Industry news

The CEO of Deutsche Bank said a "big number of staff will eventually be replaced by robots” as it looks towards artificial intelligence technology.Thousands of Deutsche Bank staff could lose their jobs as the German financial services giant replaces “people behaving like robots” with robots acting like people. Technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation software is taking over many repetitive tasks at businesses, with the financial services sector leading the charge.

More news from sourcingfocus: Robo-Advice Increasingly Popular for Investment Plans

More news on the cyber security front, a major breach as financial services company Equifax has been attacked in a hack that may have compromised the personal records of 143 million American consumers, along with an undisclosed number of people in the UK and Canada. The perpetrators exploited a vulnerability in a US website application to gain access to confidential information – including names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers, as well as around 209,000 credit card numbers – over a two month period from May 2017. Cyber security is a growing market for the sourcing industry and we discussed it at the GSA Symposium a couple of months ago, read the report here.

Civica, a leader in business critical software applications, digital solutions and outsourcing services, has partnered with Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) to provide the Trust with a new Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) solution, Civica Prescribing. Developed with a specialist user group of nurses, pharmacists and doctors, Civica Prescribing ensures safety and efficiency for prescribing and medicine administration. The system will support the Trust’s long-term vision for electronic prescribing and medicine optimisation including specialised capabilities for mental health and substance misuse cases. Civica Prescribing will initially be rolled out across the Substance Misuse Specialist Services at GMMH, one of the largest non-private substance misuse services in the UK, which includes six sites across the North-West of England and works with more than 5,200 patients.

More news from sourcingfocus: Artificial Intelligence Threatens Jobs in BPO Industry

HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services company, today announced a new strategic partnership with Alpha Insight, an intelligent products and solutions company headquartered in London, UK, with industry leading expertise in Business Flow Monitoring and Operational Intelligence. The transaction, which includes purchase of select assets, bolsters HCL’s DRYiCE™ Platform and its positioning as an Enterprise A.I Foundation. Integration of Alpha Insight’s iControl product into the DRYiCETM suite of products, provides deep visibility into end–to–end horizontal business flows and robust operational intelligence to Digital Enterprises.

More news from sourcingfocus: HCL Acquires Automation–Driven Data Management Platform

WNS (Holdings) Limited, a provider of global Business Process Management (BPM) services, today announced that it has been named as a ‘Leader’ in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Finance and Accounting (F&A) BPO Services 2017 Vendor Assessment Report. The IDC MarketScape report recognizes WNS’ strategy and delivery models, including the company’s commitment to tools, methodologies, and technology-enabled “as a service” offerings with embedded robotics and analytics. The IDC MarketScape also cited WNS for its vertical and geographic market expansion focus, and tuck-in acquisition strategy.

More news from sourcingfocus: HCL Announces Strategic Partnership with Banking Solutions Provider Alpha Insight

Capgemini, a leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services, has today announced the findings of “Turning AI into concrete value: the successful implementers’ toolkit”, a study of nearly 1,000 organizations with revenues of more than $500m that are implementing artificial intelligence (AI), either as a pilot or at scale. The research both counters fears that AI will cause massive job losses in the short term, as 83% of firms surveyed say AI has generated new roles in their organizations, and highlights the growth opportunity presented by AI: three-quarters of firms have seen a 10% uplift in sales, directly tied to AI implementation. To see the full report, click here.

More news from sourcingfocus: Non-IT Workers Could Fill Cyber Security Shortfall

The UK government has been seeking the support of UK business over its Brexit stance and negotiation tactics by sending out a letter to major businesses urging support. Many businesses have been hesitant to express support given the vague plans of the government on Brexit although they are happy that the government have reached out to business over Brexit. Downing Street has been quiet over the letter as a lack of support is turning the stunt into another embarrassment on the Brexit rollercoaster. Yesterday, business was alarmed at the immigration rules that the government is hoping to implement after Brexit which they fear would lead to a shortage of workers.

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Presenting a united front, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday jointly unveiled the Government’s policy framework titled ‘V2025: A Country Enriched’, which detailed the broad goals that the two parties wished to achieve over the next few years. “Over the next years, within the 2025 Vision, we will implement a comprehensive economic strategy to address constraints to growth. We will aim to raise per capita income to $ 5,000 per year, create one million new jobs, increase FDI to $ 5 billion per year and double exports to $ 20 billion per year. These intermediate targets lay the foundation for our Vision 2025: Sri Lanka to become an upper-middle income country,” read the page titled ‘A Three Year Economic Delivery Programme’. Other sections such as Constraints to Growth identified persistent fiscal deficits, poor investor confidence, poor export performance and limited public finance as culprits. The booklet also reiterated previous Government pledges to increase direct taxes, increase public revenue to 16% of GDP, allow a floating exchange rate and continue fiscal consolidation. 

More news on Sri Lanka: zMessenger partners with Bangladesh company SSD-Tech

HCL Technologies (HCL), a global IT services company, has agreed to buy ETL Factory Limited, doing business as Datawave, a UK–based company that has created an innovative data automation platform which enables enterprise customers execute large scale, complex data–migration and data–integration projects in a leaner, faster and smarter way. The flagship product Datawave, won the Informatica Innovation Award and is also extendable to other platforms, including big data. “The acquisition of Datawave and its suite of products bolsters HCL’s capabilities to collaborate with clients on their mission–critical data transformation projects, incorporating a culture of DevOps and continuous integration,” said Rahul Singh, President and Head – Financial Services, HCL Technologies. “Datawave also brings in significant banking industry expertise.”

More news from sourcingfocus: Retail Sales Grow, Despite Fears

Organisations should look to fill cyber security roles with people who are curious and have work experience rather than focusing solely on graduates according to the findings of a recent survey of IT security professionals. In fact, the survey of 200 senior IT security professionals in the UK, commissioned by MWR InfoSecurity, revealed that 46% consider curiosity a required core skill, while 34% note on-the-job experience as vital. The survey revealed that 49% of respondents viewed the UK as a top five country in terms of cyber security, while 46% rated the UK as average. 

More news from sourcingfocus: HCL Acquires Automation–Driven Data Management Platform