Industry news

Capita have posted a 14 per cent annual profit rise after a year of strong sales.

Outsourcing giant Capita recorded £588 million in revenue from new contracts in 2014 having succeeded in avoiding the negative stories that have affected G4S and Serco.

The company posted an annual pre-tax profit rise of 14 per cent at 475 million, with 8 per cent revenue growth for 2013, meeting predictions for the year.

The markets saw a five per cent rise after the announcement from the company as shareholders capitalised on strong results.

Capita CEO Paul Pindar said: "2013 was a year of strong sales, operational and financial performance. We accelerated our organic growth, sustained good cash generation and are reporting record underlying profits for the 25th successive year.” He added that the published results provide “a strong platform for further growth in 2014”.

BT has announced that it will create more than 1,000 new positions for apprenticeships and graduates.

The new positions will be focused in areas of IT, research and engineering, with the telecoms giant looking for 300 graduates from science, technology and business disciplines, and 730 apprentices to work in similar areas as well as logistics, design and engineering.

BT has also created a digital media technology apprenticeship, designed to teach young people skills in web design and development, digital distribution and services.

Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said: “I would encourage all employers to follow the lead of firms like BT and recognise the value and dynamism apprentices can offer businesses of all sizes”.

Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT, said: “with almost a million young people across the UK struggling to find work. Every company needs to play its part in ensuring that Britain’s future workforce isn’t impaired by long-term unemployment.”

Union defends BT against monopoly claims

BT Sues Google Over U.S. Patent Infringement

Despite poor industry performance over past years, the UK’s automotive industry is now seeing signs of increased investment.

Research from KPMG has revealed new unprecedented investment in the industry, with expectations that suppliers will be sourcing 40 per cent of parts from the UK by 2017.

The car production in the UK is expected to rise to more than 2 million by 2017 as new models and investments drive future growth.

Fiat looks to Chrysler acquisition

Jaguar Land Rover looks to develop procurement capability

And now for something light-hearted or for those light of heart

Outsourcing is all about relationships and communication and technology - so why should we be surprised that you can now outsource the communication in your relationship to technology?

Romantic relationship, that is. Some people are calling it the: “single most important invention of our time,” while others think it’s sexist claptrap.

The BroApp, a smartphone app that purports itself to be a “relationship wingman”, and purveyor of sweet nothings, digitally delivered to unsuspecting girlfriends, who apparently are expected to be swept of their feet by a series of predetermined messages while the BroApp user can free up his time to hang with his “Bros.”

Er, no, fellas, I don’t think so. Nice idea maybe, but the execution lacks finesse. Maybe it’ll be a goer once artificial intelligence comes far enough to drop in the wit and charm it takes to woo a lady, and make her feel special. But using BroApp contravenes one of the outsourcing’s fundamental lessons:

You can outsource most things, but you can’t outsource your competitive advantage.

Tip for you fellas: how you communicate, and the effort you put into a relationship is your competitive advantage. Unless you look like David Beckham, or you’re super-rich, and she’s the gold-digging type, the way you interact with your better half is the reason she’s with you, and not somebody else.

Of all the things you can entrust to a robot these days, romancing isn’t one of them because:

a) The existing technology isn’t nuanced and responsive enough

b) A properly artificially intelligent robot would probably be smoother and smarter than you, and will completely outstrip you in the charm stakes

Why risk it? Will your relationship survive a complete sincerity bypass?

If you don’t value your relationship enough to send your own text messages, get rid now because if she finds out you’re using the BroApp, and she’ll suss it soon enough, you’ll be the one being ditched. I reckon it won’t be long till we see the first news story of a woman dumping her idiot boyfriend for using the BroApp.

Improving communication is always a good idea. Outsourcing to BroApp is a bad idea, because it flies in the face of another key outsourcing lesson: relationships are key.

NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) have been selected to deliver a £3.1 million IT contract involving finance and accounting services.

The five-year contract awarded by the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust will see NHS SBS transfer existing accounting and finance services onto a single platform running on Oracle.

The new platform will be designed to provide detailed data, increased visibility of financial processes and overall efficiencies designed to create cost savings.

