Industry news

SSE, Britain’s second largest energy supplier, has awarded Logica, a leading business and technology service company, a contract for the provision of communication, data and pre-payment services for residential smart meter system trials in Great Britain.

The companies will work together to deliver the benefits of smart metering systems to SSE’s customers ahead of the mandated mass market roll-out of smart metering to domestic customers in Great Britain. This is currently expected to start in 2014, when the new Data Communications Company is available for use by the energy industry.

SSE will procure, install and maintain the smart metering systems on behalf of its customers, and Logica will deliver the communications, data and pre-payment support on behalf of SSE.

Logica supports, through its Smart Data Services and award winning Instant Energy product, over 85 percent of smart meters installed in people’s homes across Britain. We have supported the installation of over 25,000 new smart meters per month. This agreement with SSE will further increase this figure, strengthening Logica’s position in the British smart metering market.

Craig Boundy, UK CEO, Logica, explains; “Smart Meters don’t just empower consumers to change their relationship with energy, they are integral to the creation of smart grids, creating a vital infrastructure that will enable Britain to satisfy our energy needs more sustainably, whilst helping to keep energy affordable. This contract will enhance SSE’s ability to effectively engage with its customers about their energy consumption by using the two-way communication capabilities provided by smart meters. This contract award also helps Logica to consolidate our position at the heart of Britain’s smart energy market.”

Capita’s registrars business announces that it has been chosen to run BAE Systems’ share plan administration and Legal & General’s register and share plan administration. The appointments by these FTSE 100 companies further demonstrate Capita’s ability to manage both complex and large volume registers and share plans.

The contract with BAE Systems will see Capita providing the company’s 37,000 employee participants with share incentive plan administration (SIP) services. This includes a new branded share portal and other enhanced employee communications methods such as the issue of credit card sized information cards containing important investor related details.

Capita’s appointment by Legal & General saw the transfer of multiple share plans including legacy data, and a complex register, all of which was implemented in a strict timeframe. In addition, Capita worked with the company to enhance aspects of its share portal functionality to encourage shareholders and participants to administer their holding online, while also streamlining shareholder payment processes.

Charles Cryer, chief executive officer of Capita’s registrars business, comments: “Being awarded these contracts from such esteemed brands is testament to our robust project management and expert client engagement. Organisations are increasingly looking for partners who can bring a flexible and personal approach to running register and share plans smoothly and efficiently, delivering optimal transparency and enhanced communications for shareholders and employees. We have repeatedly demonstrated that this is where our strengths lie.”

Fusion-io, Inc. a provider of a next-generation shared data decentralization platform, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IO Turbine, Inc., a provider of caching solutions for virtual environments. Under terms of the agreement, Fusion-io will pay up to approximately $95 million, subject to purchase price adjustments, for all outstanding securities of IO Turbine. The consideration is payable in cash and stock, provided that the cash portion may not exceed $35 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of August 2011, subject to final closing conditions.

The acquisition is a key part of Fusion’s strategy to enable enterprise customers to increase the utilization, performance and efficiency of their datacenter resources and extract greater value from their information assets. Having partnered closely for a number of months, Fusion-io and IO Turbine have a shared philosophy for solving datacenter inefficiencies. The integration of IO Turbine’s software into Fusion’s platform will enable traditional storage infrastructures to keep up with the increasing demands of virtualized servers and expands Fusion’s market opportunities to both new and existing customers.

“IO Turbine’s software is uniquely architected to take advantage of flash memory in the server to solve the I/O bottlenecks, the inhibitor to the adoption of enterprise virtualization,” said David Flynn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fusion-io.

“We believe integrating ioMemory and IO Turbine adds a critical and previously missing performance component to virtualized IT environments that will accelerate the adoption of Fusion-io technology. This acquisition also underscores our focus on providing customers with an enterprise solution that features software and hardware components designed to accelerate their business’ full suite of applications.”

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude launched two separate consultations on open data in government and the planned Public Data Corporation (PDC).

UK taxpayers are being asked to comment on the handling of public data by central and local government.

