Industry news

The Wild Challenge is an event where employees, clients, friends and family find a fun way to challenge themselves, connect with each other, and raise funds for one of the UK’s leading youth charities.

Five reasons to take the fifth Capgemini Wild UK Challenge:

1. Team building – A superb team building opportunity

2. Giving something back – Nothing makes your day to day work feel even more worthwhile than the knowledge that you are giving something back to the communities in which we operate.

3. Get fit supporting a fantastic cause – If you’re one of those people who needs a driving factor to make them get fit what could be better than the knowledge that the money you raise will turnaround the life of a young person?

4. Have fun fundraising – you’ll be surprised how fun and easy it can be coming up with innovative ideas to raise money.

5. It’s a life changing event – The Wild Challenge is one of those life changing opportunities. Emotionally, physically, motivationally – 100% of participants say their lives are changed for the better in so many different ways.

“The atmosphere and shared feeling of achievement as nearly 200 people gather at the finish line can’t be matched”, says Derek Hogg, Capgemini.

The Prince’s Trust helps over 40,000 young people a year get back into education, training or work. Established in 2007, 664 participants have successfully completed the Challenge, raising over £850,000 to help young people turn their lives around.

In 2010, Capgemini had 55 challengers from across our business and our clients. We want to better this for 2011 and help The Trust reach £1,000,000 raised in five years from Wild alone!

It’s time to Be Exceptional!

For more details about the Capgemini Wild UK Challenge and to register, visit the Prince’s Trust Adventure Challenges Wild UK website.

Centrica has awarded Fujitsu a five-year contract to provide Desktop Managed Services (DMS) for 25,000 users across Centrica’s UK business.

Fujitsu will transform the desktop infrastructure to deliver an improved experience for end-users in terms of desktop performance and access to the latest e-mail and instant messaging solutions. Fujitsu’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution is delivered using Fujitsu high end servers and storage and will provide Centrica with a reliable IT infrastructure and a reduced carbon impact. It will be hosted in one of Fujitsu’s UK datacentres, recently awarded The Uptime Institute’s (TUI) Gold Standard in Operational Sustainability.

Centrica’s Group CIO, David Bickerton, commented: “As Centrica grows both organically and through acquisition, the IT capabilities and support we provide our people in doing their jobs is critical. Therefore our desktop services, which increasingly involve adoption of mobile devices, become ever more critical to the efficient running of our business and the IT experience we provide our people. In July 2010 we appointed Fujitsu to run our internal IT service desk. This new contract builds upon that existing partnership and is aimed at further improving the IT service and experience for our people.”

Gavin Bounds, chief operating officer for Fujitsu UK & Ireland’s private sector division, added: “For a long time DMS was seen by the market as a commoditised service, but it’s clear now that customers are seeing the strategic opportunity – offering significant cost reductions, improved user productivity, greater peace of mind and considerably more flexibility for their desktop estate. The virtualised environment is now giving even greater opportunity to realise the benefits that DMS can bring.”

Capita’s IT services division has announced the acquisition of Sheffield-based Technophobia Limited, a developer of next generation web applications, for £6.3 million.

Technophobia's customer base comprises both public sector clients and private sector clients inlcuding Co-Operative Bank, Pizza Express and the Technology Strategy Board.

Technophobia’s turnover increased by 81% in two years and it came 69th in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list of Britain’s fastest growing privately owned technology companies. The company also featured in the top 50 list of fastest growing digital media companies in Europe.

The acquisition adds valuable expertise to Capita’s existing capabilities, which will drive greater efficiencies across Capita Group, and also enhance its web based information management solutions such as websites, intranets and extranets for public and private sector customers. Emma Marshall will remain as managing director and will report into Paul Dawson, business director, systems integration, Capita. The business will be part of the IT Services division, but will remain a stand alone entity with a distinct identity.

“Technophobia has bucked the trend by growing significantly despite the challenging market conditions, so it’s an exciting acquisition for us”, said Paul Dawson, business director, systems integration, Capita. “Competition is tougher than ever for the private sector and having a website that is easy to navigate, intuitive and integrates neatly with other channels of communication – be that that internal or external - is essential. For the public sector, the trend is to move services online, enable self service and engage citizens in new ways. They want to have the ability to book and pay for waste collection, or change their address details at the click of a button. Together, we are in a great position to support our customers and help them to future-proof for the next wave of demands.”

Convergys Corporation, a global leader in relationship management, is seeking candidates to fill approximately 370 open positions at its Barreal de Heredia and Ultra Park II contact centers in Costa Rica.

New employees proficient in Spanish and English will provide customer service and technical support for three Convergys clients in the cable and financial services industries.

Convergys, a FORTUNE 1000 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, offers employees comprehensive paid training, as well as a competitive wage and benefits package.

“Due to the very high levels of quality and professionalism provided by our current employees in country, increasing numbers of clients are requesting to locate their customer service operations in Costa Rica,” said Jason Brown, Senior Director of Operations for Convergys in Costa Rica. “Convergys is committed to delivering superior service to its clients’ customers and we’re delighted to offer these bilingual positions to anyone in Costa Rica interested in starting a career at Convergys.”

