Industry news

According to a report in the Australian publication Financial Review, large financial services organisations such as AMP and Westpac are considering automating back office and finance functions.

Like most projects involving robotics and automation, it is reported that AMP is "not looking to automate to replace roles" but rather to "automate small, time-consuming processes, such as data entry" and free up employees to "focus on higher-value tasks that add real value to the customer".

ANZ Bank also divulged to the publication that it “had been refining over the last 12 months a program in the emerging field of robotics process automation which will change the composition of its workforce.”

While Westpac want to automate currently clunky manual processes in its business banking division that are performed onshore in Australia.

Simen Munter, ANZ Bank's general manager of group hubs said robotics is top of the agenda for the business process outsourcing industry, which includes brands like Wipro, Hewlett-Packard, Tata Consulting Services, IBM and Accenture. He went on to say "If you are a BPO vendor and you are not offering something in this space, then it is like trying to sell a car without airbags… It is technically possible but nobody wants to buy it."

You can find out more about automation, digitalisation and robotics at the EOA’s forthcoming Leadership Summit & Awards taking place in Lisbon, Portugal. For details please visit http://www.noa.co.uk/eoa-leadership-summit-and-awards/

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Related:100,000 employees replaced by robotic automation at India’s top three service providers

The City of Edinburgh Council has awarded CGI a seven year £186m transformational ICT contract. The new contract is estimated to save the council £45m and is intended to facilitate their digital channel shift, including automating a number of back office processes. CGI have also committed to the creation of over 200 new jobs and more than 60 modern apprentices.

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Read this next: Northern Saving Credit Union enter 10-year outsourcing deal with CGI

The National Outsourcing Association is delighted to announce the 2015 NOA Awards shortlist. Winners will be announced on Thursday 19th November 2015 at the 5 star Landmark Hotel, London.

The National Outsourcing Association Awards (NOAAs) now in its twelfth year recognises and celebrates the efforts of companies who have demonstrated best-practice in outsourcing.

National Outsourcing Association CEO, Kerry Hallard said:

“Following one of its strongest ever years, the global outsourcing industry is undergoing a paradigm shift in terms of technology, customer centricity and client expectation. Buyers and service providers alike are looking to the future, determining which trends are most significant and what investments must be made.

This fact is reflected through the submissions for this year’s awards; suppliers are focused on progressive business transformation, with the buyers eager to facilitate them. The shortlist for this year’s NOA Awards is packed with exemplary case studies featuring efficiency gains, innovation and added value that goes well beyond cost savings. The industry’s key providers are performing as well as ever, alongside a number of new contenders and partnerships pushing the limits of what can be achieved through outsourcing. Needless to say, this is gearing up to be a very exciting awards ceremony.”

The Shortlist in Full

International Outsourcing Contract of the Year

60k

Intetics

ITC Infotech & Finnair

KPMG & ABB Information Services Limited

NIIT Technologies

SoftServe GmbH and Panasonic Appliance Air-conditioning Europe

Offshoring Project of the Year

Centrica - British Gas

DDC & Brandbank

eClerx

EXL & British Gas

Firstsource & Sky’s NOW TV

Wipro

Outsourcing SME of the Year

Adetiq Limited

Arise Virtual Solutions

Intetics

ScaleFocus AD

Sumotech

Xoomworks

Offshoring Destination of the Year

Bulgaria

Slovakia

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Telecommunications, Utilities and High-Tech Outsourcing Project of the Year

Avanade & Centrica Energy

British Gas & Capita

Capita & Telefonica

Conectys

EXL & British Gas

Sopra Steria & Morrison Utility Services

Public Sector Outsourcing Project of the Year

BBC Audience & Capita

Teleperformance & The Environment Agency

VFS Global & The Home Office

Financial Services Outsourcing Project of the Year

Capgemini & Direct Line Group

KnowledgePool (part of Capita plc) & Lloyds Banking Group

Cognizant & Barclays Bank

Cognizant - Property Search Smartphone Application Project

eClerx

HP & Leeds Building Society

Best Contribution to the Reputation of Outsourcing

Avasant & The Rockefeller Foundation

BBC Audience Services & Capita

Miratech

Sumotech & OLM Systems

Teleperformance India

Teleperformance & Npower

Award for Corporate Social Responsibility

Infosys BPO Limited

SPi Global - I Got Green Fundraising Campaign

WNS Global Services

BPO Contract of the Year

British Gas & Capita

Capita & Telefonica

Firstsource & Sky

Infosys BPO & Openreach

ITO Project of the Year

Avanade & Centrica Energy

Capgemini & Heathrow Airport Limited

Cognizant – Payments Exception Handling Project

Cognizant & a Global Financial Institution

KPMG & ABB Information Services Limited

Xchanging

Award for Innovation in Outsourcing

Arise Virtual Solutions

Cognizant & Barclays Bank

Cognizant - Disability Banking Project

EXL & British Gas

Firstsource & Giffgaff

Olswang & BP

Shared Service Centre of the Year

CGI

Conectys

Wipro

Outsourcing Advisory of the Year

Avasant

CMS

DLA Piper

KPMG

Linklaters LLP

Outsourcing Contact Centre Provider of the Year

60k

Conectys

Response

Tech Mahindra & Three UK

Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year

Capita Insurance Services

Capita

ELEKS

Future Processing Sp. z o.o.

