Industry news

Tax the robots, not the response of the Luddites to the technology of the 19th century but probably a more rational approach to the coming wave of RPA and AI. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, suggested this weekend that taxing robots that replace human jobs is a good idea. Terry Walby, CEO of thoughtonomy and expert in Automation said “I suspect it's designed to grab headlines and stimulate debate about the macroeconomic and societal impact of what is being called the fourth industrial revolution - robotics and AI. And it's true that policy makers need to consider the impact on everything from labour markets, to educational needs, to legal liability for the actions of autonomous entities, as the velocity of innovation and rate of adoption increases”. However, he believes “If it's a genuine suggestion, it's plain daft”. Tom Reuner of HfS Research noted that “The European Parliament is debating it, Finland has started a trial on "Universal Basic Income". Yet, our industry is largely on the side-lines. We need a debate on the ethics of AI and the retooling of society”.

Kerry Hallard, CEO of the Global Sourcing Association (GSA), says “We should focus on reinvention and not taxing innovation. Robotics are a positive to the future and will provide new, different jobs that require new skill sets. The short-term focus must be upon retraining displaced workers as part of constant reinvention. We are expecting the topic to be front and centre at our Symposium in June”.

The advance of robotics is unlikely to be the only evolution to the way we work over the coming years and decades. Longer working lives and the gig-economy are likely to have just as much of a seismic effect. This editor is cautious, taxing innovation is wrong, great ideas must be rewarded, but robotics could lead to a them and us society, manipulated very easily by politicians bent against globalisation and the business elite. We will need tax revenue to act as a safety net for workers left behind and that must come from somewhere. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Inflation in the UK hit highs not seen since 2014 as the weaker pound made an effect on prices. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) reached 1.8% in December according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Input prices, the price for fuel and raw materials paid by manufacturers, rose at an annual rate of 20.5% in January. Click here to read more.

Wipro Limited, a global IT, consulting and business process services company, announced it is delivering analytics-based insights for specific industries with the Data Discovery Platform, its newest big data analytics-as-a-service solution. Built with IBM BigInsights and IBM dashDB and developed on Bluemix, IBM's cloud platform, the solution accelerates insight-driven decision making through pre-built applications for specific industries, such as banking and financial services, retail, energy, education and manufacturing. Click here to find out more.

The employment rate in the UK is at a record 74.6% – the highest employment rate since records began in 1971. Unemployment rate remains at 4.8% which is the lowest rate for 11 years while wages grew by 2.6%. Secretary of State, Damian Green said “With employment at its highest rate since records began, and unemployment at its lowest in over a decade, we remain in a position of strength. With youth unemployment down, women in work at record levels and number of disabled people in work increasing too, we’re delivering on our pledge to build a country that works for everyone.” Click here to read more.

Interesting article on the Entrepreneur about outsourcing to emerging markets. Focusing on the Philippines, Vietnam and Rwanda, the article provides an overview of the potential for business process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing in these economies. It is certainly worth a read.

everjobs.lk, the fastest growing online career portal in Sri Lanka, has in a new report said that jobs in the Information Technology (IT) sector led the demand for jobs in Sri Lanka in 2016. Put together in a simple-to-read infographic, everjobs.lk’s new release identifies key trends within the job seekers’ sphere in Sri Lanka and reveals the top industries hiring in 2016. Rushabh Sheth, Managing Director for everjobs Sri Lanka, as follows: “Sri Lanka is ranked 12th in the world by IBM for business process outsourcing and is home to BPO units of companies such as Google, J.P. Morgan or Microsoft. Needless to say, IT and system engineers are some of the most in-demand talent in the job market and we see this trend continuing in the future.” Click here to read more.

The Co-operative Bank is putting itself up for sale, following its near collapse in 2013. The bank has around four million customers and focuses on ethical standards which it hopes will attract buyers. Potential buyers include TSB who are still completing a separation with Lloyds. It is worth noting that Western Mortgage Services, part of Capita, will continue to provide mortgage administration services and new mortgage application processing for the bank and its clients. Click here to learn more.

Interesting little article in the Economist about H-1B visa programme and how it’s curtailment could affect US industry. The Indian IT industry is struggling thanks to Donald Trump’s mercantilist rhetoric, the pain of this appears unlikely to ease. Click here to find out more.

Blackstone Group has agreed to the acquisition of insurance broker Aon’s employee benefits outsourcing business. It is expected that the deal will be worth just under $5 billion and gives Blackstone a business that processes work benefits of 15% of the US population. Aon is likely to use the capital to move into growth areas such as cybersecurity. Click here to find out more.

Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka said talk on concerns over corporate governance at the software services firm was "distracting" and that he had good relations with the firm's founders. India's No.2 IT services company has been locked in an escalating public war of words with its founders and former executives, who have accused its board of lapses in corporate governance. However, the reassurance has sent shares in Infosys up slightly. Click here to find out more.