Industry news

Really interesting article on LinkedIn from Tim Wright about the HMRC confirming changes to VAT positions when terminating an outsourcing or supply agreement for convenience.

Read the article here

The EU is preparing to force Big Tech companies to share consumer data with smaller rival firms according to an early draft of the Digital Services Act which is expected by the end of the year.

Regulations are also set to be enforced in order to ensure that the gatekeeper platforms big tech companies use to run their sites should only be able to collect data for narrow purposes. 

By enforcing regulations like this Brussels is hoping to set a global standard for the technology sector and to minimise the advantages Big Tech companies like Google take because there are no rules.

To read the full article you will need to be subscribed to the Financial Time.

Fascinating perspective from Sunil Chavan at Computer Weekly on The Race to get Data Analytics Right, worth a read.

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The UK and US have signed a new agreement to cooperate on research and development of artificial intelligence.

This agreement aims to drive technological breakthroughs whilst strengthening the countries collective prosperity and national security. 

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Nokia has signed a contract with Britain’s biggest mobile operator, BT, to supply 5G radio equipment after Britain's decision to ban China’s Huawei 5G technology.

This deal will make Nokia BT’s largest equipment provider.

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Huawei has bought shares in Chinese semiconductor and tech companies as the worlds largest telecoms equipment maker supports its supply chain under the current tension with the US. 

The US have implemented trade restrictions with Huawei as they believe there’s a security risk with sharing data to the tech company. Huawei’s investment in other companies comes as the US have restricted their chips being imported. 

The investment is aimed to support their domestic supply chain partners to become more mature. It also supports the Chinese governments efforts to boost their semiconductor sector. They are refocusing on domestic businesses as they have no choice but to invest outside of the company due to the continued restrictions on their goods. 

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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has signed a £46million deal with Microsoft for the next three years.

The contract awarded to Phoenix Software will provide Defra with their licensing needs. The license services will initially be provided to all the Core Defra entities such as the overall department itself, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Marine Management Organisation, and the Rural Payments Agency.

This deal comes as Defra tries to migrate away from long-term IT outsourcing agreements with IBM after their 17 year long contract is coming to an end.

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As Accenture sees a decline in a few of their revenue generating sectors it’s predicted that Indian IT companies, such as Infosys might also see some short-term impacts on business.

Accenture announced that they were experiencing a 2% year on year decline in Q4 revenue to $10.8billion. One of the main contributors to this loss is the decline in revenue for consulting.

Although Indian IT companies don’t depend on consulting like Accenture do, they are still experiencing challenges due to the cancellation of projects and customer spending cuts with the uncertainty of the pandemic.

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The IT company Tech Mahindra is in an advanced level with sharing its technology with ITI Limited. They plan to be able to make 4G and 5G equipment in a few months. They are currently undergoing test runs and exchanging designs on the technology they want to manufacture.

In June, Tech Mahindra signed a contract with ITI Limited in order to develop 4G and 5G technology. This partnership is in line with the Indian government’s desire to get state-run companies back into manufacturing high end technology products.

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Mastek and InterWork technology companies have won contracts worth the total of £18million in order to support the NHS technical delivery of the COVID-19 Operational Dashboard.

The Operational Dashboard shows local governments and the NHS what’s happening in terms of COVID-19 in their specific area and the country as a whole. For example, it will show the level of COVID-19 cases, death rates and hospitalisations from the virus.

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