Industry news

Santander Asset Management may look to reduce its in-house fund management operation through outsourcing.

According to reports, the firm may look to reduce its in-house fund management operation by focusing its attention on only a handful of European and Latin American countries.

The key countries would be México, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Puerto Rico.

According to Spanish newspaper Expansion, the firm’s recent appointments, Juan Marin and Javier Alcaraz as heads of its private banking and asset management team, indicate a change of focus.

This could lead to the firm managing products only in the Spanish, Portuguese, UK and Latin American markets whilst outsourcing products in its other markets, the paper claims.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide end-to-end network operations management for Bulgarian telecommunications firm Vivacom in new outsource deal.

The contract, which is set to last five years, will also see around 3,000 of Vivacom employees join Alcatel-Lucent under pre-existing terms and conditions of service, it has been widely reported.

"The selection of Alcatel-Lucent will enable Vivacom to lower its operating expenses and ensures that Vivacom customers will receive services of top quality," said, Andy Williams, president of Alcatel-Lucent's services business.

Alcatel chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, also predicts outsourcing and co-sourcing deals will increase even further in the future, as companies seek to pool expertise as they search for new areas of growth in a bid to save costs.

Over two-thirds of customers feel complaints made to call centres are not being taken seriously enough, with more than half of customers finding call centre employees 'robot-like', research has indicated.

A study from speech search specialist Aurix suggested 70 per cent of complaints were not being heard or taken seriously, with further fundings including 96 per cent of respondents saying they would consider switching to a competitor as a result of their complaint not being taken seriously.

Furthermore, nearly three quarters (74 per cent) said they get frustrated by ‘poor communication’ when dealing with an agent, in the survey of 105 customers online.

Peter Rogers, Aurix chief executive said: "Our survey reinforces the message that customers are significantly more likely to “churn” to a competitor based on a poor experience."

Capgemini has joined forces with Swedish energy company Fortum Distribution to manage its smart metre provisions, in a deal worth €94m.

The ten year contract includes management of Fortum’s existing portfolio of 860,000 smart meters in Sweden, and will provide regular and scheduled meter reading, field services, service desk, management reporting, data centre hosting and application management.

Capgemini will also be responsible for managing subcontractors, such as telecommunications, software providers, meter manufacturers and field service providers in the deal, which will operate globally from countries including Sweden, Poland, India and Finland.

Peter Harris, VP and European leader of Capgemini’s Smart Energy Services said this was a deal of the utmost significance for Capgemini.

"Not only is Fortum an ambitious company, with aspirations to be a leader in the smart energy sector, the Nordic region is also leading Europe in this space with smart meters already deployed in every household in Sweden, and Finland and Norway close behind.

"We welcome the opportunity to harness the strength and collective expertise of our newly formed dedicated Smart Energy Services practice to help the company achieve its goals,” he added.

Local authorities view IT schemes as crucial to improving performance this year, a survey of council IT staff has indicated.

While 47 per cent of those surveyed at the recent Civica annual conference admitted they were expecting spending cuts, nearly 60 per cent suggested IT was a key investment area in 2010, according to computing.co.uk.

Further findings indicated that key strategies for driving efficiencies include the re-engineering of workflow processes (33 per cent) and greater use of mobile and flexible working (31 per cent).

David Roots, managing director of surveying company Civica, said: “Rationalising, re-engineering and automating processes is critical to delivering greater service effectiveness while reducing costs in all areas. There is still plenty of scope for local authorities and their partners to exploit technology in addressing the ‘more for less’ demands put upon them."

UniRush, a US pre-paid card company, has signed a three-year outsourcing deal with Firstsource Solutions, one of India’s largest BPO providers.

Under the agreement, Firstsource will take responsibility for Unirush’s customer services and back-office management for the company’s e-work division. It is hoped the deal will deliver increased operational efficiency whilst reducing risk.

Ram Palaniappan, general manager, UniRush, commented “The partnership will support our extraordinary growth and allow us to continue our tradition of outstanding service delivery to our customers and our partners.”

Medical equipment outsourcing is on the rise because of the ageing population. Advancements in technology, the desire to lead an active lifestyle, the rise in chronic conditions and increased public and private spending, are also contributing to a sharp rise, according to a new Bharatbook report.

The report, “Outsourcing in the Global Medical Equipment Industry – The Market Expected to Register High Growth in the Future”, forecasts that the medical equipment outsourcing market will reach $40.1 billion by 2016.

It analyses the key drivers behind outsourcing of manufacturing, clinical research and other support services to low-cost service providers based in Asian countries and elsewhere.

Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption has signed a five-year, 42 million Israeli shekel (approximately $11.2 million) outsourcing contract with Ness Technologies.

The contract includes an option of an extension of up to an additional five years.

As part of the agreement, Ness Technologies will operate and maintain the ministry's IT systems 24/7, including applications, infrastructure systems, communications, and workstations. In addition, Ness Technologies will upgrade the ministry's helpdesk.

Sigal Lebovich, manager of the Information Systems Department of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, commented: "Ness will assist us to leverage our IT resources and further develop our ICT systems to streamline the immigrant absorption processes. We will continue to improve service to immigrants based on these advanced IT systems."

The ministry's Information Systems Division is responsible for the operation of ICT systems for immigrant absorption, including registration of immigrants, management of assistance resources such as public housing, financial assistance and customs tax grants. The division supports 600 users at 40 sites nationwide, and operates two IT facilities - one in Jerusalem and another at Ben-Gurion International Airport.

SNS Bank has outlines its intention to outsource both the execution and administration of its security transactions to BinckBank.

Once an agreement has been reached, outsourcing is expected to be finalised early in 2011.

Under the agreement BinckBank would takeover SNS Bank’s total security-related process for both its investment fund and stock exchange investments.

“SNS Bank aims to be the best in selection, servicing and distribution for both investment fund investors and independent investors,” said Henk Kroeze, chairman of the board of directors of SNS Bank.

“Outsourcing the process that extends from transaction to administrative processing to BinckBank fits in with this strategy.”

The DVLA, the UK’s driver licensing body, is proposing to outsource 20 medical adviser jobs in Swansea.

The doctors whose positions may be outsourced, work to decide whether drivers with certain medical conditions are fit to hold a licence. The medical advisers are supported by a team of 300, but there is no indication that any of these positions will also be outsourced.

The news is causing worry in Wales with the British Medical Association Cymru and the Liberal Democrats expressing concern over road safety and the security of further jobs at the DVLA.

Dr Richard Lewis, the BMA’s Welsh secretary, commented: “I am extremely concerned that the DVLA are proposing to outsource the service currently provided in Swansea by 20 medical advisers which could lead to the loss of these jobs from the area, and can only be construed as a clear step towards privatisation of the service."

In reply, a DVLA spokesperson was noncommittal: “We are considering how the DVLA’s professional medical advisory function can be best provided to meet growing demand and ensure that appropriate medical expertise is available when needed.