BEFORE a bill pending in the US Congress discouraging companies from outsourcing gets passed, Cebu hopes to cushion possible effects on the business process outsourcing industry by tapping other markets.

Cebu Investment Promotions Center managing director Joel Mari Yu said they are partnering with the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) to hold a roadshow in the United Kingdom to present Cebu as an investment destination.

Can’t get enough of Sinulog? Watch the winning performances.

They have tentatively scheduled it for the middle of this year.

Yu said it is only logical to choose the UK as potential investors because it is the
only English-speaking country in the eurozone.

To maintain Cebu’s advantage in the BPO industry, Yu said it has to continue its advantages in information technology.

He said that selling Cebu will not be so difficult, given its track record.

He pointed put that it is in Tholons’ top 10 list of outsourcing destination, staying in the ninth spot for two years in a row.

He said that investors who are not familiar with Cebu will “still pay attention” because of its place in the Tholons list. Tholons is a strategic advisory firm for global outsourcing and investments.

Yu explained that by naming the established companies who are already doing business in Cebu, it will not be a tough sell for them.

“Nothing sells better than being able to (identify) who is already here. We just name the companies and it’s an automatic sell,” he said.

Earlier, Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 officer-in-charge Exequiel Sarcauga admitted that while there are other foreign companies outsourcing their operations to the Philippines, The United States holds the biggest share.

US House Bill 3596 or the Call Center and Consumers Protection Bill discourages outsourcing by making those that outsource ineligible for federal grants and loans for five years.

Companies are also required to disclose physical location of agents in customer service and allowed the option to be transferred to a local agent. Companies that fail to report overseas locations risk paying a penalty of $10,000 a day.

Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2012/01/19/cebu-hold-roadshow-bpo-services-uk-201466

The migration of IT and e-commerce applications to the cloud is creating huge opportunities for UK IT outsourcing companies, according to Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance (Investec). As a result, Investec believes that 2012 may see an increase in the number of IT outsourcing companies that receive investment from private equity firms and specialist lenders such as Investec.

In Investec’s experience, IT services companies use extra investment to increase capacity, maximise security protection and invest in more powerful networking and communications equipment. It is vital for IT services companies to maintain highly reliable and secure systems on behalf of their clients in order to meet strict service level agreements (SLAs) and guard against financial losses or reputational damage caused by system downtime.

John Clifford from Investec said, “We believe that the UK IT services sector will experience healthy growth in 2012 and beyond, and we are ready to invest in that future. In order to provide the infrastructure required to meet the needs of clients, outsourcing companies will need access to capital, and given the range and flexibility of financing solutions we offer mid-sized companies, this is a very exciting opportunity for us.”

Investec offers a broad range of flexible financial solutions to IT outsourcing specialists and other mid-sized companies looking to raise between £5 million and £50 million to support organic or acquisitive growth strategies. Its integrated finance offering means it is able to create debt structures combining revolving, amortising, senior and mezzanine lines of credit along with minority equity states. In August 2011, Investec provided Darwin Private Equity with senior debt finance to support them acquiring a controlling interest in Attenda, the leading IT managed services specialist.

John Clifford continues: “Difficult market conditions are fuelling demand for IT services because companies can reduce costs by outsourcing hardware, software and maintenance or support to trusted third parties. The number of emails sent every second is now estimated at 2.9 million, while data processed by Google every day has reached 24 petabytes.1

“The rise of ‘big data’, including video and photography archives, internet search indexing and social media is also driving demand for higher volumes of IT storage, which can be provided on a flexible basis by third parties at a lower cost

Source:http://rfpconnect.com/news/2011/11/28/investec-targets-fast-moving-uk-it-services-sector-with-investment-funding

The migration of IT and e-commerce applications to the cloud is creating huge opportunities for UK IT outsourcing companies, according to Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance.

As a result, Investec believes that 2012 may see an increase in the number of IT outsourcing companies that receive investment from private equity firms and specialist lenders such as Investec.

In Investec’s experience, IT services companies use extra investment to increase capacity, maximise security protection and invest in more powerful networking and communications equipment.

It is vital for IT services companies to maintain highly reliable and secure systems on behalf of their clients in order to meet strict service level agreements and guard against financial losses or reputational damage caused by system downtime.

John Clifford from Investec said:

“We believe that the UK IT services sector will experience healthy growth in 2012 and beyond, and we are ready to invest in that future.

“In order to provide the infrastructure required to meet the needs of clients, outsourcing companies will need access to capital, and given the range and flexibility of financing solutions we offer mid-sized companies, this is a very exciting opportunity for us.”

