Convergys acquires Intervoice

Friday, September 05, 2008

Convergys Corporation, a global leader in relationship management, has acquired Intervoice, Inc., for US $335 million in cash at a value of $8.25 per share. 

The combined entity will provide clients with a suite of solutions, from a single source, that enhances customer and employee interactions and simplifies operations.  With Intervoice, Convergys hopes to extend its leadership position in relationship management adding additional strengths in the software-based interactive voice response, contact center, and mobile messaging technology and applications markets.  This position is supported by combining the innovative technology and large, global client base of both companies.

Dave Dougherty, President and CEO of Convergys, commented: “This acquisition is about investing to address the current and future needs of our clients.  Convergys is committed to delivering, and in fact enhancing, Intervoice’s product roadmap. Together, we will ensure that all Intervoice and Convergys clients and partners have access to industry-leading technology, professional services, and support solutions that enhance.

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Bedford Borough Council shuns SAP for Agresso in £400K deal

Bedford Borough Council has signed a contract with Agresso UK worth more than £400,000 which will see the company implement and provide support for the core financial system for the unitary authority.

Being awarded Unitary Authority status means that Bedford Borough Council, which already uses the Agresso Business World suite, will take over responsibility for services provided by the County Council, which currently uses SAP. Following an evaluation process, Agresso was chosen as the preferred financial management system for a unitary Bedford Borough as it was felt the system would deliver more value for money over time and better meet its financial management requirements.

Frank Branston, Mayor of Bedford, commented: Selecting Agresso means we have a fit for purpose system that the unitary authority will be able to rely on for accurate and up to date financial information. The Agresso system will be housed and operated by Bedford Borough Council so we have the ability to tailor it to meet the needs of the authority.”

Selecting which financial management systems will be taken forward represents a critical step on the way to creating the new authority. The Agresso system will provide the data for the new council’s statement of accounts as well as allow capital and revenue budget monitoring.

John Crooks, Agresso Managing Director, commented: “This is a great endorsement for Agresso. Our unique architecture eliminates the need to modify source code so that organisational change is typically reflected in the system by the business users rather than IT personnel or expensive consultants. The solution is unique among ERP systems and this ability to address change continuously after the initial implementation is complete, delivers cost savings for customers.”

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Oracle acquires ClearApp

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Oracle has acquired ClearApp, a supplier of application management solutions.

Leng Leng Tan, Oracle vice president, commented, “With the addition of ClearApp’s technology our customers are expected to get continuous and uninterrupted top-down views of their business services and applications”.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2008. Until then each company will continue to operate independently.

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Lockheed Martin wins £150m contract for 2011 UK Census

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

The Office for National Statistics has selected Lockheed Martin UK to provide IT services for the 2011 Census for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  The £150M contract was awarded after an extensive procurement process which required the Lockheed Martin UK-led team to demonstrate its ability to provide secure and accurate data capture and processing support services.

Working with the ONS and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) authorities, the team will design, install and support an innovative system using state-of-the-art character recognition and colour processing for paper census forms. The system will, for the first time, allow for census questionnaires to be completed via the Internet in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ian Stopps, CEO of Lockheed Martin UK, commented: "We are proud to again support the Office for National Statistics in conducting its census. Together, with our industry team, we are committed to delivering a system that enables the government to efficiently and effectively perform the 2011 Census while ensuring that all information remains secure and confidential”.Oracle Corporation UK, Polestar Group, Royal Mail, Steria Ltd, and UK Data Capture Ltd.

Lockheed Martin, who successfully provided the data capture elements of the 2001 UK Census, as well as previous censuses for Canada and the United States, has created a consortium of UK-based companies with proven experience. Team members are Broadcasting Support Services (bss), Cable & Wireless, Logica (UK) Ltd. 

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Angolan Government selects Unisys for citizen ID card system

DGM-Sistemas Lda, an Angola-based IT company, has awarded a three-year contract to Unisys Corporation to help develop and roll out a new citizen ID card program for the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Angola.

The deal, valued at approximately $22 million, will see Unisys companies develop the back-end systems and biometric ID cards for over 20 million Angolan citizens by 2015.

The aim of the card programme is to reduce fraud and modernise the Ministry’s Criminal Registry.

Unisys will create a centralized citizen registry capable of recording demographic details, digital photographs, digital signatures and fingerprint scans captured at fixed and mobile stations. Around three million records with existing biographic information will be migrated to the new application.

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Indian IT services will grow by $8.1 bn by 2011, says Springboard

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

The IT Services market in India is estimated to grow from US$4.1 Billion in 2007 to US$8.1 Billion in 2011, representing a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6 percent from 2006 to 2011, according to a new report from Springboard Research.

The report, titled “India IT Services Market and Forecast 2006-2011”, finds that the IT Services growth rate in India is well above the 10.5% CAGR of overall Asia Pacific market and makes India the fastest growing IT Services market in the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) region.

According to the report, the Indian IT Services market is heavily dominated by infrastructure Services, which are estimated to garner 54 percent of the market in 2007. Springboard further forecasts the segment to grow in line with the overall market and reach US$4.27 billion by 2011. However, Applications Services with a CAGR of 19.6 percent remain the fastest growing market segment, while IT Consulting – typically used by vendors as entry point to reach clients in India – is estimated to grow from US$0.22 Billion in 2007 to US$0.40 Billion by 2011.

Sanchit Vir Gogia, Senior Research Analyst for Services at Springboard Research, commented: “India is the epicenter of growth in Asia Pacific IT Services marketplace. Not only is the India IT Services market forecast to be the fastest growing in the region, the country also has a rather unique position in the worldwide outsourcing arena through a well-educated and language-proficient workforce, that sets it apart from other Asian competitors”.

Some key findings from the report include:
· Infrastructure Application Integration is the single largest category in India and is expected to contribute approximately 21 percent of the total IT Services opportunity in India by 2011

· Enterprise IT Outsourcing enjoys the highest growth momentum in India with a CAGR of 24.4 percent during 2007-2011 and is expected to become the second largest market opportunity in the country by 2011.

· Enterprise Application Integration, the second-ranked market in India currently, will slip to the third place by 2011 despite registering a high CAGR of 19.1 percent. Together, the top three markets will garner over 42 percent of the Indian IT Services market by 2011.

· The report uses Springboard’s Market Attractiveness Index to rank 15 individual IT Services markets on the basis of growth opportunities. According to the Market Attractiveness Index, the top five IT Services markets in India are: 

1. Infrastructure Application Integration

2. Enterprise IT Outsourcing

3. Enterprise Application Integration

4. Custom Application Development

5. Network Integration

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Worldwide application management market growing at 7.2 percent, says NelsonHall

The worldwide application management (AM) market is growing at 7.2 percent according to a study by NelsonHall the independent analyst firm.

Dominique Raviart, Research Manager at NelsonHall, commented, “Application management has undergone a lot of changes in the past years, moving away from T&M to SLA-based provisioning and overall becoming much more industrialized than in the past”.

Raviart added, “Clients are now awarding much larger standalone contracts than in the past”.

Key findings revealed in the NelsonHall research report include:

• Spending in AM on a worldwide basis will be growing by 7.2 percent. Volume will be up by c.9 percent while price reductions will impact overall spending by c. 2 percent.

• Clients are turning to multi-sourcing and are awarding standalone AM contracts. Simultaneously, the size of those contracts is increasing, including in the past two years several deals above the $1bn landmark.

• Offshore and nearshore sourcing represents almost 30percent of AM spending worldwide. While spending in onshore services will be flat until 2012, client demand for offshore and nearshore growing by 14 percent on average each year. Despite this growth, the delivery of AM services located offshore and nearshore will only account for 38 percent of AM spending by 2012 or around 60 percent in terms of headcount

• The potential for offshoring remains high. Yet it is constrained by public sector reluctance to offshore.

More details of the report can be found here: Nelson Hall AM Research

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Shared Service Centres suffer compliance issues

Monday, September 01, 2008

57 percent of Shared Service Centres (SSC) have problems with regulatory compliance, according to a study released by outsourcing consultants, Alsbridge.

The study, undertaken annually, also found that 89 percent of shared service managers foresee challenges with their SSCs, which is a worrying statistic given the pressure being placed on both private and public sector organisations to implement shared service agreements.

Elaine Harrison, Senior Manager at Alsbridge plc, commented, “SLAs should provide a link between services provided by the SSC and the business objectives by creating cost/performance accountabilities. However SLAs should not be seen as a substitute for an effective governance framework”.

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EquaTerra releases Chinese HRO report

Friday, August 29, 2008

EquaTerra, the outsourcing consultancy, expects the Chinese HR outsourcing industry to be worth more than £41bn by the end of 2008, according to a new report by the company. The firm also predicts rapid growth of up to 25% in 2008 and 2009. 

The report, written by EquaTerra’s Shanghai-based consultant, Vibhash Ranjan,  provides a snapshot of the maturing human resource outsourcing (HRO) market in China today and an expert analysis of current and future trends.  Some other interesting points highlighted in the report include:

Drivers of growth
· The recent spectacular growth in the Chinese economy is compelling foreign owned organisations based in China to adopt sophisticated HR related practices.  Factors influencing the growth of HRO include rising labour costs, new types of employee supplemental benefits and a rise in the focus on employee engagement and talent management.  

Market Growth
· In 2008 and 2009, the HRO market is expected to expand by at least 25 per cent.  However, due to the prevailing operational complexities in China, most multinational companies choose to adopt the services of Chinese HR service providers such as FESCO or CIIC.

Differing drivers of change
· One of the key reasons that Chinese organisations will choose to implement a HRO strategy is to free up the HR department from transactional and administrative tasks and let them focus on strategic tasks of planning and management.

