Industry news

Sourcing consultancy Alsbridge has acquired Source, the end-to-end sourcing advisory specialist, for an undisclosed amount.

Alsbridge is huge in the US market with a large number of global and multinational clients. The company launched its own UK sourcing practice in March 2015 and the acquisition of Source is the first step in its planned rapid expansion in the UK.

Chip Wagner, CEO of Alsbridge, said: ‘Through this acquisition Alsbridge benefits from a strengthened presence in the rapidly growing UK and Northern European markets for IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing and network sourcing, which is one of is one of the most advanced, vibrant and competitive in the world.’

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The mystery surrounding Apple’s outsourcing relationship with Indian providers has been revealed, thanks to research by the Times of India (ToI).

Service providers are secretive about their agreements with the California-based giant, signing non-disclosures in exchange for lucrative contracts. However the ToI has spoken to research firms and industry sources to reveal that TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra are all Apple’s primary vendors, working across various divisions including enterprise applications, customer care and product lifecycle management.

Speaking to the ToI, Peter Bendor Samuel, CEO of the research advisory Everest Group, said “It looks like Apple is considering a significant reworking of its provider portfolio. Given their spend and what they are doing in the market place, this could be very substantial not only in terms of the revenue from Apple, but also in terms of partnerships.”

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Read this next: Infosys and Wipro Scramble to Retain Expiring Outsourcing Contracts

Humber NHS Foundation Trust expects to roll out its new mobile solution in June – the technology will support access to patient records via phone and tablet.

The solution was made in partnership with BT and procured by Humber through the G-Cloud Framework.

Valued at a little over £1 million, BT will provide an end-to-end service offering Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G mobile connectivity. Belfast-based Total Mobile are providing the workflow management software.

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Read this next: MPs Condemn Failure of NHS Outsourcing Contract

The NOA is pleased to announce its shortlist for the 3rd annual Professional Awards. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony taking place on Thursday 21st May at the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC.

The Professional Awards exist to recognise the individuals, teams and companies who do their utmost to make outsourcing work, and celebrate their talents. The shortlist spans a wide variety of functions and industry sectors, but all those included have one thing in common – a drive to achieve outstanding success through sourcing.

The shortlist is as follows:

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Rising Star of the Year

Abby Bennett, Team Manager, Capita

Natalie Thomsen, Customer Experience Advisor, Capita

Bryan McGovern, Head of MI & Dialler Support Services Private Sector, Serco Global Services

Laura Burns, Assistant Contact Centre Manager, Teleperformance

Gareth Fegan, Service Delivery Manager, Ulster Bank

Manager of the Year

David Wyer, Strategic Supplier Development, BBC

Clare Enstone, Framework Team Leader, Capita

Mel Holmes, General Manager, Capita

Gavin Cox, Head of Operations/Operations Manager, Serco Global Services

Advisor of the Year

Paul Silver, Senior Associate, CMS

Mark Crichard, Partner, RPC

Martin Hunt, Senior Sourcing Advisor, Source

Strategic Leader of the Year

Rosaleen Blair, CEO and Founder, Alexander Mann Solutions

Matthew Sanders, CEO, Brookfield Rose

Christopher Stancombe, CEO, Capgemini Business Process Outsourcing Strategic Business Unit

Rob Johnson, Head of Consulting Service and Solutions Architecture, Dimension Data UK

Valeriy Kutsyy, Chief Executive Officer, Miratech

Sadiq Mohammed, Retail Sales Director, Serco Global Services

Award for Professional Development (Individuals)

Samantha Kelly, Outsourced Operations Manager, Aviva

Simone Hammer, Content Delivery Manager – Offshore Operations, Thomson Reuters

Alison Haigh, Head of Procurement, UKAR

Award for Excellence in Supplier Management

Argos and Elixirr

Capital One

McCarthy & Stone and Xchanging

NHS Blood and Transplant

Phoenix Group

UCB

Award for Excellence in IT Delivery

Attenda and Greenergy

Cognizant

Cognizant Technologies Solutions UK and Lloyds Banking Group

eClerx Services Ltd – Performance Assessment for Investment Banking Operations

NashTech and Civica

Soitron UK and HP Enterprise Services

Award for Excellence in FAO

EXL and British Gas

Genpact and British Gas

Sykes Financial Services

Tata Consultancy Services and National Grid

Award for Excellence in Outsourced Customer Service

60k and Thomas Cook

Convergys and O2

eClerx Services Ltd – Quality and Compliance Interaction Monitoring, Insight & Analytics for TalkTalk

Mindpearl

Teleperformance and E.ON

Teleperformance and Vodafone Ireland

Award for Excellence in BPO

60k and Sky

Capgemini BPO and Unilever

DDC OS and Brandbank

eClerx Services Ltd - Search Conversion Rate Optimization

eClerx Services Ltd - Product Data Preparation for Platform Migration

Xchanging and Federal-Mogul

Best Offshore Team

Capgemini India – Peopleshop Team

First Data Corp

Intetics Co.

