Industry news

Chennai, 21 August 2018: FSS, a leader in payments technology and transaction processing, launched its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) 2.0 platform for banks and payment service providers (PSPs). FSS UPI is certified by NPCI, ensuring the solution is compliant, and up-to-date with UPI 2.0 specifications. A trusted provider of UPI solutions to 15+ banks. FSS expects its transaction volumes to double, propelled by strong adoption among merchants and corporates.

UPI provides simple, secure, cost-efficient payment rails for real-time person-to-person and person-to merchant transactions and has recorded exponential growth in the last 12 months. FSS UPI 2.0 will help banks and PSPs capitalize on this growth and fuel rapid expansion of the payment ecosystems. The key UPI 2.0 features include:

• Linking overdraft accounts to UPI

• Creating one-time mandates, enabling customers schedule payments

• Sending digital invoices to the payer’s inbox to establish transaction authenticity

• Embedding signature in the QR code for reduced fraud exposure

In particular, banks can leverage UPI and tap into the untapped corporate payments market segment. In addition to standard disbursal and collect payments, mash-up APIs can help banks to extend a host of innovative, relevant services to corporates. For example, businesses could send a pre-authorized payment request to suppliers, with a forward-dated invoice combined with an ability to block funds for certain transactions. Likewise, linking UPI to overdraft accounts instead of regular bank accounts would help corporates meet working capital needs.

For the retail segment, FSS UPI 2.0, in addition to standard services, offers innovative services including Chat and Pay, Loyalty and Rewards and Risk Management-as-a-Service to drive rich, contextual and secure transaction experiences. Chat and Pay provides ease of use by enabling customers interact with a chatbot to conduct transactions. Loyalty and Rewards enable PSPs to apply contextual transactional data and drive customer engagement. Using FSS UPI, banks can also offer added value services such as risk exposure score to customers and merchants to provide added security against data breaches.

Commenting on the launch, Suresh Rajagopalan, President Software Products, FSS, said; “UPI has emerged as India’s Universally Popular Payment Interface. FSS UPI 2.0 opens new opportunities for banks and PSPs to collaborate with Fintech players, merchants and corporates and firm their position in the fast-evolving digital payments segment. FSS is a trusted UPI partner and we are working closely with banks and PSPs to launch innovative overlay services to monetize UPI rails.”

FSS UPI provides the flexibility to issue and manage the complete lifecycle of virtual payment addresses linked to bank accounts as well as routing transactions to the Central Layer (NPCI). Additionally, banks and PSPs can layer additional services to acquire more transactions and deliver higher customer value. Designed to provide omni-channel support, FSS UPI accepts and authorizes payment initiated from multiple channels - mobile, POS, and online - for onward processing by the Central Layer (NPCI). The solution is benchmarked to process 6,600 transactions per second and provides four nines availability to customers.

FSS offers UPI services on a turnkey managed services model. This includes Software-as-a-Service as well as testing, certification, security and regulatory compliance, relieving PSPs of the need to invest and maintain in-house systems as well as the complexity of managing services on their own.

LONDON, Aug. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, today announced the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has awarded ISG a place on the UK Government's latest G-Cloud framework, G-Cloud 10.

The award gives UK public sector organizations, including central government, local councils, NHS trusts and other bodies, access to ISG's market-leading cloud advisory services, which can be procured through a centralized website. ISG last year was awarded a place on the CCS G-Cloud 9 framework, the predecessor to G-Cloud 10, as well as a place on the CCS Digital Outcomes Specialist Supplier (DOS2) framework, to help UK public sector organization design, build and deliver digital programs. Earlier this year, the CCS also awarded ISG a place on its Spend Analysis and Recovery Services (SARS) II framework, to provide telecommunications spend recovery services to the UK public sector.