The Cabinet Office is seeking views from British citizens on the following:

•how we might enhance a "right to data", establishing stronger rights for individuals, businesses and other actors to obtain data from public service providers;

•how to set transparency standards that enforce this right to data;

•how public service providers might be held to account for delivering open data;

•how we might ensure collection and publication of the most useful data;

•how we might make the internal workings of government and the public sector more open; and

•how far there would be a role for government to stimulate enterprise and market-making in the use of open data.

Maude said that such a plan would be a "brave step" by government.

Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company, has announced new capabilities for customers designed to support the security, network management, dedicated connectivity, and identity management requirements of enterprises when deploying mission-critical applications in the cloud.

AWS has extended Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) to all AWS Regions, allowing enterprises to launch their Amazon VPC environments in the US East and West Coasts, Europe, Singapore, and Tokyo, and in multiple AWS Availability Zones within each Region. Amazon VPC enables businesses to provision a private section of AWS, where they can then launch AWS resources in a virtual network that they define and control, including selection of IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways.

This gives enterprises a simple and seamless way to leverage AWS while using the same security and management controls already familiar to their business. Enterprises can connect to their Amazon VPC via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or through an Internet connection. Starting today, enterprises can now also connect multiple networks, such as branch offices, to each other as well as to their central corporate Amazon VPC environment

BT has announced a 10-year multi-million pound contract with Sunderland City Council for a network that will enable the council to offer higher levels of service to its customers, while generating savings across all City Council services.

BT will deliver a corporate network connecting 188 sites, including council buildings, which will help make council services more efficient and effective.

The deal comes as Sunderland steps up the roll-out of its ambitious programme of social, economic and physical regeneration. A key part of this is embracing the benefits of new technologies and applications. The City Council and Sunderland Partnership recognise that a city-wide infrastructure is essential as an enabler for both business and community sectors.

Councillor Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “We have an established record for delivering excellent services to the people of Sunderland. The strategic partnership with BT will help us build on the good work we've done and deliver even better value for money for Sunderland’s Council Tax payers. The partnership will put Sunderland’s residents, businesses and the council at the forefront of developments in government IT services.”

Neil Rogers, President Government & Health, BT Global Services, said: “We look forward to delivering excellent service to the people of Sunderland over the next decade. BT is an established, long-term partner of the council and is committed to assisting Sunderland realise the vision outlined in the Sunderland Strategy 2008 – 2025.”

Cloud this, cloud that...

‘Cloud’ and ‘cloud computing’ are the buzzwords of the day. And with good reason too. Host your data on the internet (or ‘in the cloud’, if you’re already down with the lingo), rather than on your own managed servers, and you make it more accessible, as well as easier and less expensive to update. Do the same for software and there is no longer any need for users to install it on their computers – instead, they can access the latest up-to-date version on the web. And it just so happens that cloud-based software is cheaper to implement, so there are cost savings to be made for any public sector organisation that’s due an IT upgrade.

All things considered, it’s perplexing that the public sector is taking such a long time to embrace the cloud. There are fewer early adopters than you might expect, particularly when you consider the relatively fast uptake in the private sector. It’s possible that what’s holding back public sector IT procurement teams is that they don’t yet feel they have the experience they need to choose the right solutions. Shopping for cloud solutions isn’t the same as shopping for laptops. Buyers are not quite sure what to look for, or how much to pay for it – particularly when ‘it’ is a constantly evolving, fast-moving target.

But as you might expect, buyers who take the time to consult knowledgeable cloud providers can find all the answers they need. Relatively quickly, they can achieve a frame of reference to inform their buying decisions, so they can feel confident about those decisions once they have made them. Here are some of the questions that public sector customers frequently ask us:

Q: Can the cloud help us make quick cost savings?

A: Yes. If an organisation wants to prioritise making cost savings in the short term, it should ask its cloud provider about ‘software as a service’ (SaaS). More often than not, by moving to a SaaS cloud services model for some applications, it is possible to make significant savings over existing in-house IT applications. SaaS providers can charge less for developing, maintaining and hosting software when their costs are spread over many users; some charge for access to the software on a ‘pay as you go’ basis.

