Industry news

The Commons Public Accounts Committee publishes its report, examining the delivery and cancellation of the FiReControl project.

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: "The Department's ambitious vision of abolishing 46 local fire and rescue control rooms around the country and replacing them with nine state of the art regional control centres ended in complete failure. The taxpayer has lost nearly half a billion pounds and eight of the completed regional control centres remain as empty and costly white elephants.

The success of the so-called FiReControl project crucially turned on the cooperation of locally accountable and independent Fire and Rescue Services. The Department’s failure both to recognize this and try to ensure local buy-in fatally undermined the project from the start. The project was rushed, without proper understanding of costs or risks. The leadership relied far too much on external consultants and the frequent departures of senior staff also contributed to weak management and oversight of the project."

This rise, more than twice the rate of inflation, is part of a deal agreed by PCS after Fujitsu doubled the amount of money in the pot with an extra £500,000.

It will mean some workers who were paid just £13,500 two years ago will now not be paid less than £15,500, an increase of almost 15%.

The union's 720 members working on contracts across the UK for DVLA, HM Revenue and Customs, Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Office of National Statistics, were planning a co-ordinated strike with colleagues from the Unite union on Monday 19 September.

The Unite action, over separate issues, will go ahead and PCS members have pledged their support by: writing to Fujitsu calling on them to resolve the dispute; sending a message of support to Unite; sending a PCS delegation to Unite picket lines on the day; and doing workplace collections for Unite's hardship fund.

Prior to the strike vote, Fujitsu was refusing to increase a pay offer that would have meant rises of between just 1.5% and 2.5%.

The Bank of England has selected a storage area network (SAN) from EMC to support a storage mandate for a subsequent 5 years, awarding a association a £1 million agreement for a initial sustenance of 70 terabytes-worth of capacity.

A contract endowment notice published on a EU’s electronic tenders registry reveals that one of a Band of England’s primary mandate was a ability to deliver a new storage apparatus gradully, swapping out bequest systems as it grows.

The systems should be expandable adult to 900 terabyes, a proposal reveals, and should criticism for a serve of practical desktop infrastructure in a future. Specifically, it should be means to support 3,500 practical desktops with no dump in performance.

PRISA Media Group, the world's largest Spanish language media conglomerate, has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) to create a new digital media platform as part of the firm's commitment to technology innovation and digital business development.

PRISA will use IBM analytics software and services over a three year period to consolidate, manage and distribute content across all its media platforms, and enhance its ability to provide its consumers with more personalized content in real-time.

PRISA Media Group operates in 22 countries and reaches more than 50 million consumers through its global brands including Spain's leading newspaper, El Pais, as well as satellite television, radio and book publishing media holdings. The project is part of PRISA Media Group's efforts to improve insights into consumers' content preferences and expand the firm's reach to more than 700 million people worldwide.

IBM's advanced analytics technology will help PRISA quickly monitor and measure the flow of content and the preferences of media consumers. The integration of data will provide a better understanding of the business, assist in developing media products such as advertising and other editorial content focused on customer needs and behavior, and enable the business to identify and create new opportunities for monetization of its assets.

According to Kamal Bherwani, Chief Digital Officer of PRISA Digital, "We chose to work with IBM on this important initiative because of their long experience in the media industry and proven track record with innovation and change. IBM technologies will help PRISA continue its transformation into a 21st century media company that thrives on traditional and new media channels."

Employers and the government have joined forces to launch an initiative to transform the school IT curriculum after stinging criticisms of the teaching of the subject by Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, last month.

Launching the “Behind the Screen” scheme, David Willetts, the science minister, told the British Science Festival in Bradford that the idea had been in development since last year. But he promoted the project, which will see a greater emphasis on creating software and writing computer programs, as a response to Mr Schmidt’s Edinburgh MacTaggart lecture.

As the Government and contractors rally to rebuild Croydon, after being one of the worst affected areas by the rioting, Call Britannnia’s Chair encourages businesses to consider its call centre for outsourcing.