G-Cloud 10 incorporates some 25,000 cloud services categorized into three lots: cloud hosting, cloud software and cloud support. The award to ISG will enable UK public sector organizations to quickly and cost-effectively leverage the firm's extensive expertise in the following areas:

• Cloud Research and Advisory Services

• Cloud Network and Software Advisory Services

• Robotic Process Automation

• Cloud Sourcing

• Cloud Managed Services

• Cloud Digital Strategy and Solutions

• Cloud Data and Analytics

Phil Millward, ISG partner specializing in the UK public sector, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded a place on the G-Cloud 10 framework for cloud support. Our selection on this highly competitive framework is a testament to the experience ISG has in providing expert and reliable advice to its clients on integrating cloud-based technologies into their operations.

"Having recently been awarded a place on the UK government's SARS II framework and as a chosen supplier on other government frameworks, including Digital Outcomes and Specialists, being selected as a G-Cloud 10 supplier further demonstrates ISG's commitment to assist organizations across the UK public sector. We are keen to build on our excellent track record with government organizations and look forward to helping them deploy cloud services to cut costs and improve efficiency for UK taxpayers.''

LONDON, August 17, 2018 ― Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, today announced it is expanding its ISG Provider Lens™ research coverage to the UK, with a report evaluating providers offering infrastructure, data center and private cloud services in this market.

The ISG Provider Lens Infrastructure and Data Center/Private Cloud Quadrant Report evaluates 45 providers serving the UK market across five quadrants: Managed Services and Transformation – Midmarket; Managed Services and Transformation – Large Accounts; Managed Hosting – Midmarket; Managed Hosting – Large Accounts, and Colocation.

The ISG research found enterprise demand in the UK for managed services and transformation offerings has increased dramatically in the last year, with many providers achieving double-digit growth. Much of that growth can be attributed to the rise in digital services, and the corresponding use of hybrid models, in which on-premises, private and public cloud are united and operating on a single, integrated platform.

The business itself, rather than IT, is the big consumer of managed services. Business leaders expect flexible, scalable services that can be deployed in the shortest amount of time possible. Numerous providers are specializing in and are prepared to meet these requirements, with many also offering backup, network, and software-defined data center (SDDC) services, ISG has found. Security also is a major consideration for enterprise buyers, even more so following the enactment of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May.

Managed hosting is a mature market in the UK, one that is increasingly being expanded to include cloud-based solutions and applications support, ISG found. Combining traditional and cloud services results in faster provisioning of additional services, more self-service options and flexible billing models, such as usage-based pricing. With the UK’s upcoming withdrawal from the EU, providers in this space, like those in managed services, must ensure that GDPR and other EU compliance requirements are strictly adhered to.

ISG also has found that interest in colocation services has risen sharply in recent years and should continue to grow. Colocation providers, particularly those servicing the financial center in London, are responding to the increased demand by expanding their infrastructure facilities and adding new services, such as staff augmentation. Connectivity services also are being enhanced to create faster links to internet exchange nodes and hyperscale public cloud providers. ISG noted that colocation providers are offering their facilities to cloud service providers, in addition to enterprises wishing to relocate their on-premises infrastructure.

“The managed services market in the UK has increased significantly, fueled by the dramatic growth in cloud-based services,” said Barry Matthews, partner and head of ISG UK and Ireland. “Large enterprises will continue to outsource more of their mission-critical IT, and the explosion of digital services will only increase this demand. Midmarket buyers, too, are more open to cloud solutions. Providers are responding by expanding their offerings to include hybrid infrastructure hosting, hyperscale solutions, data security, storage, networking and software environment support.”

In its report, ISG named BT, Fujitsu and T-Systems as leaders in the Managed Services and Transformation – Midmarket quadrant; Atos, BT, Capgemini, Computacenter, DXC Technology, HCL, IBM and TCS as leaders in the Managed Services and Transformation – Large Accounts quadrant; Atos Canopy, BT, Claranet, Fujitsu, Rackspace and T-Systems as leaders in the Managed Hosting – Midmarket quadrant; Atos Canopy, BT, Capgemini, DXC Technology and IBM as leaders in the Managed Hosting – Large Accounts quadrant, and BT, Digital Realty, Equinix, Global Switch, Interxion and Telehouse as leaders in the Colocation quadrant. BT was the only provider to be named a leader across all five quadrants.

