Industry news

London, 3 September 2018 - Powered by Deezer and UMG Live, AFest is AfricaCom’s official stellar networking event, and will bring 1000s of industry leaders together in one of Cape Town's hottest venues - Shimmy Beach Club at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town - on Tuesday, 13 November 2018.

AFest, now in its third year, is always a popular event on the AfricaCom agenda. 2018 will be even more so with the announcement of a partnership with Internet-based music streaming service, Deezer. All AFest ticket holders will now be eligible for a 3-month subscription to Deezer, activated when attending AFest (entry costs $40/ticket). Ticket holders will be able to experience Deezer’s innovative leading functionality, including the extensive local catalogue, data optimisation, offline features, the signature FLOW feature and content curation for Africa.

Gillian Ezra, Head of African Operations for Deezer commented, “The partnership between AFEST and Deezer works so well. As the streaming service with the largest footprint on the African continent, it makes perfect sense to partner with this incredible event and the AfricaCom event overall. We look forward to a great night with fantastic artists”.

In the wake of last year’s AFest headliners - AKA, Black Motion and Mr Silk – along with celebrating AfricaCom’s 21st show and now with a turbo boost Powered by Deezer and UMG Live, AFest 2018 is set to make a splash. The phenomenal line-up will include TRESOR, The Muses and Swing City, with more acts to be announced.

Only one third of senior executives in UK organisations admit their company insurance currently covers them for a security breach and for the financial impact of data loss, despite the fact that 81 per cent agree that it is ‘vital’ their organisation is insured against information security breaches. This is according to the latest Risk:Value report from NTT Security, the specialised security company of NTT Group, which also reveals that less than a third (29 per cent) of firms have dedicated cyber security insurance in place.

The 2018 report, which looks at the attitudes of 1,800 global senior decision makers from non-IT functions to risks to the business and the value of information security, reveals that UK businesses would have to spend on average £1 million to recover from a breach.

While the UK compares poorly to other markets like the US and Singapore (53 per cent) when it comes to insuring against both information security breaches and data loss, it still fares better than Benelux (27 per cent) and the Nordics (23 per cent in Sweden; 28 per cent in Norway). The UK also ranks second from last for having dedicated cyber insurance, alongside Germany (29 per cent) and just above Benelux (27 per cent).

Just six per cent of respondents in the UK say their company insurance covers only for information security breaches, while 11 per cent are covered only for data loss. However, the fact that nearly half (45 per cent) of those surveyed do not know if their company insurance covers either of these is a concern, given that it is the highest figure for any of the countries in the report and well above the global average of 23 per cent.

Kai Grunwitz, Senior VP EMEA, NTT Security, comments: “With estimated annual losses from cyber crime now topping $400bn (£291bn) according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, you would hope more organisations would be beating a path to insurers’ doors. But while the insurance sector is certainly seeing growth in the number of policies being taken out to cover such losses, it’s an issue that many senior decision makers are not on top of."

According to figures, the number of insurers now offering cyber insurance via Lloyd's of London has leapt to more than 70, nearly double the number a few years ago, while insurance giant Allianz predicts that global cyber insurance premiums will grow to $20bn by 2025, up from around $3-4bn currently.

According to the 2018 Risk:Value report, half of respondents in UK organisations believe that the failure to maintain or apply updates to existing IT systems would or could invalidate their company insurance, while 37 per cent point to lack of compliance with industry regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in May. While 63 per cent of respondents in the UK say they have an incident response plan in place, and another 18 per cent are in the process of implementing one, 38 per cent agree that lack of an incident response plan could or would also invalidate their company insurance.

Incident response is a basic requirement of best practice security and is even more important with the GDPR mandating 72-hour notifications following a breach. The GDPR and NIS Directive both require organisations in one way or another to follow best practices in cybersecurity, threatening huge fines of up to £17 million or four per cent of global annual turnover for non-compliance.

NTT Security’s Kai Grunwitz adds: “While cyber risk insurance should be put in place to help mitigate the potential fallout of a data security breach, a policy must not be seen as a ‘get out of jail free' card. Cyber insurance must be complementary to an effective risk-based information security strategy, not a replacement for it. You wouldn't expect your house insurance provider to pay out if you were burgled when the doors and windows are left unlocked. So don't expect a payout – or indeed an insurance policy – if you haven't put in place the right processes and policies.”

Thomas Cook is to outsource its contact centre operation in Falkirk from October.

As part of the agreement, all 300 staff will keep their jobs and remain in their current premises.

The travel giant says the agreement is consistent with its strategy to “streamline operations”. It follows a partnership with Expedia for the online travel agent to provide Cook’s booking platform for city break and hotel-only sales.

A larger contact centre at its headquarters in Peterborough will remain under Cook’s management, a spokesman confirmed.

