Industry news

Computing has reported that the ITO partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) and HP has been a resounding success, acknowledged by both sides of the outsourcing relationship.

HP has digitalised CUH’s services in a way that allows frontline staff to quickly and securely access data and patient records.

“All of our IT is now managed by HP – and the system is already delivering real benefits,” commented Dr Afzal Chaudhry, CUH’s chief medical information officer.

However, some of the NHS workers have struggled with the transition, particularly those that are less “tech-savvy” than their younger colleagues. Chaudhry continued: "If you take some of the senior consultants who'd never left notepad and books.

“They'd trained as a student, used them as junior doctors all the way through and some of these people, they'd been there for years. Then overnight we took everything that they knew, then threw it away.”

Nevertheless, the majority of staff have transitioned well and are working more efficiently as a result of HP’s input.

The new platform installed by HP is being widely adopted and utilised, with 3,200 people using the system onsite, and further staff using it offsite, on a daily basis. Even during its quietest periods in the early hours of the morning, CUH tends to find 300-400 individuals logged in at any given time.

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Related: NHS Awards Capita with £400 Million Contract for Administrative Support Services

According to a poll conducted by CIPS, 45 per cent of buyers have no plan B that “stretches down the tiers of their supply chain” if plan A fails, Supply Management has reported.

Meanwhile less than a third of buyers had a back-up strategy in place, while a fifth of those surveyed had no idea whether they had a plan B or not.

CIPS’s group CEO David Noble said buyers “cannot outsource accountability and responsibility for the conditions in which these goods are produced and where raw materials are sourced.

“Best practice requires a thorough understanding by companies of who their suppliers are. Many procurement professionals will be confident they have this understanding, but this knowledge is incomplete.”

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Related: Report Reveals Evolution of Procurement Industry

Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme has emphasised the importance of his company’s digital pursuits, as Accenture reported a 30 per cent increase in digitally-derived revenues in its most recent quarter.

He pointed out that digital work now accounts for 20 per cent of his organisation’s total $7.8 billion in revenues, a percentage that is likely to grow over the coming years.

“We’re not using any more, or much more, the terminology of consulting and outsourcing,” he’s stated.

Accenture are currently undertaking a number of exciting digital projects across a wide range of industries, for clients such as Pizza Hut, Rio Tinto, healthcare businesses and a leading global shipbuilding company.

Having said that, consulting and outsourcing are still key to Nanterme’s future vision: “When we created Accenture Operations, we created a very unique capability in the marketplace. I don’t believe that anyone else has been building a similar capability with two major capabilities in it, one, which is around infrastructure services, where you will find as much consulting and outsourcing in it.

So it’s a combination of services from cloud-related services leveraging the Accenture Cloud platform from high value services in security and from indeed infrastructure outsourcing.”

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Related: Technology and Talent are Key Differentiators for Maximizing Business Value of BPO Engagements

Tech Mahindra has been selected by Circle Health to play the role of technology partner, as part of £50 million contract that is expected to last 10 years.

The Indian digital transformation specialist will be introducing and developing new technologies to improve patient care, operational delivery and reduce the cost of operations. Circle has granted Tech Mahindra access to its hospitals, clinicians and wealth of healthcare management experience.

Steve Melton, Chief Executive of Circle, said: “This deal is a sign of the times. Healthcare has yet to see the tech-led disruption that we’ve seen in other sectors, but we think that is about to change. At the same time, there is a big push in UK government policy for transparency and better patient access to data – while the need for healthcare operators to be efficient has never been higher.”

He added, “Tech Mahindra are a hugely respected firm with a track record of innovation. Its technology has made organizations across a vast range of sectors more connected, agile and efficient. We’re absolutely delighted our partnership with Tech Mahindra will support us to grow our business and improve our competitiveness through the adoption of new technologies.”

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Related: Tech Mahindra Continues Philippines Investment

Computer Weekly has reported that the UK government is seeking advice on proposals to reduce the number of individuals working in the UK from outside of Europe.

Overseas service providers can currently transfer staff to the UK to work on contracts with UK-based companies, provided the workers specialise in areas where the country has a skills shortage and the wages paid meet the government’s minimum salary threshold.

The UK government is now looking to reduce the number of these workers by increasing the pay threshold, reforming the skills shortage list and introducing an additional charge for the visas involved – that money will go towards developing homegrown skills which the UK is currently lacking.

