Industry news

Northgate Managed Services, winner of BETT 2012 ‘ICT Company of the Year over £3million turnover’ award, has been awarded of the £1.3m managed service contract for The Hastings Academy, East Sussex.

Northgate, with its significant portfolio of ‘direct to school’ contracts, will use its proven expertise to help the Academy deliver a technology led environment designed to assist student learning and to raise standards.

The £1.3million 3 year contract will see Northgate working closely with the Academy to develop, design and manage a state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure to promote active learning to the Academy's 900 students.

Outsourcing arrangements often require the transfer of employees’ personal data from the customer to the supplier or vice versa. For example, an outsourcing of payroll functions will involve the transfer of employee data.

Particular issues arise if the data is to be transferred outside of the EU. In addition, notwithstanding that most data protection legislation within the EU derives from the EU Data Protection Directive, there are important differences between countries on how personal data can be processed. The UK rules are currently contained in the Data Protection Act 1998.

In January 2012, the European Commission published its proposal for a new General Data Protection Regulation. The extensive proposals would overhaul this area of law and significantly increase data protection across Europe.

The key proposals are:

• Harmonisation: A single set of rules will apply across Europe.

• Scope extends beyond Europe: The new rules will apply to EU businesses and businesses based outside the EU that process European citizens’ personal data for the sale of goods or services or the monitoring of behaviour.

• Fines: Penalties for non-compliance will be significant, with businesses facing proposed fines of up to €1 million or up to 2% of their annual worldwide turnover (depending on whether the organisation is an ‘enterprise’).

• Explicit consent: The new definition of “consent” will include a requirement that individuals’ consent must be explicitly obtained; it cannot be assumed.

• Notification requirements: Organisations will be required to notify their supervisory authority of a security breach without undue delay, meaning within 24 hours if that is feasible. If not, the notification must be accompanied by a reasoned justification.

• Right to be forgotten: Individuals will be able to ask to be forgotten and have their data deleted unless there is a legitimate ground for keeping it.

• Data protection officers: Organisations with over 250 employees will be required to have a designated data protection officer who will have specific duties in relation to monitoring and advising the organisation.

These changes are probably long overdue – the current law was drafted when recent technological advances could not have been contemplated. However, preparing for the changes and ensuring compliance will place a large administrative and financial burden on businesses with a European presence, including businesses involved in outsourcing.

The next step is for the proposed Regulation to be considered by the European Parliament and Council. It is expected there will be widespread debate on the proposals, and that the Regulation will be amended. Once the Regulation is approved, it is likely to be a further two years before it comes into force.

If the current drafting of the Regulation is approved, there will be a significant change in data protection obligations for both customers and suppliers. Under the current law, only data controllers – organisations that control the purposes and manner for which personal data is processed – are subject to the obligations and restrictions on personal data. Most suppliers are data processors as they process personal data on behalf of the customer (the data controllers). However, the proposal is to impose restrictions and obligations directly on data processors (i.e. suppliers) for the first time.

Currently, it is important for all parties to establish who the data controller is and for the data controller to impose contractual obligations on the other party to ensure compliance with data protection legislation. It is also key to ensure that, if personal data will be moved outside of the EU, this is done in compliance with the strict restrictions on exporting data. Arguably, by extending the scope of data protection legislation to cover data processors and organisations based outside the EU which process EU citizens’ data, these considerations will become less significant for EU-based data controllers (i.e. customers). However, the effect on data processors and international organisations will be much more significant. The more stringent rules will place a tougher administrative burden on suppliers, which could lead to an increase in the overall cost of outsourcing.

Organisations that are about to enter into new outsourcing arrangements should be aware that their data protection obligations may change during the course of the arrangements. Contractual provisions should be drafted accordingly, for example to make data protection provisions subject to amendment to comply with legislative changes.

The key message for customers and suppliers is: watch this space. It will be some time before the measures are implemented, but the scope and effect of data protection legislation is likely to change significantly.

While 2011 saw cloud come of age with increased business adoption, for many, it was characterised by a series of high profile outages, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Amazon all fell – the collective grumblings of customers becoming headlines the world over.

Despite this public reckoning, industry analysts like Gartner and IDC continue to see a bright future for cloud. And so they should. The fact that some of the biggest players experienced outages demonstrates the reality of the cloud; it’s not a hallucination, it’s made up of real servers, stored in physical data centres. Like all IT, it will always be subject to some form of disruption, or disaster. What sets the cloud aside, is the capability of providers to mitigate this risk, and get you back up and running.

Of course, if you procure a service, best practice stipulates an expectation of service levels. It pays to be realistic though, no service can ever achieve 100% uptime. Even your own in-house data centre is unlikely to do so (and though I’m sure few would admit, in most cases, the impact is harder if your own services go down). And if anyone claims their service is infallible, they’re having you on.

Organisations need to seek the service and provider that places clear SLAs on disaster recovery. Downtime is, in most cases, rare but when it does happen the question you’ll be asking is ‘how quickly can operations be restored?’

Firstly, don’t underestimate customer service levels - feeling confident that you have access to your service provider in the worst case scenario is key. Guaranteed SLAs that speak to round the clock support - online and telephone - is an important safety blanket.

Due diligence at the procurement stage is important too. Review a service provider’s capabilities with the same rigour you would any of your own internal processes or services. This should include an assessment of your own DR capabilities, and what role you’ll need to play (not even cloud services mean you can absolve all responsibility!) in resuming services.

Consider, for instance, ‘premium’ versus ‘standard’, ‘gold’ versus ‘silver’ – every service provider has a classification. Buying the cheapest often means compromising on SLAs: customers who buy premium, on the other hand, will receive a priority service.

