Industry news

Xerox has been chosen by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to manage its production and printing of secure and non-secure business forms, as part of a £40 million contract that aims to support a shift towards digitalisation and automation.

The three-year contract will see Xerox print approximately 800 million prescription forms a year.

Xerox will also be responsible for reviewing how these forms are managed, in order to remove any duplicated processes.

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Related: Xerox ITO acquired by Atos in $966 million deal

International logistics company TNT has chosen Accenture as an outsourcing partner, to provide and standardise back office operations as part of a five-year deal.

Accenture’s responsibilities on TNT’s behalf will include data entry, procurement, and finance and accounting, taking over operations that were previously handled in-house.

Accenture’s addition to the business is part of a wider initiative known as “Outlook,” a project that is intended to grow TNT’s SME customer base, to which the use of outsourcing is key. In March 2015, TNT outsourced its IT infrastructure to HP as part of a six-year deal which will see operations moved to the cloud.

In regards to the Accenture deal, TNT CFO Maarten de Vries commented: “Accenture’s BPO services will allow TNT to focus on what we do best: delivering our customers’ express parcels and pallets, while enhancing our cost-efficiency and flexibility.”

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Related: Amadeus shells out $830 million for Accenture subsidiary Navitaire

Firstpost has reported that Mphasis will be selling “a significant portion” of its domestic business to Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), in a move that will involve the transfer of 7,000 Mphasis employees.

HGS is looking to make advances on the digital side of its business as a result. Governance, risk and compliance (GRC), application maintenance services (AMS) and infrastructure services will also be areas focused upon.

"The deal value was Rs 17 crore but we are getting Rs 140-160 crore in revenue," a HGS executive claimed. "We get new clients and new processes that we could look to leverage for the international market. It was too good to let it pass."

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Related: Mphasis Hung Out to Dry by Parent Company Hewlett-Packard

Serco Group is currently considering alternatives for how to derive value from Serco India BPO, after failing to sell the Indian BPO unit by the end of June as expected.

The unit’s unrealistically large price tag has been seen by many as the reason why no organisations have bought the business, despite plenty of interest from the likes of Blackstone and SPi Global.

"The process related to the potential disposal of our offshore private sector BPO business, the main elements of which are the former Intelenet business, continues. The board is considering a number of alternative options, and a further update will be provided in due course," said Rupert Soames, Serco’s chief executive.

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Related: Blackstone Quits Race to Acquire Serco India BPO: Who will buy now?

After announcing the merger in April 2015, Capgemini has finally completed its acquisition of IGATE.

The New Jersey-headquartered technology and services corporation saw revenues of $1.3 billion in 2014. In June 2015, Capgemini announced plans for a $564 million capital boost in order to fund the acquisition of the company.

Paul Hermelin, Capgemini chairman and CEO, said: “This acquisition represents a major step in Capgemini’s history. With IGATE, our operations in North America have taken a new dimension and are now our largest market in revenues.

“Our combined operations in India have now reached the size to compete at par with the world leaders in our industry. It will also benefit our customers by taking further our industrialisation and innovation initiatives. On behalf of our group, I’m glad to welcome the 31,000 people of IGATE to Capgemini.”

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Related: Capgemini Acquires IGATE: Hear from the CEOs

The female prison officer left fighting for her life after being attacked by a prisoner at Blackfriars Crown Court has died.

Lorraine Barwell, a 54-year-old prisoner custody officer for Serco, was assaulted while escorting a prisoner away from Blackfriars Crown Court.

Humphrey Burke, 22, has been charged with grievous bodily harm and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on 15 July 2015 for his preliminary hearing - he could now face charges of either murder or manslaughter.

Justice secretary Michael Gove was "shocked" to hear the news and has commended Ms Barwell for her "courageous and dedicated" service.

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Related: Serco prison officer in critical condition after Blackfriars Crown Court assault

A giant travel IT deal has been made, with Spanish tech firm Amadeus purchasing Navitaire, a subsidiary of Accenture, for $830 million.

Navitaire is a transport industry technology services subsidiary of Accenture, providing IT support for over 50 airlines. The company tends to focus on areas such as reservation and loyalty programmes.

The deal is expected to be completed towards the end of 2015.

“This transaction will give us the ability to serve all airlines with technology that can enable them to drive new revenues and contain their costs," said Amadeus head Luis Maroto.

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Related: Capgemini finalises acquisition of IGATE

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has announced plans to outsource a number of services within its application development and maintenance division to Indian service providers Wipro and Infosys.

The companies involved will now enter the formal consultation process with employee representatives but a spokesperson from AIB has confirmed that no redundancies will be made due to this outsourcing contract.

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Related: Wipro Introduces Wage Hikes to Stay in Line with Infosys and TCS

Serco CEO Rupert Soames has given the group’s shareholders a first half trading update, in which he stated that Serco is “in reasonably good order” and should meet full-year profit expectations.

During 2015 Serco has started to sell off a significant amount of its BPO portfolio, opting instead to focus on providing public sector services. £1 billion in new contracts – including a lucrative five-year deal with the Saudi Railway Company worth £120 million – supports Soames’ claim that business is stabilising after a volatile 2014.

According to the update, Serco’s trading in the first half of 2015 has been slightly better than anticipated. £1.7 billion by the end of June was the minimum expected, still down from £2 billion this time last year.

The jury is still out on whether Soames is capable of turning Serco’s fortunes around. One analyst informed Sam Knight at the Guardian, “If there is one person who can turn around a sinking ship it is probably Rupert” but went on to admit his success is far from guaranteed.

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Related: Serco is “Trading in Line with Expectations”

A female prison officer is fighting for her life after being attacked by a prisoner at Blackfriars Crown Court on Monday 29th June 2015.

The officer, a Serco employee believed to be in her 50s, has been taken to a hospital in east London where she remains in critical condition.

The attacker, Humphrey Burke, has been arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm.

Kevin Hagan, a contract director at Serco, commented: "We take a zero tolerance approach to violence against staff and we always press for the most serious charge to be laid against those responsible."

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Related: Soames says Serco in “good order” despite year-on-year profit decline