The Falkirk contact centre underwent a multi-million pound refurbishment in 2016. It has been based in the Scottish town since 1997.

Ingo Burmester, chief of UK source market, Thomas Cook, said: “By using the expertise of a provider like Webhelp for our contact centre in Falkirk, we can keep improving our service while focusing our business where we can create the most value for our customers.”

David Turner, chief executive officer Webhelp UK, said: “We’re delighted to have been selected to help deliver world class customer experience for Thomas Cook’s holiday customers and proud that our record of excellence in customer service, technology and IT capability and long term commitment to Falkirk made us the right partner for the brand.”

LONDON 23 August 2018 – NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud contact centre and inside sales solutions, today announced that roadside assistance company Allied Dispatch Solutions, LLC (ADS) has observed “significant increases” in productivity since implementing the NVM Platform in 2017. ADS also reports optimised data management, reliability, and customer experiences in its contact centres.

Headquartered in Johnson City, Tennessee, with a subsidiary located in London, Ontario, ADS provides roadside assistance and customised call centre solutions for its various clients throughout the United States and Canada. These clients consist of original equipment manufacturers, wireless carriers, insurance companies, financial institutions, retail networks, and automobile dealerships. Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, Allied’s Customer Solutions Specialists field calls from their clients’ members and must be able to quickly and accurately dispatch services from a network of 30,000 providers, addressing issues such as flat tires and disabled, malfunctioning vehicles.

NewVoiceMedia’s telephony infrastructure and skills-based call routing has enabled ADS to improve call quality and ease of use for the CSS team, promoting a more efficient contact centre environment. NVM’s integration with Salesforce Service Cloud provides the business with improved access to real-time call data ensuring the contact centre’s management team can appropriately staff and prepare for every dispatch call. With the ability to access data from a single integrated system, ADS can identify, anticipate and act upon trends and improve the coaching of best practices. ADS’ clients receive consistent, customized, and meaningful reports quickly and on demand.

“The voice channel remains a vital part of roadside assistance, and we are tasked around the clock to be there when people need us the most”, says Anthony Royer, President and CEO of ADS. “NewVoiceMedia took the time to really understand what we do and provide a solution that allows us to deliver on that promise, and to measure and communicate our success to clients with confidence”.

Chris Haggis, SVP of Customer Success at NewVoiceMedia, adds, “We are delighted that ADS has experienced such incredible success with the NVM platform, as our Salesforce integration makes it easier for their business to track the data that will continue to drive results and customer experience. Our true cloud delivery will also allow ADS to scale and adapt as their business expands and the roadside assistance industry evolves”.

The local call centre industry is booming! According to industry standards, its growth over the past four years is at twice the global growth rate and increasing three times faster than past industry leaders, India and the Philippines. So, what are the main factors that are enticing offshore business owners to establish operations in South Africa?

The Quest for Superior Agents

According to South Africa’s specialist offshore investment agency and networking body for the BPO industry (BPESA), international outsourcing to SA is strongly driven by an abundant pool of educated, low-cost, multi-lingual agents. Their good quality English speaking skills, neutral accents and high empathy level gives local agents the upper hand. Plus, their cultural affinity (with the UK, Australia and increasingly, the US) also puts them at a natural advantage. Other appealing factors include the high skill level and committed work ethic of South Africans.

It also really benefits that local Government supports the BPO industry by being invested in learnership programmes, training and incentives. The result of which is breeding a culture of performance – where agents are driven to hit targets.

Round-the-Clock Business Hours

Europe certainly favours SA for their time zone compatibility. But with the capacity for round-the-clock quality service at significantly reduced costs, local call centres now appeal to all parts of the world, across multiple time zones! In fact, both large and small offshore clients are grabbing the golden opportunity of utilising South African contact centres in their night or ‘down time’ to service their client base.

First World Infrastructure

As ‘The Gateway to Africa’, South Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure is considered to be the best on the continent with a network that is 99.9% digital and includes the latest in fixed-line, wireless and satellite communication. The BPO industry is also moving swiftly towards delivery of high-tech digital services that offers clients a multi-channel customer experience, backed by advanced customer analytics and extensive back office fulfilment. In other words, offshore investors can be assured that they receive ‘the full package’ when it comes local call centre servicing.

Get Bang for Your Buck

Research conducted by BPESA reveals that the cost of operations in SA are at least 50-60% lower than those in England and Australia for both voice and non-voice work, making it all the more attractive for companies to establish their outreach from SA.

Setting a Worldwide Trend

The global BPO reach follows on from giant trendsetting companies the likes of Shell, Barclays, Lufthansa and Teletech, all of whom have call centre operations in South Africa. And so, with the rich landscape for BPO investor’s expanding, SA continues to advance in attracting offshore investors.

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.