Industry news

The BPO sector in Puerto Rico is booming with the government reporting growth of 110% in the past four years. According to data provided by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO), the government-owned investment promotion agency, the rapid growth is attributed to the Act 20 law, which offers a 4% income tax rate to companies that export services to mainland US or foreign countries. An increasing number of BPO companies are operating in Puerto Rico alongside a growing ITO sector, leading to an established eco-system of businesses and boosting confidence in the economy.

Read the full story here.

Strong business investment between January and June 2017 saw UK market achieve strongest half-year performance since 2012, according to the Arvato Outsourcing Index. The research, compiled by outsourcing provider Arvato and industry analyst NelsonHall, revealed outsourcing deals worth £5.2 billion were agreed in the first six months of the year, with financial services accounting for 55 per cent of the total contract value at £2.9 billion. The sector’s investment in outsourcing services was behind a steep increase in spending by UK businesses, according to the findings. Companies signed contracts worth £4.5 billion between January and June, representing a 95 per cent year-on-year rise. The latest figures follow a particularly strong first quarter, which saw firms agree deals worth £2.5 billion - the strongest quarterly private sector spend since the last three months of 2011 (£6.4 billion).

You can read the full report here.

The chief executive of Infosys, Vishal Sikka, has resigned from his post with an unconventional and lengthy letter blaming "personal attacks". In the letter Mr Sikka said the "continuous drumbeat of distractions" contributed to his decision to resign. It follows public criticism of the company and its board by its founders. Infosys is one of India's largest IT services firms. Shares in the firm plunged 9% following news of Mr Sikka's departure. Mr Sikka was appointed in June 2014 and tasked with turning around the struggling business. The company announced he was resigning as chief executive and managing director with immediate effect, but would stay on as executive vice chairman.

You can read more here.

Over 100 influential leaders in robotics and artificial intelligence have sent a letter urging the United Nations to act now before robotics dominates warfare. The 116 experts are calling for a ban on the use of AI in managing weaponry. Experts are calling for what they describe as "morally wrong" technology to be added to the list of weapons banned under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Along with Tesla co-founder and chief executive Mr Musk, the technology leaders include Mustafa Suleyman, Google's DeepMind co-founder.

Hyundai is the latest car manufacturer to announce plans to boost investment in electric cars with a new model with a expected range of 500 miles per charge. The move comes as governments have sets targets on limiting cars that run on fossil fuels in the next few decades. The future of oil is becoming a much talked about topic as experts debate on the future of travel. Sadly for the oil industry it appears to be on the precipice of major change that will disrupt business models, however, electric cars offer new possibilities and with the increasing use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in the motor industry, a self driving electric car may become available to buy in the coming years.

Full stroy here.

Symphony Ventures has secured £3.5 million of funding from Livingbridge to continue their global expansion. Symphony Ventures provide consultancy, implementation and managed services to enterprise clients looking to automate operational processes and have expanded rapidly in the past three years. “We are delighted to be working with Livingbridge. We had a choice of partners and selected Livingbridge for their strong track record of helping founders achieve rapid growth, while respecting the company and the culture in place” said Chief Executive Officer David Poole. Livingbridge is a mid-market private equity business with particular experience working with high growth technology companies which gives the Symphony Ventures the high accolade of being backed by a market specialist.

Full story here.

Retail Sales in the UK are showing a rather contrasting picture as growth slows and becomes focused upon food. Buoyant sales in food have helped sales rise by 0.3%, offsetting falls across the board in other sectors as consumers feel the squeeze on their wallets. The slowdown in growth adds to a murky picture of the UK economy, as the country struggles to find strong underlying statistics after the Brexit vote. It feels like the UK economy is bumping along, trying to discover what will happen in negotiations with the European Union, as business puts major decisions on hold and consumers bunker down to prepare for any inflationary pressure in the coming years.

Full story here.

Forrester's latest European tech market forecast projects that growth will be sluggish but steady in the coming few years. Purchases of technology software, hardware, and services by European businesses and government measured in Euros will hold steady at 1.6 percent in 2017, and increase to 2.2 percent in 2018 while spending on software and tech consulting services will do better, with software spending rising by 2.5 percent in 2017 and 3.5 percent in 2018. Three main factors have contributed to the figures, sluggish growth in the Eurozone, slow adoption of cloud technology and services and strong adoption of business technology contributed to the steady pace of growth.

Full story here.

A recent study by IT World Canada found that CIO's in Canada are losing satisfaction in IT Outsourcing as part of a shift away from conventional outsourcing. The study does not reveal a slowdown in spending but suggests that businesses would be less likely rush into outsourcing their IT infrastructure in the next two years. In the survey, about 28% of respondents said their outsourcing experience had “fallen below” expectations, the findings do not necessarily mean that Canadian firms dislike outsourcing, as they still expect external IT firms to help them increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve employee productivity.

Full story here.

Synopsys, Inc, a global high-tech leader enabling companies to innovate from Silicon to Software, this week announced plans to invest in R&D capabilities in its Sri Lanka operations. To extend its local R&D capabilities, Synopsys is working with the University of Moratuwa, the University of Peradeniya and the University of Ruhuna to build very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and electronic design automation (EDA) skill sets to help graduating engineers meet ever-evolving challenges in semiconductor design, EDA, semiconductor IP and software security and quality, the company said in a media release. Synopsys established its operations in Colombo in 2015, and since then the R&D team has grown to approximately 100 engineers involved in the research, design and development of key EDA technologies and products that enable “Smart, Secure Everything from Silicon to Software” in the global electronics market. The Sri Lanka operation is engaged in R&D activities across core EDA, and its objective is to grow in advanced technology areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to embrace the era of “smart everything,”, the release said.