Industry news

Cash and both credit and debit cards are to be made redundant by 2020. According to a survey of 1,200 technology experts by Pew Internet Research, smartphones with PayTags will become the new method of payment.

65% of the survey respondents believed that near field communications (NFC) – the technology used in contactless payment – would be widespread by 2020. The findings come as no surprise following ComScore data that found more than 10% of smartphone users have already made payments using their phone.

Chris Silva, an analyst with Altimeter Group, said that "NFC is going to play a much more prominent role, a major role in m-commerce (mobile commerce)".

The news comes this week as Barclaycard announced the launch of a PayTag sticker. The sticker can be attached to the back of the mobile phone, and while there is no integration between the phone and the PayTag, it will still allow customers to make purchases of £15 and under.

Oracle and Infosys have announced a new Oracle Project Driven Supply Chain for High Technology Companies. The new application will enable enterprises to reduce project-related inventory.

The project hopes to extend Oracle's integrated stack of software and hardware applications for the technology industry.

The partnership between the two computing giants makes sense, as Infosys technology business and systems integration expertise with Oracle's integrated applications will enable the new application to increase supply chain performance on a single, unified platform.

"As high technology companies look to increase service revenues by directly providing installation and implementation services to their customers, they require integrated and comprehensive solutions that deliver world-class supply and project management capabilities," said Jonathan Oomrigar, solution specialist vice president, Oracle. "With Oracle Project Driven Supply Chain for High Technology Companies, Oracle is addressing this need by expanding its comprehensive range of hardware and software solutions designed for the high technology industry."

SMEs should outsource peripheral operations to allow them to focus on core functions, according to an IT services provider.

Colin Blumenthal, Managing Director of Complete IT, believes that many SMEs should not be distracted by area such as IT, HR and finance, and instead be outsourced. According to Blumenthal, external specialists are capable of offering a "flexible and responsive" service.

Blumenthal’s comments follow a survey by Western Union Business solutions last month which claimed that confidence amongst SMEs were at their highest level for six months and that two thirds were optimistic about Q1 trading conditions.

Blumenthal said: "As organisations see the slow signs of recovery and growth, re-investment will be needed and this offers a perfect opportunity to re-evaluate whether the functions are best managed in-house or outsourced."

Amazon has launched the AWS Markeplce following the launch of their cloud service. The new site features a similar design to that of the main site and boasts an array of add-ons.

AWS Marketplace will allow users to purchase applications such as software infrastructure stacks, network infrastructure, security and ecommerce software. Developers included in the store include Canonical, IBM, Microsoft and Zend. Open source providers such as Drupal and Wordpress are also included.

Terry Hanold, VP of New Business Initiatives for AWS, said: "AWS Marketplace brings the same simple, trusted, and secure online shopping experience that customers enjoy on Amazon.com's retail website to software built for the AWS platform, streamlining the process of doing research and purchasing software."

He continued: "AWS Marketplace makes it even easier to run software on AWS because you can find a wide variety of AWS ecosystem providers' solutions, in one place, where much of the work involved in building and deploying solutions on top of AWS has already been done for you by these solutions providers."

GlaxomSmithKline have made a $2.6 billion (£1.6 billion) bid for its long term partner, Human Genome Sciences. GSK, Britain’s biggest pharmaceuticals firm, made a bid worth $13 a share for HGS – 80% higher than the closing price last night.

However, HGS rejected the bid and have said they are considering putting themselves up for sale. The board said: “The offer does not reflect the value inherent in HGS... Its board has authorised the exploration of strategic alternatives in the best interests of shareholders, including, but not limited to, a potential sale of the company.”

GSK CEO Sir Andrew Witty said “Having worked together with Human Genome Sciences for nearly 20 years, we believe there is clear strategic and financial logic to this combination.”

HGS, the Us based biotechnology specialist, have worked with GSK on treatments including lupus medicine Benlysta.

The agenda has been released for the NOA’s 25th Anniversary Conference.

The event takes place on Thursday 28th June and will consist of a conference followed by a networking drinks reception.

Taking place at the London Film Museum, the anniversary conference features highly collaborative breakout sessions, key case studies and ample networking opportunities.

To ensure a high quality programme, speaking platforms are only confirmed to those who submit case studies with the most valuable content. This guarantees access to some of the best and most informative outsourcing case studies.

For more information please visit the NOA's website here

The Government has received substantial criticism in a report for efforts in bringing superfast broadband to the UK.

The report, published by The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, details the obstacles facing the implementation of a high speed broadband network by 2015.

The report included a written response from the government industry forum group, Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), which attacked the decision to allow regional authorities to dictate deployments, saying “these projects are of too small a scale for the sector, resulting in too many procurements and insufficient network sizes to be sustainable.”

Supermarket giant Tesco has delivered full year results in line with latest market consensus, and said it would pump one billion pounds into a revamp of its UK operations.

The firm's UK woes were highlighted as it reported UK sales, excluding petrol and VAT, were down 0.6% on the previous year. Profits at the UK operation fell 1% to £2.5bn compared with the year before.

Like-for-like sales in the UK, excluding VAT and petrol, fell 1.6% in its fourth quarter, with analysts saying the company had taken its eye of its home market while chasing expansion in Asia and the US.

Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke said: ‘Whilst our International business is delivering excellent growth, contributing £1.1 billion of profit to the group, we fully recognise that we need to raise our game in the UK.'

The Post Office has put out a tender for IT services to support front and back-end operations at its branches and online.

The contract is worth £150m following its separation from the Royal Mail Group.

Post Office Ltd announced plans to transform about half of its network of 11,800 branches across the UK over the next three years as part of an overall £1.34 billion investment and support programme, subject to EU State Aid clearance.

The Post Office is a core part of the UK’s economic and social infrastructure — 99 per cent of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office branch. The investment will provide a more modern and convenient retail experience for customers, whilst maintaining the UK Post Office network at its current size.

Phoenix helps Welcome Break ensure reliable and cost-effective IT services 24/7

A Phoenix client since 2005, Welcome Break recently signed a new three-year maintenance contract covering its nationwide network of service stations. “We are the UK’s leading motorway service station company,” says David Willock, Director of IT, Welcome Break. Of the three major players in this sector, Welcome Break is the UK’s second largest, with 27 service stations.

Willock says, “All sites use Welcome Break systems and processes. All come under my remit as Director of IT – and are supported by Phoenix. We work with many suppliers and a limited number are strategic - Phoenix being one of those.” Working with Phoenix helps maximise Welcome Break’s capacity to trade, across all sites at all times.