Call Britannia, a social enterprise call centre business, employs long term unemployed people in its 150 seat operation in Croydon. Its plans are to replicate the Croydon operation in other similar cities and equip people with the training and skills to enable them to find sustainable employment.

Currently there are 60 agents who are trained and experienced and having been long term unemployed it is a workforce with absolute passion and commitment to achieving high customer service expectations. Call Britannia clients have included Kidney Research UK, Home Serve and Top Table.

The National Outsourcing Association is delighted to announce the shortlisted entries for the 2011 NOA Awards.

The NOA Summit & Awards is the ultimate knowledge sharing and networking event for outsourcers involved in all sectors. Taking place at the Riverbank Park Plaza in London, the two day event features conference sessions, roundtables, and exhibitions, culminating in the NOA Awards which recognise companies and individuals who demonstrate excellence in outsourcing.

BPO Contract of the Year

Accenture, Alsbridge and Thomas Cook West

arvato and Microsoft

EXL and Centrica

Firstsource and BT

National Rail Communication Centre and National Rail Enquiries

IT Outsourcing Project of the Year

Cognizant and JP Morgan

Luxoft and Harman

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC

Wipro Technologies and Diversey

Financial Services Outsourcing Project of the Year

Co- Operative Banking Group, Operational Partnerships Management, Implementation of alternative format provision

Co- Operative Banking Group, Operational Partnerships Management, Transition of print services to Communisis

CSC and Zurich Financial Services

Elix-IRR and Standard Bank

Luxoft

Public Sector Outsourcing Project of the Year

arvato and Chesterfield Borough Council

bss and Office for National Statistics and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

Conduit and NHS Direct

Telecommunications, Utilities and High-Tech Outsourcing Project of the Year

Efficio Consulting Ltd and Thames Water

Firstsource and Giffgaff

IBM Global Process Services and Skype

Offshoring Operation of the Year

Aegis Global and COPC

Logica

Luxoft

RR Donnelley and Anglian Water

Sutherland and Cisco

Outsourcing Professional of the Year

Aegis - Aparup Sengupta

KPMG - Shamus Rae

Teleperformance - Gwen Cumming

Ventura - Jo Storey

Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year

arvato

Ceridian

HCL

Luxoft

SQS

Outsourcing Contact Centre Provider of the Year

arvato

bss

Firstsource

The Listening Company

Vertex

Outsourcing Advisory of the Year

DLA Piper

Elix-IRR

Herbert Smith LLP

Hogan Lovells International LLP

Latham & Watkins

Stephenson Harwood

Offshoring Destination of the Year

ITIDA - Egypt

Luxoft - Poland

Sri Lankan High Commission - Sri Lanka

Outsourcing End-User of the Year

Centrica

Skype and IBM

Thames Water and Efficio Consulting Ltd

Award for Innovation in Outsourcing

Firstsource

Gem

IBM United Kingdom and Jaguar Land Rover

Serco and BCH (Barclay's Cycle Hire)

Serco and Forth Valley Royal Hospital

The Listening Company and LivePerson

UKFast

Award for Best Practice in Outsourcing

Centrica

Co- Operative Banking Group, Operational Partnerships Management, Supplier Operating Model

Efficio Consulting Ltd and Thames Water

Luxoft

Wipro Technologies and Diversey

Award for Academic Achievement

Capital One - Jon Burbanks

Co- Operative Financial Services - Richard Woodroffe

Co- Operative Financial Services - Sam Hannah

HML - Anu Biswas

Logica - Jon Brooks

Award for Corporate Social Responsibility

Deloitte and Future Leaders

Infosys BPO Ltd and Project Genesis

KenCall

To register for the event please download, complete and return the booking form which can be found in the Registration Pack.

Established travel providers are under assault from all sides. The economy continues to falter, disruption from weather, strikes and such like have become the norm and market share is constantly being attacked by ‘fresh thinking’ new market entrants. Google signalling its intention to blend full flight data in to its search results could well represent the beginning of another momentous shift in the balance of power. Even the GDS providers are no longer immune, with many travel organisations seeking to by-pass or re-engineer their position in the operating model.