It’s unlikely, however, that all your services will require a priority DR response (and price), so identify which applications or data will need to resume service fast. This will enable you to better manage not only the restoration of services and resources, but also your budget.

Take mission-critical services such as internet, email and voice access. Any service provider worth their salt should understand the impact downtime can have here i.e. it could mean their customers cease trading. So, the premium DR package is what you are looking for here – comprehensive archiving and recovery, with back-ups stored offsite in secure data centres and maximum service availability.

Let’s be realistic, there will always be some events we can’t see coming - natural disasters, freak weather and the like. What you can do though, is make sure your business is best placed to survive it. Your agreement with your cloud provider is the lynchpin to making sure the right practices are in place to make the aftermath painless.

Like the analysts’ fearless and bold predictions for cloud in 2012 and beyond, I’ll make one too… There will be cloud outages. However, if it happens to you, it really doesn’t have to impact your business productivity.

US regulators have approved Google's $12.5bn (£7.9bn) bid for phone maker Motorola Mobility, hours after it won clearance from European authorities.

The European Commission ruled the deal would not raise competition issues in the market for operating systems for devices like mobile phones or tablets.

Regulators in the US agreed, although both authorities vowed to monitor the company and rivals' use of patents

IBM has bailed out South West One, Somerset shared services firm with a £10m loan.

South West One are to begin bidding as an IT services company while IBM extended a mortgage to cover its 75% interest in South West One (SW1) after managers tore up the troubled public-private partnership's original business plan to avert its collapse.

G4S has opened the doors of its new London 2012 Recruitment Centre as it launches the biggest paid recruitment drive this century.

G4S will recruit around 10,000 security staff to work at the London 2012 Games this summer and at the launch event today, Mark Hamilton, the managing director of the G4S Olympic and Paralympic security operation, and Paul Deighton, chief executive of the Games Organising Committee, LOCOG, explained how they are working together to recruit the workforce which will help to deliver a safe and secure Games.

The thousands of roles are providing much needed jobs and opportunities for UK job seekers, with G4S recruiting from a broad range of backgrounds, ages and experience levels. Already there have been applications from more than 20,000 hopeful recruits, many from London.

Essex County Council has put out a tender for the installation of a new network.

In a contract notice, the council said it was looking to spend between £240 million and £360 million on the deal to improve its corporate network, internet speeds and support mobile and flexible working among its employees.

Dell Services has opened a new technology center in to provide customers in North America with access to cloud technologies and IT outsourcing services.

The Dell Western Technology Center in Washington is a world-class, multi-client data centre, with redundant network connectivity, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), cooling, utility and back-up emergency power generation. It is built with the largest installation of energy-efficient heat wheel technology in the U.S. for highly efficient cooling and low energy consumption, keeping costs and power usage to a minimum.

“Dell is proud to be listed as one of the top Green IT companies in the world,” stated Patrick Mooney, executive director, Dell Services. “Our efforts to optimize the Power Usage Effectiveness at our Western Technology Center appeals to customers who want to consider the impact to the environment when configuring their IT solutions and to our environmentally conscious team members who participate in green initiatives across Dell.”

Symphony Services and Teleca Merge Creating World’s Leading Services Organization Developing Software and Solutions for the Connected World

Symphony Service Corp., a leader in global product development services for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Teleca, a world-leading supplier of product development services and solutions for mobile appliance Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and telecommunications operators, has announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create Symphony Teleca Corporation, the first company exclusively focused on helping clients rapidly develop, manage and support software for emerging cloud and enterprise mobility solutions in the connected world.

The transaction, which is approved by the boards of directors of both companies, will build upon the complementary strengths of each company to create a truly global leader in the transformation of software, connected devices and enterprise mobility.

The primary drivers of the combination are the growing influence of mobility and the cloud on software and software-enabled product development, and the rising adoption and enormous market opportunity of enterprise mobility. Symphony Teleca Corporation’s increased scale, scope and global capabilities enhances its long-term value for customers, employees and investors.

“This union is about a strategic fit between two experienced and well-respected global companies that together will continue to serve existing customers and new organizations as the clear services partner of choice for those in the business of making or using software and software-enabled products in the connected world,” said Dhawan. “Symphony Teleca is global in scale, has clear leadership in the areas that will define next-generation cloud and connected software applications, boasts one of the largest R&D capabilities focused on enterprise software and mobility, and employs one of the most experienced global services teams in the industry.”

Serco, the international service company, has announced that it has been awarded a new partnership agreement with Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH), the UK arm of the world's largest distance selling organisation - the Otto Group.

Under the 10 year contract valued at £55m, Serco will provide customer contact services for all FGH’s UK brands including Grattan, Freemans, Oli, Kaleidoscope, Look Again, bon prix, Curvissa and Witt International, managing seven million customer contacts every year.

The contact centre in Sheffield will be operated by Serco and will deliver all aspects of customer contact including customer enquiries, inbound and outbound sales, credit applications, payments, order processing, white mail and e-mail handling. Steps will be taken by Serco to capitalise on the potential for further development of the dedicated Sheffield-based resource, with the introduction of best in class working practices, and with the ambition to broaden the services delivered from the facility by attracting additional customers

The new partnership will see all 400 existing members of staff transfer to Serco, with their terms and conditions protected.

“An effective and responsive customer contact centre is absolutely essential for a company like ours that has more than seven million customer contacts every year,” says Koert Tulleners, CEO of FGH. We’re very pleased to be joining forces with Serco as it is a company that continues to set ever higher standards in contact centre management and development. Indeed, I believe this new partnership presents a great opportunity for all our existing contact centre staff and will help not only to ensure that all of our customers receive the best possible service at all times, but will also provide the scope to capitalise on the spare capacity within our purpose-designed facility in Sheffield."