Industry news

Mahindra Satyam, a leading global consulting and IT services provider, has announced today that it had reached a settlement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), without admitting or denying allegations of any wrongdoing, which concludes the SEC’s investigation of accounting issues as to the Company. This settlement relates to an accounting fraud perpetrated by the Company’s former management from at least 2003 through September 2008.

All of the misconduct transpired under previous management prior to the nomination and appointment by the Government of India of new directors for the Company on January 11, 2009, and prior to the strategic investment by Venturbay Consultants Private Limited, a subsidiary controlled by Tech Mahindra Limited, that was completed in July 2009.

In its press release, the SEC referred to “the unique and significant remediation efforts made after the fraud became public in 2009” and stated that Mahindra Satyam had been transformed “into a new company with new management, directors and investors and state-of-the art controls.”

Vineet Nayyar, Chairman, Mahindra Satyam, said, “We concluded that it is in the best interests of Mahindra Satyam and its shareholders to resolve this matter and put it behind us on the basis announced today. The new management of the Company are committed to the highest standards and we will never betray the trust of our investors.”

Under the terms of the settlement, the Company consented to the entry of a judgment requiring it to pay a civil penalty of $10 million, comply with the US federal securities laws, hire an independent consultant, and comply with certain undertakings.

Accenture has extended for four additional years its contract to provide RSA UK with insurance business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

Under the original contract, signed in 2003, RSA outsourced a range of front- and back-office operations to Accenture, including portions of its sales and service, claims, finance and commercial administration functions that support RSA’s direct, affinity and broker customers. The initial agreement was scheduled to expire in 2010 and was extended in 2009 for two additional years through to the end of 2012.

Under terms of the extended agreement, signed in December 2010, Accenture will continue to provide these services through to the end of 2016 whilst enabling RSA to have flexibility to meet its customer needs and explore other opportunities to support the on-line proposition. Services are delivered through Accenture’s Global Delivery Network using centers in Bangalore and Mumbai, India.

“We extended our relationship because Accenture offered us greater flexibility, enabling us to refine services in an efficient and timely manner to reflect the changing needs of our customers,” said David Pitt, Operations Director for RSA UK. “In addition, we have developed a level of mutual trust and respect over an eight-year period that gives us comfort knowing Accenture will provide the necessary support to RSA as markets and requirements evolve.”

“This contract extension is designed to continue to sharpen our focus on customer service, which remains one of RSA’s top priorities,” said Adrian Brown, CEO of RSA UK.

“We are proud of our track record working with RSA,” commented Mark Robertson, managing director of Accenture Property & Casualty Insurance Services. “The extension of this relationship, combined with the introduction of process changes and more sophisticated performance metrics, will bring more value to RSA, its customers and its brokers.”

This agreement complements a current management consulting and application development and management contract between the two companies. Under the agreement, Accenture provides development, implementation and ongoing maintenance services for RSA UK’s IT applications, including those related to customer relationship management, claims processing, commercial lines products, policy management and back-office operations in the UK and Ireland.

Accenture Property & Casualty Insurance Services, a business service within Accenture’s Financial Services operating group, serves more than 60 property and casualty insurance clients worldwide.

Microsoft Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp have announced that they have forged a strategic partnership and plan to build a global platform for TMC’s next-generation telematics services using the Windows Azure platform. Telematics is the fusing of telecommunications and information technologies in vehicles; it can encompass GPS systems, energy management and other multimedia technologies.

As part of the partnership, the two companies plan to participate in a 1 billion yen (approximately $12 million) investment in Toyota Media Service Co., a TMC subsidiary that offers digital information services to Toyota automotive customers. The two companies aim to help develop and deploy telematics applications on the Windows Azure platform, which includes Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure, starting with TMC’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012. TMC’s goal is to establish a complete global cloud platform by 2015 that will provide affordable and advanced telematics services to Toyota automotive customers around the world.

As part of its smart-grid activities, aimed at achieving a low-carbon society through efficient energy use, TMC is conducting trials in Japan of its Toyota Smart Center pilot program, which plans to link people, automobiles and homes for integrated control of energy consumption. TMC believes that, as electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles become more popular, such systems will rely more on telematics services for achieving efficient energy management.

Microsoft has a long history of delivering platforms and services to the automotive market, including in-car infotainment systems built on the Windows Embedded Automotive platform, in-car mapping services with Bing and the Microsoft Tellme voice application, and many other consumer solutions.

“Today’s announcement of our partnership with TMC is a great example of how we continue to invest in the automotive industry and of our commitment to power the services that are important to consumers,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “It further validates the power of the cloud, as the Windows Azure platform will provide the enterprise-grade, scalable platform that TMC needs to deliver telematics in its automobiles worldwide.”