As companies struggle through the current austere times, many are investing in processes that will be cost-effective and beneficial in the long-term. Modern outsourcing relationships now offer and deliver much more than just cost savings. Businesses are often transformed through innovation to achieve far greater efficiency and productivity.

Innovation is perhaps the most mis-interpreted term in outsourcing. It seems everyone wants a slice of the pie, but many are unsure of what the pie actually consists of..

Defining Innovation

It is extremely hard to narrow down one definition of innovation in outsourcing. One man’s innovation is another man’s day-to-day activity.

The following points were raised at the NOA’s end user forum:

• To avoid misunderstanding, definitions and expectations of innovation should be agreed upon with each service provider

• Innovation is not applicable to all service provider relationships. For example no innovation expectations may exist for smaller or commodity relationships.

• Innovation can be both incremental and radical. Innovation is not continuous improvement.

• Innovation is new ideas or ways of working to drive commercial gain and or competitive advantage.

According to Tony Morgan, Chief Innovation Officer at IBM: “The definition of innovation is flexible - it changes and evolves. From an outsourcing point of view, the supplier and the end-user need to work through, develop and agree a working definition of innovation to make sure their objectives are achieved.”

The NOA innovation steering committee meets on a regular basis to discuss potential research into innovation, share best practice and work together to produce a NOA innovation framework. At the last steering committee on the 13th April, the following discussion points were raised:

• Innovation has to be flexible and is not needed for every project and collaboration. The management of innovation is critical

• Who sets innovation vision? A consistent definition is needed

• Innovation in multisourcing is more prevalent

• Getting suppliers to work together to maintain delivery of innovative services is crucial

• Contractual obligation for suppliers to attend ‘innovation workshops’ can be seen as best practice.

• Theme of ‘collaboration’ is ongoing and essential in innovation

• Cloud gives opportunities but it needs to mature before it becomes viable for corporate use

• Suppliers are driving the way forward with innovation through best practice

• Increase Cloud innovation. Cloud without governance

Innovation Framework

There has been much talk about the development of an innovation framework. To date, thinking has been that this framework is comprised of two distinct areas:

1) The hygiene factors for innovation: essentially the processes, the way in which a problem is approached, which can be included in contracts.

2) The Governance structures, which are used to manage and progress innovation. The innovation management process itself provides the operational governance framework and a structured approach to fast track projects through idea generation and selection, development, confirmation of sponsorship and business case validation and on into hand-over to project delivery and tracking of benefits realisation.

On the other hand, many believe that innovation shouldn’t be put into a framework and ‘managed’ as it should naturally evolve from a partnership.

Simon Briskman, FieldFisherWaterhouse, opens the debate: “Putting innovation into a contract can often be a problematic approach. Many companies just want innovation to be included without understanding what it is. Procurement asks suppliers to show innovation and include the requirement in an RFP. But these requirements are generic and so that makes it very difficult for a lawyer to translate into the contract, outside of requesting continuous improvement requirements and reducing the price year on year.

“If the user can state the exact innovation they are looking for and how to transform it, then the contract can be more specific and a Governance structure built up to work and so make the contract an enabling framework to deliver that innovation – this is however a rarity.”

A modern outsourcing relationship should help a business to innovate whether metrics are set from the start or organically produced as a product of the relationship. However a framework can assist outsourcing partners to determine their objectives and formalise the innovation achieved. Developing metrics will also help to share the results and prove the worth of outsourcing-led innovation.

As I suggested in last week’s blog, it seems as though the wind of change is blowing hard through public sector procurement processes at the moment - and large suppliers of outsourcing are feeling the full force of the gale.

Last week’s announcement from the Cabinet Office, in which it pledged to bring down what some have referred to as the ‘ICT oligopoly’, is clearly bad news for larger suppliers of outsourced IT, many of which have had the government locked into contracts for a number of years.

Clearly, the move to open up the procurement process is aimed at increasing competition, in terms of both quality of service and price, while allowing smaller organisations to take a slice of the public sector pie. But is it necessarily a good idea to ostracise larger suppliers completely?

At present, it’s thought that 18 large ICT suppliers control as much as 80 per cent of Britain’s public sector contracts, many of whom look set to have the rug pulled from beneath them as part of the government’s focus on supporting SMEs with a view to, potentially, multi-sourcing, with a number of smaller suppliers.

It’s clear, then, that this strategy is not without risk. After all, many large, established suppliers have a solid, established infrastructure, with resources which allow government departments to deliver projects in a fraction of the time it would take other suppliers.

Perhaps, moreover, there’s a much greater risk that in opening up the procurement process to smaller suppliers, who have little or no experience in dealing with public sector procurement, we’re running the risk of throwing the baby out with the bath water?

It’s worth remembering that large suppliers of ICT outsourcing have been dealing with the public sector for many years, which means that they have an increased understanding of its requirements, and what it needs to make the relationship a success.

Moreover, it seems to have gone unnoticed by many that the Cabinet Office’s announcement related largely to ICT, which typically refers to the provision of hardware and software.

