countries today.

The surge in member sites has been delivered through three key activities: a renewed focus on the Foreign Exchange (FX) sector; a focus on services in and to the Asia Pacific region; and helping customers respond to regulatory changes around the world. Demand from the FX community has increased significantly over the past year, with higher volumes prompting institutions to improve access to data and trading venues.

During the year, BT targeted and developed services with key application providers through recognising the value that their applications bring to the wider member base.

José Antonio Martinez, managing director of Radianz & Payments, BT Global Services, said: “We’re totally committed to satisfying the needs of the financial services industry through the provision of a world-class service and will continue to innovate and listen to the needs of our customers.

“The recent uplift in demand from FX market participants to use this service confirms our position as the preferred partner for fast and secure access to the global FX community. Watch this space as we announce further innovative products and services this year.”

Larry Tabb, CEO of leading financial markets research and advisory firm TABB Group, said: “The strength of a financial markets network is demonstrated by the number of secure endpoints and the ease of connecting exchanges, brokers, investors, and service providers. Surpassing 15,000 global member location connections is a feat demonstrating BT Radianz Managed Infrastructure’s leadership in providing secure, financial markets managed connectivity.”

The business process outsourcing (BPO) market in India will expand by 23.2 per cent in 2011 to reach a size of $1.4 billion, compared to $1.1 billion a year ago, a study by global IT research firm Gartner said Tuesday.

"Changing demographics, increasing affluence and economic growth in Asia-Pacific continues to drive shared services and BPO adoption, especially in Australia, India, Southeast Asia and China," Gartner's research director T.J. Singh said.

"Buyers continue to invest in services that deliver scalable and consistent services across their geographical presence," he added.

The study also forecasts that the BPO market will grow to $1.69 billion by 2012 and $2.47 billion by 2014.

According to the study, India is one of the fastest growing BPO markets in the region. However, the largest BPO country market is Australia, which is more than three times larger than India, the second-largest consumer of BPO services.