Industry news

Accenture has completed its acquisition of Duck Creek Technologies, a privately held company that specializes in software solutions for the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry.

Approximately 370 Duck Creek employees based in the United States and the United Kingdom are joining Accenture through the acquisition. Duck Creek will become part of Accenture Software, Accenture’s dedicated software business.

“This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to offering insurers a full suite of P&C software with independent but interoperable modules that cover all core insurance functions,” said Colin Davies, global director of Accenture Software. “The software is designed to address insurers’ business requirements while helping reduce implementation time and risk.”

British support services and construction group Carillion posted a 10 percent rise in first-half profit driven by a surge in demand for public sector outsourcing as cash-strapped local authorities looked to cut costs.

The group, which maintains motorways, railways, military bases and telephone lines, said pretax profit increased to 72.5 million pounds ($119.6 million). House broker Collins Stewart had forecast 71.1 million pounds.

Carillion, which also operates in Canada and the Middle East, said its current order book in addition to probable orders stood at 19.4 billion pounds.

"With strong market positions and a record pipeline of contract opportunities, the group continues to target strong international growth and substantial growth in UK support services over the medium term," Chairman Philip Rogerson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Apple’s Board of Directors has announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

Bindi Bhullar, director at HCL Technologies commented: "Steve Jobs has had a profound impact on the global technology industry and innovation within the sector. His strong leadership is testament to the fact that technology companies require visionary leaders that empower employees to work together and maintain innovation momentum."

A leader's energy is what drives employees to voice their ideas and, crucially, put them into practice. When Jobs rejoined Apple, the clear communication of his creative ideas turned the company's business around and in doing so, established a strong base of loyal and creative employees that will be pivotal in taking the company to the next level of innovation now that he is stepping down."

A group of NOA members met this week to discuss evidence that we present to the All-Party Group on Outsourcing and Shared Services. In attendance were key players in outsourcing, on both sides of the public-private sector fence. Discussion centred what can be done to enable the government to become a savvier consumer when dealing with private sector outsourcing companies.

An All-Party group consists of 20 MPs, usually 10 in Government, 6 in opposition and 4 other members of the house. An APG presents an opportunity for open conversations with MPs, leading up to a report to be presented to the relevant ministers. It is an incremental approach – an academic, research-based approach to lobbying. The NOA is at the forefront, and very proud to be involved in helping the government save money and provide better services.

There is still time to send in evidence – if you have the inside track on an outsourcing project that you think the group needs to hear about contact: stephanie.hamilton@noa.co.uk

KPOC, have announced sourcingfocus.com as a media partner for the Glocal LPO Conference in October 2011.

sourcingfocus.com, published in association with the National Outsourcing Association (NOA), was set up three years ago to provide an informative online resource for the outsourcing industry and is now the leading portal for the sourcing community with rapidly increasing traffic and 18,000 newsletter subscriptions.

sourcingfocus.com continues to break key industry news, but have further established themselves as a repository for articles and examples of best practice in outsourcing. It's readers participate in lively discussion and debate and the portal delivers up-to-date outsourcing news, in-depth analysis, features, blogs and opinion pieces from their experienced editorial team and leading industry players.

In-depth details of the conference can be found on their website.

KPOC has been providing business solutions exclusively to the LPO industry and has worked with established and aspiring LPOs to set up their ventures, overcome their complex business and strategic issues and help management make key decisions affecting top line growth of the company. For more information, please visit the company website www.kpoconsultants.com.

The Global LPO Conference, Los Angeles, USA – Buyers and Vendors Meet in the LPO industry is to be held on October 5th and 6th, 2011 at the Sheraton Downtown Hotel in Los Angeles.

General Electric has unveiled a new data centre at its Appliance Park headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.

The new $48 million data centre has got Platinum LEED-certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

This most efficient data center in Kentucky is equipped with high-efficiency cooling systems, high-density servers to increase computer power per square foot to cut the size of the data centre floor in half compared to its previous size.

Alan Kocsi, chief information officer, General Electric Appliances & Lighting, said that, “As GE invests in the business and creates more manufacturing jobs in the U.S., our new high-efficiency data centre will help us manage energy costs so we can compete in a global marketplace. General Electric’s new data centre will also provide the high-density computing necessary to support global business growth and significant manufacturing-revitalization efforts that will provide customers with innovative technologies, high-quality products, and better customer service”.

In a first of its kind deal, Microsoft has entered into a joint agreement with China's leading domestic Linux operating system provider to together provide cloud services across both Microsoft and Linux platforms.

The agreement with China Standard Software Company (CS2C), a government-owned Linux provider, was announced on Monday.