Important markets
· The adoption of HRO in China has traditionally been driven by multinational client companies which account for over 90 per cent of the number of deals and total contract value. As these companies have their major operations based in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong regions, these three areas account for approximately 85 per cent of the market.

Future outlook
· To date, China still does not have enough skilled manpower to meet the growing demand of the HRO services market. This will lead to wage acceleration for providers, margin erosion and raiding other providers (especially of benefits administration and compensation providers) for resources. Ultimately, the dominant provider players will be those companies that can obtain and retain quality delivery people.

The full whitepaper can be seen here: Human Resource Outsourcing in China

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Trustmarque wins £4 million IT contract with MoD

Trustmarque Solutions, a UK software licensing company has won a two-year contract, worth over £4 million, to supply encrypted and non-encrypted hardware and software to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The deal, which follows the consolidation of the Defence Equipment and Supply (DE&S) procurement framework, will also see Trustmarque supply the MoD with anti-virus software from security vendor, McAfee.

Robert Cornish, MoD Key Account Manager for Trustmarque, commented on the deal: “Under the contract, we will be able to supply the MoD with everything they need, from desktops and laptops, to software and all associated licences. This means we can bring the same savings through leveraging our long-established hardware relationships, as we have done historically for their software purchases, using our twenty years of experience establishing ourselves in this market.”

The DE&S consolidation comes as part of a wider strategy to formally merge the DE&S with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which is an independent office of HM Treasury, established to help Government deliver best value from its spending. To this end, the DE&S is collaborating heavily with the OGC to ensure their procurement methods are in line with one another, to make the eventual merger as seamless as possible. In the long term such an arrangement will provide continuity across the whole of government.

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Tech Mahindra acquires stake in Servista

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tech Mahindra, the largest independent India-based telecommunications IT services provider, has decided to acquire an equity stake in Servista, a leading European systems integrator. 

As a part of the agreement, Tech Mahindra will be Servista’s exclusive delivery arm for the next three years and will also help Servista develop its European IT offshoring business.

Ben Andradi, chief executive officer, Servista Ltd said, “We are delighted to enter into this highly complimentary relationship with Tech Mahindra that will deliver the huge benefits of Indian offshoring to the European market place”.

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EADS and Atos Origin consolidate 15-year partnership with global engineering contract

EADS, a global aerospace and defense service company, has selected Atos Origin as a preferred supplier for engineering services. The selection has consolidated a 15 year relationship between the companies in France and Spain.

Atos will now be added to the EADS’s list of 28 global partners after making it through the company’s rigorous tender process involving 2,000 vendors. Atos is now EADS preferred supplier for engineering services which covers the purchase of more than €2 billion in engineering services a year.

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HP Completes $13.9 Billion Acquisition of EDS

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

HP today announced that it has completed its acquisition of EDS, creating a leading force in technology services.

The acquisition is, by value, the largest in the IT services sector and the second largest in the technology industry, following HP’s acquisition of Compaq, which closed in 2002.

Mark Hurd, HP chairman and chief executive officer, commented “This is a historic day for HP and EDS and for the clients we serve”.

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Infosys in £407 million buyout of Axon Group plc

Infosys has announced that it has agreed terms for a cash offer for UK-based SAP consulting company, Axon Group.  The £407 million deal could be completed as early as November 2008.

Commenting on the transaction, Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Infosys said, “We are excited about this acquisition.  We hold the management and employees of Axon in high regard and look forward to welcoming them to the Infosys Group”.

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Health Net commissions IBM for ITO deal

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Health Net Inc, one of the largest managed health care companies in the US, has taken on IBM in a five-year managed services and IT infrastructure deal. The contract, estimated to be worth over US$300 million, will see IBM manage Health Net’s entire IT infrastructure.

Under the terms of the contract IBM will provide Health Net with full IT infrastructure management services including: data centre services, IT security management, help desk and desk-side support.

James E. Woys, Health Net’s COO, said, “This is an important step in making Health Net more competitive and a key component of our operations strategy to increase our capabilities while reducing administrative costs and improving efficiency. By partnering with IBM, Health Net will receive benefits including reduction of IT costs and operational risk while gaining access to IBM’s global resources and technologies.”

Health Net expects to derive substantial cost savings and increased data centre reliability from the deal. However, no projected savings have been released.

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US Coast Guard sails on with Unysis

The US Coast Guard (USCG) has awarded Unisys a contract to provide IT support services to the ‘USCG Finance Center’, which manages financial services for the organisation and multiple US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies. The contract extends an existing agreement held between the two companies since 2003.

The contract, which could be worth upto US$ 24 million, will be played out in an initial five month period followed by four one-year options, exercisable at the government’s discretion. The estimated value of each option year is between $5 million and $6 million.

Under the agreement Unisys will continue to provide functional and technical support for the USCG Finance Center’s Core Enterprise Suite, a comprehensive financial and procurement system used by major U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies, including the USCG, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. The Core Enterprise Suite serves as the financial infrastructure for many of the nation’s most important homeland security initiatives.

The system processes invoices and payments to thousands of DHS vendors and suppliers, as well as expense reimbursements for more than 100,000 personnel. It also manages agency asset reporting, and provides updated budget information to DHS. Unisys support services help the Coast Guard achieve the high performance and full time availability of the mission-critical system’s core financial management applications and technology, including Oracle Financials, Oracle databases and UNIX servers. The Unisys team also will help to support the DHS data centers and to install, manage and support disaster recovery solutions for the Core Enterprise Suite.

Tom Conaway, Managing Partner at Homeland Security Unisys Federal Systems, commented “The USCG Core Enterprise Suite is vital to the day-to-day operations of the USCG Finance Center, which supports many of our nation’s most important homeland defense initiatives. Unisys is pleased to continue our work with the center, providing IT support and expertise that enables the complex and extensive accounting infrastructure to meet evolving requirements and to be managed efficiently and effectively”.

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Lenta Hypermarket appoints IBM

Friday, August 22, 2008

Russian retail chain, Lenta, and IBM have signed a three-year IT services contract estimated at approximately US$1 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will provide support and recovery services for Lenta’s entire IT infrastructure.

Sergey Cherniy, CIO at Lenta, commented, “We selected IBM because it has a service centre and a stock of spare parts and components in St. Petersburg”. 

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Comcast extends Convergys contract

Comcast Corporation has announced it has signed a new BPO contract with Convergys Corporation.

Under terms of the newcontract Convergys will continue to provide contact center technical support services, order management, and customer care support to the communications giant. 

As part of the agreement Convergys will also provide services support to include back office processing and access to its new relationship management solutions by Convergys.

Jim Boyce president of Convergys, North America, commented, “This is a great opportunity to continue serving Comcast and its subscribers”. 

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IBM Offers green consulting

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A new IBM consulting offering aims to help clients lower their environmental impact, increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Dave Lubowe, global leader of IBM’s operations strategy consulting practice, commented, “There’s a fundamental truth to understanding and improving any aspect of a company’s performance – if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.  This applies as much to a company’s energy and water consumption as it does to anything else, and our new offering can help clients apply this principle to make their businesses greener.”

Business leaders acknowledge the advantages that come from proactively addressing corporate social responsibility (CSR), such as green issues. An IBM global CSR survey of more than 250 executives showed that 68 percent of them are already focusing on CSR activities to create new revenue streams and 54 percent believe CSR gives them a competitive advantage. 

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PBS extends to Asia

East Midlands based Payroll and Business Solutions UK (PBS) is extending its service into Asia for the first time.

PBS is to provide a complete payroll service for Aastra Telecom and Laing Infrastructure Management, both of which are extending their workforce in India. Laing is working in developing countries to expand local infrastructure services. Aastra is expanding its sales team across the world.

Pam Pindar, managing director of PBS, said, “International outsourcing is a rapidly growing area as businesses look to cut their back office costs whilst maintaining consistency for their employees.”

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IT Spending to surpass $3.4 trillion

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Despite current economic concerns, worldwide IT spending will exceed $3.4 trillion in 2008, an increase of 8 percent from 2007 spending, according to Gartner. Analysts said much of this growth is based on the decline in the U.S. dollar.

Jim Tully, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, commented, “The U.S.-led economic downturn shows no sign of causing a recession in IT spending.  In subsequent years we will see reduced growth, but the fundamentals remain strong. Emerging regions, replacement of obsolete systems and some technology shifts are driving growth.”

Gartner analysts said there are important strategic issues facing the IT industry and that, “Organisations are switching from company-owned hardware and software assets to per-use service-based models. This will impact the industry in various ways.  The projected shift to cloud computing, for example, will result in dramatic growth in IT products in some areas and in significant reductions in other areas.”

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Genpact move into Guatemala

Genpact Limited today announced that it acquired a delivery center in Guatemala City from GE Money, a division of the General Electric Company, on August 15, 2008.

The facility is Genpact’s first in Guatemala and will provide services to GE Money from the facility.

Juan F. Ferrara, Genpact’s business leader for the Americas, commented, “We are excited about our newly expanded presence in the region. Our new facility enables us now to offer services to our global clients from both Guatemala and Mexico.”

Charlie Crabtree, senior vice-president & COO for GE Money, said, “GE Money is delighted to introduce our global servicing partner, Genpact, to the Guatemala market place.”

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Cincinnati Bell renews contract with Convergys

Cincinnati Bell Inc. has renewed its contract with Convergys for five years, extending the relationship for more than 10 years.  The new contract, which runs until 2013, also contains two one-year renewal options.

As part of the contract renewal, Convergys will continue to provide relationship management services and will also provide hard wired and wireless application development and maintenance services.