Q: Can the cloud help us to reduce capex?

A: Yes. A lot of the people we talk to want to avoid capital costs, but would like to keep using the applications they have developed and the licenses for software they already have. A good option for these organisations is ‘infrastructure as a service’ (IaaS). They pay service providers each month to set up virtual machines and storage and network services. Having a complete infrastructure solution provided as a managed service means a public sector organisation no longer needs to procure, maintain or update its infrastructure itself. The IaaS model lets organisations exceed normal demand for short periods when necessary – it’s a flexible solution.

Q: What about our data – is that safe in the cloud?

A: Yes – depending on the level of security your provider offers, data in the cloud is safe. There are different levels of physical security from Tier 1 to Tier 4, which the Ministry of Defence uses. The data centre that we operate uses the ultra-secure Tier 3 level of security, which is robust and meets the approval of our customers, including banks and legal services organisations. If sharing server space was the same as sharing data, there would be many fewer reputable organisations already using the cloud to access, share or deliver data or software.

Q: Is it a problem that we have no training?

A: Many public organisations have no training in virtualisation or cloud services management, so this is a fairly common question. It is, of course, possible for organisations to take advantage of cloud computing without having these skills from the outset. Cloud services providers should be able to offer pre-sales support free of charge if required, together with a level of service that meets customers’ needs.

Whatever an organisation’s data and software needs, the shift towards cloud-based solutions is now in full swing. By taking the time to understand what solutions are available on the market, the public sector can take advantage of it now, and make significant cost savings in the process.

As India teeters on the brink of double-digit inflation, Santander and New Call Telecom announce that they are bringing operations back to the UK. While this job creation is excellent news for the people of Burnley, Liverpool, Leicester and Glasgow, Indian outsourcing suppliers are facing some major issues.

With a population of over 1.2 billion people, and poor supply chain infrastructure, there will always be strains on supply of food and fuel. There is constant excess demand putting pressure on prices.

Indian has suffered with chronically high inflation before. In previous periods of double digit inflation - and there have been 9 of them in the last 50-odd years - drought has been to blame.

This time, sky-rocketing international commodity prices are the culprit, a situation that the Indian Minister of Finance can do nothing about, so it would seem that, whatever tweaks are made to India’s monetary policy, high inflation will be around for a while yet. Of those nine recent instances of double-digit inflation, five of them lasted over 12 months. one of them lasted two and a half years!

Indian salaries are expected to rise 13% over the next year, meaning India can no longer position itself as a low-cost provider of BPO. New Call Telecom’s decision to backshore to Burnley - which isn’t actually an outsourcing issue, because that call centre was owned and run by New Call themselves - is based, in part, on the fact that wages in depressed areas of the UK are already on a par with those for equivalent roles in India.

But New Call's return to the UK is not just a matter of rising costs, but falling quality. This has been the key motivator for Santander, which had been quite content to outsource its contact centres to India since 2003. Now though, in the face of 165,000 complaints about its banking services in the latter half of 2010, it has decided that backshoring is the answer.

So why the sudden drop in Indian call-handling proficiency? Good call centre operatives open calls sympathetically, drill down to the heart of the problem, then find solutions.

Complex problems require the operative to have a solid understanding of the caller’s culture. Santander’s return to the UK proves this- their customers’ feedback stated that they “prefer to deal with call centres in the UK, where staff could understand them better as individuals and know where they are coming from."

It’s not about accents or language barriers; cultural affinity is a must for successful offshoring. We at the NOA have been saying that for years! Taking the cheapest option will never be a route to success, if the quality is not up to the mark.

India’s current economic traumas are a conspicuous contributor to the quality drop: because of the price pressures - particularly on food - people move jobs very quickly, for just a few rupees more elsewhere. India’s staff attrition rates are astronomical right now - in voice-based call centres, currently around 25%-35%. This means there is no time for adequate cultural awareness training - a huge problem for those buying outsourced business services.

As the costs of doing business in India fall into line with more developed nations, I suggest that companies considering outsourcing call centres to India ensure that their suppliers invest (and continue to invest) in intensive programmes of cultural awareness training. That way, Indian providers can retain business by competing on quality, not just on cost.