CHISWICK, LONDON, Aug. 10, 2018 -- Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. (HGS) (listed on BSE & NSE in India), has announced that its subsidiary Hinduja Global Solutions UK Ltd has been awarded a new 2-year contract from the Crown Commercial Government Contact Centre Framework for the Money Advice Service.

The Money Advice Service is a UK-wide, independent service set up to improve people's ability to manage their financial affairs. HGS will be providing the public with free and impartial money guidance by phone, email and webchat through a new Customer Advisor team in Selkirk, which went live on Wednesday 1st August.

"We are delighted to enter into this new partnership with Money Advice Service, which provides support to so many people who need it," said Adam Foster, CEO HGS Europe. "We have created a service which will continue to evolve, improving the quality of and people's access to impartial money advice. We are committed to working with the Money Advice Service to deliver intelligent new ways to innovate and make the service accessible to everyone who needs it, when and where they need support."

John-Penberthy Smith, Customer Director at the Money Advice Service said:

"We're pleased to be working with our partner HGS to provide free and impartial money guidance through our new Contact Centre in Selkirk. We have a great Customer Advisor Team ready to support the thousands of people who come to us each week seeking help on how to manage their money. Last year, our call centre delivered money guidance to over two hundred thousand people and we're delighted to be taking this work forward with our new partners."

HGS is hiring 33 advisors in its location in Selkirk. Interested individuals, with a strong desire to engage with people and help make a difference, should apply to selkirk.recruitment@teamhgs.com.

About Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS):

A global leader in business process management (BPM) and optimising the customer experience lifecycle, HGS is helping make its clients more competitive every day. HGS combines technology-powered services in automation, analytics and digital with domain expertise focusing on back office processing, contact centres and HRO solutions to deliver transformational impact to clients. Part of the multi-billion dollar conglomerate Hinduja Group, HGS takes a true "globally local" approach, with over 44,265 employees across 70 delivery centers in seven countries making a difference to some of the world's leading brands across nine key verticals. For the year ended 31st March 2018, HGS had revenues of US$ 597 million.

Paris, July 23, 2018 — Devoteam (Euronext Paris: DVT) today announced that it has received a 2018 Google Cloud EMEA Services Partner of the Year award. This year’s award was presented at the Google Cloud Next Partner Summit, an event in San Francisco that showcases Google Cloud partners spanning G Suite, GCP, Maps, Devices, and Education.

Devoteam was recognized for the company’s achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers make their digital transformation onto the cloud and make their workplaces truly digital.

“This is a great achievement and source of pride for us. Since 2009, we have grown and developed a partnership with Google Cloud that has become key in our capacity to accelerate the transformation of our clients. With Google Cloud we change the way employees work and collaborate, we make IT agile and we boost business with smart data. I believe we are only at the beginning and that we will keep on scaling strongly together”, says Sébastien Chevrel, COO of Devoteam.

“Our partners are fundamental to providing a great product to customers, particularly as demand for Google Cloud innovations grows,” said Sébastien Marotte, Vice President of the EMEA Region, Google Cloud. “We’re delighted to recognize Devoteam as the 2018 Google Cloud EMEA Partner of the Year based on the company’s dedication to helping Google Cloud customers in EMEA achieve success across services.”

About Devoteam

At Devoteam, we deliver innovative technology consulting for business.

As a pure player for Digital Transformation of large organisations across EMEA, our 5,500+ professionals are dedicated to ensuring our clients win their digital battles. With a unique transformation DNA, we connect business and technology.

Present in 17 countries in Europe and the Middle East, and drawing on more than 20 years of experience, we shape Technology for People, so it creates value for our clients, for our partners and for our employees.

Devoteam will achieve yearly revenues of €650 million in 2018. At Devoteam, we are Digital Transformakers.

2 August 2018

Over half of UK businesses believe Brexit will trigger a drop in revenue in 2019 according to new research by MHR Analytics, the specialist provider of business intelligence and analytics solutions.

The findings are contained in a new report published today entitled ‘Business Insight: The Data Surge’ which contains detailed polling of 200 senior decision-makers in large and medium sized UK businesses about their investment plans.