Investec offers a broad range of flexible financial solutions to IT outsourcing specialists and other mid-sized companies looking to raise between £5 million and £50 million to support organic or acquisitive growth strategies.

Its integrated finance offering means it is able to create debt structures combining revolving, amortising, senior and mezzanine lines of credit along with minority equity states.

In August 2011, Investec provided Darwin Private Equity with senior debt finance to support them acquiring a controlling interest in Attenda, the leading IT managed services specialist.

John Clifford continues:

“Difficult market conditions are fuelling demand for IT services because companies can reduce costs by outsourcing hardware, software and maintenance or support to trusted third parties.

“The number of emails sent every second is now estimated at 2.9 million, while data processed by Google every day has reached 24 petabytes.

“The rise of ‘big data’, including video and photography archives, internet search indexing and social media is also driving demand for higher volumes of IT storage, which can be provided on a flexible basis by third parties at a lower cost.”

Source:http://www.myintroducer.com/view.asp?ID=8580

Britain’s Mitie posted a small first half profit rise and said it was confident about growth prospects as governments and businesses seeking to cut costs sign up for its outsourcing and energy services.

Mitie, whose customers include Tesco and London’s Royal Opera House, said on Monday profit before tax and other items for the six months to the end of September was up 0.8 percent to 48 million pounds ($75 million) on revenue up 5.8 percent to 972 million.

The firm, whose services include maintenance and cleaning as well as baggage screening at London’s Heathrow airport, said its pipeline of potential bid activity stood at 11.7 billion pounds, with 65 percent of it coming from the public sector.

“The search for greater cost and energy efficiency is central to the strategies of governments and businesses in all our markets,” Chief Executive Ruby McGregor-Smith said in a statement.

The firm is currently bidding on a facilities management deal with Edinburgh council worth around 280 million pounds, as well as justice sector work which could include electronic tagging and prison management.

While rival outsourcers have turned to acquisitions to help offset a lack of organic growth this year, blaming contract delays and budget cuts, Mitie has won a number deals including facilities management work with south England courts, two prisons, Essex council and spirits group Diageo.

McGregor-Smith believes that its energy management business, supported by the 2009 acquisition of Dalkia, has helped the firm win contracts and has also allowed it to offer existing clients more higher margin services.

“I believe there are growth opportunities for all the outsourcers as the market grows and I think our particular differentiation around energy, which others do not have, is incredibly important,” Mitie’s chief later told Reuters.

“That is what is driving our organic growth.”

Mitie said its order book had risen 17.6 percent to 8 billion pounds, effectively securing 97 percent of this year’s revenue and 68 percent of forecast revenue for 2012/13.

Shares in the FTSE 250 group, which upped its interim dividend by 7.3 percent to 4.4 pence, were down 1.31 percent at 240.8 pence at 0903 GMT on Monday.

UBS analysts, who have a “Buy” rating on Mitie, said the firm’s outlook was rightly confident and that it was well positioned to benefit from future work.

“In the next 12 months there are more contract decisions due in public and private sector work as more customers work towards saving costs by moving towards integrated facilities management models. Mitie is very well positioned in that environment,” a UBS note read.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/mitie-idUSL5E7ML0CL20111121

The UK IT industry could see a renewed interest in outsourcing services as firms seek to save capital spending and avoid costs including hardware freshes or new data centres during a possible second recession.

Peter Sondegaard, head of research at IT research and advisory company Gartner predicts cloud services in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) to be worth €20bn next year. Meanwhile the sector will grow at 10 times the rate of overall enterprise IT spending, he told a recent analysts’ European conference in Spain last week.

The industry is also likely to see shared services and service consolidation, and an even greater demand for “low cost cloud apps”.

Experts have warned that the UK could be dragged into a second recession by the current Eurozone crisis, and Sondegaard has warned CIOs that they should be prepared to cut budgets over the next few years.

He suggested that spending in EMEA on IT will drop by 1.4 per cent this year, and grow in the region of 2.3 per cent in 2012. Spending in Western Europe, which accounts for 80 per cent of all EMEA enterprise IT spending, will fare even worse. It’s likely to see a 1.8 per cent reduction this year and a recovery of just 1.5 per cent next year.

Government spending in Western Europe will be down 4.8 per cent this year, and will continue to decrease in 2012. Public sector IT budgets are not expected to recover for three years.

IT costs, including staffing and premises, are likely to increase as a result.