Jim Stikeleather, Chief Innovation Officer at Dell Services, discusses the common myth that you have to be creative and egotistical to be innovative.

Debunking the Myths of Innovation

Myth 3: You have to be creative (egotistical) to be innovative

Reality 3: While creative thinking is helpful, innovation is a systematic discipline

Typically, “innovation” is viewed as something that occurs in the minds of a select few who really understand what it means and who know how to make it happen. While people responsible for innovation talk about collaboration, co-creation, and open innovation, we historically have tended to engage with this dynamic as the conductor who has the authority to make the final decision. Truly engaging in open innovation means that the “innovation elites” will increasingly have to relinquish some of our personal authority.

Instead, we must become extremely open to the fact that others may have better ideas than we do. Initially, as internal innovators, we need to be the ones at the forefront, working relentlessly to prove the case in environments that may not be open to new ideas and approaches. When it comes to making innovation a sustainable value within a large organisation, we absolutely must spread our expertise and be thoughtful and generous in how we encourage others to become innovators, too. We must look beyond your own needs and egos, and we must diligently spread the word and support others to create a pervasive population of innovators.

Dell currently operates two internal innovation systems:

· IdeaStorm allows customers to submit ideas for new products, services or improvements to existing options. Through this process, Dell customers have contributed 15,559 ideas, submitted 741,950 evaluations and offered 91,815 comments on those ideas. Dell has implemented 438 of those ideas.

· EmployeeStorm is a venue that encourages employees to do the same. To date, Dell employees have contributed 5,778 ideas, submitted 301,993 evaluations and 25,350 comments on those ideas. Dell has implemented 269 ideas based directly on employee submissions.

The Services Innovation Group intends to add on to these capabilities as we evolve and develop a more systemic and directed approach to innovation.

In implementing systemic innovation, our responsibility is to ignite waves of action, to basically function as an incubator that gives good ideas a reasonable chance to succeed and ultimately, perhaps even make the formal Services Innovation Group obsolete. Innovation can and should simply become the way business is done. In the past innovation was nice to have, especially when product cycles were long, markets took time to develop and IT was driven by business and not consumers. Today, innovation is necessary to survive and daily business articles appear (not just in technology) with the theme “Innovate or Die”.

Dell has multiple groups engaged in an innovation framework, identifying trends and values, futuristic market themes and scenarios of possible futures, all of which are then translated into formal investigations (what needs more research), plans of intent (strategies in terms of products and services to be developed), plans of record (actual product and services under development), as well as long-range and tactical operating plans and budgets. This is an iterative and cooperative process, and the Services Innovation Group and innovation process is primarily looking at the world three years ahead.

In contrast, several Dell CTOs, with respective responsibilities for enterprise customers/offers, clients (hardware) and industry verticals (such as healthcare), have a more near-term charter to use emerging technologies to improve existing products and services. Dell Product Groups perform product marketing and product management functions, including IT services. Finally, Dell delivery organisations actually produce and deliver the company’s products, services and comprehensive solutions.

A formal, repeatable and systemic innovation process inside Dell is a work in progress as it is in most large organizations with very few exceptions. Currently, innovation across the above-mentioned groups is informal and collaborative. Even the term innovation itself is inconsistently used, misused and not well understood – industry and business have only just begun to coalesce around a common understanding of innovation and its manifestations.

Each group has its own interactions with outside researchers, analysts, standards groups and even customer interactions to form their own perception of the environment and then come together to rationalise differences that emerge. Each group also independently engages various consulting organisations to conduct primary research and facilitate analysis in their specific areas of interest. In order to evolve to a formal and systemic innovation process, it is essential for businesses to have an integrative approach across the different work groups within the company. That is the future for innovation at Dell.

Japan's Hitachi has said it is planning to outsource production of all its TV sets to foreign companies as part of its new business strategy.

The company said it was shifting its focus on manufacturing and developing more profitable products.

The announcement comes as slowing demand and falling prices of TVs have hit earnings of electronics makers.