When asked which factor was most likely to trigger a drop in revenue for 2019, the majority believed it would be Brexit at 57 per cent, followed by reduced customer spending at 22 per cent. Interestingly, 10 per cent of those polled thought the recently implemented General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would have an impact on revenue. Only seven per cent of respondents said no factor would trigger a drop in revenue.

The survey found that businesses were boosting investment in key areas to tackle the revenue drop, with IT coming top by a significant margin, suggesting tech spend is of huge importance to companies. 59 per cent of businesses will increase spend on IT in 2019, 48 per cent believe marketing will also see an increase and 46 per cent are planning to boost investment in sales.

When asked about the importance of data, 96 per cent of business chiefs said they understood the importance of data for their company’s future. However, one in 10 businesses are yet to implement big data strategies and less than a third regularly conduct big data projects.

Nick Felton, SVP at MHR Analytics comments: “It’s clear that businesses are braced for significant turbulence next year and are planning major investment in key areas to power through an anticipated drop in revenues. Despite these fears, companies are adopting a combative approach to this problem, with departments such as IT, marketing and sales all set for a cash injection.”

“With unpredictable market conditions, data management and analytics are critical for helping organisations deliver significant cost savings by enabling accurate decision-making. Despite a potential revenue dip, companies are still planning major investments, of which data management is a good choice in uncertain times.”

“Nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of the decision makers we surveyed believe their company’s response to big data has been positive, yet only four per cent recognise that managing big data will lead to less administration. Early analysis of these results suggests that a sharper focus on data management and analytics could be advantageous to companies in this constantly changing economic climate.”

For more information contact MHRAnalytics@centropypr.com or call 0203 959 9121

Public sector outsourcing spend increased sharply in the first six months of 2018 despite a backdrop of Brexit uncertainty, according to the Arvato UK Outsourcing Index.

Overall, £2.61 billion of outsourcing deals were signed between January and June, of which £998 million were government contracts. The total value of public sector spending was up 39 per cent year-on-year, as central departments and councils focused on procuring agreements for IT and technology services.

The research, compiled by business outsourcing partner Arvato and industry analyst NelsonHall, found that IT outsourcing (ITO) contracts accounted for more than three quarters (79 per cent) of public sector spend between January and June, with cloud computing, application management and multi-scope infrastructure the most frequently procured services.

Central departments were the key drivers of government activity over the period, accounting for £921 million of overall public sector spend, up 27 per cent (from £724 million) year-on-year.

Local government buyers were less active in the period, however, with contracts worth £77 million signed between January and June, down from £136 million in H1 2017.

Overall, public sector deal volume increased by almost a fifth year-on-year (19 per cent), according to the research.

The findings show that despite the rise in government spending, the total value of UK contracts signed in H1 2018 (£2.61 billion) fell by a half on the same period last year. The market softening was triggered by a slowdown in the private sector, which saw deals worth £1.61 billion agreed between January and June, down from £4.53 billion in the first half of 2017.

Debra Maxwell, CEO, CRM Solutions UK & Ireland, Arvato, said:

“The public sector market is showing signs of recovery as government organisations take the brakes off the tendering process. More than two thirds (68 per cent) of contracts signed across the sector this year represent new relationships, showing outsourcing remains a key strategy for delivering new technologies, such as cyber security and automation, to drive efficiency and service improvements.

“A subdued private sector comes as no surprise given the lingering uncertainty surrounding the Brexit process and GDPR implementation, which is causing many businesses to pause and review their margins and contingency plans.”

Financial services firms largest spenders in outsourcing market

Businesses across financial services spent more on outsourcing contracts in the first half of 2018 than any other UK sector, with firms agreeing deals worth £933 million.

Despite the overall fall in private sector spending, financial services firms were responsible for the highest proportion of outsourcing procurement in the UK market, representing 36 per cent of total deal value between January and June.

The findings show the total value of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contracts signed across all sectors was up 66 per cent year-on-year to £1.48 billion, as organisations partnered with third parties to deliver customer services, HR and payment processing.

Customer services was the most frequently procured BPO service line, with eight deals worth £203 million signed over the period. Three quarters of these contracts involved integrating traditional and digital channels, with half incorporating webchat support.

