Industry news

MPs sitting on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have criticised asylum seeker housing contracts after savings targets failed to materialise.

Six contracts with three outsource services providers including G4S and Serco were designed to achieve savings of £140 million over seven years, however the targeted savings are appearing increasingly distant after just £8 million in savings was achieved in the first year.

The PAC have criticised the move in 2012 to switch to six contracts with three outsourcing providers from 22 contracts with 13 suppliers, attacking large inflexible contracts which threaten increased risk and go against the public sectors encouragement of SMEs.

A Home Office spokesman, said: “While we accept there are challenges with the contracts, we are disappointed with the PAC’s findings and will respond in due course.”

Simplification of procurement functions increase Welsh procurement success

MPs criticise Sellafield nuclear site contract

Portfolio managed services group Brooks Macdonald signs outsourcing deal with major accountancy chain Reeves.

The deal will see Brooks provide Reeves clients with a diverse range of portfolios which are six risk-rated.

BMAM managing director said: “We have been extremely impressed with Reeves' approach and the way in which they work with clients so are delighted that they have chosen Brooks Macdonald Asset Management as an outsourced investment management solution.”

Reeves partner and head of its planning business David Hurst, said: “We are very excited to work with Brooks Macdonald Asset Management who demonstrated to us that they have a clear understanding of the needs of our business and our clients as well as the resources to deliver”.

Accountancy firm Mazars outsources application access management

Business and Professional Services Sector Performing Better Than Expected, says CBI

The Bulgarian outsourcing industry is expected to account for three per cent of the country’s GDP within the next three year.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister Daniela Bobeva said, at a meeting organised by the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association, that the outsourcing industry had grown by 60 per cent over the last four years.

Stefan Bumov, head of the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association, said that the industry is expected to continue to grow, with current industry employment numbers of 20,000 increasing by four times.

The Prime Minister urged the industry to apply for funding from the EU National Innovation Fund to further develop growth and services.

Sofica acquired by TeleTech

Outsourcing Forum Indicates Bulgaria Can Be ‘Silicon Valley’ of Black Sea Region

Migrants Can Be Heroes of Sustained Economic Recovery and Should Be Welcomed

Michael Bloomberg’s comments about immigration are the voice of reason and sanity, counterbalancing the hysterical “And Whose Jobs Are They After?” poster campaigns produced by the radical right. The former New York Mayor told the Financial Times: “We definitely need immigrants and that’s exactly true of London and the whole of the UK in particular.”

He also said: “It requires a special kind of person to emigrate. Immigrants are pre-selected to be people who will contribute to society, look at the glass as half-full and see the good thing about a place.”

These are exactly the sorts of qualities we should be focusing on, the sort that create jobs, not take them. Caps on highly skilled immigration should be abolished, allowing UK companies access to the best talent the globe has to offer. The majority of people (2 in 3) do not have a problem with skilled migrants. Even Nigel Farage concedes he would let a few of them in, but of course, he stops short of saying that these people might well bring some jobs with them.

In a previous blog, I stated how Ernst and Young is currently working on deals to re-headquarter 60 major international firms to the UK, which should create 5,000 jobs between them. Some of these people will be immigrants, some will not. It’s a net gain for job creation that you can bet your bottom € wouldn’t happen if we weren’t encouraging people to set up shop in the UK. Visas for anyone involved in, or even thinking about doing business in the UK, should be readily available: quick, simple and easy.

Same goes for UK companies re-shoring. Any red tape wrapped around that needs to go, because most people would like to see more work come back, but caps on immigration and visa issues could hamper effective handovers and stymy the chances of success.

All calculations on the net gains through immigration are crude, and most flawed in some way, especially given that the Border Control system cannot legally track the ins, outs and intentions of EEA citizens. But the general statistic consensus echoes the sentiment of Mayor Bloomberg, that immigrants generally pay more into the system than they take out and should therefore be welcomed with open arms.

Infrastructure issues such as availability of homes and hospital beds are the ones that make immigration such an emotive topic and political battleground. But these could be assuaged by more high bracket taxpayers, more skilled professionals and more entrepreneurs bringing their big ideas to Britain. People who bring skills, set up businesses, pay taxes, create jobs and grow the public purse - we need more of these people, not just to be pillars of the community, but pillars of sustained economic recovery.

Global marketplace CME Group has entered into an agreement with infrastructure group 6fusion as CME moves closer to launching a cloud resource marketplace.

The partnership between the two groups has now allowed CME Group to announce the trial of a beta marketplace service at the end of 2014.

The marketplace will be targeted at enterprise level customers with expectations of buyer IT expertise for cloud commodity purchasing due to the advanced nature of the market.

6fusion will provide a standard measurement framework allowing buyers to compare prices from different cloud vendors.

Head of product strategy at 6fusion, Rob Bissett, said: “You can already go out and find a bunch of vendors and come up with their list pricing, but what is fundamentally different about our marketplace is that it allows for apples to apples comparisons as it is based on a standardised unit of measurement”.

GDS moves to combine digital marketplaces

Cloud price war continues

South-East police forces have placed a joint procurement service tender for a data security framework valued at as much as £20 million over two years.

The data security tender has the potential for a further two year extension after the initial period and covers a wide range of police forces in the South-East, including transport and nuclear police services.

The security network tender has been divided into four lots including testing, support, security and privacy assessments and risk management, and has been valued at between £10 and £20 million.

Police innovations applications receive go ahead

Capgemini awarded seven year police contract

Tech leaders have again claimed that immigration restrictions are restricting talent and growth in the UK tech industry.

