Industry news

UK based National Express have won a contract to provide railway services to the German railway industry.

National Express has taken on the running of services between Cologne and Bonn with the German rail market representing the largest in Europe.

While the contract is relatively small at £1.3 billion, it is in a market that is almost twice the size of the market in the UK, which has been damaged by the fallout of public sector procurement failings in the West Coast Main Line scandal.

In winning the contract National Express has gained a foothold in a lucrative market and offers the potential for future expansion.

“National Express is delighted to have been selected to run these two German commuter rail contracts” said Dean Finch, the chief executive of National Express.

The Post Office is looking to partner with retail firms in a bid to reduce losses of £40 million a year.

The company partner high street branches with retail firms as a way to help keep the branches in their current locations.

The Post Office already operates branches from within retail stores such as the Co-op and WH Smith.

In a statement the company said: “Our investment will maintain the size of the network and modernise branches to meet customer needs” adding that, “Crown branches are a

fundamental part of our long-term growth strategy and need to be brought into profit, currently operating at a £40 million annual loss.”

HMRC have made significant cost savings over 2012 contributing to savings of £296 million as the department seeks to reduce running costs by 25 percent in 2014.

Significant savings have been made from ICT service contracts including outsourcing services to Aspire with a contract renegotiation saving £200 million by lowering the cost of IT services.

Amyas Morse, the head of the National Audit Office, said: "In one year, HMRC has managed to deliver a third of the savings it is required to deliver over the four years of the spending period, at the same time as maintaining performance in key areas such as maintaining tax collection and reducing tax debt".

US based IT outsource provider Cognizant has reported a quarterly profit jump of 16 percent as the European market drives increased sales.

Cognizant achieved 13 new deals in Europe during the last quarter of 2012 with a total of 201 clients added over the year.

The continued impact of the global recession has driven European companies to reduce costs and increase the use of outsourced services, driving long term growth in the market. Increased IT spending is being expected to continue to drive the employment of outsourcing within Europe over 2013.

The company has seen stock rise by 14 percent in the last three months as the IT service supplier continues to outperform expectations, outperforming the fiscal results of rivals TCS and Wipro in 2012.

In a week full of reviews of failed procurement practices within the public sector, the Parliament’s Justice Committee added to the criticism levelled at the Governments lack of outsourcing expertise.

A review into the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) procurement of interpreter services from Applied Language Solutions found that the agreed service did not deliver a working model.

Sir Alan Beith, chairman of the committee, said: “The Ministry of Justice’s handling of the outsourcing of court interpreting services has been nothing short of shambolic”.

The review found that the MoJ had failed to communicate the needs of the court when outsourcing services or listen to industry advice.

Applied Language Solutions, who later became Capita Translation and Interpreting after a takeover, managed to save the contract by being prepared to invest heavily in the service despite the failings in communication.

MP’s have raised concern over outsourcing key functions to foreign firms during a House of Commons Defence Committee report.

The report focused on the feasibility of the implementation of a government-owned, contractor-operated procurement entity (GoCo).

In the report, worries were raised regarding the impact of outsourcing on future UK security.

Conservative MP James Arbuthnot said: “we believe problems might arise if a non-UK company were given responsibility for UK defence acquisition.” He added ““If it transpires that others are not prepared to give UK industry the opportunities the UK gives to theirs, it might become necessary for the government to reduce its open procurement.”

With the MoD’s budget for equipment reaching £160 billion for the next 10 years ,even with severe cuts to services personal, the outsourcing of services is predicted to provide significant savings, reducing the overhead cost of defense and potentially reducing job cuts.

UK Defense already employs technology and equipment, alongside training programs and shared service operations with a variety of countries including non-NATO members.

Large European firms are looking at employing pay-as-you-go network services to support cloud deployments.

Research carried out by analyst firm Vanson Bourne showed that European companies were showing a high level of interest in services capable of adapting to off-peak and peak demands.

This network-as-service model was particularly popular in the manufacturing and finance industry, compared to limited interest within the public sector. The model is expected to become a rising trend as an alternative to traditional models employed with SaaS, as customers look for increased flexibility and cost savings.

22 percent of SMEs are currently managing websites through cloud based platforms, with spending over 2012 rising above $45 billion, according to a report conducted by Parallels.

30 percent of SMEs are expected to have transitioned to cloud based website management services by 2015, by which point SMEs are predicted to be spending $96 billion globally.

Investment increases are being driven by businesses moving straight into the cloud, due to its availability, flexibility and low cost, before having any in-house IT services.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to procure a selection of iPads, MacBooks and other electronic devices aimed at promoting mobile working.

The selection is expected to include a range of different devices from differing brands and comes as the Government is set to update data security rules to include a wider selection of vendors and devices.

In the past HMRC, along with all public sector departments heavily employed Microsoft, the overhaul comes as part of the government’s end-user device strategy

A new study by KPMG on cloud trends has revealed that companies are finding the migration to a cloud infrastructure costly with numerous security challenges.

More than a third of the 650 businesses who responded said that the costs were higher than they had originally expected. Respondents cited the need to make upgrades to their current system before migration was able to occur, as one of the reasons for increased costs and migration times.

The report revealed that a common trend included a feeling of having cloud services ‘hyped’ by vendors .