Brian Ross, chief operating officer of Cincinnati Bell commented, “Cincinnati Bell is pleased to extend its long-standing relationship with Convergys, we will continue to advance customer relationships while achieving important cost reductions in our business.”

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BBC confident in Capita deal

Monday, August 18, 2008

The BBC’s outsourcing deal with Capita is producing significant savings according to a BBC spokesperson. 

Despite some initial difficulties, the BBC is confident that the outsourcing of the majority of its HR processes, in the £100 million contract with Capita, will produce significant savings and streamline its HR services.

The spokesperson also added that, ‘as in any deal there are some teething issues, however we are confident that these will be smoothed out and we will continue to see significant savings’.

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Siemens win world’s largest wind farm contract

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Siemens Energy has won a major contract from Fluor Ltd. to connect Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm to the British power grid.

The volume of the order for the grid connection is approximately EUR84 million.  The Greater Gabbard project will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

Siemens will also supply 140 wind turbines for this project, which will be constructed 25 km off the coast of Suffolk in the UK.

Udo Niehage, CEO of the Power Transmission Division of the Siemens Energy Sector, said, “Siemens Energy has a unique wind power portfolio. Not only do we manufacture and supply high-tech wind turbines, we also efficiently connect wind farms to the grid”.

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TfL terminates £100m Oyster contract

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Transport for London (TfL) is to terminate a £100m per year Oyster contract.

The contract with Transys will end after a two year notice period.

In an official statement, TfL explained, “The Mayor and Transport for London are convinced that any new contract will deliver enhanced services for less money, driving significant savings.”

Shashi Verma, TfL’s director of fares and ticketing, commented, “Transport for London is committed to delivering value for money across all of its services.  As part of this, we are looking at more cost effective ways to manage and develop the Oyster card system.  We expect to save millions over the next few years.”

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Infosys: £154m Indian Campus

Infosys Technologies Ltd. has announced that it has commenced work on its second campus at Pocharam in Hyderabad, India.
 
The campus will be spread over 447 acres with a total investment of £154m. The facility is expected to seat over 25,000 people and will be completed over a period of 10 years.
 
As a part of its drive to become carbon neutral, Infosys is designing this campus on best-in-class sustainability principles to achieve energy efficiency, water sustainability, preservation and promotion of biodiversity and effective waste management.

Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy chairman of the board and chief mentor at Infosys commented, “We are delighted to commence work on the new campus”.

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Fujitsu calls for carbon footprint debate

Monday, August 11, 2008

One hundred CIOs of UK companies have been surveyed on green issues in IT outsourcing.

Seventy Six percent of CIOs surveyed by Fujitsu held the viewpoint that the carbon footprint of outsourced IT operations should still count towards the overall footprint of their organisation.  Almost a quarter believe the opposite and expect the contracting company to become responsible.

The research also showed that significant numbers of IT departments are not yet even measuring the contribution of IT to their own organisation’s carbon footprint.

With this in mind, Fujitsu is keen to open an industry wide debate on this issue in a bid to gain consensus. They are looking for agreement on a common set of principles governing the ownership of the carbon footprint of outsourced IT.

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Airtel chooses Oracle

Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) have selected Oracle to optimise their national fibre optic network. 

Jai Menon, director of customer service and information technology at Airtel, stated, “we have used Oracle’s technology, business applications and communications industry applications for 10 years. The new network discovery and reconciliation product will enhance Airtel’s network utilization leading to improved customer satisfaction”.

Bhaskar Gorti, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Communications, commented “Airtel’s implementation of Oracle Communications Network Integrity will be one of the first with such a widespread scale and complexity”.

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Sapient acquires Derivatives Consulting Group LTD

Friday, August 08, 2008

Sapient announced that it has acquired London-based Derivatives Consulting Group Limited (DCG), a provider of derivatives consulting and outsourcing services to the financial market.

The addition of DCG will increase Sapient’s ability to address derivatives and operations issues.

Sapient president and chief executive officer Alan Herrick commented, “Today’s volatile markets and increasingly strict regulatory environments make this an opportune time to add DCG’s capabilities to our trading and risk management (TRM) practice”.

Cameron Munro, co-chief executive officer at DCG said, “This acquisition makes perfect sense for our clients and our organisation”.

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Sky chooses Response in multi million pound deal

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Glasgow-based customer contact centre outsourcer Response has won a new three-year deal with Sky. 

Under the new contract, Response will deliver a variety of sales and customer service activities on behalf of Sky. 

Dave Rumble, Sales Operations Director for Sky commented,“As an organisation, we look to create long-term partnerships with suppliers that can deliver flexibility, additional value and certainty for our customers. “We believe that we have found this in Response, and we look forward to working together over the upcoming months and years.”

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Major prime brokers select SWIFT for ITO contract

Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have selected SWIFT to develop and operate a centralised pre-settlement matching solution.

The new solution is set to reduce cost and risk for prime and executing brokers of processing hedge fund trades globally.

Today, discrepancies between trade details submitted to prime brokers by hedge funds on one hand, and their executing brokers on the other, are a source of considerable operational risk.

The brokers have agreed to oversee and provide transparency to the market on the evolution of the project.

Gottfried Leibbrandt, Head of Markets at SWIFT, commented “We are delighted to have been chosen by this group of major prime brokers to provide a pre-settlement matching solution to the equity and fixed income markets, in addition to our existing FX matching capabilities.”

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Barclays to end BPO contract with Siemens

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Back office jobs may be under threat as Barclays is not renewing its BPO contract with Siemens, which ends this year.

Siemens has been running back office processes for Barclays since 2000, with around 500 employees based across Britain. 

The bank has released a statement explaining “we do not plan on continuing to base the current activity at the Glasgow and Beeston sites in the future” and that Siemens staff have “been advised that once the activity is integrated back into Barclays, their roles will become redundant”.

Barclays has hinted at a possible extension of the contract for a twelve-month period for a smoother transition process, and says it will work closely with Siemens to minimise any potential job losses.

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Trinidad & Tobago government award multimillion dollar contract to Fujitsu and TSTT

Trinidad and Tobago award a multi-million dollar government contract to Fujitsu and Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT). The ITO contract aims to improve the online communications facility of government services.

The network will be built on leading edge technology supplied and supported by a consortium led by TSTT and Fujitsu.  Mervyn Eyre, CEO of Fujitsu in the Caribbean, commented “This is an IP-based network, similar to what supports the world wide web”.
The creation of “GOVNETT” is in keeping with the Government’s commitment to having 50% of its services accessible online by 2009, with additional services being continuously added thereafter.

Ms. Arlene McComie, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration added, “This is a very significant initiative which in addition to giving the public easier access to government services, it will also enable more direct communication with agencies and in so doing make these institutions more accountable”.

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Britvic selects Atos Origin for ITO contract

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Britvic has selected Atos Origin, the international IT services company, for a three year contract for the management of its back office systems.

Atos Origin has taken over management of the systems with immediate effect and will provide support from both the UK and its Indian delivery centres in Mumbai.

Mike Jones, CIO at Britvic said that “This new contract forms part of a broader initiative to improve and streamline our back-office functions, so that they can better help us meet our business strategies and objectives”.

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EDS stockholders approve merger with HP

Monday, August 04, 2008

After a recent stockholder meeting, EDS has agreed its proposed merger with HP.  EDS will now become a wholly owned subsidiary of HP with 98% of the stockholders voting in favour of the deal.

Ron Rittenmeyer, EDS CEO, commented on the decision: “Not only does the combination of these two great companies create immediate value for our stockholders, it also enhances our ability to achieve our customers’ needs with our unwavering commitment to quality and innovation”.

The transaction still requires regulatory clearance which EDS expects to come in Q3 2008. 

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Deutsche Post ditches HP deal

Deutsche Post, owner of DHL, has decided not to proceed with a multibillion-dollar outsourcing deal after the cost savings it expected could not be achieved, according to Information Week. 

The decision was reached after a six-month review found that the “benefits, particularly in the early years, do not outweigh the risks”, according to an internal memo obtained by the publication.

The arrangements for the collapsed deal were for HP to hire 2,500 Deutsche Post employees, including those working for DHL. It also included taking over various ITO and managed service functions in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Prague, the Czech Republic; Malaysia; and other regions.

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Barclays UK Retail outsources its recruitment

Barclays UK Retail, which employs 32,000 people in the UK, has signed a deal with recruitment process outsourcing firm Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS) to manage candidates from August 2008. Half of the AMS team will be based at Barclays’ office in Coventry and an e-recruitment system will also be implemented by Taleo, a talent management firm.

Andrew Rolfe, head of resourcing at Barclays UK Retail, comments;“We aim to provide an efficient mechanism by which to process over 100,000 applications per annum and greatly improve the ease by which talented individuals can secure a great job with us.”

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UMass Memorial Health Care signs $100m ITO deal with ACS

Friday, August 01, 2008

UMass Memorial Health Care, a US-based hospital system, has awarded ACS with an ITO contract worth over $100 million,

The contract, spanning five years, will see ACS provide information systems services including the expansion of UMass Memorial’s IT systems through deployment of new servers and data storage equipment. ACS will also provide networking, data systems, data center hosting, desktop, help desk, telecommunications, disaster recovery, and resource planning services.

George Brenckle, Senior VP and CIO at UMass Memorial, commented: “This new agreement will enable UMass Memorial to tackle upcoming challenges, including growing demands for storage, high availability computing, clinical information systems and the increasing service levels the technology requires”.

The contract will extend an existing six-year business relationship between the companies.

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American Nuclear Insurers signs ITO contract with AT&T

American Nuclear Insurers (ANI), a liability underwriter for American nuclear facilities, has signed a managed services contract with AT&T.