It’s worth remembering that most major outsourcing and shared services contracts are also dependent to a large extent on building relationships and understanding business processes, which, if not effectively established, can lead to operational inefficiencies.

If the government is to ditch most of its larger suppliers and open the procurement process up to SMEs, surely it will be vital that there is an element of knowledge transfer in place for all of these relationships to ensure that the transition causes as little trouble as possible?

Of course, by opening up the procurement process to smaller suppliers, the theory goes that efficiency of service should improve, as the public sector will have more options in terms of which organisations it partners with.

Even so, it’s worth recognising that unless the short-term transition is managed effectively, the government’s shift in procurement strategy could cause as many problems at it solves…

The Capita Group Plc ('Capita') has acquired Right Document Solutions Holdings Limited ('RDS') for a consideration of £30m on a cash-free, debt free basis, plus a deferred consideration of up to £10m.

The acquisition provides a good strategic fit with a number of Capita's professional services businesses by building upon existing design, bulk print and document management capabilities. Established in 1988, RDS provides document consultancy and managed print services through long term contracts with a range of public and private sector clients. Clients include financial services companies, legal firms, media businesses and educational institutions.

RDS made a pro forma operating profit of £4.4m on turnover of £12.2m in the year to 30 June 2010. Commenting on the deal, Paul Pindar, Capita Group Chief Executive Officer, said: "The UK market for print solutions has been estimated to be worth around £650 million in 2010 and is shifting increasingly towards managed print services. The acquisition, alongside Capita's existing print and document management services, will ensure that Capita is well positioned to participate comprehensively in this market. These services also play an integral role in many of our businesses and contracts and we can therefore provide further service efficiencies to both Capita and its clients by delivering these services directly."

Paul Gillett, Managing Director of Right Document Solutions, said: "We have a strong track record in delivering customer value through reduced costs and improved efficiencies. I am confident that combining our core strengths, especially those in managed print, with Capita's capabilities in wider document related services will differentiate our market proposition and give us a range of compelling unique selling points. Being part of the larger Capita Group will allow us to reach our full potential across both private and public sectors."

As part its commitment to change the way that Government does business, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude has outlined new plans to improve the way that Government deals with its major suppliers.

From now on, ‘Crown Representatives’ will ensure that Government receives the best value for money, by ensuring that the Government acts as a single customer. They will put an end to the days when departments were able to sign up – without any central control or coordination - to a series of different contracts with the same supplier.

The Crown Representatives group will also be responsible for developing ‘emerging players’ to the market, ensuring best value through new competition for public contracts.

These appointments follow the renegotiation of contracts with over 50 suppliers since July last year. The renegotiations have saved the Government £800 million in 2010/11.

Francis Maude said: “Our priority is to make sure the taxpaying public gets the best possible deal - and one of the ways of doing this is to ensure we’re really using the scale of government to push down prices. That is why any dealings with our big suppliers have to be coordinated and our approach has to be strategic – the new Crown Representatives will make sure this happens.

“Today’s announcement shows that we were serious about changing the way that Government does business. We have already saved £800 million since May by starting to establish Government as a single customer. But, in doing this we also recognised that we need better, more efficient relationships with suppliers over the long term."

Fujitsu, one of the world’s largest technology and communications companies, has announced plans to work in collaboration with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco to deliver next generation internet services to 5 million homes in rural Britain.

The Fujitsu open access wholesale network will be underpinned by Cisco’s world leading technology. Virgin Media and TalkTalk intend to access wholesale products via this network in order to retail next generation services to customers in remote parts of the UK. The network will also be open to other service providers on wholesale terms.

The proposals will provide future-proofed connectivity to 5 million households and beyond that would otherwise be unlikely to benefit from commercial investment in next generation digital networks.

Duncan Tait, CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland said: “There is a unique opportunity for the UK to re-establish itself as a world leader by having the world’s most advanced fibre network. If done correctly this can be a key vehicle to accelerate recovery in the UK and bring genuine choice to generations of communities starved of participating fully in the UK economy. We believe our approach, in collaboration with these major industry leaders, will provide a future proofed network for at least the next 20 to 30 years.”

SITA to provide BAA with all telecom functions as part of Capgemini consortium improving information sharing across airports

SITA, the world's leading specialist in air transport communications and IT solutions, has announced that it has joined the consortium led by Capgemini UK plc to provide core IT services to all six BAA-owned UK airports including London Heathrow, the UK's only hub airport, in a €120 million outsourcing deal.

Rob Watkins, SITA Regional Vice President for Northern Europe, speaking at the Aviation ICT Forum 2011 in London, said: "This is a major outsourcing win. SITA, as part of the consortium, will provide ITIL based service management, contract management and transformation services across the six airports. We will orchestrate and manage telecom services across the whole BAA airport IT network environment. The five-year agreement covers the direct provision of network, telecommunications and radio services to six major airports including service transition, transformation and revenue generation. In addition to cost savings, outsourcing IT to an industry specialist like SITA will give BAA access to a much wider range of IT experience and know-how, allowing it to focus on its core business."