The difficulty for CIOs, though, is to balance the inevitable calls for cuts in IT spending – both from the capital and operating budgets – with the need to protect the capabilities of the business.

One CIO recently warned that an efficient IT department “doesn’t have much fat to trim”.

According to recent separate research a contraction in the services sector, which makes up three-quarters of the UK’s output, could cause the wider economy to slow as early as the current quarter, or the first quarter of 2012.

Despite the grim news, it’s likely that the UK will not be affected like others, especially with more IT jobs UK being created due to raised security concerns in cyber security and the 2012 Olympics.

In 2008, in the lead-up to the previous economic doom and gloom, IT careers were repeatedly described as being “recession-proof”.

The safest areas are likely to be software design and development, GIS jobs, networking and systems administration, software implementation analysis and database administration.

As one industry insider pointed out last time, IT is an essential sector that every firm needs.

Source:http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/108178/more-it-outsourcing-but-hope-that-uk-jobs-sector-remains-recession-proof-.aspx

Britain’s Interserve said on Monday it had won support contracts worth a potential 420 million pounds ($675 million) from the Ministry of Defence, bringing its total contract wins since June to more than 600 million.

The construction and outsourcing firm said it would provide mechanical, electrical and building-related services to the Falklands, Ascension Island, Cyprus and Gibraltar for at least five years.

In a trading statement Interserve maintained its guidance for 2011 and said the contracts it had won since June — which include one to build a school from pods and one to build storage facilities for nuclear waste — gave it a future workload of 5.3 billion pounds.

“The order book enouragingly remains stable against a challenging market backdrop,” Brewin Dolphin analysts Michael Parkinson and James Woodrow, who have an ‘add’ recommendation on the company’s stock, said in a note.

Chief Executive Adrian Ringrose told Reuters the increasing need for Britain’s public sector to outsource services was likely to drive future growth but said this market was taking time to develop.

“There is a lot of talk in the market that this sector is about to take off immediately, which we do not particularly subscribe to but I do not think it is right to write the sector off either — it has got potential,” he said.

Ringrose added that Interserve was “pretty busy at various stages of the process” to get outsourcing contracts from local authorities and said some deals were likely in the company’s second quarter, which starts in April, as local authorities start a new financial year.

Ringrose said the company was well placed to benefit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Interserve’s largest infrastructure market.

He said he was confident the company would be involved in heavy infrastructure projects such as road, railway, tunnel, water and power programmes and in building hotels and possibly also stadia in the run-up to the tournament.

Interserve, which built the prestigious pyramid-shaped Raffles Dubai hotel, is currently building roads and a shopping mall in the United Arab Emirates and car parks and energy centres in Doha, Qatar’s largest city.

“In the Middle East the emphasis is on infrastructure rather than on building landmark buildings at the moment,” Ringrose said.

Asked whether Interserve was interested in bidding again for troubled British peer Mouchel Group Plc, Ringrose said he would never rule out mergers and acquisitions but added there was nothing to rule them in either.

Interserve bid for Mouchel earlier this year in a deal which valued the crisis-hit firm’s stock at 135 pence, but talks broke down over a valuation.

The company is expected to post full-year pretax profit of 69.5 million pounds, according to a Reuters poll of 14 analysts.

Shares in Interserve, which have gained around 62 percent over the last year, were up 0.3 percent at 320 pence by mid-session.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/14/interserve-idUSL5E7ME0M120111114

Changes in the way the government buys IT services were reflected in the latest figures from TPI, which revealed that the number of outsourcing contracts signed by the UK public sector in the first half of this year was 70% higher than the same period last year, whereas the total value of these contracts was 47% less.

Similarly, the number of public sector outsourcing contracts awarded in continental Europe increased by 70%. However, in contrast to the UK, the total value of contracts also grew by 40% on last year.

Research from TPI revealed this was the result of the restructuring of existing agreements in the UK, whereas continental European public sector organisations were adopting large outsourcing projects for the first time.

Demanding better value for money

Steve Tuppen, UK president at IT benchmarking company Compass, which is part of the same group as TPI, said he expects more contract re-evaluation in the near future.

“With the recent change in government in the UK and accompanying public sector funding shifts, outsourcing activity has been re-evaluated,” he said. “Service providers now recognise the need for providing better value for money. Although these same providers have previously offered cost reduction and changes to their delivery models, it is only now pressure to reduce costs across the public sector has heightened that authorities are taking a step back to evaluate outsourcing activity and have the clarity to review the objectives, targets and outcomes.”

