Industry news

DXC Technology has extended its existing relationship with the European Space Agency (ESA) with the award of a new contract to develop an AI platform that will enable the Agency to build and deploy AI-powered solutions. The ESA is an intergovernmental organisation that collaborates internationally and supports economic growth via space technology and research.

The new platform will be named “Ask ESA” and is to be designed and built by DXC. The platform will run on NVIDIA and utilise GenAI from French startup Mistral AI, which specialises in the development of large language models (LLMs). The project has been initiated by Francois Margottin, the ESA’s Head of Application Services.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

UK insurance group, Utmost Life and Pensions (formerly Reliance Mutual) has selected it longstanding partner, Atos, to lead a full transformation of its IT estate. The two companies have an existing managed services relationship that began in 2012. Under the terms of this latest agreement, Atos will oversee the migration of Utmost’s IT systems to the Microsoft Azure cloud.

Utmost Life and Pensions, selected Atos to lead the IT transformation project based on its deep understanding of Utmost Life and Pensions’ operational needs and its established reputation in transformational outsourcing. Mark Francis, CFO at Utmost Life and Pensions said: “It’s vital that we have a best-in-class IT foundation to provide a reliable and responsive service to the over 290,000 policyholders that Utmost Life and Pensions protects and helps save for the long term. The cloud platform provides us with the scalability we require to meet our ambitious long term strategic growth goals.”

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

NTT DATA has published the findings of its latest research exploring the use of generative AI (GenAI) in the banking sector. The report, entitled “Intelligent banking in the Age of AI”, highlighted a significant increase in adoption of the technology with 58% of the financial services institutions fully embracing GenAI, up from 45% in 2023. Interestingly, the survey indicates that only 50% of the banks surveyed are looking to GenAI as a method of improving productivity and efficiency, whilst 49% believe the technology can help to reduce operational IT spend.

The findings of NTT Data’s new research indicate that the use of GenAI technology in the banking sector varies in terms of the motivation behind the investments being made. The disparity between the drivers of GenAI adoption in banking vary globally, with almost 59% of US banks looking to reduce their IT budgets and 47% keen to cut operating costs. However, only 43% of European banks highlighted cutting IT budgets as a priority whilst 36% were focused on reducing operating costs. Productivity was highlighted as the most important factor for European banks by 46% of respondents.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

Global data and technology provider, Experian has extended its eight-year relationship with US-headquartered IT services provider, UST with a new AI-focused proposition. The new strategic partnership is designed to help financial services organisations accelerate innovation and enhance their offerings using AI technology.

The new partnership will initially combine UST’s GenAI Sandbox with Experian's Aperture Data Studio product, to enable more informed decision-making. UST’s GenAI Sandbox enables businesses to experiment with AI in a safe test environment. Meanwhile, Aperture Data Studio incorporates self-service data with pre-built Experian datasets in a data quality and enrichment platform.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced a one-year extension to its existing contract with Kyndryl to support its core network infrastructure.

The extension, worth £2.28m, is to enable Defra to continue to bring down its technical debt as it moves to cloud. Kyndryl will be helping Defra modernise and manage the systems that run the department’s critical services to citizens. Aspects of the contract include modernising the Animal Disease Testing Service application and aiding the adoption of tech such as 5G-enabled edge computing and software-defined networking.

Government is a key market for Kyndryl in the UK, as is Financial Services. The firm also recently announced a strategic agreement with Co-operative Bank to migrate existing on-prem applications to Amazon Web Services.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

Back in December we heard at Sopra Steria’s Capital Markets Day the firm’s plan for the next three years which included a commitment to doubling its consulting business to 12% of revenue while targeting 60% from digital services. This shift towards higher-value services, coupled with their strong vertical focus in public sector, aerospace/defence, and financial services, is to be key to differentiating in a competitive marketplace.

The company also flagged up a €1bn M&A war chest signalling serious intent to consolidate its position in its key European markets. It looks like some of that money is going to be spent on acquiring French management consultant Aurexia, a boutique firm founded in 2006, with expertise in financial services, particularly in areas such as operational efficiency, compliance, and digital transformation. With 140 consultants and projected 2024 revenue of €20m (80% from France), Aurexia has demonstrated solid growth, expanding revenue 11% last year.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

Cognizant’s expansion into the UK Public Sector has taken another significant step forward in the shape of £40m win at the Home Office. The four-year call-off contract is for the provision of technical architecture services.

The award is the second sizeable success for the firm with department. In June 2023, Cognizant secured a £23m deal the provision of consulting, software development and support services for the Person Centric Data Platform (PCDP) which underpins the management of immigration. This latest announcement also comes just a couple of weeks on from the news that the company had picked up a £19m engagement with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

LTIMindtree has appointed Venu Lambu as the CEO (Designate) & Wholetime Director with immediate effect. He will replace Debashis Chatterjee, who has been leading the offshore IT services company since its formation three years ago. No specific date for the formal passing of the baton has been published with the pair set to work closely together over the coming months “to ensure a smooth and seamless transition”. Lambu’s tenure will run until January 2030.

Based out of London, Lambu is no stranger to either his new employer or the current CEO. The two executives were colleagues at Cognizant between 2012 and 2019, before reconnecting at Mindtree twelve months later. Lambu left LTIMindtree in January 2023 to take up the helm at Randstad Digital, a Netherlands-based digital marketing company. He will bring a strong sales orientation to the new role.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

Stefanini has been recognized as an ‘Exceptional Performer’ in Workplace Services and General Satisfaction in the prestigious 2024 German IT Sourcing Study by Whitelane Research. This acknowledgment highlights our continued success in delivering world-class workplace services that drive efficiency, innovation, and security for businesses across Germany.

Key points from the study include:

• 41% of German businesses are increasing their reliance on external IT providers to meet evolving workplace needs.
• Stefanini’s services are designed to optimize costs, scale effectively, and enhance operational resilience.
• We proudly maintain a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 73.8 in 2024, continuing a strong upward trend in client satisfaction over the past four years.

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15^th January 2025; Ireland and UK based Forward Emphasis, celebrating 25 years in business, today announces its new brand and vision following its success in specialist insurance services, with a 23% growth surge in 2024, which has led to the opening of a second site and laid the groundwork for a greenfield campus in 2025 to support over 400 new jobs.

This growth underscores Forward Emphasis’s pivotal role in providing tailored, high-compliance services to insurers and financial institutions, reinforcing its dedication to fostering investment and job creation in rural communities.

Last week Forward emphasis was selected to join the Central Bank of Ireland’s inaugural Innovation Sandbox, one of 7 companies out of 40 applicants. Partnering with Pasabi they will develop and test a Motor Insurance Application Fraud Analytics solution, leveraging AI-driven behavioural analytics, machine learning, and pattern recognition to detect fraud in the pre-sales process.

The company is also accelerating its investment in RegTech, blending human expertise with emerging technologies and developing AI-driven solutions and automation tools to enhance compliance, streamline operations, and drive engagement, delivering solutions specifically designed to meet the evolving needs of the insurance sector.

CEO Paula Kennedy Garcia comments: “As we enter 2025, we are excited to launch our new brand and vision to fully convey the transformative potential of AI and emerging technologies in the regulatory space. Innovation is at the heart of our expansion plans, not only driving new capabilities but also generating economic growth and creating jobs. This new chapter reflects our unwavering commitment to shaping the future of compliance, technology, and customer service.”

Visit www.forwardemphasis.ie to see the new brand and vision.