Much of this is good news for the consumer as they benefit from downward pricing pressure and increased dynamically packaged product options. However many of the inventory holding airlines, tour operators and ancillary providers are watching nervously from the sidelines as the market shifts around them. The more innovative amongst them have prepared well for the onslaught by re-engineering the metrics that underpin their operating models.

Gone, or at least pushed to one side, are the performance indicators linked to bland operational functionality in the contact call centres (think call handling time, speed to answer, first call resolution, etc). These are being systematically replaced by new commercially savvy business metrics intended to optimise the customer facing supply chain.

It’s survival of the fittest and the major emerging KPIs underpinning this brave new world are:

Contact to Order – C2O

C2O is the number of contacts handled as a multiple of the total number of bookings across all distribution channels. Other more granular forms exist and will almost certainly evolve as the measure becomes standard. Travel organisations prefer certain contact types, which allow them to cross-sell or up-sell but ultimately contact costs money and most types are avoidable.

There are brand and product-specific exceptions but in general reservation centres typically convert calls to bookings at somewhere between 20% and 30%, taking the mid point that’s a contact-to-order ratio of 4:1. However, this fails to include all of the general enquiry or complaint calls, which inflates this ratio and cost considerably.

C2O reduction has become a major source of transformation potential. Businesses can reduce their operating costs by targeting the source of the contact, i.e. a web reservation that generates a non-value adding telephone interaction. Why has the web reservation generated an enquiry, how can this be avoided? By having effective processes for handling non-value adding interactions, including “how do I” or “where is my” type questions via self-serve channels or better still eliminating the issue through more robust business practices will help improve profitability.

Dynamic Decision Science – DDS

DDS, some would call, ‘generated incremental contributions,’ are beginning to appear within innovative business models, whereby the huge amount of data insights often lying untapped across the systems infrastructure can be leveraged to drive cross selling. The benefit is that with the correct layers of segmentation, including those applied to the understanding of the customer, supplier rules, preferred channel, time of use, etc, the transaction is no longer reliant upon a live operator to cross sell but can be done through other channels, such as SMS or the web.

The proliferation of connected devices means that highly targeted offers can be made right up to the point of departure. As an example, the best time to cross-sell increased baggage allowance is not likely to be at the point of reservation, but when the parents are struggling to pack for their families three days prior to departure. A baggage allowance offer communicated via SMS or available through a travel app at that point will yield far higher results.

The way customers interact with businesses such as travel providers is changing forever. There is a need to meet the needs of a more informed, tech savvy but time poor customer while at the same time reducing business costs to compete in an increasingly competitive environment. Targeting the reasons for direct customer contact while at the same time leveraging data from across the business for other channels is key. Adapting metrics to reflect this is vital if its success is to be measured.

The concept that a friendly agent or rapid answer time can compete in today’s travel industry is out of date.

Debunking the Myths of Innovation

Myth 5: Innovation is a “nice to have”

Reality 5: Innovation is your only defence against commoditisation and terminal decline

Organisations are traditionally built around stove pipes of specialisation. It is still important to have specialised groups that are experts in particular areas of an operation. However, organisations also need a holistic view of what customers want to accomplish and how new ideas, trends and/or developments can help customers in that effort.

The annals of business history are littered with examples of great companies that collapsed because they protected a once successful business model that would become irrelevant. In studying trends, it is important to have the courage and wisdom to ask yourself if the trend will disrupt your business. Then you have the choice of changing your business model, and even cannibalising current operations to ensure long-term sustainability. The alternative, in many cases, is that new entrants will “eat your lunch.”

A group like a Services Innovation Group performs a function much like a court jester in medieval times. We must question the conventional thinking, propose new lines of thoughts, provoke uncomfortable challenges, and tell stories and tall tales of the future. This is necessary to cause thinking and creativity to expand. The group also provides a place where new ideas can incubate until they are robust enough to be tested against harsh market realities.