Tuppen predicted that the extensive restructuring of outsourcing contracts in the public sector will result in more innovative agreements and service integration. “Looking ahead, we expect to see an increase in the standardisation of public sector outsourcing contracts and increased use of multisourcing, both of which will result in a strengthening of service, as well as greater flexibility,” he said.

Government adopts new ways of outsourcing

He said there are already some examples, but he expects many more in the near future.

The recent contract awarded by the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) in its IT transformation plan is one example. The contract was split into five lots, with HP, IBM, Capgemini and Accenture sharing deals. This would not have been split into five in the past.

Tuppen said the standardisation of IT services and contracts will move control to the centre of government and improve governance.

Another example of a new way to outsource is demonstrated by the structure of a civil service pension administration. My Civil service Pension (MyCSP) was announced earlier this year as the first example of a government body spun out into a mutual and partnered with a private sector company. MyCSP will administer 1.5 million civil servant pensions. It will be owned by three groups: the 475 staff, the government and a private company that will run the service.

All final bids from the four short-listed companies are now in. Capita, Wipro, Xafinity and JLT are the final four bidders, after 14 bids were received initially. The private sector partner will use its expertise to run the service, and will become a shareholder and be paid for running the contract. Like any other outsourcing contract, the private sector partner will have to compete to win the contract after five years.

John Worthy, technology partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, said deal structures are changing, with a move away from public sector mega-deals. He said the public sector is also showing an appetite for mutualisation as well as shared services. “We have seen a number of public sector deals that are being promoted as having potential to become mutuals.”

He added that there will be much more multisourcing in government, with risks spread across a group of suppliers.

Mark Lewis, head of outsourcing at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, said the introduction of a mutual to run government administration functions is a “potentially enormous development”. A number of these types of deals have been announced, and they are public/private partnerships.

Shared services, where a public sector organisation supported by an IT supplier offers a service to organisations with similar requirements, is also a growing trend. The NHS Shared Business Service, which provides NHS trusts with back office systems, is an established example, but it could go much further, said Lewis.

Commercial opportunities for government

New models for outsourcing are not new and have been muted before. The Labour government under Gordon Brown commissioned former civil servant Gerry Grimstone to find ways to raise money. The plan recommended the creation of massive public sector companies, out of administration departments, that would eventually be floated on the stock market. They would compete with big public sector service providers such as Capita in providing administrative services.

At the time, Grimstone told the Financial Times that there are lots of things in the public sector that are akin to business activity. “We are just embarking on what could turn out to be a radical piece of work on identifying business activities within government and corporatising them,” he said.

Lewis at Berwin Leighton Paisner, said there is great potential for public sector organisations to share back office services. “For example, HR is HR, and although you might want a small core team of your own, the processes are the same.”

Robert Morgan, director at sourcing broker Burnt-Oak Partners, said the government “could and should” be giving this serious consideration.

“If you put all the civil servants’ payroll administration in a shared service, for example, it would be the largest BPO [business process outsourcing] deal ever seen,” he said.

Morgan said this could be a good way for the public sector to reduce its workforce significantly without incurring huge costs and providing the workers with continued work in a private organisation with the same benefits.

The public/private partnerships model, which is on the agenda, works for the public sector because the supplier will take on the capital investments and the supplier will benefit from the business and a share holding, he said.

Source:http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/11/08/248397/UK-government-is-rewriting-the-outsourcing-rule-book.htm

While rival Logica has seen business in the UK return to significant growth, the country is still a laggard for French IT services firm Capgemini

European IT services giant Capgemini’s UK and Ireland business grew by just 1.3% during the third quarter of 2011, compared to 7.8% in the country’s native France and 10.4% in the Nordic region.

The company said that its UK business is “still affected by public sectorspending cuts”.

By comparison, rival Logica last week reported a 6% increase in UK sales for the most recent quarter, ending 18 months of declining sales in the country.

Overall, Capgemini’s revenues grew by 13% to €2.4 billion. That growth rate includes the effect of two recent major acquisitions, those of Brazlian IT services company CPM Braxis and of French rival Prosodie. Without those acquisitions, Capgemini’s year-on-year revenue growth would have been 4.7%.

The company revealed that its outsourcing division saw a “slight” year-on-year decline in bookings during the third quarter, although other divisions saw a 6.4% increase.

It also revealed that half of all the company’s new recruits during the month were “young graduates”.