The Arvato UK Outsourcing Index is compiled by leading BPO and IT outsourcing research and analysis firm NelsonHall, in partnership with Arvato UK. The research is based on an analysis of outsourcing contracts procured in the UK market between January and June 2018.

Chris Sood-Nicholls, managing director and head of global services at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said:

“While events of earlier this year will have made both public and private sector organisations draw breath and review the financial stability of counterparties, these figures show that that process hasn’t prevented central government in particular from committing to new contracts.

“In fact, despite the uncertainty, the economic backdrop is relatively robust and both central government and financial services businesses in particular are knuckling down and getting on with the job in hand.

“The good news is that organisations in a variety of sectors still see outsourcing both as a long-term strategic tool, and as a tactical means of delivering much-needed cost savings. Where that continues, these figures suggest there is little to fear during the second half of this year at least.”

About Arvato UK & Ireland

Arvato is a trusted global business outsourcing partner to the private and public sectors in the UK and Ireland. With more than 50 years of experience in outsourcing, Arvato combines expertise in business process outsourcing (BPO), financial solutions, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and public sector and citizen services to deliver innovative, individual solutions. Arvato has long-term partnerships with some of the most respected companies in the UK and globally, as well as innovative public sector clients. Internationally, Arvato is a leading global BPO provider with over 70,000 people employed across almost 40 countries worldwide. Arvato has annual revenues of €4.8bn contributing over a quarter of the Bertelsmann group annual revenues of over €17.1bn.

For more information, visit: www.arvato.co.uk.

Blockchain has the potential to have a huge impact on procurement and sourcing. Currently, it’s early days, a bit like the initial stages of the dotcom boom – lots of companies are launching and some are failing. Many still associate blockchain exclusively with cryptocurrency, and admittedly there are limited proven use-cases. At a time when so many emerging technologies and practices are vying for attention, it requires a leap of faith to give blockchain focus. How does blockchain compete with AI, RPA, Big Data, virtual assistants and all the other trends that are driving industry transformation?

Here are the three main reasons that I am backing blockchain as the next big disruptor for procurement:

1) It will unlock the next wave of efficiencies

It will unlock the next wave of efficiencies by getting rid of waste and duplication across customers and their supplier ecosystems. The status quo, where customers and suppliers maintain local records of every transaction, means that there is significant duplication where different players process, validate and store information about the same event.

A move to distributed ledger technology such as blockchain allows for a single, immutable, secure record of every transaction to be maintained, eliminating the need for all this local work within the four walls of each enterprise. Maersk and IBM are predicting that their new blockchain platform will save the global shipping industry billions of dollars a year.

2) It will enable greater trust

It will enable greater trust, despite confusingly being called a ‘trustless’ technology. What ‘trustless’ means is that records are maintained across an entire network as opposed to being verified by a single party such as the organisation that initiated the transaction, or a central authority that might be vulnerable to fraud, infiltration or attack.

In addition, once a transaction is added to the blockchain it can never be changed, so this allows for superior auditability and greater confidence. For certain types of product where provenance is important (food, luxury goods and similar) this allows companies to make a better consumer offer. For example, Everledger’s Diamond Time-Lapse product can validate the provenance of diamonds, ensuring that they are real, not stolen and do not come from mines with a poor human rights record.

3) It will automate fulfilment of contractual obligation

It will automate fulfilment of contractual obligation without the need for separate automation technology. ‘Smart contracts’ can be set up so that when conditions are met, payments or other value transfer can happen automatically. For example, discounting structures can be automatically applied without the need for extra administrative work or specialist billing systems.

Managing supply chains in today’s connected environment is extremely complex. Blockchain provides solutions to questions of efficiency, transparency, and security, and has the potential to transform the supply chain and logistics industry. Bring it on.

On Tuesday 24th July, the UK Committee of Public Accounts produced a report underlining the controversy surrounding contracting out to the private sector. The report criticises the emergence of a small group of large companies who are expert at winning contracts but lack the expertise to deliver value for the sector in which they are bidding. The report recommends the Cabinet Office take a more active approach to examining the market to better understand the intentions and motivations of bidding companies.

