Industry news

Capgemini, one of the foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, has announced the acquisition of 100% of AIVE Group, one of the leading Italian IT service providers, from 3 primary private equity funds (Emerald, Fidia and Athena Private Equity) and AIVE’s management.

This strategic move will enable Capgemini to strengthen its application portfolio as well as its SaaS (Software as a Service) positioning and its market share in IT services in Italy. The operation will be done based on an enterprise value of EUR 42.9 million and will be financed by the Capgemini Group’s net cash. The contract was signed under conditional approval by the Italian relevant anti-trust authorities.

This transaction following the acquisitions of Prosodie, Avantias and Artesys in France, BI Consulting Group in North America and CS Consulting in Germany, highlights the Group commitment to continue expanding in its traditional markets. Capgemini Italia reported 2010 revenues around EUR 150 million and employs 1,800 experts. Despite the recent harsh economic times for the IT Italian market, Capgemini Italia registered high single digit average annual growth over the last 4 years.

Olivier Sevillia, CEO Application Services (Continental Europe) and member of Capgemini Executive Committee, declares “This acquisition will strengthen our market position centered on project-based, customised solutions with a set of pre-configured solutions; as an example, together with AIVE, we will become the leaders in Italy on Microsoft Dynamics and one of the leaders in implementations of SAP applications, with more than 450 dedicated professionals. This will enable our clients to benefit from a full range of alternatives to fit their needs. The integration of AIVE will consolidate our market position enabling further expansion in Italy, which is part of our present strategy.”

Spread across an area of 35000 sq. ft, the new BPO facility in Gurgaon will increase Capgemini’s BPO’s total capacity in India to over 4500 seats. The existing BPO staff in Gurgaon will deliver Global Order Management services to Nokia Siemens Networks, a leading global enabler of communications services, to support the company’s global Supply Chain Management.

The services delivered cover Quote-to-Cash end-to-end processes including all aspects of order management, spanning preparation for delivery, customer order management, distribution, and customer invoicing. The Gurgaon operations will contribute in leveraging Capgemini’s expertise in BPO, its BPOpen™ technology platform* and its Rightshore® network to harmonise and standardise the supply chain processes across Nokia Siemens Networks’ operations across the world.

In India, Capgemini’s BPO unit has close to five thousand employees delivering Finance & Accounting, Management Assurance, Engineering services, Content Management, Research & Advisory, Supply Chain Management, Procurement Services and Human Resources outsourcing services to more than 25 international clients across centres in Mumbai, Bangalore (largest set-up), Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon and Salem.

“Capgemini India’s capabilities in BPO significantly contribute to competitive advantage we offer to our global clients. Such capabilities are based on our unique combination of a leading supply chain consulting service with a strong outsourcing delivery capability. Our expansion in India validates the Group’s belief in the region in the long term, best in class delivery location for its global clients”, said Hubert Giraud, Head of Capgemini BPO Strategic Business Unit.

The Dismissals and Appeals Committee of Suffolk County Council has concluded its investigation into the ‘whistleblowing’ allegations made against Chief Executive, Andrea Hill.

The statement from the Committee states: “Bullying and harassment allegations were robustly investigated by an independent firm of solicitors. Although it remains a concern that such a perception existed, the Committee is satisfied that there was no evidence to support those claims or that she was responsible for the death of David White (former Head of Legal Services). The Committee wants to reassure staff that all allegations are treated extremely seriously.

“The Committee also received a report into Mrs Hill’s expense claims during her tenure as Chief Executive. It has concluded that whilst there were undoubtedly claims which, in the current climate, might not represent best use of public money, the Committee accepted that there was no dishonesty in the claims made.

“Following a lengthy discussion last Friday, and negotiations between representatives of both parties over the weekend, the county council can now confirm that Mrs Hill will be leaving her post with immediate effect.

“There has been significant media attention attached to Mrs Hill which has become a distraction and both parties accept that with new political leadership of Suffolk County Council in place, it is better to allow the organisation to move forward with new managerial leadership.

“The county council would like to thank Mrs Hill for all she has done over the past three years and wish her well for her future.

“The total value of compensation to be paid to Mrs Hill is £218,592. This figure includes her contractual notice period.”

Serco Group plc, the international services company, has announced the award of a new contract with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to provide logistics and base support services in the Middle East.

The two-year contract is valued at around A$50m and has two one-year extension options. Under the contract, Serco will deliver fully integrated support for ADF bases to ensure the provision of high-quality services in areas such as maintenance and ground refuelling, together with healthcare, accommodation and other support functions. The services will be implemented in a staged approach, with all services fully operational by the end of September 2011.