Source:http://www.information-age.com/channels/it-services/news/1667083/capgeminis-uk-business-still-sluggish.thtml

Dell has completed a modular data center build in Slough, UK (outside of London), that will support a wide variety of IT services, including a plethora of upcoming services the company expects to roll out in 2012.

On the slate for next year are “Virtual Desktop-as-a-Service” and Dell Cloud offerings. The Cloud service will be built on VMware, using VMware vCloud.

Another upcoming service is Unified Clinical Archiving, a Cloud-based medical imaging storage, management and sharing service for healthcare providers. Dell already offers this service in the US, currently managing more than 4bn diagnostic imaging objects for US-based customers.

In addition to new offerings, the Slough data center will support Dell’s traditional IT outsourcing services.

Don Mann, VP of infrastructure and Cloud computing at Dell, said the data center will provide “regionally delivered” outsourcing and Cloud services.

“This is the first data center to open as part of the company’s $1bn solutions announcement this past April and reinforces our commitment to deliver industry-leading services and solutions that help our customers innovate and drive business results,” he said.

In April, Dell announced a plan to build 10 data centers around the world to support a range of Cloud-based services, including Azure, VMware and OpenStack clouds. The services will include Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, Virtual Desktop-as-a-Service and IT outsourcing, Steve Schuckenbrock, president of Dell Services, said then.

The company started with public cloud. In August, at VMware’s VMworld conference in San Francisco, Dell launched its public IaaS offering, which includes virtual CPUs, memory, storage networks, IP addresses, firewalls and catalog capabilities.

Source:http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/focus/archive/2011/10/dells-new-uk-data-center-to-support-slew-of-upcoming-services

Aegis Ltd, the global outsourcing services provider and part of the Essar Group, on Thursday said it will enter the UK and European market for the first time, creating 600 new jobs in Manchester. The 600 roles will be at a new customer centre in Manchester, which is expected to open later this year, according to a media statement.

Aegis, which is one of the largest outsourcing business with over 50,000 employees across 50 locations, then plans a further significant expansion across various countries in Continental Europe, where a number of additional customer service centres will be opened during the next two years.

Aparup Sengupta, global chief executive officer and managing director of Aegis said the company’s strategy is to ensure that people calling the centres get an excellent experience. ”.. and we think that generally, the best way to do that is to have a strong onshore presence, rather than having centres offshore. This approach of setting up greenfield centres in our target markets will be at the heart of Aegis’s plans to further expand in other European countries,” Sengupta said.

Source:http://www.livemint.com/2011/07/14203347/Aegis-to-enter-UK-and-European.html

Infosys is targeting a move into the UK public sector market, according to BG Srinivas, European head of the Indian outsourcing giant.

Srinivas told ComputerworldUK that the drive into the public sector would begin in the US, before Infosys began looking for opportunities in the UK. Public spending cuts and the 20 percent price cuts that the Cabinet Office demanded from its incumbent suppliers were not a deterrent, he said.

Spending cuts meant global sourcing was more necessary than ever, said Srinavas, who said Infosys would gain traction in the market “without reducing it s rate card”.

RegisterSubscribe to Newsletters
Infosys invests in products to lose staff outsourcing image Infosys board elects new chairman, changes name Waitrose MD forced to apologise after month of chaos on £10m website
Infosys expects to bid for public sector work directly and, on larger contracts, as part of a consortium.

The company will maintain its core focus on retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services and telecoms, said Srinavas, adding that it was using retail platforms developed in the UK to win contracts elsewhere in Europe. Infosys was though a key supplier to Waitrose on a £10 million project to build a new website that suffered major probelms when it went live in March.

Infosys today reported revenue for the quarter to 30 June of $1.7 billion (£1 billion), up by 23 percent from the same quarter last year. Net profit was up 17.8 percent at $384 million (£242 million).

The company is aiming to shift its focus from a traditional “time and materials” model, under which contracts are priced on the basis of the duration of a project and the number of staff working on it, to a products and platforms business.

Source:http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/outsourcing/3290893/infosys-looks-to-uk-public-sector/

01 Synergy is pleased to announce that it will be participating at Internet World London 2011, “Europe’s Biggest Event for Digital Marketing and Online Business” to be held at Earls Court, London, UK from 10 – 12 May 2011.

01 Synergy will be showcasing its:

• Mobile Software development services (Apps for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android etc.)
• Social Media development & marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin)
• Rich Internet Application development services (Flash / Silver light)
• E-Commerce & CMS Solutions (Joomla, Magento, Mambo, Drupal, WordPress, Typo3, Oxid)
• Custom Software Development services (.Net, PHP, Java)
• IT Consultancy
• Legacy Application re-engineering
• QA & Testing services
• Offshore IT Staffing

To fix an appointment click here . We look forward to see you at the Internet World London.