Further concerns addressed in the report are the ambiguity of responsibility between Government and Private sector as well as the impact of poor contracting to the end user. The report summary touches upon this issue:

“Government contracts involve vast sums of public money and have significant impacts on the lives of citizens. The Government cannot divest itself of responsibility when it contracts out the delivery of public services. Many of the companies that we have looked at rely on the public purse for a significant proportion of their revenue. Those companies need to be accountable to Parliament and taxpayers once they decide to take public money.”

You can read the full report, including the recommendations from the committee here

25 July 2018

- Permanent placements increase by 9%

- Vacancies for permanent professionals dip 4%

- Demand for finance interims up 21%

- Permanent placements within IT up 23%

Permanent hiring increases

Professional recruitment firms reported that the number of candidates securing permanent roles in June 2018 increased by 9% year-on-year, according to new survey data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).

APSCo’s research, which focuses on professional recruitment, reveals notable variations between the trade association’s core sector groups in terms of hiring activity. While permanent placements within IT and financial services increased by 23% and 13% respectively over the 12 month period, the number of marketing professionals securing permanent roles during this time slipped by 11%.

Vacancies for permanent staff, meanwhile, remained largely stable across the board, dipping by just 4% in June 2018.

Financial services remains strong

The number of finance professionals securing permanent roles increased by 13% in the year to June 2018, while the number of contract professionals out on assignment in the sector rose 1% over the same period.

Vacancies for permanent finance professionals during this time grew by 4% while demand for contractors within financial services rose 21%, indicating ongoing strength across the market.

This confidence comes following the announcement that Barclay’s plans to create 2,500 jobs in Glasgow when it moves its technology, functions and operations teams to a new hub on the bank of the Clyde in 2021. This commitment is the latest sign of strength for Scotland’s financial services sector, which is now outstripping London in terms of growth.

IT market goes perm

While the number of IT contractors out on assignment plummeted by 34% year-on-year in June 2018, the number of professionals securing permanent roles in the sector increased by 23% during the same period.

Demand for permanent professionals also rose by 7% in the 12 months to June, while vacancies for IT contractors flat-lined – falling by 0.1% year-on-year.

This shift in focus can almost certainly be attributed to recent changes to off-payroll working in the public sector, and ongoing uncertainty around if and when IR35 reforms will be extended to the private sector. A recent survey conducted by IPSE and the CIPD found that 71 per cent of public sector hiring managers were struggling to hold on to their contractors as a result of the changes.

Contract market slow

Aside from ongoing demand for finance interims, overall contract vacancies dipped by 8% year-on-year in June 2018. The overall number of contractors out on assignment, meanwhile, dipped by 17% during the same period.

This decrease can largely be attributed to a significant 34% year-on-year fall in IT professionals working on a contract basis during this time. However, the number of marketing and engineering professionals on assignment also dipped in June 2018, falling by 17% and 9% respectively.

Average salaries stable

APSCo’s figures also reveal that median salaries across all professional sectors increased by 1% year-on-year. This figure is characterised by notable fluctuations in terms of sector, with insurance, for example, recording an uplift of 4.4% while banking salaries dipped by 5.2%.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo comments:

“Considering the level of uncertainty that the UK continues to contend with, the current strength of the professional jobs market is a positive indicator of wider resilience. Economic growth is better than expected, overall employment levels are at a record high and the signs are now positive that the AI revolution is creating more jobs than it is destroying.

“However, there is no doubt that the present picture is far from stable. While financial services, for example, is strong for now, future growth will likely depend on whether the UK successfully negotiates advanced equivalence post-Brexit. Furthermore, with the current consultation on off-payroll working in the private sector still open, we are yet to see how the contractor market will react to any incoming changes.”

John Nurthen, Staffing Industry Analysts’ Executive Director of Global Research commented:

“The decline in professional vacancies has continued in June, though the drop in permanent vacancies is quite marginal compared to the decline in temporary / contractor roles indicating that the UK job market is actually in a reasonable condition. And confidence, however, will likely prove fragile if the government is unable to prevent Brexit negotiations becoming more fraught during the second half of the year.”