It's the first time Microsoft has partnered to provide cross-platform cloud services in an emerging economy, said Sandy Gupta, general manager of Microsoft's Open Solutions group.

Cognizant, a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, today announced it has been selected by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) to be a key supplier as part of its Strategic Outsourcing Framework Agreement (SOFA). The FSA is a leading independent body that regulates the financial services industry in the UK and oversees more than 29,000 firms, which contribute over 6.8% of GDP, employ more than 1.1 million people, and provide services to millions of consumers.

SOFA is important to the FSA’s ability to deliver on its statutory objectives and more proactively intervene when a firm’s actions pose potential systemic risk. The agreement enables the FSA to develop relationships with key third-party suppliers, enhance the scope of services it outsources and ensure greater value for money.

As a key supplier, Cognizant will aim to help the FSA improve the reliability, scalability and flexibility of the IT systems and solutions that support the FSA’s market surveillance operations, supervisory analysis and risk management functions. Cognizant has been awarded five service areas, covering solutions consultancy, application development, application maintenance, testing, and web design and hosting and will initially support a key market surveillance application used by the FSA to monitor compliance with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).

“We are pleased to be selected as a key supplier by the FSA for a comprehensive range of services,” said Tony Virdi, Vice President of Cognizant’s Banking and Financial Services Practice for the UK and Ireland. “We are committed to leveraging our strong understanding of the financial services industry and regulatory environment in the UK and consultative engagement model to help the FSA streamline processes, minimise operating costs, enhance productivity and address the need for greater efficiency, innovation and collaboration.”

The Communications Infrastructure Upgrade (CIU) project will enable Durham to meet the challenge of continuing to provide exceptional facilities for its UK and international students while achieving significant efficiency savings to allow reinvestment.

As part of the upgrade program, Durham is introducing Siemens Enterprise Communications' IP telephony platform, OpenScape Voice, and migrating 1,500 voicemail accounts to its Xpressions voicemail system, which will offer greater workplace flexibility for Durham's academic and support staff. The new system comprises 6,500 voice licenses, underpinned by a core university-wide dual vendor data network. To provide increased capacity and greater resilience, it will offer time-saving benefits and a reduction in overall call costs through a more streamlined communications program, replacing six legacy ISDX systems and a legacy voicemail system currently used at the university. The agreement includes a five year maintenance contract.

Durham has also chosen Siemens Enterprise Communications' OpenScape Contact Center application to significantly enhance its IT helpdesk function, which will help improve staff productivity and ensure user queries are answered quickly and effectively.

"We are committed to offering staff and students the best possible facilities. As such, the university is undergoing extensive renovations – including new buildings and new technology," said Colin Hopkins, head of CIS Network Support, Durham University. "As part of this project, we opted to implement IP telephony across the entire university, to create a more efficient phone network that will ultimately support our ambitious plans to deliver outstanding service to our student base."

Synergy Health plc (Synergy) has chosen IFS, the global enterprise applications company, to supply and implement its financial management software across its entire business. IFS Applications will be rolled out in 102 sites across 10 countries from the UK to Malaysia, the US and France.

Headquartered in the UK, Synergy is a world-leading, multi-national supplier of outsourced support services to the healthcare market in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

IFS Applications will enable Synergy to reduce overall costs and improve the efficiency of its global finance and procurement departments by providing greater financial visibility, automating reporting, enhancing integration with other applications and providing economies of scale. Synergy will also benefit from the rich functionality of IFS Applications. For example, employees will for the first time be able to compare multi-currency transactions with just one click of their mouse.

Synergy has grown rapidly in the last decade, resulting in the company running a range of disparate financial systems. Synergy chose IFS because of the functionality it offers and the deep knowledge and expertise of its consultants. Sara Lloyd, Finance Project Manager at Synergy, comments: “In terms of product functionality, IFS was definitely top of our shortlist and we liked their approach. The IFS team demonstrated a good understanding of our business and related issues.

We like the fact that IFS has the capability to implement the system in every country using its own consultants, ensuring consistency in standards. We also benefit from having just one simple contract for over 1,000 users at 102 sites.”

Paul Massey, Managing Director at IFS Europe West, said: “Synergy is a rapidly growing company that requires agile, scalable, intuitive business applications that will enable it to take advantage of its size and reach. Therefore IFS Applications is an intelligent choice. IFS has a proven track record of successful implementations within large multi-national organisations, which offers peace of mind that the system will be implemented and maintained by an experienced team of IFS consultants.”

Implementation of the system will begin in the autumn, with the first sites going live in the second quarter of 2012.