Industry news

In a worrying sign for the UK economy, major firms have curtailed investment plans and consumers are spending less on their credit cards according to Deloitte. Once again, the Brexit experiment is to blame followed by one of the most inconclusive elections in British history, which has rather unsurprisingly left everyone rather confused. There has been a steady stream of poor economic figures for the country to digest just as Europe appears to be emerging from a decade of discontent. How a government with little authority or understanding of public opinion will grapple with a slowing economy is difficult to tell, but like businesses, I can't say I'm optimistic.

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Recent news: Gig Economy Set for Regulation Overhaul in UK

Police Foundation and CGI discuss need for digitisation to shake up a justice system beset by changing crimes, archaic practices, spending cuts and inefficient paper-based systems. A joint report by the Police Foundation together with CGI has discussed how digitisation can transform the UK’s criminal justice system and put service users at its heart, delivering better experiences for everyone. “Reforming justice for the digital age,” outlines the costs and inefficiencies caused by a paper-based system and argues that digitisation, collaborative working practices, and technologies such as intelligent automation and blockchain can help resolve many of the Criminal Justice System’s (CJS) historic challenges."

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UK service providers indicated another slowdown in business activity growth during June, which largely reflected the weakest upturn in new work since September 2016. Survey respondents commented on subdued business and consumer confidence, alongside some instances of delayed decision making around the election. "A slowing in services sector growth completes a triple-whammy of disappointing PMI survey readings. Although the three PMI surveys are running at levels that are historically consistent with GDP growing by around 0.4% in the second quarter, it's clear that the economy heads into the third quarter losing momentum. With business optimism having been hit by the intensification of political uncertainty following the general election and commencement of Brexit negotiations, at the same time that households are battling against rising inflation, the indications are that the economy's resilience is being tested" said Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit.

Justin Zatouroff, head of business services at KPMG UK comments "fierce competition for new work is putting pressure on pricing, which is leading to an ongoing squeeze on margins. The combination of input cost inflation, Brexit and pricing pressures suggests that businesses in the services sector need to keep an eye on the horizon".

Related news: Sourcing Market Could Win in Brexit

Teleperformance, the global leader in outsourced ominchannel customer experience management, announced today its public sector services programme in the UK has achieved accreditation to the Global Sourcing Standard for Service Providers. Teleperformance is the first supplier globally to achieve the accreditation and follows the BBC as only the second organization to achieve accreditation with merit. Matt Sims, chief executive of Teleperformance UK and South Africa, said: “Accreditation to the Global Sourcing Standard is a wonderful achievement. I am especially proud of our public sector team, and this well-deserved accolade recognises the rigour and governance that has underpinned our work supporting UK public sector services for almost twenty years.” Kerry Hallard, Chief Executive of the GSA added, “I am delighted to confirm the accreditation of Teleperformance to the GSA Standard for its public sector services. I am particularly pleased to announce Teleperformance UK as the first ever supplier to have achieved accreditation and warmly congratulate them on their accomplishment.”

To read the full press release, click here.

As a truly independent industry association and professional body representing the global sourcing industry, the GSA’s mission is to professionalise sourcing so as to grow the positive reputation, and therefore size, of the industry. To help achieve this, the GSA are calling on everyone to spend just 15 minutes of their time completing the GSA’s Annual Sourcing Industry Satisfaction Barometer. The survey will assess the industries drive towards best practice and the Global Sourcing Standard. Click here to learn more.

Attend the GSA’s debate on Being Human In A Digital World and have your say.

Unless you’ve been keeping Rip Van Winkle company under a nearby tree recently, you won’t have escaped the hype surrounding robotic process automation and the much-prophesised Doomsday scenario where the jobs of 15 million Britons (nearly half of the UK’s 31.8 million workforce) will eventually be wiped out, taken over by machines.

Whether you believe the headlines or not (the statistic mentioned above was actually volunteered by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England), there is no doubt that as automation in general - and robotic process automation (RPA) specifically - starts to scale, entire white-collar professions will become endangered, with the lower income professions most likely to be hardest hit.

Of course, the benefits of RPA cannot be ignored; high volume transactions processed with greater accuracy and at higher speeds, with less risk of downtime, providing a better customer experience and inevitably, for a lower longer-term cost. It’s little wonder then that enterprises are falling over themselves to deploy robotics into their operating models to improve profits and increase shareholder value; that’s the nature of business after all, it keeps the wheels of the economy turning and its why the Government has recently provided a £17 million handout to universities for research into artificial intelligence initiatives including robotics and driverless vehicles.

Except that this is only one part of the equation; as more and more people are displaced by robots it begs the questions ‘where do they turn to?’, ‘what jobs will they do?’, ‘how do they earn an honest living so as not to be a burden on an already creaking state?’