“This new partnership between Microsoft and Toyota is an important step in developing greater future mobility and energy management for consumers around the world. Creating these more efficient, more environmentally advanced products will be our contribution to society,” said Akio Toyoda, president of TMC. “To achieve this, it is important to develop a new link between vehicles, people and smart center energy-management systems.”

Transport for London (TfL) has revealed that it plans to save £375m over the next seven years by delaying an upgrade of its technical systems.

These plans are part of a £7.6bn cost reduction plan that TfL announced after the Comprehensive Spending Review last year.

The move will see the company moving systems to a private cloud that will service all KPMG's European users.

TfL has confirmed that it will hold back on a "technical refresh" to make up part of the £375m planned savings.

It was not confirmed what system upgrades would be postponed

Dell Inc has named Suresh Vaswani, who was earlier joint chief of the IT business at India's Wipro Ltd , as the executive vice-president of Dell Services' applications and business process outsourcing business.

Vaswani will also take over as the chairman of its India operations, the world's No. 2 personal computer maker said in a statement issued late Tuesday, adding, he will report to Steve Schuckenbrock, President of Dell Services.

As executive vice-president at Dell Services applications and business process outsourcing unit, Vaswani's focus will be on building next-generation service offerings and grow Dell's process capabilities globally, Dell added.

Westminster Council will deliver savings of £9 million after it extended its customer services contract with Vertex for another two years until November 2014.

The services that are being extended are customer services, information and communication technology and banking operations.

Following a strategic review of the contract and recognising the challenges faced within the council over the next three years, Westminster and Vertex have agreed to extend the provision of these services while delivering savings of £9 million to the council. This contract extension will also provide stability through a period of significant change in Westminster and the predicted increase in demand for services, particularly in London during 2012.

The human resources, facilities management, outsourced procurement and transport functions part of the current contract will expire in November 2012 and be re-procured. The Vertex contact centre handles 100,000 calls per month and currently received 20,000 visits per month in the One Stop Services.

Cllr Melvyn Caplan, Westminster Council’s cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “Westminster aspires to be a global leader in city management and leading up to the 2012 Olympics, customer services will play a critical role in how people access and use our services.”

“Vertex provides a vital service to residents, businesses and visitors and we are pleased to extend our partnership with them to maintain and improve our services.”

“We know there is more work to be done and we will build on what we have achieved so far to provide the best possible service and value for money to people across the city.”

Paul Sweeny, CEO of Vertex, said: “We are delighted to be continuing to work with Westminster Council, especially during such a critical time of change. It is vital that at this time, citizens continue to receive world class customer service alongside the council delivering the necessary savings required of it.”

Vertex was first awarded the contract with Westminster Council in November 2002 and the value of the main contract is around £30 million per year.

Air transport IT specialist, SITA, has announced a programme to build a community cloud dedicated to the air transport industry that will improve efficiencies and reduce costs. The ATI Cloud programme builds on SITA's unique community role in the industry and meets a strong demand from its ATI customers.

SITA's investment in shared cloud infrastructure is already well underway and the ATI Cloud applications and services will go live from June. These include infrastructure, platform, desktop and software-as-a-service offerings, which will enable true end-to-end business and IT solutions on demand for the unique needs of air transport.

Francesco Violante, SITA CEO, said: "SITA has a successful 60-year track record of working solely for the air transport community, taking a long-term view and investing for the industry's future. Our global communications backbone and industry knowledge provides the foundation for our investment in the ATI Cloud."

The air transport industry is truly unique and has very special needs. It integrates many different players such as airlines, airports, manufacturers and GDSs that share numerous business applications and must co-operate across the air transport eco-system. It operates on a complex set of national, regional and global regulations and standards, requiring a consistent approach across stakeholders and across IT services.

Violante added: "The best way to really serve the industry's needs is to build an integrated cloud combining network and IT solely dedicated, and specifically tailored, to the air transport industry. SITA has a community ethos of providing solutions to the air transport industry and providing the ATI cloud is the logical next step for SITA."

"The ATI Cloud is firstly about having a secure and reliable global network, and SITA already has that; the ATI Cloud is about managing shared IT infrastructure such as that at airports, in which SITA is a leader; and it is about optimising the operation and distribution of applications from data centres to end users. As the leading provider of air transport IT solutions, SITA has now committed to the delivery of the ATI Cloud."

The ATI Cloud is based on six large regional virtual data centres across five continents; together with virtual data centres based at large airports. Services will be delivered through leading-edge self-service and automation portal technology, providing IT managers with on-demand provisioning, control, visibility and reporting. End-users will be no more than 100 milliseconds away from one of the data centres.