Tech London Advocates a group which champions technology and business advancement in London said that 43 per cent of its members said that a lack of talent represented the biggest hurdle to London’s growth as a hub for technology businesses.

10 per cent of respondents said that immigration legislation represented the biggest hurdle to growth in the capital.

Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, said: "A lack of skills and challenging immigration legislation is inhibiting growth in the capital and threatening London's position as a global technology hub".

Members of the group said that the current legislation surrounding work visas outside of the EU required reform if top talents was to be attracted to the city.

Public sector reforms seen as ineffective due to skill shortages

Skills gaps in outsourcing management

New government proposals set up councils for social service outsourcing opportunities.

Consultation papers between the Department for Education (DfE) and councils have revealed plans to allow councils “to harness third party expertise, and/or set up more agile delivery structures outside traditional hierarchies”.

The new proposals if implemented would allow for a wider range of services and functions that can be delegated by councils under the Children and Young Persons Act 2008.

The papers detailed that councils would still be responsible for the performance of the social services in 3rd party care and would be still required to meet statutory obligations.

The consultation process is set to close at the end of May but the planned privatisation of social services has been criticised by Unison for fragmenting services rather than promoting cohesion.

Wandsworth Council outsourced operation goes live

Councils receive shared service funding boost

60 per cent of UK SMEs have partly or have completely outsourced their IT Infrastructure in order to increase competitiveness.

The findings come as part of a new report by communications specialists Node4, with 18,600 UK SMEs believed to be now using outsourced IT services to drive business growth.

The report entitled ‘Facing up to the IT infrastructure challenge’ also found that one in ten SMEs had moved to take advantage of low-cost cloud IT infrastructure.

The report detailed that improvements in digital technology was allowing UK SMEs to employ cloud frameworks to flexibly outsource IT services at low costs.

Paul Bryce, Business Development Director, Node4, said: “there is much greater recognition of the value that IT can deliver to businesses amongst SMEs today”.

“IT has gone from being a static cost-centre to a dynamic business enabler that must support the organisation at every stage of the sales cycle, empowering the business to grow and succeed.”

SMEs join forces in outsourcing for growth

Chancellors budget continues government SME support

European Outsourcing Awards (EOAA) announces awards shortlist

The European Outsourcing Association (EOA) is delighted to announce the 2014 EOA Awards shortlist after a record number of entries. Winners will be announced at the upcoming ceremony in London (etc.venues - St Paul’s.) on the 10th July.

The EOA Awards now in its fifth year, recognises and celebrates the efforts of companies and indi-viduals who have demonstrated best-practice in outsourcing.

The Awards bring the best and brightest of Europe's outsourcing industry together, featuring a range of suppliers, end-users and support service providers and affiliate organisations from the UK, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Spain, to reward European outsourcing successes.

The CEO of the NOA, Kerry Hallard, said: “Once again the EOA Awards has seen a record-breaking year for submissions, featuring a host of best-practice examples from across the European outsourcing industry. I am delighted to see such variety and detail within this year’s entries, which goes to show the level of talent and professionalism that exists within our industry. All shortlisted applicants should be incredibly proud to have reached this stage, with the winners to be announced in London on 10th of July truly representing the best of the best.”

The EOA Awards is taking place on the same day as the NOA Symposium, for details please click here.

The European Outsourcing Association Awards and Best Practice Shortlist:

European BPO Contract of the Year

Conectys

eClerx Services Ltd – Exchange Traded Derivatives Operations Support

Hays Talent Solutions & Honeywell

Mindpearl & Weight Watchers

European IT Outsourcing Project of the Year

Deloitte

Easynet & Campofrio Food Group

HCL & AstraZeneca

HCL & UKAR Outsourcing Project Engagement

HML & Irish Mortgage Lenders

Intetics Co & Desk-Net GmbH

European Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year

60K

Luxoft

Mindpearl

Sitel

Sofica Group

Teleperformance

European Outsourcing Advisory of the Year

Avasant

Bird & Bird LLP

CMS

DLA Piper LLP

eClerx Services Ltd

Eversheds LLP

Offshoring Destination of the Year

Belarus

Bulgaria

Fiji

Portugal

Serbia

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Award for Corporate Social Responsibility

60k - Animal Rescue Sofia

SPi Global - SPi fir Visayas

Teleperformance - Citizen of the World (COTW) in EMEA

Award for Innovation in Pan-European Outsourcing

eClerx Services Ltd – ISDA CSA Document Risk Review

Geoban S.A – Disputes Service Centre

GFT

Teleperformance - CX Lab

Outsourcing Works – Award for Delivering Business Value in European Outsourcing

Conectys

Elix-IRR

ITC Infotech & Danske Bank

Sofica Group & iGate

Sitel & Flybe

Wipro BPO

Ziggo & TechMahindra

European Outsourcing Professional of the Year

Juan Crosby, Partner, CMS

Paul McDonald, Director of Strategic Accounts, Sykes Global Services

Pedro Lozano, EMEA Managing Director, Sitel

William Pattison, Chief Executive Officer, Mindpearl BPO

Notes to Editor

The EOA is a pan-European collective of not-for-profit trade bodies with the express aim of promoting best practice in the outsourcing industry.

Run by members for members, each European chapter is committed to delivering information, education and collaboration on a national and international basis.

Further information on the EOA Awards can be found here.

Contact details:

National Outsourcing Association

44 Wardour Street London

W1D 6QZ

Email Editorial & Marketing Communications: Ruperth@noa.co.uk

Phone: 020 7292 8696