Kerry Hallard, CEO of the National Outsourcing Association, warned that these proposals could prove costly: "The government wants to invest in developing home-grown skills here in the UK and that's admirable, but progress will take years.

“In the meantime, the UK shouldn't simply shut out talent that's available around the rest of the world. To do so would damage our economy which British workers are reliant on, harming the very people these proposed changes are meant to help.”

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Related: Disney Cancels Outsourcing Plans as US Government Investigates Indian ITOs

UK apprenticeship provider QA Apprenticeships has committed to getting 10,000 of the country’s young people into professional technology positions through a year-long campaign.

Seeing as 75 per cent of 16-24 year olds now believe they could not live without the internet, QA Apprenticeships say they see this as “harnessing what is already second nature to the youth population.”

This drive for digital apprenticeships comes at an appropriate time. Over the past few years, industry experts, outsourcing buyers and SMEs in particular have commented on the high demand for tech and IT skills in the UK, and the lack of native talent in those areas. With the government considering cracking down on intra-company transfers, a digitally-skilled younger generation could be more vital than ever.

QA Apprenticeships has already achieved 5,000 apprenticeships in the space of five years and is confident in its ability to reach 10,000 within the next year.

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Related: Frustrated SMEs Outsource IT Due to Skills Shortage

Live polling conducted at the NOA Symposium has revealed that recruiting good people is the main concern those in outsourcing have regarding the future of their industry. The Symposium boasted a 50:50 ratio of buyers to suppliers, suggesting that this concern was shared by buyers, service providers and advisories alike.

When asked “which of the following will most drive the growth of outsourcing over the next five years,” the audience answered:

Proving the business value delivered: 43%

Opportunities from digital, cloud, robotics etc.: 33%

Better strategic alignment between buyers and service providers: 20%

Improving the UK economy: 3%

44 per cent of the audience then agreed that “recruiting good people” was their main concern about the future of outsourcing, more so than disruptive technologies or decreasing profit margins.

On a scale of one to 10, the significance of the UK outsourcing industry’s skills shortage was seen as a solid seven. Recent NOA research has found that those in the industry do not see apprenticeships as a priority for bridging this skills gap. This could be bad news for the Conservative party, which has pledged to provide three million new apprenticeships during their next five years in government.

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Related: QA Apprenticeships Tackles the UK’s Critical Tech Skills Shortage

At the Analyst Outsourcing Debate at the NOA Symposium 2015, many key topics were touched upon: new technology, automation, new skills requirements and catalysts for change.

Security, however, was one topic that was somewhat neglected. This was pointed out by outsourcing analyst and panellist Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research. Most are aware that security is a huge concern in this age of new technology, but it often takes a significant data breach close to home to really grab the attention of company executives.

Are the majority of service providers sufficiently concerned about cyber security? If not, it is likely they soon will be. A recent report from Frost & Sullivan has found that managed security services are “taking off like wildfire” due to a severe shortage of security professionals, making online security a potentially lucrative market for ITOs.

When asked why they outsource operations involving security, 49 per cent of those surveyed cited “a lack of in-house skills,” 30 per cent a “temporary need for flex force capacity” and 26 per cent “recruitment limitations.”

Find out more about the report here.

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US datacentre provider IO has opened a new facility on the Slough Trading Estate and has confirmed that Goldman Sachs will be the first client using the datacentre.

The site covers 10,000m² with space to accommodate 90 high-density modules. IO has claimed that their new facility is top-of-the-range when it comes to security and efficiency.

“Each module has its own security. So, if you’re a bank or a customer with strong security requirements, you get your own locked room, as it were, within the datacentre,” IO managing director Nigel Stevens said.

“Most datacentres have trouble being efficient when they’re not full. Someone described the average datacentre setup as buying some beer, putting it on the kitchen table and turning on the air-conditioning to cool it down.

“With our approach, you only cool the parts you need to, which helps to make the whole thing far more efficient.”

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Related: Equinix Buys UK Rival Telecity for £2.3 Billion, Scorning Interxion Merger in the Process

UK outsourcing giant Capita has been granted a £400 million contract to provide the NHS with administrative support services over the next four years.

Capita will be the sole provider for the contract. Reuters has reported that the deal is part of a larger framework that could be worth anything up to £1 billion in total.

Capita already provides a number of divisions within the NHS with various ITO and document management services, including the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

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Related: Worcester NHS Trust Signs Contract with Computacenter to Boost IT and Connectivity