The European Outsourcing Association and the National Outsourcing Association are now accepting entries into their annual awards.

EOA Summit & Awards

Hosted by the Spanish chapter, the 2011 European Outsourcing Association (EOA) Summit will bring together the world’s leading outsourcing suppliers, end users and support service providers for a two day conference focusing on the latest innovations, trends and developments in the European outsourcing market.

Date of event: 20th & 21st June 2011

Location: Madrid, Spain

Deadline: Entry forms must be received no later than 5pm on Friday 27th May 2011.

For a complete list of awards categories and for information about how to submit an entry, please visit the NOA site http://www.noa.co.uk/index.php/site/summit/

NOA Summit & Awards

For the first time ever the NOA will be bringing together its annual Sourcing Summit & Awards.

Now in its eighth year, the annual National Outsourcing Association Awards (NOAA’s) is firmly established as the highlight in the outsourcing industry calendar and attracts over 500 people. This combined with the 9th NOA Sourcing Summit will create a must-attend event for professionals involved in sourcing across all business sectors.

Date of event: 9th & 10th November 2011

Location: London, England

Deadline: Entry forms must be received no later than 5pm on Friday 5th August 2011.

For a complete list of awards categories and for information about how to submit an entry, please visit the NOA site http://www.noa.co.uk/index.php/site/awards/

Genpact Limited, a global leader in business process and technology management, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Headstrong Corporation, a global provider of comprehensive consulting and IT services with a specialized focus in capital markets and healthcare, for cash consideration of $550 million. Genpact expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings per share on a GAAP basis in 2011. The transaction is being funded by a combination of existing cash and acquisition financing, and is expected to close by May 31, 2011, subject to customary regulatory and other conditions.

“Headstrong is a complementary high-growth business, built by talented leaders, that is an excellent fit strategically, financially, operationally and culturally. With this acquisition, we are gaining critical domain and technology expertise in the complex, but highly attractive, capital markets industry vertical. This expertise – combined with our capabilities in business process management (BPM) and Smart Decision Services that encompass analytics and reengineering – will create a uniquely powerful value proposition for clients,” said Pramod Bhasin, president and CEO of Genpact.

Headstrong has approximately 3,700 employees in seven countries and generates a significant amount of revenue from employees who are onsite with clients in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Headstrong generated revenues of approximately $217 million in 2010 and Genpact expects Headstrong’s long-term growth rate to be in excess of 20% per year.

“This transaction is the next stage of our evolution and it immediately positions Headstrong to emerge as the global leader in domain-led services to the capital markets,” said Sandeep Sahai, CEO of Headstrong. “Our companies’ combined offerings create a compelling value proposition, with significant potential to offer Genpact’s extensive expertise in business process management, reengineering, high-end analytics and infrastructure support to our clients. We are also excited about adding our capabilities to Genpact’s strong client portfolio in the banking, financial services and insurance markets. Our geographical footprint will also increase, allowing us to provide these enhanced services from more locations, including in the U.S., Mexico, Poland, Hungary and China. Finally, we are all thrilled to join the Genpact team.”

Genpact’s Chief Operating Officer Tiger Tyagarajan said, “We are combining forces for our clients who seek a nimble provider with global scale, specialist knowledge and end-to-end solutions, such as through Smart Enterprise Processes (SEPSM). By enhancing our domain expertise, we can more broadly deliver our end-to-end solutions to clients in specific industry verticals. The acquisition of Headstrong will also help us expand operations in the U.S. and shift our center of gravity to be even closer to our clients.”

Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), A Xerox Company, has announced a $200 million, five-year agreement with MGM Resorts International to provide managed information technology services.

In addition, ACS will bring high-tech expertise to Las Vegas when it establishes a locally -based Center of Excellence. This center will be dedicated to applying the latest technological innovation to support MGM Resorts International by using best practices that have been successful in other industries. ACS' Centers of Excellence serve as flagship delivery centers that attract multiple clients seeking applied innovation and expertise.

"Working with an innovative business partner like ACS allows us to focus on our core business: delivering a winning combination of quality entertainment, luxurious facilities and exceptional customer service," said Becky Wanta, chief information officer of MGM Resorts International.

ACS will assume responsibility and performance of all service desk and desk side support to MGM Resorts International's employees; manage and continually update company's IT equipment; manage the IT purchasing needs as well as the storage of vital data.

"Our clients benefit from the continual investment we make developing secure and reliable IT systems," said Derrell James, executive vice president and group president, ACS IT Outsourcing Solutions. "We've established deep expertise in serving the unique business needs of the hospitality industry and are well-positioned to continue growing our presence in the market."