Accenture has beaten BT and been awarded a £60 million contract by the Department of Health (DH) to deliver the new NHSmail service.

The original NHSmail service has run since 2004 and allows secure electronic mail and sensitive patient information to be shared among public healthcare bodies. The new NHSmail2 contract will run until at least 2020.

The news comes after Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme downplayed the importance of Accenture’s outsourcing activities, instead tipping digitalisation as the key profit driver for the future of his organisation.

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Related: Accenture Wins £350m NHSmail Contract