At the GSA we strongly believe that if the economy is going to truly benefit from such innovations, there needs to be a broader and ongoing discussion on the impact of technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) on society. The narrative needs to extend beyond purely the commercial benefits achievable and look closely at the human impact in terms of reskilling and redeployment of displaced workforces.

We cannot afford to lose sight of the fact that these technologies will not only significantly impact existing workforces, but recognise the fall-out will impact future generations. Therefore, Government, Business Leaders and Trade Associations must come together and act now, to cohesively apply the learning from previous industrial revolutions and avoid making the same mistakes this time round.

This is why we are hosting the World’s First National Debate on the societal impact of automation at our Symposium on 28 June, where trade unions, buy-side organisations, vendors & industry commentators will come together to discuss the possible consequences for our society. Given the importance of this discussion we are throwing open the doors and allowing attendance to this debate free of charge. Spaces will be strictly limited so please contact us to register your place.

There is no place for workforce abandonment in the 21st Century, I invite you all to come along and play your part in ensuring it doesn’t happen!

Sri Lanka's finance ministry on Monday said it was formulating a new trade and investment policy, tax reforms and various other measures to improve the investor climate in the island country. A statement by the ministry quoted Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera as saying the government aimed to make Sri Lanka an export-driven economic and financial hub of the Indian Ocean, while creating unprecedented opportunities in many sectors. "In order to achieve these objectives, the government has set out a high-level reform agenda in several key sectors of the economy, facilitating and empowering the private sector as the principle engine of growth," Samaraweera said.

The minister added that given the rapid increase in climate-related disasters in many countries, like the floods Sri Lanka faced recently, the building of climate/disaster resilient infrastructure will be of paramount importance for the future. "If we are to meet this challenge, we must incorporate climate resilient concepts into all future infrastructure development projects," he added. The Sri Lankan government led by Maithripala Sirisena recently announced that it hopes to attract foreign investors into the island country and convert it into an international and trading hub due to its geographic location. Already a mega 1.4 billion dollars Port City project, the first of its kind in South Asia, is being constructed near the Colombo Port which will attract investments totalling 13 billion dollars from next year. The project is being positioned as a hub to the whole of South Asia.

Related news: Sri Lanka Sees Growth Fly Despite Dip

HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services provider, announces the launch of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) services to help organizations comply with EU GDPR regulation. The new GDPR Regulation which is mandated to be adopted by May 2018, extends the data rights of individuals and requires organizations to develop clear policies and procedures to protect personal data and adopt appropriate technical and organizational measures.

“In the digital era, privacy, security and personalization are the most significant issues facing corporations and individual alike. Enabling GDPR compliance is not just about managing regulatory requirements but can also be a source of competitive advantage, said Maninder Singh, Corporate Vice President and Head – Cyber Security & GRC, HCL Technologies. “HCL’s industry leading solutions, IT expertise and extensive European experience working with global corporations makes the company an ideal partner in this space.”

According to the monthly Index of industrial Production (IIP) released by the Census and Statistics Department, the volume of industrial production in Sri Lanka has increased by 1.8% in April 2017 compared to the same month in 2016. Among the manufacturing industries, the volume of products of ‘Furniture’ (27.8%), ‘Other non-metallic mineral products’ (10.4%) and ‘Fabricated Metal Product’ (10.2%) has shown remarkable increases during April, 2017 compared to those of April 2016 while the volume of food products has increased by 0.1 %. The manufacturing industries, volume of ‘Wood and products of wood’ (22.3%) and ‘Chemical and Chemical products’ (9.8%) and ‘Tobacco product’ (8.6%) reported decreases during this period. However, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) declined to 98.7 in April from 109.5 in March 2017.

Related news: India to Support Sri Lanka Railway Investment, Sri Lanka Growth to Accelerate in 2017

Capita Life & Pensions has been awarded the “Excellence in Outsourced Customer Service” award for its work with Zurich, at the prestigious Global Sourcing Association UK’s Professional Awards. Capita has delivered frontline customer service to Zurich’s two million customers over the last 10 years. The award recognised Capita’s “Voice of the Customer” programme, which has been designed to enhance the way Zurich provides customer service and feedback to its customers.

"The GSA UK’s Professional Awards recognise talent and application of best practice across the sourcing industry, and we are rightly proud of the achievements our partnership with Zurich. This latest accolade is further proof of Capita’s commitment to delivering outstanding customer service for our clients. Zurich’s strategic aims were embedded into the service we helped to provide, and we recognised the need to move from simply hearing what our customers were saying to truly listening. This has been key to the success of the Voice of the Customer programme." said Nikki Moss Customer service manager, Capita Life & Pensions.

To read more, click here.