Demand for IT services has helped outsourcing become one of the highest grossing industries in the UK, research has shown.

IT and data services provided by British-based businesses generate revenues of about £41.7bn per year, more than any other outsourcing sector in the UK, according to the report The size of the UK outsourcing market – across the private and public sectors.

Overall, outsourcing generates about £207bn each year, roughly eight per cent of the annual output of the UK economy, making the industry almost as big as the financial services sector, researchers from Oxford Economics found.

The share of the output of the UK economy enjoyed by outsourced services in 2009
Photo: Oxford Economics/Business Services Association
Mark Fox, CEO of the Business Services Association – which commissioned the research – said: “IT is an important part of an industry, which itself is a significant part of the UK economy.”

Richard Holway, chairman of analyst house TechMarketView, welcomed the research findings, adding that the practice of IT and IT-related business process outsourcing “is far more advanced here than in any other European country”.

The IT outsourcing industry employs some 340,000 people in the UK, more than 10 per cent of the some 3.1 million people employed by the outsourcing industry as a whole.

The bulk of outsourcing is carried out by the private sector, with a 60-40 split in terms of spend.

In recent years, a number of large outsourcing deals have been signed, including airport operator BAA striking a £100m deal with a consortium led by Capgemini and EDF Energy signing an IT support deal with Capgemini worth up to £100m.

According to the report, outsourcing contributes a further £115bn to the UK economy each year, through supplies, goods and services that are procured by outsourcing firms.

The report, largely based on turnover figures from 2009, defines an outsourced service as one that involves “a degree of delegation of management responsibility” and that is “more typically provided by an inhouse team of the customer themselves”.

Source:http://www.silicon.com/technology/it-services/2011/05/03/uk-outsourcing-almost-rivals-financial-services-39747347/

IT outsourcing makes up the largest part of the UK’s outsourcing industry, according to a new report.

The Oxford Economics research, commissioned by the Business Services Association, found that based on 2009 data, IT and data-related outsourcing has an annual turnover of £41.7 billion, or 20 percent of the industry’s £207 billion total turnover. The UK outsourcing industry represents eight percent of the UK economic output.

Although IT was closely followed by property services outsourcing (£39 billion), it employs far fewer people – just 340,000 compared to property services’ 590,000.

The private sector generally contributed more to outsourcing turnover across all sectors, apart from catering and security services. The public sector represented £82 billion (40 percent) of the total outsourcing industry, compared to £125 billion (60 percent) by the private sector.

In IT, the private sector was responsible for 84 percent of the IT outsourcing turnover (£35 billion), while the public sector contributed just £6.7 billion a year.

Analysts have welcomed the new research, which they believe puts IT outsourcing into context and highlights its significance in the UK.

“It shows how important outsourcing is to the UK economy,” TechMarketView analyst Richard Holway wrote on his blog. “Indeed, it is far more advanced here than in any other European country.”

Bindi Bhullar, director of global IT services provider and outsourcer HCL Technologies, added: “Until now, there has been a reluctance to openly discuss the core benefits outsourcing brings to the UK economy. It is great to finally see credible research highlighting the significance of IT and IT-related BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) into context. This report shows how IT outsourcing has fully developed into a mature market.”

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=17D3E734-1A64-67EA-E45FDCC6D77F46F0

The majority of high IT-spending businesses and organisations will continue to embrace outsourcing services over the coming year, it has been reported.

According to a new EquaTerra report, the economic climate is continuing to increase the demand for outsourcing in the UK.

Fuelled by the need to respond tactically to recessionary economic conditions, IT decision makers will extend their use of third-party service providers during 2011, the firm found.

Some 87 per cent of all respondents involved in the study confirmed they will look to outsource at the same rate or more in 2011.

In total, 61 per cent said they will ‘probably’ or ‘certainly’ outsource more.

According to the National Outsourcing Association, businesses which enlist the help of external IT support providers gain access to a range of top-of the-range technology solutions, with the minimum of outlay.