Mindpearl

NashTech and Civica

Serco Offshore Mortgage Services Team

Best Shared Services Team

60k and Sky

CGI

First Data Corp

Serco's Support Services

Siemens

Sykes – Shared Resources Group

Skills Development Programme of the Year (Corporate)

Alexander Mann Solutions Sourcing Academy

Capita’s Regulatory Solutions, Active Manager Programme

EXL Utilities Academy

Genpact’s Black Belt Build Programme

Mindpearl’s Leadership Development Training Programme

Ulster Bank’s Outsourced Services Team

To find out more about the Professional Awards and buy your ticket, visit the NOA website.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has urged banks to ensure high standards of care and accountability when outsourcing financial services.

In a circular issued to the banking sector, the RBI urged that banks “take steps to ensure that the service provider employs the same high standard of care in performing the services as would be employed by the banks, if the activities were conducted within the banks and not outsourced“.

The RBI went on to ask that banks put into place a “robust system of internal audit” to manage all outsourced activities, to be continually monitored by the adjusted cost base (ACB) of the bank.

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Read this next: Nashik to Outsource Sanitary Work

Denbighshire County Council has agreed a seven-year contract with Civica to provide its revenue and benefits services.

The contract, which is due to save the council £200,000 annually, will see Civica create a transactional processing centre to deliver the services locally.

74 employees of Denbighshire Council will be transferred to Civica to help with their contact centre strategy.

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Read this next: Leicestershire Councils Tender for a New ICT Supplier

On 6 April 2015 the UK’s new pension laws came into effect, meaning that the majority of those over the age of 55 will be able to do as they see fit with the money that they have accumulated through their pensions.

These changes have put private suppliers that have had pension responsibilities outsourced to them in a difficult position, as they have had relatively little time to prepare and some are tied into contracts that aren’t necessarily conducive with these changes.

Coming into place so soon before the General Election, it is thought that this new policy has been pushed through quickly in order to help the Conservative Party secure the ‘grey vote’ on 8th May 2015.

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Read this next: Public Sector Responsible for Poor Employee Contracts, Outsourcing Chief Says

Ruby McGregor-Smith, chief executive of Mitie, has explained that the zero hour contracts and poor staff retention of carers working for suppliers often occurs because local authorities ‘won’t commit to exact hours’ in the contracts that they sign with private sector suppliers.

Mitie is a strategic outsourcing company that has become particularly active in the UK market for care at home over the past few years. Mitie recently issued a profit warning, suggesting that cuts to the rates paid by local authorities and the NHS have made the work less profitable than expected.

The low prices of government contracts have impacted on the wages that companies like Mitie are able to pay their employees. McGregor-Smith said: ‘We should pay carers above the minimum wage. We always offer a living wage option but it’s up to the local authorities what rate they pay. Where we pay the London living wage, retention is not an issue.’

This news comes shortly after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) published a report suggesting that the employees of private sector companies involved in healthcare outsourcing contracts are worse off than their counterparts employed by the public sector. The report did not acknowledge that the public sector could, in part, have a hand in this poor treatment.

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Read this next: London Residents Campaign against NHS Outsourcing

The Philippines is a popular destination for offshore BPO. However, experts have suggested that recent wage hikes in the BPO sector could make the country a less cost-effective outsourcing option.

Roman Romulo, a district representative from the city of Pasig, said ‘we do not see the P15-increase in the daily minimum wage [for private sector workers in Metro Manila] influencing the decision of BPO players to either step up, or slow down hiring.

‘Fair wage increases will not diminish the country’s global competitiveness. If we look at India and our other competitors in the BPO space, their wages are rising faster than ours.’

In a recent study conducted by real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield, the Philippines was named as the second most appealing destination for offshore BPO, closely following Vietnam. In terms of actual market size, India remains the world’s largest BPO destination.

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Read this next: Vietnam Confirmed as the World’s Top Outsourcing Location

The Leicestershire ICT Partnership, which includes Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, Melton Borough Council, Blaby District Council and Oadby & Wigston Borough Council, are looking for a new ICT outsourcing supplier.

Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council will serve as the contracting authority for this new five-year agreement. Valued at £5.5m, this contract could increase in value depending on whether other councils join the partnership as predicted.

ICT functions to be provided in the new contract include: end user and infrastructure services; networks; business applications and applications systems management and services.

The closing date for tenders is 7th May and SME suppliers are encouraged to apply.

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Read this next: Denbighshire County Council Confirm 7 Year Deal with Civica