Under the terms of the contract, AT&T will serve as ANI’s primary data services provider delivering an e-mail gateway service web security to the company’s headquarters.
AT&T will also provide ANI with network-based e-mail security and message management ensuring the integrity of e-mail messages before they enter ANI’s network.

Daniel Antion, VP of American Nuclear Insurers, commented: “Due to the nature of our business, it is critical that we have e-mail and network security measures in place, ensuring secure employee-customer communications and data backup. By implementing security services provided by AT&T, we are confident that our network will be protected from viruses or other service interruptions, resulting in better productivity and enhanced customer service”.

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IBM buys ILOG

Thursday, July 31, 2008

IBM has announced that it will acquire ILOG, the Paris-based software company, in a deal valued at $340 million.

The company has announced plans to combine ILOG’s software with its business process management software and service oriented architecture technology. The deal is reported to be worth approximately €215 million, a 37 percent premium on ILOG’s Friday share price.

Tom Rosamilia, General Manager at IBM WebSphere, commented: “Companies across all industries are looking for technologies to help them manage their processes with more flexibility so they can keep up with changing business conditions. ILOG’s software allows businesses to more effectively manage and automate the decision making process, giving companies an opportunity to react with incredible speed and accuracy. IBM has partnered with ILOG for over a decade, and by adding ILOG’s capabilities to IBM’s software portfolio, this is a great combination to provide value to our clients”.

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Anglian Water signs sizeable comms deal

Anglian Water has signed a two-year, multimillion-pound contract with Solution 1 for the management of its communications infrastructure.

Solution 1 will work to develop a converged hosted IP platform including voice over IP and the infrastructure to support the two million calls that Anglian takes each year. The company hopes to improve service levels while increasing the efficiency of its customer management processes.

Chris Boucher, IS director at Anglian Water, commented: “The challenges we face range from the supply of connectivity services to a large number of field based staff, to ensuring we have reliable telephony connections to over 1000 treatment installations”.

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Capgemini acquires Getronics application services unit for €255m

Capgemini has confirmed that it will acquire Getronics PinkRoccade Business Application Services BV (BAS NV), a unit of Getronics, for €255 million.

Getronics’ owner, Royal KPN, said in February it plans to divest, in full or part, several of Getronics’ businesses with combined annual sales of 800 million euros.

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EDS signs ITO agreement with CAT Group

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

CAT Group, the worldwide provider of transport and logistics services, has awarded EDS a seven-year ITO contract to develop, integrate, deploy and support all of the company’s software applications.

This contract builds upon an existing IT infrastructure agreement CAT Group awarded to EDS in 2005. Under that agreement, which includes network management and governance and continues through 2015, EDS continues to manage CAT Group’s entire IT infrastructure, which includes 2,000 work stations at 131 sites in 19 countries.

Alejandro Forbes, CEO of the CAT Group, said: “With this new agreement, we are expecting a high level of IT cost optimization, valued at about $44 million over the next five years”.

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Newsbite: Siemens extends existing Eastern European network deal with T-Systems

Siemens has extended an existing agreement with T-Systems to operate its high-performance network in Germany and 22 countries in Northern and Eastern Europe for a further three years. The contract will be extended until September 2011 and is expected to be worth around two million Euros.

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National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research employs TCS for data modelling ITO deal

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research (NCAOR), a research body dedicated to the survey and exploration of the seas, has enlisted TCS to undertake a comprehensive marine geophysical data acquisition program for the Antarctic region. The deal forms part of a national project to help understand the marine ecosystem and provide data to scientific communities to help them better understand global changes in weather and the environment. 

The contract, awarded on the behalf of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, will see TCS work to make the outputs of scientific models available through web interfaces. These interfaces will then be used by scientific organisations who can retrieve data for interpretation and develop appropriate modules for their own their fields of expertise.

Rasik Ravindra, Director of NCAOR, commented: “This data is acquired through strenuous efforts by various scientific communities all over India.  It is crucial to treasure this and to create an interface for researchers. I am sure TCS with its huge expertise and specially coming back from an experience of Tsunami Early Warning System for Ministry of Earth Sciences is the right partner for doing this work”.

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Sparkassen Informatik and FinanzIT commission T-Systems for new voice and data network

Sparkassen Informatik’s subsidiary IZB and FinanzIT, both IT service providers for the German group of savings banks, have expanded their contract with T-Systems for telecommunications IT services until 2013. The deal is reported to be worth around three million euros.

As part of the agreement, Sparkassen Informatik and FinanzIT are entering into a technology partnership with T-Systems, the aim of which is to develop a new IP network for voice and data. It is designed to replace the previous data network provided by T-Systems.

The network will link together Sparkassen Informatik, FinanzIT and approximately 480 institutes of the Sparkassen organization in Germany. A total of 16,000 branches will access all the data and applications made available by the two IT service providers via the network for the Sparkassen organization.

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New York City’s HR administration renews BPO contract with Affiliated Computer Services

New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA), the US body charged with encouraging the social welfare of New Yorkers, has renewed a three-year document management contract with Affiliated Computer Services, the largest provider of BPO services in the US government sector.

Under the agreement, valued at USD $17 million, ACS will collect HRA case documents from multiple points in New York City that are taken to a central location to be inventoried, scanned and indexed. After a rigorous quality control process, the documents are added to HRA’s internal imaging system for use by its staff.

“Since 2003, ACS has provided the HRA with outstanding service,” said Michael Lavin, HRA’s director of imaging systems and support services. “We value the commitment to quality that ACS has brought to the partnership in providing accurate and timely imaging work.”

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BT to provide network and IT infrastructure for new FIAT headquarters

Friday, July 25, 2008

BT has signed a contract with FIAT Group Automobiles Germany AG to provide their new German headquarters in Frankfurt with state-of-the-art telecommunications and networking technology.

The fitting out of FIAT’s new flagship HQ on Frankfurt’s Hanauer Landstrasse, the so-called “Auto Mile”, will involve equipping the new building with comprehensive, highly advanced telecommunication infrastructure.

Under the terms of the agreement BT will install and operate an advanced Local Area Network (LAN) and wireless network access (WiFi) throughout the whole building. The project also includes the connection of the location to the MPLS Wide Area Network (WAN) that BT already operates for FIAT Group Automobiles Germany AG, the Internet access including firewall, and a high-speed link to the BT data center in Frankfurt. The mobile workers of FIAT Group Automobiles Germany AG will also be equipped with BT MobileXpress so that they can easily and securely connect to the corporate network even while they are away from the office.

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Newsbite: Energias de Portugal selects Oracle to update legacy SAP

Energias de Portugal (EDP), a leading gas and electricity utility in Spain and Portugal, has selected Oracle to assess and update its ageing SAP infrastructure.

The move comes in light of recent energy deregulation in the Iberian peninsula and in anticipation of the creation of the Internal Electricity Market in Europe. The ongoing process of integrating Spanish and Portuguese electricity markets has required EDP to make its existing SAP-based customer information system (CIS) more efficient in order to enhance relationships with its business customers. 

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Zuger Kantonalbank extends CSC ITO contract to the tune of $33m

Swiss bank Zuger Kantonalbank has announced that it has extended its existing ITO contract with CSC. The new seven-year contract, valued at $33 million, marks the renewal of a previous eight-year contract signed in 2002.

Under the agreement, CSC will continue to provide SAP-based applications services, including development, maintenance and support. Specifically, CSC will continue its 24x7 operation and management of Zuger’s SAP banking platform and add new functionality that enhances system efficiency and increases ease of use.

“With CSC’s support, we can continue to lower operating costs while increasing customer service,” said Beat Mathys, a Zuger Kantonalbank senior management executive. “This will enable us to further increase efficiency and improve our cost-income-ratio in the highly competitive retail banking market.”

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Luxoft buys leading Romanian telecommunications IT player

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Luxoft, a global provider of high-end IT outsourcing, has acquired ITC Networks (ITCN), a leading Romanian software outsourcing provider specializing in the telecommunications industry.

The deal, announced today, will create a combined entity of more then 3000 employees worldwide and an annual revenue of over £75 million.

Luxoft hopes the move will increase the company’s global footprint and delivery capability within the European Union while helping to strengthen Luxoft’s expertise in the telecom industry.

“This acquisition is another step in Luxoft’s growth and strengthening of the company’s global presence,” said Dmitry Loschinin, President and CEO, Luxoft. “The tremendous telecoms aptitude of the combined team, prominent European Union location and shared commitment to engineering excellence will serve Luxoft, its clients and ITC Networks’ clients well for years to come.”

Through the deal Luxoft will inherit ITCN existing client portfolio such as Nortel Networks, Avaya and Trapeze Networks.

The acquisition follows a recent announcement by Luxoft that it is also developing a delivery capability in Vietnam.

The fiscal value of the deal has not been disclosed.

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BPO feeling the pinch, says NelsonHall

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The BPO market has been impacted by the credit crunch with a decline in contract signings as organizations rethink their business and sourcing strategies, according to a new report from NelsonHall.

The “BPO Index” market monitor for June 2008 released today found that while the value of global BPO contract signings in the commercial and civil government sectors increased by 29% in H2 2007, BPO technology crossover ventures (TCV) increased by just two per cent in H1 2008.

The report also found a downturn pattern in BPO contract activity taking place in Q2 2008 and a quarter-on-quarter decrease in global BPO TCV between Q1 2008 and Q2 2008 of approximately 8%. The effect of this has been to make Q2 2008 the lowest for global BPO TCV since 2003.

