Last week I thought Lloyds TSB had their work cut out for them when turning bad press into good. However, it seems the outsourcing industry can’t get any worst coverage then it received this week. Placing ‘outsourced’ and ‘torture’ in the same sentence can never be good. Do not fear the Round-Up is not going to dredge the dark depths of civil liberties and human rights. This is not the type of outsourcing we are privy to and certainly do not condone it!

This week a thrilling ITO contract was won by CSC. Nobel Biocare, a Swiss dental implant manufacturer, has signed a seven-year ITO contract with them. Not the type of company that one sees often in outsourcing news. Dental implants, I still can’t work it out. Either way the toothy Swiss company hopes that CSC will help their implants grow and grow. The Round-Up wishes them the best of luck.

On to the more common, the U.S. postal service has renewed its customer service contract with Convergys. Since 2003 Convergys has provided the postal service with customer service support at three U.S. contact centres. This extension is the second two-year renewal of the contract.

And finally there is some exciting news for all the academics out there. Okay, you’re right, for some reason I do not have a following that consists largely of academics. However, the news that Gartner and Oxford University are launching a CIO academy in the Gulf Region is still exciting stuff.

The University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and Gartner Executive Programs, a unit of Gartner, Inc., will deliver their renowned CIO Academy in the Gulf Region. The programme has become established over several years at Oxford, helping many IT leaders to maximise the contribution of technology to their organisations.

Although this week’s news round up began with a distinctly somber tone, I do hope you are left feeling uplifted and revived with all the new outsourcing contracts that are floating about. The Round-Up is a little worried about what headlines will be in the press next week. I hope when we meet next the news will not be so grave in nature.

Until then, happy sourcing.