ScaleFocus AD

VFS Global

Outsourcing Buyer of the Year

Brandbank

Centrica - British Gas

Heathrow Airport

Telefonica

Outsourcing Works - Award for Delivering Business Value

Capgemini & Heathrow Airport Limited

ELEKS

Infosys BPO and Openreach

Serco

Soitron UK & HP UK

Xerox

Outsourcing giants CGI have signed a 10 year deal to deliver key banking services to Northern Saving Credit Union. The agreement also involve CGI acquiring Northern Savings subsidiary company Solutions Only Financial Technology Ltd which will add to CGI’s growing banking solutions portfolio. The partnership will support Northern Savings growth strategy as well as optimising operational processes and reduce risk.

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Read this next: North Wales Police Sign 5 Year Contract with CGI

In a bid to expand the capabilities of Accenture Strategy when providing services for oil exploration and production companies, Accenture has acquired Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC), a global leader in oilfield services.

SBC specialises in consulting firms working in the upstream oil and gas industry, but is also widely recognised as a leading player in the energy sector more generally. Mark Knickrehm, global CEO of Accenture Strategy, expressed his excitement at the competitive edge Accenture will gain when providing oil companies with key strategy insights.

The terms of the acquisition are yet to be disclosed and completion of the deal is still subject to regulatory approval.

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Related: Accenture harnesses cloud technology to assist with London’s “Super-Sewer” project

Genpact has completed its acquisition of the Citibank OpenWealth platform, with the intention of expanding the wealth management services it offers to those working in the UK financial sector.

The platform is already being successfully operated by Genpact in North America, after the company acquired Citibank’s US OpenWealth platform business earlier in 2015. Now the transition is fully complete, Genpact will be able to offer comparable services to British insurers, banks and brokers.

The market for wrap platforms like OpenWealth, which manage and trade investments on behalf of clients, has grown by over 20 per cent annually during the past 10 years, growth that is expected to continue at a faster rate well into the next decade.

“We are excited to fully integrate the respective strengths of Genpact and our wealth management services center in Glasgow to allow wealth managers and financial advisors in the UK to focus on their core competencies of enhancing customer service and raising assets,” said Boaz Lahovitsky, senior vice president, Wealth Management, Genpact.

“The combination of our next generation technology, unrivaled breadth of administration services and Genpact’s service excellence and backing truly differentiates us in a market that is eager for better service than what is available today from other providers.”

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Related: Genpact and Syntel: An IT Outsourcing Match Made in Heaven?

Serco has been awarded one of three places on a new $199 million contract to support the American navy and Marine Corps with air traffic control engineering and technical support services.

Serco will now have the opportunity to bid on task orders to provide these services; they will deliver specialised technical and integration support, configuration data management and systems maintenance for an extremely broad range of complex systems, from reconnaissance to oceanography.

This contract award comes shortly after Serco reported a post-tax loss of £92 million for the first half of 2015. Despite this loss, the results suggest that Serco could be on the verge of stabilising after a tumultuous 2014, and the group’s latest win certainly offers further cause for optimism.

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Related: UK service providers threaten to pull out of immigration detention centre contracts

Accenture has implemented its own cloud-based ERP software to assist with the building and maintenance of London’s “super-sewer”.

The project is one of London’s biggest in terms of infrastructure and is being overseen by Thames Tideway Tunnel, a standalone regulated company.

Accenture’s cloud software, designed with NetSuite and known as the NetSuite OneWorld solution, will be used to support core financial planning and procurement functions, including financial consolidation, multicurrency and tax compliance.

“An agile and intuitive back-office IT system is critical for effective management and delivery of large-scale infrastructure projects,” said Robin Johns, head of Information Systems at Thames Tideway Tunnel.

“We selected Accenture to help us with this implementation based on its extensive experience with NetSuite cloud ERP technology and complex system integrations. We also chose Accenture for its ability to offer practical solutions to deliver an IT platform that will help facilitate financing and construction of the super sewer, while keeping costs down for customers.”

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Related: Tata Motors procures Accenture’s services to cut down on bureaucracy

Staff working in Allied Irish Bank’s IT division have voted to accept the bank’s outsourcing proposals, meaning that roughly 220 employees will be transferred to Infosys and Wipro, who will be providing technology support services.

The vote was put to the members of the Irish Bank Officials’ Association that are involved with AIB’s IT. The IBOA explained that the intention of the transfers is to enhance job security for workers and to protect their pension entitlements.

Early in June, AIB assured its employees that no redundancies would result from its plans to outsource numerous functions within its application development and maintenance division.

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Related: Infosys sets aside $10 million to invest in Irish startups after AIB contract win

MidlandHR has successfully completed a project for Newport City Council to ensure the council is fully prepared for expected changes to teachers’ pension scheme in England and Wales.

The two organisations have conducted a successful outsourcing partnership since 2005, hence why MidlandHR’s pensions team of was chosen to manage these legislative updates. The council currently uses the company’s iTrent software to managed payroll for its 6,500 employees, which includes 1,500 teachers.

"MidlandHR carried out an initial evaluation to understand how we were operating iTrent and how we were using the system to handle our current teachers’ pensions,” said Erica Gibson, HR integrity officer at Newport City Council. “This stage was key to the success of the project as MidlandHR’s experts really took the time to understand our requirements.

"Successfully delivered via remote services, the team began by analysing, cleansing and preparing the data in line with TPA legislation and teachers eligibility statuses… Working in partnership with MidlandHR on this project has been fundamental to its success and we haven’t had one issue arise since the transition. Their willingness to engage early, and take the time to understand our expectations and requirements was critical, and meant we have avoided what could have been a very challenging period for the council.”

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Related: arvato partners with NHS National Services Scotland on HR delivery contract