Ideating and designing for innovative business – whether the focus is products, services, technologies, business models or business processes – must mean more than only attacking problems at the product and/or service level.

Peter Drucker once said the ONLY purpose of a business is to create a customer, and everything else follows from that. Unfortunately, many businesses have lost sight of that. As a result, their efforts at forecasting and trending and innovation are spread thin across too many dimensions. The focus should primarily be on the customer, secondarily on competition and everything else should be handed over to entities and experts who specialise in it and do it better (because you are now their customer!).

As companies begin to focus on what creates customer value (which means they have to understand the customer and what influences the customer better than they do today. Customers respond to their environment in total. It is not a particular trend that is important. What matters is the change in behaviour and value that a trend engenders in the customer. Any business that solely focuses on product or service rather than customer value ultimately will fall behind.

Successful businesses define themselves by the meaningful objective of bringing value to customers, not generating profit alone. The right balance of inspiration and execution can make the world better, make business more sustainable, and generate the profit to make further progress possible. For a great and pertinent example of looking deeply at trends to understand implications, you can see Kevin Kelly’s talk at the EG Conference in December of 2007.

Kelly notes that when the web first appeared, everyone thought it would be “just like TV only better.” No one at the time could conceive of business models like Google or Facebook, and therefore could not imagine the resulting impact on customer desires. The current consumerisation of IT is a product of the Web more than anything else. If companies continue to “forecast” by looking in the rear view mirror and extending that view forward, they are going to crash.

One has to look at the trends and value generators, the evolution of ideas, the evolution of IT and the evolution of organisations to be able to anticipate, or at least not be blind-sided by new technology, new business models and new usage patterns. After all, who would ever have expected that people would use Alexander Graham Bell’s great invention for voice to recreate the telegraph (text messaging), which his invention displaced in the first place.

Alistair Darling’s autobiography is stirring up a real storm in the Labour party camp – most notably for his account of disagreements with the party’s then leader, Gordon Brown. Once again, this negative coverage has raised questions of Brown’s leadership qualities. What this really highlights to me though is the need to look beyond skills and source talented people who really gel with the team to avoid such clashes from the start.

‘Cultural fit’ is a new HR buzz word and increasingly recruitment processes are testing a candidate’s behaviour to judge how they would fit with the business. This shift from the traditional method of recruiting on the exclusive basis of background and skills opens up a whole new challenge – how to accurately measure a candidates’ cultural fit without excluding potential talent.

As the Darling / Brown case shows, one conflict can have a lasting effect on the team and can be potentially damaging to a business’s reputation should an employee leaves on bad terms following a conflict. Whilst any organisation ought to have a plan in place to deal with such a situation should it arise, the recruitment process can be used as a filter for any potential problems.

Using a values–based hiring model built around the establishment of cultural criteria, a candidate can be measured on values and behavioural patterns as well as their skills. It is by no means an exact science, but by using this model in the recruitment process it is possible to minimise the chances of cultural clashes and ensure a candidates ‘fits’ with the business dynamics. And it doesn’t have to stop there.

Going back to the case of Darling and Brown, circumstances can change (i.e. leadership or business needs) and can cause disruption despite the best attempts to manage the process. It is important then to look at the flexibility of a candidate and closely manage the talent in your organisation to minimise any disarray.

At Ochre House we use an adapted model to evaluate an employee’s ability to adapt, integrate, contribute and perform. Using this evaluation an organisation is able to manage staff and behaviours carefully. For employees who show signs of low adaptability, it is possible to plan in advance for any impact a change may have on them. If this change for example is recruiting a new leader, the job spec and assessment process can evaluate a candidate’s ability to deal with a team cautious of change.

And there are other benefits to hiring on the basis of culture rather than skills. Ultimately you can adapt and grow a person’s skills set, but you cannot change their personality.

In the case of the Labour party I am sure we’ve yet to hear more from the Darling / Brown saga, but perhaps Mr Milliband will use this debacle as a learning curve for future political team building.

Sue Brooks is managing director of RPO and talent management specialist, Ochre House