Source:http://www.ihotdesk.com/article/800276570/UK-firms-to-continue-investing-in-IT-outsourcing-during-2011

Wipro Technologies, the Global Consulting, System Integration and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT), today announced that Equaterra, independent sourcing advisors in more than 60 countries, shows Wipro as a leader for client satisfaction in its detailed UK IT service provider performance study. This annual report, recognised today as the most extensive and representative ‘perception study’ on the issues of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sourcing, evaluated more than 650 outsourcing contracts held by over 220 of the UK´s top IT spending organisations. The study evaluated 25 service providers on the basis of responses from the CIO, CFO of the client organisations.

Wipro achieved 80% client satisfaction level amongst those surveyed, an 8% increase y-o-y, moving from 8th position last year to 1st place in 12 months. In addition, Wipro also ranked 1st on Pricing and Governance and also achieved Top 3 status for Quality, Flexibility, Relationship Management and Client Referrals.

“We are delighted by the results of this important UK market study,” says Jeff Heenan Jalil, Head of Europe, Wipro Technologies. “We appreciate the recognition our clients have awarded us. We will continue to increase our investment in our people, building our industry capabilities and in expanding our footprint into new geographies. These results clearly demonstrate how an empowered team, with strong end-user engagement, can make a difference within what remain tough economic conditions.”

The study also confirmed Wipro´s strategic position in the UK market, with a 72% score on the strategic relationship KPI highlighting Wipro´s long-term commitment to the client relationship and end-user business objectives. Wipro´s No. 1 ranking for pricing and governance sets the foundation for Wipro to deliver more quickly the benefits of an adaptable enterprise sourcing platform. The IT major´s continued investment in consulting and technology services has also been awarded with #1 satisfaction ranking in Infrastructure Management.

With 35 offices and 20 delivery centres spanning both Western and Eastern Europe, Wipro provides consulting, System Integration and outsourcing services to a broad client-base across multiple industries.

Source:-http://www.live-pr.com/en/top-uk-sourcing-survey-ranks-wipro-r1048638957.htm

Indian global business process outsourcing firm Arvato Services Thursday acquired the UK’s Credit Solutions. The UK firm is a provider of debt recovery and management services. Arvato is keen on reinforcing its business process outsourcing operations in the UK and expects the acquisition of Credit Solutions to strengthen its offering in the UK market.

The acquisition, for a total cash consideration of £10million, further strengthens arvato’s BPO capabilities in the UK, which already include outsourced customer management, supply chain management and finance services to the UK private and public sectors.

Arvato will now be able to provide end-to-end BPO solutions to financial services companies, telecoms, utilities and the public sector, especially the government in the UK. Arvato entered into the local government outsourcing market in 2005.

The company looks to leverage Credit Solutions’ expertise, capabilities and market penetration.
Credit Solutions has expertise in a range of integrated telephone- and field-based debt collection and management services, and works on live and closed accounts from early arrears to later stage debt recovery.

The company already provides billing, credit and collections, accounting and payment processing services and consulting to a range of clients, including Google, Sony Music, Paramount Home Entertainment, Chase Paymentech, Gumtree and leading players in the internet service provider and online retail fields.

It also provides an opportunity for arvato to accelerate its growth in several key sectors where Credit Solutions has achieved strong penetration. These include financial services, telecoms, utilities and the public sector – incorporating central government – a long-term strategic focus for arvato following its entry into the local government outsourcing market in 2005.

Credit Solutions provides a range of integrated telephone- and field-based debt collection and management services, working on millions of live and closed accounts from early arrears to later stage debt recovery. Clients include eight of the top 10 UK financial services companies, six of the top 10 UK telecommunications companies, all of the major UK utility providers and central government agencies including Department for Work and Pensions.

Andrea Kaminski, president, international finance, arvato, said Credit Solutions is a well-established, successful and highly reputable player in the credit services market, with an exciting portfolio of capabilities and customers. Arvato is a trusted global business outsourcing partner to the public and private sectors in the UK. The company combines its expertise in contact centre services, loyalty and customer retention, supply chain solutions and finance services to deliver innovative, individual solutions that help customers to meet their business objectives.

Source:http://www.investinuk.net/news/indian-global-bpo-firm-arvato-services-acquires-uk-based-provider-debt-recovery-and-management-95m6

In October, the UK government announced a £81-billion reduction in public spending over its current term of office. The government has yet to specify the exact areas for public sector spending reductions.

The reduction in public spending will fall on central government departments, where spending reductions are estimated to average 19% of current spending budgets as well as on local governments, where central government funding to the councils is expected to fall by 26% of current funding levels over the next four years.