In a statement issued by the firm, it said: “This single quarter may not be the start of a trend but there are signs of a short-term pause in activity while organizations reappraise their longer-term plans. The broad conclusion seems to be that the market is in a pause before the storm with organizations reappraising both their broader business strategies and sourcing strategies in the light of the current economic reality. This will almost certainly lead to an increase in BPO contract activity in the future and mean that organizations need to be more ambitious and transformational in their sourcing strategies, though looking for a rapid return from these strategies.

On a positive note the report found that the pattern of back-office outsourcing has changed with F&A outsourcing coming into its own and growing strongly in both North America and Europe. This has been driven by the increasing need of F&A support in emerging geographies such as Latin America. At the same time, single service activity in HR outsourcing remained strong.

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Outsourcing demand cools slightly in Q2 as Western economies continue to slow, says EquaTerra

Organisations are increasingly building and utilising complex services supply chains to lower costs and address the emerging opportunities and perceived threats of Globalisation, according to EquaTerra’s Advisor and BPO/ITO Service Provider Pulse Survey 2Q08.

The 2Q08 Pulse Survey, a survey of top outsourcing service providers and EquaTerra’s own client-facing advisors provides data on current and projected demand for outsourcing worldwide, plus a unique insight into the impact ongoing Globalisation is expected to have on outsourcing.

“Services supply chains have steadily become both more diverse and more widely distributed, with large organisations forming hundreds of different relationships with hundreds of different service providers worldwide,” says Stan Lepeak, managing director of research for EquaTerra. “Ongoing Globalisation is accelerating that process and adding new layers of complexity.” The 2Q08 Pulse Survey looks at some of the challenges relative to these expanding services supply chains.

Most organisations don’t yet do a good job of arranging relationships with services providers. EquaTerra finds buyers’ overall skills at developing quality outsourcing business cases are mediocre, particularly when it comes to assessing total costs to achieve desired improvements from outsourcing and attendant indirect or shadow costs.

Respondents to the 2Q08 Pulse Survey believe the two most useful metrics for building a solid outsourcing business case are current performance levels (75 per cent) and current direct costs (74 per cent), yet the survey finds many buyers don’t accurately capture even these most important measurements. The ability to optimise and manage global services supply chains on the backend is proving equally challenging.

2Q08 Pulse Survey respondents rate buyers as poor to mediocre across a variety of governance activities, including their ability to measure service level agreements (SLAs) and end-user satisfaction. While these problems are not new, they are exacerbated as organisations do more global sourcing.

Creating complex services supply chains is intrinsic to Globalisation and struggles to develop the tools and skills needed to manage them is to be expected, according to Lepeak. “It took decades for manufacturing supply chains to mature. Now, organisations are steadily migrating from those vertical integration models to horizontal specialisation.”

The 2Q08 Pulse Survey indicates there is accelerating interest in outsourcing’s flexible cost and operating models as Western organisations seek ways to weather the economic downturn and counter lower-cost global competition. The 2Q08 Pulse Survey focus on Globalisation draws on data collected in an earlier study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of EquaTerra and World 50, which polled more than 200 C-level and other senior executives from 19 industry groups worldwide about the benefits and challenges of Globalisation. In that study, more than 54 per cent of respondents reported the number one response to Globalisation was a greater emphasis on improving business process efficiency and effectiveness.

Almost half, 47 per cent, said their firms were investing in new or existing operations in foreign markets, including third-party outsourcing relationships and the establishment of captive offshore operations. Many, 35 per cent, said they were also investing in IT applications to become more competitive and reduce costs. EquaTerra increasingly sees Western organisations tapping the robust IT talent pool found in emerging markets and turning to IT outsourcing as a way to upgrade and expand IT capabilities without upfront capital investment.Additionally, the survey findings show that:

• Demand for business process and IT outsourcing (BPO and ITO) is expected to exceed 2006 and 2007 levels. Pulse Survey demand projections and pipeline forecasts are indicative of deals that typically close over the next two to three quarters. EquaTerra advisors (38 per cent) indicated demand levels were up for 2Q08, down 12 per cent from 1Q08 but up eight per cent over 2Q07.

• Service providers characterised their Q2 pipeline for BPO and ITO deals as rising 10 per cent to 52 per cent, a 14 per cent increase over last quarter. Projections for next quarter are only slightly less optimistic, with 45 per cent of providers polled expecting continued growth in demand, down from 50 per cent last quarter. Outsourcing efforts with short-term return on investment or that deliver quick cost savings are going forward, often at an accelerated pace. Not surprisingly, efforts focused on complex process transformation or that require significant upfront investment are more likely to be slowed or on hold.

• Demand and supply increased for emerging knowledge process outsourcing functions such as engineering, research and development, financial modeling and analytics, legal process work. There was also growth in areas like document services, facilities and real estate management and logistics services.

EquaTerra estimates there were more than 150 outsourcing deals in 2Q08 with an average total contract value (TCV) of $270 million. This compares to 120 deals in 1Q08 with an average TCV of $120 million. These numbers exclude deals not publicly announced or announced without publishing deal details.

Find out more about the pace of ITO and BPO and how Globalisation is impacting outsourcing by participating in EquaTerra’s 2Q08 Pulse Webcast Thursday, July 24, at 11 a.m. EDT USA/4 p.m. BST EU. To register, please contact . Free copies of the 2Q08 Pulse report will be available for download immediately following the Webcast from: http://www.equaterra.com/webcast072408.aspx

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Michelin selects Logica for ITO deal

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tyre manufacturer Michelin has signed off on a three-year contract with ITO provider, Logica for the provision of systems development and IT consulting services.

Logica will handle IT services for the company across its Finance and Purchase Reporting Group, supply chain management, marketing and sales (CRM) across Europe and North America.

Michelin hopes the new deal will deliver enhanced operating efficiency and more responsive, flexible information systems whilst driving cost and quality efficiency. 

Logica will implement the deal using a blended delivery model which allocates the optimal IT resources from its global service centres.

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Kent County Council signs £32m outsourcing contract with Unisys for shared public service network

Kent County Council, one of the largest local authorities in the UK, has awarded Unisys an ITO contract worth approximately £32 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, initially lasting until late 2012, Unisys will create and manage a public information network and security service for the Council.

The contract, signed for an initial four years, forms part of the ongoing shared services initiative that has been spreading across the public sector since late 2006. It is hoped that the new system will enable cost-effective communications and collaboration among local government agencies, while providing new information services to residents. 

The network will initially connect approximately 1,100 public sector establishments, including schools, council offices and libraries. The extra bandwidth the network provides will also mean that many primary schools’ capacity for internet access will double and there will be improved capabilities to support home, flexible and remote working within the county. The network will also be available to all public service bodies within the Kent boundaries wishing to join the alliance.

Paul Carter, leader of Kent County Council, said: “We expect that the benefits the network will bring in terms of collaboration, governmental linkage and common shared infrastructure will in turn result in enhanced public services for the people of Kent”.

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India’s HCL to acquire Liberata Financial Services

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Indian IT systems house HCL Technologies is to acquire the fixed assets of UK life and pensions outsourcer Liberata Financial Services for US $2 million.

LFS manages over three million policies on behalf of clients including AXA, Barclays, Resolution, Chesnara and Save and Prosper. The company will earn revenues of about $60 million this year and has an order book of $540 million to be executed over the next few years.

As part of this transaction, HCL will acquire four delivery centres in the UK and 800 staff. The Indian company says it will invest $24 million in the business over the next three years.

Ranjit Narasimhan, President and CEO of HCL BPO, said: “This strategic acquisition of LFS enhances HCL’s ability to become an end-to-end provider of business process outsourcing services in the financial services space.”

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Newsbite: South Tyneside closes sizeable outsourcing deal

South Tyneside Council has signed a 10-year outsourcing deal with BT for the provision of back-office IT services.

The contract, estimated to be worth around £300m, covers the human resources, procurement and financial services functions of the authority. It is thought that the deal could lead to provision of similar services to other councils across the UK in the future.

As a result of the contact 450 South Tyneside Council employees will move to the new BT local government services division.

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Newsbite: IBM wins leading Portuguese bank outsourcing contract

Banco Espírito Santo (BES), one of the major financial groups in Portugal has awarded IBM a seven-year outsourcing deal for the management of the bank’s IT infrastructure.

As part of the agreement, IBM will manage the entire BES server infrastructure in Portugal including administration, management and operation of the midrange infrastructure.

The agreement forms part of an ongoing BES’ strategy to improve its IT efficiency, as well as management processes, elevating service quality and assuring products and processes innovation.

The deal, signed in June 2008, expands the scope of a previous contract signed in 2006. 

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Barclays moves 1800 UK IT offshore

Friday, July 18, 2008

Barclays will move up to 1800 IT jobs offshore over the next two years to access skills and cost savings around the world.

The bank is expected to send the work to ‘centres of excellence’ in India, Hungary and Singapore.

700 of the jobs will be outsourced by September, with the remaining 1100 due to go by 2010. It is estimated that around 1000 existing Barclays IT jobs will stay in the UK at centres in London and Cheshire.

Barclays says it needs “centrally-managed technologies in centres of excellence in key locations around the world” in order to become a fully global bank.

“These changes are about putting in place the technology and systems to support Barclays in achieving its ambitions,” says a statement.

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Newsbite: ADA secures £1million multi-year managed service contract with MGM Advantage

Financial services provider, MGM Advantage has awarded a £1m managed services contract to ADA Technology Services, an ITO supplier. 

The agreement covers a comprehensive range of strategic technology solutions including disaster recovery, data communications and support services.

ADA has worked with MGM Advantage for several years and this latest contract will consolidate and enhance the broad range of business solutions offered by ADA into a single master service agreement.

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Newsbite: Convergys buys CRM leader Intervoice

Convergys has announced a planned merger with Intervoice, a leader in the CRM, software-based interactive voice response, contact centre and mobile messaging technology and applications markets.

