Industry news

A regional publisher Local World are consulting staff on proposals to transfer its IT support service and several digital development operation roles to Cognizant. The services from outsourcing provider Cognizant will be delivered from Chennai, India. The change will affect 20 staff based in Local World’s Derby centre as well as a number of staff in other locations.

The move comes days after fellow regional publisher Trinity Mirror reported £6m cost savings though outsourcing IT support services.

Trinity Mirror saves £6million through outsourcing

Lockheed Martin have been awarded a £90m contract for implementing a new command and control system for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), which will see them collaborate with Capita and KPMG. The partnership agreement is expected to last for up to 17 years and will provide multi-channel interaction services including data sharing and predictive analysis. This will be the first refresh of the MPS’s system in 30 years and will modernise how they deploy officers to 999 and emergency calls.

Police force move forward with data security framework

In a latest update on the legal battle between HP and Autonomy, HP has stated that they feel Autonomy's founder and former boss, Michael Lynch, "should be held accountable for fraud" over HP's takeover of Autonomy in 2011.

They have also confirmed that they are taking legal action against Sushovan Hussain, former chief financial officer for Autonomy, for trying to block a settlement between HP and its shareholders over the disastrous takeover.

According to reports, the legal battle is now getting emotional and in an article on the BBC website, a spokesman representing Mr Lynch called the comments a "personal smear".

Facts about the case:

- Biggest takeover of a British technology firm

- HP paid $11.1bn (£6.8bn) for Autonomy but a year later said it was worth $8.8bn less

- HP and its shareholders have been fighting a legal battle accusing Autonomy of misleading them over the true value of the company

- Shareholders had sued HP management for the botched takeover of Autonomy but now agree Mr Hussain and Mr Lynch should be accountable for this fraud

HP to release Cloud

The Initiative Outsourcing Malaysia set up by the National ICT Association have announced the country’s overseas outsourcing revenue jumped 27% in 3013. The substantial growth shows great significance in a sector which is relatively small in comparison to other countries in the region. David Wong Chairman of Outsourcing Malaysia said the largest Malaysian outsourcing company employs only 5,000 staff whilst larger outsourcing providers in china have more than 100,000 employees making it impossible compete on large scale projects.

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Teleperformance buy Aegis USA (AUI)

The Financial Conduct Authority have produced a new non-exhaustive checklist to be used when banks are considering to use third party technology to deliver critical services. City regulators have said before choosing to outsource banks should assess whether the outsourcing of IT services can achieve necessary data security and think about how they will retrieve their data when outsourcing contract ends. The FCA outlined what it hopes banks will achieve from the IT outsourcing checklist, stating that banks must be able to “provide reasonable assurance” that each outsource provider “will deliver its services effectively, resiliently and securely” they must manage any “associated risk such that the firm meets all its regulatory requirements”.

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Bankers promise “to do my best and do my duty to …..the end customer”

U.S. companies who move facilities overseas can currently deduct the expense from corporate taxes. Senate Republicans have blocked the bill which would end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted on the “Bring Jobs Home Act” which failed to gain the votes needed to advance the measure. The bill was introduced by Debbie Stabenow and Sens. John Walsh which would give companies incentives to re-shore jobs back to the U.S. which included a tax write-off for the relocation costs and an additional 20 per cent credit.

Harry Reid Senate Majority Leader said ahead of the vote “We Democrats are lined up against outsourcing… A vote against this bill is a vote against American jobs.”

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United Airlines outsource 630 jobs across US Airports

Lex Autolease has been awarded a five-year contract worth more than £100 million to manage the UK company car and light commercial vehicle fleet for Balfour Beatty, the global infrastructure services group.

Whilst the decision to outsource was largely due to the expected cost savings, the provider also believes it could be the start of a trend for “complex fleets” to be outsourced.

Lex Autolease will have responsibility for 3,328 company cars and 2,502 light commercial vehicles and will also provide a comprehensive range of fleet management services, including service and maintenance, accident management and core vehicle hire.

Virgin Trains continue to run west coast mainline till 2018

Trinity Mirror, one of the largest multimedia publishers in the UK, has reportedly saved £6million in the first half of the year by outsourcing IT support and services functions.

Back in January the newspaper confirmed it was planning to outsource to service desk provider Endava from March, moving the function from Glasgow to Romania.

“Operating costs fell by £5.7 million reflecting the benefit of structural cost savings of £6 million and ongoing cost mitigation actions which have more than offset increased investment in digital of £3 million and inflationary price increases,” Trinity Mirror said in its results today.

“Structural cost savings in the first half have been delivered through the outsourcing of IT support and services functions, the restructure of editorial and advertising functions, the closure of the Reading print plant and a number of smaller offices and continued restructuring of all operating functions.”

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Agilisys wins £5.7m contract with Legal Aid Agency

Civil servants at the Newport shared service centre for the MoJ have voted to extend one day strike action to two days. The staff who are represented by the Public and Commercial Service Union are taking this strike action in protest to proposals made to outsource the MoJ’s back office services to outsourcing provider Shared Services Connected Limited.

Agilisys wins £5.7m contract with Legal Aid Agency

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has signed a three year contract with Agilisys for £5.7m where they will provide Civil Legal Advice (CLA) contact centre services via telephone and digital channels. Services will be run from Agilisys contact centre in North Somerset where they will also develop an online function to help the Legal Aid Agency bring its operations in line with the government digital agenda. The services are to help individuals in England and Wales to understand if they are eligible for legal aid.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council deploys new virtual desktop system