Saving has been identified in IT and related services. 300 IT projects, worth £1 billion in total, will either be scrapped or reduced because they have been deemed unnecessary, though the full details have yet to be detailed. The UK government expects to extend the reductions in spending with major IT vendor suppliers by £800 million in 2010 through renegotiations.

The UK government face dilemmas over its future IT strategy. IT is a key enabler for structural reductions in public services costs but only if it is accompanied by successful technology services implementation, defined as: on time, within budget and without the scope creep that is driven by political expediency and political agendas.

The UK government requires the help of major outsourcing firms for a longer-term IT strategy to achieve its spending cuts. Yet, there is possibility that the public sector will resort to outsourcing purely as a means to deliver quick savings. Outsourcing is likely to end in failure if the UK government embarks on it purely as cost reduction exercise.

Outsourcing has to be a strategic decision that introduces a long- term change in IT deployment. Public sector jobs will be lost in the process, though they will be lost whether or not the UK government extends the use of outsourcing services. Some positions will be surplus to requirements and because outsourcing involves offshoring of services.

Outsourcing provokes an ideological debate among those who believe that outsourcing from the government to the private sector is bad and creating more public sector jobs is good. Offshoring exacerbates the debate because it not only reduces the number of jobs and takes them to the private sector but takes those private sector jobs out of the national economy.

As a result of its proposed cost reductions, the UK government has created the ideal environment to establish a long-term IT strategy using outsourcing. But the government has a dilemma and it is a political dilemma. Does it face short-term unpopularity of higher unemployment or embark on a journey to fundamentally change the way it deploys IT services and use IT services to contribute to public sector cost reductions.

Source:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/outsourcing/Outsourcing-UK-govts-dilemma/articleshow/6947696.cms

In October, the UK government announced a £81-billion reduction in public spending over its current term of office. The government has yet to specify the exact areas for public sector spending reductions.

The reduction in public spending will fall on central government departments, where spending reductions are estimated to average 19% of current spending budgets as well as on local governments, where central government funding to the councils is expected to fall by 26% of current funding levels over the next four years.

Saving has been identified in IT and related services. 300 IT projects, worth £1 billion in total, will either be scrapped or reduced because they have been deemed unnecessary, though the full details have yet to be detailed. The UK government expects to extend the reductions in spending with major IT vendor suppliers by £800 million in 2010 through renegotiations.

The UK government face dilemmas over its future IT strategy. IT is a key enabler for structural reductions in public services costs but only if it is accompanied by successful technology services implementation, defined as: on time, within budget and without the scope creep that is driven by political expediency and political agendas.

The UK government requires the help of major outsourcing firms for a longer-term IT strategy to achieve its spending cuts. Yet, there is possibility that the public sector will resort to outsourcing purely as a means to deliver quick savings. Outsourcing is likely to end in failure if the UK government embarks on it purely as cost reduction exercise.

Outsourcing has to be a strategic decision that introduces a long- term change in IT deployment. Public sector jobs will be lost in the process, though they will be lost whether or not the UK government extends the use of outsourcing services. Some positions will be surplus to requirements and because outsourcing involves offshoring of services.

Outsourcing provokes an ideological debate among those who believe that outsourcing from the government to the private sector is bad and creating more public sector jobs is good. Offshoring exacerbates the debate because it not only reduces the number of jobs and takes them to the private sector but takes those private sector jobs out of the national economy.

As a result of its proposed cost reductions, the UK government has created the ideal environment to establish a long-term IT strategy using outsourcing. But the government has a dilemma and it is a political dilemma. Does it face short-term unpopularity of higher unemployment or embark on a journey to fundamentally change the way it deploys IT services and use IT services to contribute to public sector cost reductions.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/outsourcing/Outsourcing-UK-govts-dilemma/articleshow/6947696.cms

Switching to a new IT support provider can offer significant benefits for business users, it has been suggested.

Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald’s small business blog, industry commentator Valerie Khoo commented that sometimes changing outsourcing provider can be “the best thing for your business”.

She commented: “You get a fresh perspective and find out all the things your previous support providers were doing wrong.”

It can also be worth migrating across to a new website, potentially with a different host, Ms Khoo commented.

She said that in many cases, firms “cannot be bothered learning a whole new system”, so they simply put up with the bugs, inadequacies and downtime that plague their current web portal.

In her view, inertia can be a major barrier to business growth and it is sometimes necessary to freshen things up.

According to the National Outsourcing Association, working with a third-party support provider can increase business access to vital resources such as IT.

Source:http://www.ihotdesk.com/article/800233255/Switching-IT-support-provider-can-benefit-UK-businesses