Industry news

Fujitsu workers in Manchester may strike next month, if there are enough votes to do so in the upcoming Public Commercial Services Union ballot.

It is expected that the strike would impact upon Fujitsu’s contracts with the Home Office, HM Revenue & Customs, Marks & Spencer and the Post Office.

The action is in response to the sacking of union rep Alan Jenney, whose tribunal case will be heard in Stoke-on-Trent on 25 August.

The Ministry of Defence has revealed to the Public Accounts Committee that the IT systems supporting its logistics operations are not fit for purpose.

The Ministry of Defence says that, due to its age and hosting, its current inventory and warehousing IT systems are "at risk of catastrophic failure."

The MoD provided written evidence for the Public Accounts Committee, after investigating the National Audit Office's criticism of its logistics IT systems.

Breakfast cereal manufacturer Weetabix has announced plans for a news SaaS procurement system. It replaces a paper-based method that has been in use for 30 years.

The new system gives 400 users access to 1,100 suppliers, and allows them to select from a catalogue, instead of typing in names and quantities of products.

We’re going from a 30-year-old system slap bang into the 21st century," said Head of Procurement Anthony Bowdidge. "We anticipate the time taken to raise a purchase order will reduced by at least 50%"

New secure cloud will satisfy the regulatory requirements of US government departments, with data stored in and only accessible from within the USA.

GovCloud features enhanced security measures, allowing government departments to utilise the service and still meet their regulatory obligations.

Mahindra Satyam is growing again, investing in a data centre in Eindhoven, which will initially employ 45 people to support customers in Holland.

The Indian IT service provider has opened a centre in Eindhoven, Holland, which will initially employ 45 people and support customers in Holland. This means they now have six European delivery operations inc. three in the UK and two in Germany. The centre’s purpose is to act as a local interface between the client, and the back-end work in India.

They need to be in the local area for communication and comfort," said Vineet Nayyer, chairman at Mahindra Satyam.

MPs have today released a report that is highly critical of the Government’s use of Private Finance Intiatives (PFI). It warns that PFI are not a cost-efficient method of building hospitals, schools and roads.

The Treasury Select Committee says that ministers are using PFI as a way to keep capital spending from adding to official debt figures. According to the committee, PFI debts cannot be used to exceed departments budgetary limits. Using PFI, the cost of capital is 8%, twice as high as the Governments own borrowing rates.

Insurance firm – Motaquote – is closing a number of its offices as work is increasingly carried out through its call centre and online.

The firm is closing its Welsh offices in Aberdare, Cwmbran, Ebbw Vale, Mountain Ash, Neath, Risca and Treorchy because of falling footfall. Less than half of Motaquote’s turnover was from its branch network last year, as the contact centre and online channel increased share of total sales.

Two Atos Healthcare employees are being investigated over allegations they made inappropriate remarks on Facebook about the people they assess for sickness and disability benefits.

One employee commented: "Oh god another day here with the down and outs arggggg!" And: "Well that's the end of my holidays! Back to work tomorrow with the down and outs I suppose..."

And: "Thank god it's Friday last day in this god forsaken place with the down and outs!"

The company told us: "Atos Healthcare is investigating the claims made about inappropriate comments written by one of its healthcare professionals on a social media website. Atos Healthcare is committed to providing a high quality, professional service to the DWP and expects the same of all its employees. Where it is found that these standards are not adhered to, this is taken very seriously and appropriate disciplinary action taken."

Dell’s investment in differentiated enterprise solutions and services continued to drive substantial gains in the company’s profitability in the fiscal second quarter as operating income rose significantly on a 1 percent revenue increase.

Dell’s mid-market design focus on next-generation computing solutions and intelligent data management; services, security and cloud; and end-user computing is driving the shift in the company’s mix to a higher-value portfolio and resulting in sustainable, improved results. The company’s GAAP operating income of 7.7 percent of revenue year to date and 7.3 percent of revenue over the past four quarters is in line with its long-term value creation framework goal of more than 7 percent.

-Revenue in the quarter was $15.7 billion, up 1 percent over last year and 4 percent sequentially.

-GAAP earnings per share was 48 cents, up 71 percent; non-GAAP EPS was 54 cents, up 69 percent. Vendor settlements resulted in approximately $70 million in benefit in the quarter that increased non-GAAP gross margins 50 basis points and non-GAAP earnings per share by 4 cents.

-GAAP operating income was $1.1 billion, or 7.3 percent of revenue. Non-GAAP operating income was $1.3 billion, or 8.5 percent of revenue.

-Cash flow from operations was $2.4 billion for the quarter and $5.2 billion over the last four quarters. Dell ended the quarter with a record high $16.2 billion in cash and investments and repurchased $1.1 billion in stock in the quarter.

Vineet Nayyar, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (SCS), has commented on the impact of the U.S. credit-rating downgrade on the information technology services industry.

Vineet said: “The impetus to send work to lower cost destinations will be even more. Still, these are uncertain times.

‘‘The U.S. has always run a deficit -- that is not new. The act of a downgrade doesn’t worry me at all. In the short term, there will be some negative sentiment because of this. But I would only worry if the fundamentals have changed, and that hasn’t happened.”