The deal, worth an estimated $335 million in cash, represents a premium of 24 percent to Intervoice’s closing stock price on July 15, 2008.  Convergys expects the acquisition to be complete by the start of 2009.

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Newsbite: BA turns on the CHARM

Thursday, July 17, 2008

British Airways has chosen BancTec, a global provider of complex business process automation solutions, to replace two obsolete and separate case handling systems with a single, integrated system based on BancTec’s eFIRST Process case management solution. Six departments have already been migrated to the new system – CHARM (Case Handling and Retrieval Management) – and four new departments are currently in process of being added. 

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Oz government awards contract to IBM

The Australian Government has selected IBM Australia to support its Standard Business Reporting (SBR) initiative, which aims to reduce the reporting burden for business.

As part of the contract, valued at AU$10m, IBM will leverage global expertise and a range of architectural design and program management skills to develop an entirely new system for the government. The finished product is expected to enable businesses to more easily interact electronically with the Government through a range of software and accounting packages.

The Government hopes the new system to be faster, cheaper and easier for businesses and their intermediaries to prepare and file their reports. It is expected that Government departments will also be faced with fewer errors and faster processing times.

The contract was signed during the second quarter of 2008.

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EDS secures Spanish bank BPO contract

Spanish bank Cajamar has singed a BPO agreement worth €15 million with EDS.

The seven year contract will see EDS develop a new BPO centre in Almeria to support this and future business in the Andalucía region of spain.

Once completed, the centre will provide mortgage processing, customer interaction, administration and document management for Cajamar.

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Accenture awarded Norwegian portal contact

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Brønnøysund Register Centre, a trade and industry body in Norway, has awarded Accenture a new contract to continue development and operation of Altinn, Norway’s citizen-centric online portal.

The new phase of development, known as Altinn II, includes a three-year contract valued at approximately $44.4 m (230 million Norwegian Kroner) covering application development and continued management of the e-government portal, with the option for three one-year extensions.

Under the new contract, Accenture will provide a new phase of application development and management of Altinn encompassing implementation of a simplified user interface, collaboration services, an advanced security solution, and operation of the company’s portal service.

The Altinn portal service was initiated by the Norwegian government in 2002 to simplify the interaction between government, businesses and citizens by providing a single electronic channel for written communications with the public sector, enabling businesses and citizens to communicate with multiple government agencies through a single point of submission.

Roy Grønli, managing director of Accenture’s Public Service practice in Norway, said: “The Altinn II solution adopts a business and citizen-centric, value driven approach that will continue to transform the way the Norwegian government interacts with both businesses and citizens. We look forward to building on our successful relationship with the Brønnøysund Register Centre with the development and implementation of Altinn II”.

The Altinn portal became fully operational in the spring of 2004.

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Newsbite: Convergys Appoints Jim Goetz as Chief Information Officer

Convergys Corporation, a global leader in relationship management services, has appointed of Jim Goetz as Chief Information Officer.  Goetz will report to Earl Shanks, Convergys’ Chief Financial Officer.

As part of the role, Goetz will be responsible for strategic planning and global implementation of the information systems and technology function for Convergys including programming, systems development, database management, computer operations, telecommunications, and outsourcing.  Goetz will also interact with clients as the strategic leader for Convergys’ technology solutions from an internal and outsourcing perspective.

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CEE must boost home-grown innovation, says Oracle-sponsored EIU study

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A major new survey from Oracle, conducted across 12 countries reveals that the CEE is underperforming in terms of innovation. As a result the region could compromise five years of economic growth as its status as a low-cost labour base begins to erode, says the IT giant.

The survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on behalf of Oracle, examines current and future innovation performance and the overall ‘innovation environment’ in 12 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The report found that, while the CEE area has benefited economically from innovation over the past five years from foreign multinational investment, there have been insufficient ‘spillovers’ of technology and know-how, meaning that these innovations have largely failed to permeate the domestic business environment.

The research also determined that innovation and the development of new products, services, business models and management techniques will be vital to the continued economic success of the CEE area as its status as a low-cost labour base begins to erode. This follows regular commentary about the changing role of India as costs continue to rise.

Alfonso Di Ianni, Senior Vice President, Oracle Eastern Europe and CIS Region, commented: “The advantage of low-cost labour, initially a short-term catalyst for economic growth in the region, is being eroded and must be replaced with a more sustainable and long-term strategy for success. A structured approach to fostering innovation is what differentiates the successful economies, and collectively governments, educational institutions and businesses can create a dynamic environment which allows the untapped wealth of domestic talent to flourish. Information Technology today forms the foundation for a high percentage of the world’s most innovative solutions and can have a transformational effect on economic development – ideas, innovation and IT, an unbeatable combination.”

The report found that Slovenia showed the highest levels of innovation performance in the region, while the Czech Republic was the most favourable environment for innovation. Romania had the least favourable performance, while the most challenging environment was to be found in Ukraine.

The region possesses many talented home-grown entrepreneurs and innovative companies that are being held back due to less than optimum innovation environments. Several of these companies are profiled in the study.

Paul Lewis, Managing Editor, Executive Briefing, Economist Intelligence Unit, added: “The post-communist economic transition of the CEE countries has been remarkable, but it has relied on investment from foreign companies. Governments need to be aware that it is no longer enough to imitate and assimilate innovation from abroad – they must encourage a favourable environment for home-grown innovation, or the long-term growth potential of the region will suffer.”

The report provided some recommendations for turning the dearth of innovation around. ‘Governments, businesses and academia can work together to improve the environment for innovation in their respective countries. The report offers specific recommendations including investing in skills, research and IT infrastructure, and relaxing bureaucracy, taxation and labour laws.’

The report can be seen in full here:  A Time For New Ideas

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Aviva sells Indian operations to WNS for £115m

Aviva Plc, the leading provider of life and pension products in Europe, has sold its Indian offshoring operations to outsourcing services provider WNS Holdings Ltd. for £115 million.

As part of the deal, an all cash arrangement, Aviva has also entered into a master services contract with WNS, who will provide offshoring services to Aviva’s UK, Irish and Canadian businesses for the next nine years.

In a statement, Aviva said that the deal gives it protection against inflation and foreign exchange rates, and added that by combining a sale with a long-term agreement it will continue to benefit from the expertise it has developed in this field.

Cathryn Riley, chair of AGS and chief operating officer of Norwich Union Life, said: “We’re proud of the significant offshoring capability that we’ve built over the past five years and we remain firmly committed to offshoring. After an extensive review, we’ve chosen one of our current suppliers to be our long-term partner, allowing us to build on the strength of our existing relationship to increase the flexibility and cost-certainty within our operation. WNS are a great partner; they understand our business and have demonstrated their commitment to helping us develop our customer experience and shared services model.”

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NXP signs global outsourcing contracts with Atos Origin

Friday, July 11, 2008

NXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, has awarded a five-year outsourcing contract to international IT services company Atos Origin for the management of its global datacenters.

As part of the new contract, Atos Origin will manage all infrastructure services for NXP’s core business to help consolidate and optimize all global manufacturing and engineering data centres.

Louis Luijten, CIO of NXP Semiconductors, said:: “Our strategy focuses on increased efficiency by returning to our core activities, and Atos Origin will be our long-term partner to strengthen our competitive presence and increase our output”.

The new contract follows an existing business ITO agreement signed last month between the two companies. The combined contracts are worth €155 million. NXP recently signed another outsourcing contract with TCS.

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Newsbite: Capgemini extends contract with Hydro One

Hydro One Networks Inc., a large North American transmission and distribution electric utility company, has extended its agreement with Capgemini to provide Smart Metering services for the company’s Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) programme.

Under the terms of the agreement Capgemini will provide a range of services including, programme management, process design, systems, integration and infrastructure management.

The project will employ approximately 100 Capgemini staff, including global subject matter specialists and a large team of local project delivery professionals, providing the following services to Hydro One over the four-year project lifecycle:

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Newsbite: Australia Bank plans Indian outsourcing deal

National Australia Bank plans to send 400 information technology jobs to India by the end of the year. 

On the shortlist for the new deal are Infosys and Oracle who will compete for a billion-dollar, next-generation platform, which will form the key pillar in the bank’s technology transformation plan, Program NEOS. 

NAB Chief Information Officer Michelle Tredenick told technology staff this week that it was ramping up its offshoring initiatives as part of Program NEOS, in an email quoted by ‘The Australian’ newspaper.

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Lockheed Martin wins sizeable $1.2bn HR contract from TSA

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a US governmental body, has awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.2 billion contract to manage its ‘Integrated Hiring Operations and Personnel’ (IHOP) Program. 

Under the potential eight-year contract, Lockheed Martin will develop a fully-integrated human resources system to support the recruiting, assessing, hiring, paying and promoting of all TSA employees.  Lockheed Martin will develop and deploy an advanced HR system, as well as provide the people and processes to manage TSA’s human resource services. 
Elmer Nelson, Vice President of homeland security solutions, commented: “It is a privilege to continue our support to the TSA. Our IHOP solution will allow the TSA to have the right staff at the right time and at the right place to support its critical mission of keeping our nation safe and secure.”

The contract will be managed by TSA’s Office of Human Capital, who is responsible for hiring and retaining qualified personnel to carry out the agency’s critical missions.
Lockheed Martin has supported the TSA since its inception in 2002 on programs such as screener training and checkpoint reconfiguration.  The contract also builds on the corporation’s previous experience in managing large federal human capital programs.

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MET signs Steria for HR contract

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) have taken on Steria to transform the MPS’s Human Resources (HR) function.

