Industry news

Outsourcing firm Mitie is sitting on a record order book after securing most of its budgeted revenues in just the first three month of the financial year.

The company, which employs about 6,000 people in Scotland out of a 61,000-strong workforce, said it had made "significant progress in each of its key target markets" and had seen "good levels of organic growth" in the period since 1 April.

Wincanton plc, the leading provider of supply chain solutions, has announced that it has signed a conditional agreement for the disposal of its remaining operations in Mainland Europe to Rhenus AG & Co. KG via the disposal of Wincanton's Mainland Europe Holding Company.

The Disposal operations comprise Wincanton's German Intermodal and Contract Logistic activities, which operate from 38 locations, and Wincanton's businesses in France, which provide contract logistics and transport services and operate from 30 locations. Collectively, these businesses employ approximately 3,000 employees who will transfer to Rhenus upon completion of the Disposal.

Consideration from the Disposal will be approximately €44m (pre transaction costs). In addition, Rhenus will assume a net pension deficit of c.€30m resulting in an enterprise value of €74m. The consideration will be payable in cash upon completion of the Disposal. The Disposal will be implemented by way of a share sale.

There are signs of maturity in the social media market, as some users in certain segments are showing “social media fatigue”, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey reveals continued localization of usage, whereby certain country-specific social characteristics dictate preferences. However, large global brands such as Facebook are making headway in countries where they have not historically been strong.

Gartner surveyed 6,295 respondents, between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011. Consumers were asked about their use of and opinions about social media sites with the aim of examining usage trends and how enthusiastic users were about social media in general across a range of countries.

“Overall, our survey underlined respondents’ continued enthusiasm for social media,” said Charlotte Patrick, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Teenagers and those in their twenties were significantly more likely to say that they had increased their usage, while at the other end of the ‘enthusiasm spectrum’, the age-related differences were much less marked, with fairly consistent percentages saying that they were using social media less.”

bss has bought creative digital agency M-Corp strengthening its technology strategy.

The purchase means it will enhance its technology services to include web design solutions, systems integration and mobile platforms to offer organisations a multi-channel communications solution backed up with industry leading expertise.

Bss is a provider of outsourced multi-channel public and customer contact services today and delivers information systems solutions for a number of government and non-governmental organisations.

An innovative jobs partnership between Birmingham City Council and Service Birmingham - the joint venture with Capita providing ICT and contact centre services to the council - is aiming to transform the job prospects of people from some of the most disadvantaged communities in the city.

Over the last year, 126 people have found employment as customer service advisers with Service Birmingham as a result of the initiative. Recruits have included long-term unemployed, lone parents, disabled people and those living in parts of the city blighted by social and economic deprivation.

Around forty of the group are classed as "homeworkers", based at home but providing frontline services as part of Service Birmingham's contact centre operation. Many of the group work flexible shifts, fitting their working schedules around their caring responsibilities.

The initiative is part of the Jobs and Skills Charter between the council and Service Birmingham which was signed last year. This arrangement sees the council's employment access team work with local recruiters in the city to identify potential candidates and assess their capability before forwarding suitable applicants to Service Birmingham for interview as part of the company's commitment to create jobs in the city.

Welcoming the success of the scheme Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor Paul Tilsley said: "The Jobs and Skills Charter is helping to secure decent jobs for Birmingham people from groups that traditionally struggle to enter the labour market.

"It is important that we do everything we can to ensure that all people have the opportunity to work, but this is considerably more difficult if you are disabled, have caring responsibilities or have been out of the labour market for some time.

"This charter is delivering on the ambition we set it and the success of the recruits shows that no group of people should ever be overlooked by employers."

Service Birmingham's Chief Executive Stewart Wren added: "We are delighted by the success of the partnership and the calibre of the people we have recruited. What is so pleasing is that it shows that when people are given the chance to work and contribute they are able and willing to do so."

Surrey County Council is looking for a supplier to provide a wide-area network (WAN) and managed IP services for public sector organisations in the region.

The council expects the total value of the contract to be worth between £48 million and £240 million.

Under the Unified Communications over Regional Networks (UNiCORN) contract, in addition to WAN, the council is looking for a supplier to provide local area networks, IP voice services and other managed IP services.

Consulting company Accenture PLC was named as one of a handful of firms selected to provide technology services to the U.S. Department of Justice, in a contract valued just over $1 billion.

Orders to be awarded under the contract include IT planning, program support, systems configuration management, user training and the introduction of new technologies. The contract has a six-month base period with six, one-year extension options.

Accenture, which has previously provided similar modernization services to the Justice Department, said the selection confirms its strong relationship with the department.

Accenture has seen increased strength lately. Market share gains have propelled broad revenue growth, helping it in June to raise its guidance for its fiscal year.

CSC has insisted its work on the £11.7 billion Department of Health National Programme for IT (NPfIT) is going "very well", two weeks after ministers were advised by a powerful committee to consider scrapping the programme.

The Public Accounts Committee advised health and Cabinet Office ministers to seriously reconsider the programme, and said it was so disappointed with CSC's work that it was possible the supplier was no longer fit for any government work. CSC has only delivered its main patient records system to three large trusts in nine years, and representatives have been unable to guarantee it would deliver the systems to all trusts by the current 2015 deadline.

"We are performing very well on it," CSC chief executive Mike Laphen told investors in a reference to the programme, as the company reported first-quarter net income up 28 percent to $183 million. "We think we have an outstanding product here."

New All-Party Group to Help Government Save Money through Smarter Outsourcing and Shared Services

A new All-Party Group, chaired by Bob Blackman MP, will investigate how the public sector can save money by becoming a savvier consumer of outsourcing and shared services. The Outsourcing and Shared Services Group aims to improve dialogue and understanding between industry representatives and politicians, as well as bring increased transparency to the industry. A meeting to collect evidence will take place on August 23rd 2011, in Central London.

Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East and former Leader of Brent Council, commented: “The outsourcing of services represents an opportunity to reduce costs and, at the same time, improve the quality of service provided to the public. As more organisations look to benefit from outsourcing and sharing services, it is vital to learn from past experiences: what had worked and what has not. The All-Party Group is an unrivalled opportunity to build upon these experiences, ensuring shared learning is incorporated into future outsourcing proposals. We are keen to learn from those experienced in outsourcing, on all sides of the relationship – buyers, suppliers and officials.”

The National Outsourcing Association’s role in the group is to provide best practice from projects that have been delivered on-time and resulted in achieving their objectives - i.e. improved services or cost savings. It will also give examples of projects that have not worked, and present the lessons learned.

Martyn Hart, Chairman of The National Outsourcing Association, welcomed the establishment of the group. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our members to contribute meaningfully to the debate. It gives them chance to showcase their best practice examples and success stories, helping the public sector investigate how to outsource smarter.”

Unionised HP staff working on the Department for Work and Pensions Adam 2 contract began industrial action last week over proposals to offshore their jobs to India amid government pressure on IT suppliers to cut costs.

Support staff from India set to take over some of the functions next year are due to arrive in Britain as part of the knowledge transfer before they replace the 200 HP workers from the north-east who will be hit by the shifting work practices.