Chris Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group plc, said: "We are delighted to have been chosen to provide these vital services. Our comprehensive and fully integrated solution will support the Australian Defence Force by delivering seamless, efficient and high quality services, drawing on our well-established capabilities in the Middle East and our 15-year experience of working closely with the Australian military."

DNV has acquired Synergi Solutions and enlarges its present software portfolio extensively together with 30 new employees. “We are now able to provide the most complete set of risk based software for operational integrity management and asset integrity to the energy, maritime and healthcare industries,” says Are Føllesdal Tjønn, managing director at DNV’s software house.

Being a leading provider of asset integrity software for the energy and maritime industries, DNV is now extending its portfolio to include risk based software for operational risk management. Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) is growing increasingly complex in many industries, and recognised systems for managing these risks are vital. DNV now looks forward to serving its global customers with the most complete interface for asset and QHSE integrity management systems.

Based in Stavanger, Norway, Synergi Solutions’ software is available in 20 languages and used in 150 countries by 500 000 users. Existing Synergi customers, as well as new customers, will benefit from DNV’s global presence and close relationship with companies in the energy, maritime and health industries.

Through the acquisition, 30 new employees will be joining DNV’s software house. “Both support and sales activities will be managed

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service and Wiltshire Police have joined forces by sharing a communications control system.

APD Communications will provide its ‘hosted’ CORTEX Software Integrated Communications Control System (SICCS) service. The joint agreement will help both organisations to meet budget cuts and share services.

In January, a Government consultation into the scrapping of the FiReControl project, urged emergency services to consider outsourcing or sharing control rooms.

The U.K. Home Office will set up a company to manage the different computer systems of the country’s police forces, in an effort to save officers time and the government money.

“The way we do things now is confused, fragmented and expensive,” Home Secretary Theresa May said in a speech to senior police officers today in Harrogate, northern England. “We know, for example, that one supplier now has over 1,500 contracts across all the forces. This would simply never happen in the commercial world. Across the police service there are around 5,000 staff, working on over 2,000 ICT systems, across 100 data centers.”

Three firms have been selected to provide telephony services within the Government Procurement Service Managed Telecommunications Convergence Framework (MTCF).

Siemens Enterprise Communications, Global Crossing (UK) Telecommunications Limited and Virgin Media Business will supply the framework, which will replace the current Managed Telecommunications Services (MTS). It will allow organisations to procure services in support of the Public Services Network (PSN) and managed telephony, conferencing and data networking solutions

The MTCF will facilitate the delivery of managed telephony and data network services and enable the public sector to benefit from access to a new portfolio of hosted IP telephony, unified communications and video conferencing services. All services delivered within the framework will either be PSN (Public Service Network)-certified or provide transition to PSN-certified services, if required.

Michael Bowyer, director of Public Sector strategy, Siemens Enterprise Communications commented: “Siemens Enterprise Communications, supported by BT, is dedicated to delivering both traditional and next generation communication services that will provide efficient and scalable solutions, as well as enabling best practice working methods throughout the public sector. Being awarded this framework is a central part of our drive towards the successful development of the PSN.”

The Capita Group Plc has announced that it has acquired Ventura, a customer contact specialist for a cash consideration of £65 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

Ventura, the trading name of Club 24 Ltd, is the third party customer services management arm of Next plc and manages more than 50 million customer contacts each year for a range of additional private and public sector clients. Ventura is particularly strong in the private sector with clients including a number of leading telecoms, utilities and retail companies, such as O2, Orange, British Gas and BMI.

Ventura made a pro forma operating profit for its financial year to 31 January 2011 of £8 million on turnover of £156 million.

The acquisition will increase Capita's capacity for customer management services, providing additional front office services and flexible capacity for existing Group clients and the opportunity to provide entura's client base with access to Capita's wider service offering.

The Irish government plans to set up a cross-government implementation group on cloud computing. This group will support the implementation of the Programme for Government commitment on cloud computing. A recent report commission by Microsoft found that the cloud computing market in Ireland could be worth EUR 9.5 billion and employ 8,600 people by 2014.

The proposed Implementation Group will include representatives of relevant Departments as well as the Data Protection Commissioner, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The first meeting is proposed for later in July. The proposals were welcomed by ICT Ireland, IBEC group that represents the high-tech sector. ICT Ireland director Paul Sweetman said that for Ireland to become a world leader in cloud technology, it was important that the government took a lead as a user of cloud computing.