The contract will support a significant improvement in the delivery of the MPS’s HR service, and will drive cost savings through the creation of a new HR Service Centre in Central London and implementation of HR business partnering.

The MPS expects to generate significant efficiencies to release additional funds for front line policing. In addition, the new system will help the MPS improve the quality and consistency of the service, bring the ratio of HR professionals to employees in line with the public sector, and more effectively support the strategic aims of the organisation.

The programme, which goes live in Autumn 2009, will ensure the provision of a more efficient and effective HR service to the MPS’s 55,000 employees. Steria’s implementation team will begin working on-site this month to begin the next phase of the Transforming HR programme. Steria will also provide ongoing support for the technology implementation for two years after the service has gone live. The Shared Service and business partnering model that underpins the new HR provision will comprise of: 

- A 24/7 Advisory Centre: which will be the primary point of contact for employees, managers and external contacts to obtain HR advice and guidance through a single telephone number and email address 
- An Expert Centre: qualified teams to manage the main administration and case management responsibilities and respond to queries that have been escalated from the Advisory Centre 
- Business Partners to support the MPS’s strategic HR and organisational objectives 
- Strategic HR Advisors who will support the Business Partners working closely with line mangers advising them on policy interpretation and delivering solutions which enable them to achieve their business objectives 
- A Strategic Centre: which will design and implement HR programmes, processes and policies; manage consulting projects; and monitor the compliance and effectiveness of HR strategies, policies and standards 
- Operational Support Teams managed by the HR Shared Service Centre, providing face-to-face support for managers relating to performance issues, absence management, and recruitment interviews

Martin Tiplady, HR Director, Metropolitan Police Service, commented: “The HR requirements of the MPS are different to those of other organisations. Finding a strategic partner that understood the unique needs of our service, from the organisational structure to our culture, was vital. Steria demonstrated not only the capability to work with us through the changes that the upgrade to our service would create, but a genuine ability to deliver real cost and efficiency benefits, and the best possible HR service for our employees.”

The service provided by the Service Centre will benefit the MPS’s workforce by providing timely access to consistent and relevant information through the organisation’s intranet. The new self-service functionality will be a vital step forward in enabling managers to view and approve requests for job or personal circumstance changes for their employees. Steria will also manage the deployment of Oracle’s Human Capital Management, iRecruitment and Learning Management software as part of the new HR service, and the software company’s applications will also underpin the technology in the new Service Centre. 

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Newsbite: NHS Connecting for Health appoints CSA Waverley as ASCC supplier

The NHS Connecting for Health (CfH), a division of the health service charge with implementing the National Programme for IT, has appointed IT health specialist, CSA Waverley, as a specialist SME supplier for its Additional Supply Capability and Capacity (ASCC) framework.

The framework agreement will see CSA deliver and manage a large range of end-user and other hardware services and provide ongoing consultancy services.

The deal has been implemented to aid the NHS CfH in its delivery of the National Programme for IT and to help it comply with a range of wider NHS business requirements.

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The European Commission signs four year ITO contract with Fujitsu Services

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The Directorate General for External Relations, the body responsible for the external policy of the European Commission has signed a four year ITO deal with Fujitsu Services.

The deal will allow the Directorate to deal with various new organisational changes including the increased workload of its delegations. The new contract covers the supply of IT services, the management of the helpdesk, infrastructure management, user support and the management of the projects of the Delegations of the European Commission across 5 000 users and 134 Delegations worldwide.

According to Yves Schellekens, Managing Director Fujitsu Services Belgium and Luxembourg, “This new contract will allow us to pursue and develop our activities among the European Institutions, which, for Fujitsu Services, represent a strategic sector of activities”.
The contract will start on the 1st of June 2008.

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Unisys wins Canadian 7-Eleven store contract

The Canadian subsidiary of Unisys, Unisys Canada, has won a contract from NEC Corporation of America to provide outsourced IT support services for 470 7-Eleven retail convenience stores throughout Canada.
 
Under the contract terms, valued at approximately $6 million, Unisys Canada will provide maintenance and support services for IT back-office equipment, on-site wireless networks, point of sale (POS) and inventory ordering systems for the 470 Canadian 7-Eleven retail stores from Ontario to British Columbia. In addition, Unisys will provide deployment services for new systems that 7-Eleven rolls out to its stores for the next three-years.
 
Sharon Stufflebeme, CIO for 7-Eleven, commented: “Unisys outsourcing expertise combined with NEC’s retail solution integration skills will assist us in growing our 7-Eleven business in Canada. We’ll be able to serve our customers more effectively and efficiently through enhanced in-store technology support.”
 
As part of a global alliance between the two companies, Unisys is the preferred provider of technology support and maintenance services for NEC in markets outside Japan.

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Virgin Mobile USA takes on IBM for IT Services Agreement

Monday, July 07, 2008

Virgin Mobile USA, a leading national provider of prepaid and hybrid wireless plans to North America, has signed off on a new IT services agreement with IBM.

Under the terms of the agreement IBM will manage Virgin Mobile’s IT operations and new applications development. This will entail the migration of existing it infrastructure and applications to IBM systems and the ongoing development of differentiated wireless applications and service offerings in partnership with Virgin. IBM will also provide data centre outsourcing and application management services

Virgin Mobile USA expects that, as a result of its new relationship with IBM, the company will achieve IT-related operational cost savings over the next five years, while increasing the company’s competitive advantage in new product and service delivery. The expected benefits of the company’s new relationship with IBM are key components of Virgin Mobile USA’s focused expansion and value creation strategy.

Jonathan Marchbank, Chief Operations Officer for Virgin Mobile USA, said: “We have built our success as a customer-centric innovator, and always seek to enhance our product and service offerings. These steps will continue to raise the standards in the prepaid market overall and allow us to stay current with, and ahead of, trends and evolutions in the overall wireless industry. With over 5 million customers, the scale we’ve achieved now puts us in a position to take advantage of IBM’s proven best practices, scope and unparalleled experience in running and building IT infrastructure.”

The company expects the transition of its existing IT infrastructure and application suite to IBM to be completed by December 31, 2008. 

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CSC signs $150m contract with US electricity giant

Excelon Corporation, one of the largest electric utilities companies in the US, has signed a new five year IT services deal with CSC.

The contract, reported to be in excess of $150 million, will see CSC provide Exelon with a broad spectrum of infrastructure support services, including help desk, desktop support, database administration, telecommunications and data network support and server management services. Work will be performed at various locations in the US as well as CSC’s World Sourcing delivery centres in Malaysia and India.

Daniel Hill, Senior Vice President and CIO of Exelon, commented: “We are pleased to have CSC bring their experience and expertise to Exelon. Exelon is committed to operational excellence and providing superior value for our customers, shareholders and employees. We believe CSC will be a valuable partner in helping Exelon deliver on our commitments.”

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Lockheed Martin wins $89m US defence contract to converge information distribution systems

Friday, July 04, 2008

Lockheed Martin, a US group of technology companies, has won an $89 million information convergence contract from the US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to help enhance the performance of the military’s distribution network. 

The Lockheed Martin team, including SAIC, Data Networks Corporation, PRTM, BearingPoint, Rainbow Data Systems, Innolog, Business Objects, Teradata and Oakland Consulting, was awarded the fixed-price, multi-year contract, which includes provisions for supplemental contract extensions in future years.

The contract will see the Lockheed Martin team merge DLA’s ‘Integrated Data Environment’ (IDE) distribution system with USTRANSCOM’s ‘Global Transportation Network’ (GTN) into a unified system using the increasingly popular, SOA technology.

The finished product will be a common information platform that enables the military to more collaboratively and cost-effectively improve end-to-end supply visibility, responsiveness, decision-making, service and logistics processes.  The platform includes a single repository and universal access to logistics data so that any user or developer can easily find, access or manage supply chain information.  

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EDS subsidiary wins $148m CMS contract for US Medicare administrative services

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded EDS subsidiary, NHIC Corp., a $148 million contract to administer Medicare claims payments to health care providers for parts of the US Northwest.

The contract, lasting an intial one year, will see NHIC serve approximately 54,000 physicians and practitioners and 233 Medicare hospitals within Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

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US Department of Justice expands Unisys relationship

Thursday, July 03, 2008

The Department of Justice (DOJ) for the USA has awarded Unisys, the global IT outsourcer, three ‘task orders’ to provide professional and technical services, expanding an existing long-standing arrangement.

Under the contract Unisys will provide investigative services, training, and program analysis – in support of the DOJ Asset Forfeiture Program (AFP). The task orders form part of a $475 million multi-vendor contract awarded in March 2008.
 
The AFP is a nationwide law enforcement program that manages assets forfeited in the prosecution of criminals and criminal enterprises. As part of the contract Unisys will be eligible to compete for ‘task orders’ to provide a range of services to AFP management and field professionals. These services include investigative and analytical services, consulting, technical services, and case-related professional support during the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.
 
Unisys has supported the DOJ on various AFP services since 2002.

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CSC signs new aviation contract with Hawker Beechcraft

CSC announced today that it has signed a new information technology (IT) outsourcing contract with US aircraft manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft Corp. The nine-year agreement is an extension a contract that began in 2002.

Under the new deal, CSC will continue to manage Hawker Beechcraft’s IT infrastructure, including mid-range computers and desktops, help desk operations, IT security, engineering computing, voice and video telecommunications, servers, and local and wide-area networks. CSC will provide these services for Hawker Beechcraft’s operations globally.

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BT signs outsourcing contract with Nationwide Building Society

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Nationwide Building Society has signed a new agreement with BT to manage its networked IT services in an outsourcing deal worth £160 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, lasting an initial seven years, Nationwide will transfer all voice and data networking infrastructure, third party network contracts and in-scope staff to BT.