NHS SBS Chief Executive John Neilson said, "We're looking forward to sharing our financial expertise and seeing the Trust reap the benefit through significant efficiency savings. As well as standardising and transforming the financial processes across the various services, we will also be working closely with the Trust to identify areas for continuous improvement and harnessing Big Data that will really support financial planning."

Delay to NHS patient data sharing scheme

NHS Scotland moves forward with preferred bidder nomination

New plans have been revealed by Wolverhampton City Council today, regarding proposals to outsource social care services as part of a move to meet a savings target of £123 million over the next five years.

The proposed plans could potentially impact 500 employees employed in a range of roles in social care services aimed at young and old persons, those with disabilities and mental health patients.

Children and families boss Councillor Val Gibson said: “It is clear that, despite our very best efforts, we cannot make savings of £123 million”, adding that “We need to consider making fundamental changes to the way we deliver our services.”

The outsourcing proposals will be heard by council bosses on March 4th

Belfast City Council votes to outsource leisure centre services

Wolverhampton council moves to renegotiate contracts

New research has found that business leaders are being over-confident in their opinions on how well their organisations are handling and adapting to new technology.

The research from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) found that while 92 per cent of respondents said that speed was part of their business culture, only 24 per cent were found to be in organisations that were able to rapidly adapt to new changes.

The study reported that: “The study found that the real rate of change is masked by challenges and bottlenecks inside companies."

Barriers to improved agility and the faster adoption of new technology were found to include a lack of standardisation across organisations and an inability to link technological services and platforms together.

Another major barrier to the adoption of technology included gaps between digitally literate employs and traditionally minded managers who lacked the required skill-sets to push new technologies.

Phil Keoghan, CEO of Ricoh, which sponsored the research, said: “the pressure and perceived complexity of changing business operations from traditional to digitally-focused ways of working is obscuring the true rate of success.”

SMEs ignoring mobile limits growth

Healthcare CIOs do not trust government to deliver innovative IT

Outsourcing giant Atos will be responsible for the removal of personal data from GP records under the NHS patient data-sharing scheme.

Under the service Atos will extract data from GP records which will then be linked with data from hospitals, creating a link between GP and hospital patient information and allowing for a more complete overview of a patient’s medical history.

Information which will be collected by the French outsourcing frim includes family history, diagnoses, prescription details and vaccination history.

The patient sharing scheme has been met with concern regarding data protection issues due to past breaches and issues regarding anonymised record sharing outside of the public sector.

Atos moves to exit disability assessment after death threats

DWP moving to find alternatives to Atos according to leaked documents

The UK government has awarded £1.5 million to support public open data initiatives and training programmes in a bid to improve transparency and encourage data sharing in the private sector.

The funding comes from the Open Data User Group (ODUG) in the form of the Release of Data fund, with the £1.5 million total being increased over the following years.

Programmes that have been awarded funds so far include an open data training programme for 120 government procurement officers, the creation of online training material and a local data census which is designed to highlight areas that lack data coverage.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, said: "Open Data is a raw material for economic growth, supporting the creation of new markets, business and jobs and helping us compete in the global race. To ensure this agenda continues to thrive, we are supporting a number of projects which will drive forward this culture of openness."

David Cameron urges businesses to publish open data

Government launches national data infrastructure

Wipro has been selected to provide IT and BPO services to Carillion, a UK provider of integrated support services.

The ten year contract will see Wipro deliver cost and operational efficiencies through the delivery of transformational services.

The contract will cover Carillion’s IT, F&A and BPO services, with services being rolled-out to Carillion sites in other locations such as the Middle East and Canada.

Carillion Group Finance Director, Richard Adam, said: “We are looking forward to working with Wipro to develop this strategic partnership which will help to support the delivery of excellent service for our customers, and open up exciting new business opportunities for both companies.”

Arjun Ramaraju, Vice President, Engineering and Construction, Wipro said, “We are delighted to have been chosen by Carillion as their global strategic outsourcing partner. We are confident that we will be able to drive value for Carillion”.

Wipro moves to acquire US mortgage consultants

Wipro announce strong Q2 results with 28% net growth