As part of the contract, BT will deliver a service transformation programme under which they will consolidate Nationwide’s multiple networks onto its industry-leading 21CN Global network which will support both voice and data services on a single converged platform. BT will also deliver enhanced remote access facilities to Nationwide’s non-office based employees. 

The new model will introduce a flexible commercial model providing Nationwide with cost predictability whilst based on industry best practice and a framework of service level agreements (SLAs) at a reduced overall total cost of ownership. 

Traditionally, Nationwide has developed and managed its IT operations in-house and procured point solutions from external suppliers where necessary. This agreement marks a shift towards a preference for a multi-sourcing model for IT services that can provide Nationwide with a reduced overall service cost and with improved service flexibility.

Peter Stafford, Head of IT Infrastructure at Nationwide, said: “Nationwide’s growth in recent years has meant that our IT infrastructure has also had to evolve at an exponential rate to keep up with demand and we must now seek the most efficient and scalable infrastructure service possible to support this. Having worked with BT for a number of years, we are very confident in the team’s ability to fulfil our requirements.”

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Logica implements document management solution for NATO

Under the agreement, Logica will develop and implement a management system for the alliance’s electronic documents across Europe, Turkey and the USA.

Previously, Logica installed a “Document Handling System” (DHS) product for the “NATO Secret” network in ten of the organization’s locations worldwide. By December 2008, DHS is expected to be set up at 14 more locations. Once the project is completed, the majority of NATO’s military community will be using the system.

Prior to the introduction of DHS, NATO was using several separate systems for document management that were closely geared to the individual command centers and institutions of the organisation. With DHS from Logica, NATO employees are now able to access internal documents from any of the organisation’s locations. A powerful search function ensures that documents from a wide variety of different sources can be found quickly and easily.

Steven Janis, Core portfolio coordinator at the NATO C3 Agency, said: “What we wanted from our new document management solution was a user-friendly application that offered our users enterprise-wide rapid access to all appropriate documents stored in the business in a controlled manner, balancing the need-to-know against the need-to-share. Logica has implemented a solution that does exactly that for us”. 

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HP-EDS gets US government go ahead

Monday, June 30, 2008

HPs planned $12.6 billion purchase of EDS has received approval after a US government antitrust review.

While the two companies are still waiting for approval from European regulators, EDS plans to hold a shareholder meeting on July 31 to get clearance from its investors to close the deal.

The proposed merger, announced by the companies last month, is touted as a major challenge by HP to IBM’s dominance of the IT business services marketplace.

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China closing on India in the offshoring race, says IDC

Chinese cities will overtake Bangalore, Manila and Mumbai as the highest ranked global offshore delivery centres by 2011, according to an index developed by analyst firm IDC. 

The ‘Global Delivery Index’ (GDI), released this week, is comprised of data from more than 35 cities in the Asia/Pacific region and is based on a comprehensive set of criteria such as cost of labour and rent, language skills and turnover rate. Some of the cities assessed in the index include Adelaide, Bangalore, Dalian, Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur.

While the index found that Indian cities were still ranked highly as offshore delivery leaders, Chinese cities were seen to be rapidly gaining on traditional locations.

Conrad Chang, Research Manager for IDC’s Asia/ Pacific BPO Research, commented: “There are different risk factors to consider when evaluating outsourcing, offshoring, onshoring, and nearshoring. Some factors are obviously more critical than others and the GDI takes that into consideration. What differentiates leading cities from the rest is their focus on deal-clinching factors, and the GDI weighs that more heavily than other factors”.

According to the report those cities placed in the top 10 for global delivery focused more on deal-clinching factors. Some of these factors were agent skills, political risk, cost of labour and language skills. Other factors that are also important in global delivery according are resources & skills, infrastructure, and government factors – all of which are well balanced among the leading cities.

According to the firm the following issues rank highly among key decision makers regarding business decisions for global delivery:
· Confusion about offshoring, onshoring, nearshoring and how to leverage different delivery methods for optimal results.
· Is India the only viable option and what are the other alternative global delivery centres?
· How to objectively compare and quantify risks between different locations, for example, is Bangalore better than Dalian, and what is the basis for comparison?
· What is the potential of different locations for the future, particularly second tier locations such as Vietnam and Malaysia? 

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ANTS chooses Atos and Sagem for biometric passport contract

The National Secure Credentials Agency (ANTS), the body responsible for passports in France, has awarded Atos Origin and Sagem Sécurité with a biometric passport contract. 

The contract will see Atos and Sagem manage the implementation and deployment of a new biometric passport system throughout France. The new passport is being developed under a new European Union directive to reinforce passport reliability and personal security whilst combating their fraudulent use.

Nearly 5,000 data acquisition and processing systems will be deployed in 2,000 French town halls and 350 prefectures and sub-prefectures before June 2009, making it possible to include fingerprints on passports.

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Atos Origin plans ‘Competency Centre’ for Beijing

Friday, June 27, 2008

Atos Origin, the international IT services company, has announced plans to establish a new ‘Competency Center’ in Beijing to offer its portfolio of technical automation solutions to the civil nuclear industry and the oil & gas markets in the region.

Atos says the move reflects the growing demand from customers in China for expertise in IT services and the importance of the Asia Pacific and Chinese energy markets to the IT sector.

This ‘Energy and Utility Competency Centre’ will be launched in July 2008 to become fully operational by January 2009. This will provide domestic and global energy companies and nuclear operators with advanced technologies to meet the needs of China’s fast growing energy market.

Philippe Germond, CEO of Atos Origin, said: “This decision is a new step forward for Atos Origin to position the group as a worldwide provider of distinctive industry solutions. Atos Origin’s Digital Control System is widely recognized as a state-of-the-art reference by the most prominent nuclear operators in the world. Our solution is already implemented in three nuclear power plants in China and we are happy to reinforce our presence in this major market and to bring this expertise to the rest of the Asia Pacific region”.

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Oracle buys Skywire

Oracle has finalised a deal to acquire Skywire Software, a leading provider of insurance and business applications. The deal will see Oracle acquire 1,450 new insurance customers to add to its existing cache of over 1,000. 

Skywire Software’s insurance software assists insurers in managing the life cycle of an insurance policy, including insurance policy creation, rating, insurance agent/broker management and information exchange solutions.

With this and the impending acquisition of AdminServer, another insurance software provider, Oracle plans to create the most complete software suite for the insurance enterprise.

Patrick Brandt, Skywire Software President and CEO, said: “Insurers look to software to speed policy implementation, accelerate new business acquisition, reduce costs and manage regulatory risk. The combination of Skywire Software’s best-in-class insurance and document automation software applications with Oracle’s solutions will drive innovation and leadership to ensure our customers’ continued success.”

The acquisition is expected go through in the second half of 2008. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently. The value of the deal was not available.

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Information Commissioner slams MoD, HMRCT

Thursday, June 26, 2008

he Information Commissioner has this week established that few Whitehall departments have any real idea of their legal responsibilities under the Data Protection Act, and fewer still have any idea of how to manage IT systems securely.

His findings were made public this week as two government departments face enforcement action under the Act: HM Revenue and Customs, and the Ministry of Defence. Both departments have been in the spotlight this year for serious breaches of data security, along with the Home Office and the NHS.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and Poynter review found that there was a lack of meaningful systems, no understanding of the importance of data security and a “muddle through” culture at HMRC when it lost 25 million benefits records in internal post.

HMRC was described as having “an organisational design which was unnecessarily complex and crucially, did not clearly focus on management accountability”.

The MoD’s loss of 600,000 personnel details was slammed in a report by Sir Edmund Burton, who also blamed poor management. The MOD’S Chief of the General Staff has ordered an inquiry to investigate whether there are grounds disciplinary action.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, said: “The reports that have been published today show deplorable failures at both HMRC and MoD. Information security and other aspects of data protection must be taken a great deal more seriously by those in charge of organisations.

“It is beyond doubt that both Departments have breached Data Protection requirements and we intend to use the powers currently available to us to serve formal Enforcement Notices on them.”

• See Editor’s Blog for more on this week’s public sector IT and data meltdown.

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Newsbite: Government hires Martin Read to improve IT programmes

Former CEO of Logica, Martin Read, has been hired by the government to cut public spending in the IT sector – at a time when some public sector IT projects either seem out of control, mired in controversy and recriminations – or both. p>Read will report to Alistair Darling in the Treasury, where his role includes standardising business processes and cross-departmental compatibility, and improving procurement. Significantly, he will be able to abandon failed projects. 

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ACCC gives Getronics £2m outsourcing contract

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian equivalent of the UK’s competition commission, has awarded Getronics an outsourcing contract worth £2 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, an initial three year contract, Getronics will provide the ACCC with desktop, server and network support as well as database administration for the watchdog’s 700 strong workforce.

The contract will be serviced by Getronics Australia staff onsite at ACCC and will commence on 1 July 2008.

Getronics Australia managing director, Paul Timmins, said: “To be providing IT support to such an eminent body will energise my team and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with the ACCC”. 

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Newsbite: BBVA, Finacle and Infosys sign strategic global partnership

BBVA, one of the top 15 banks in the world, has partnered with Infosys Technologies and Finacle to implement a new universal banking solution.

The system, to be implemented across BBVA, will cover core banking, CRM, treasury and wealth management.
 
Francisco Gonzalez, Chairman and CEO of BBVA, said: “Our aim is to transform BBVA to a winning player in the global banking industry of the 21st century. We need to think different approaches to customers, and IT is a key element in our innovative business model. BBVA is strongly committed to its innovation and transformation plan, and the partnership with Infosys and Finacle is a big step in that way. We like to work with the best partners and Infosys is a very strong global partner”.

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