News

IT services and outsourcing

• January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12

  Apple aims to improve working conditions for technology workforce

  Apple has published a list of all suppliers for the first time and says it will allow independent observers into its facilities around the world to monitor working conditions.

• January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12

  Rupert Murdoch attacks Barack Obama over online piracy legislation

  News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch has accused Barack Obama's administration of siding with "Silicon Valley paymasters" as two anti-piracy bills go through US Congress.

• January 13, 2012 13 Jan'12

  NHS Trust to appeal £375k data loss penalty

  An NHS Trust is to appeal against a proposed monetary penalty of £375,000 after after patient records were stolen from a hospital and sold on eBay.

• January 11, 2012 11 Jan'12

  Cloud solves IT innovation and maintenance imbalance

  CIOs can rebalance the scenario of spending 80% of their budget on maintenance and 20% on innovation if they harness cloud computing.

• January 10, 2012 10 Jan'12

  Healthcare IT is a beneficial force, say doctors

  IT in the NHS has had a bad press in recent years as a result of the problems associated with the now defunct £12bn NHS National Programme for IT, but most doctors in England believe IT improves patient care.

• January 10, 2012 10 Jan'12

  Accenture bolsters public sector skills

  Services giant Accenture has recruited two former civil servants to its ranks to boost its UK and global public sector services capabilities.

• January 06, 2012 06 Jan'12

  Ramnit worm steals 45,000 Facebook passwords

  A computer worm has begun targeting Facebook accounts and has stolen at least 45,000 login credentials from users, say security researchers.

• January 04, 2012 04 Jan'12

  Shell moves SAP maintenance to Accenture

  Oil giant Shell has transferred the management of its HR and payroll applications to Accenture as part of a multi-year SAP managed service.

• January 03, 2012 03 Jan'12

  British Waterways Scotland signs £2.3m ICT deal

  British Waterways Scotland has signed a £2.3m deal with business technology company Amor Group to develop its ICT systems.

• December 19, 2011 19 Dec'11

  Virtualisation technologies: hits and misses of 2011

  Amid a slew of virtualisation products and management suites that emerged in 2011, some products such as Spring platform impressed users, while others such as VMware MVP didn’t.

• December 15, 2011 15 Dec'11

  How HP played a key role in RAF air crew support in Libya

  The Ministry of Defence has praised HP over its Advanced Mission Planning Aid system, most recently used to support air crew in Libya.

• December 15, 2011 15 Dec'11

  Royal Mail posts IT services tender

  The Royal Mail Group has put out a tender for IT consulting services, which will be worth up to £50m over four years.

• December 13, 2011 13 Dec'11

  CIOs believe cloud, SaaS, consumerisation and mobility increase risk

  Business models such as cloud computing and trends such as the consumerisation of IT, social media and mobility are exposing performance blind spots in IT management, a CIO survey has revealed.

• December 12, 2011 12 Dec'11

  Cloud leaves many firewalls wanting – but could automation prove the silver bullet?

  Most companies rely on firewalls, but the IT landscape is changing and so must approaches to security. Is there a silver bullet?

• December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11

  Unilever outsources business intelligence platforms to Capgemini

  Unilever has signed a deal with Capgemini to provide its global business intelligence platforms. The outsourcing company will work alongside Unilever IT to deliver a three-year programme to create an Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW).

• November 29, 2011 29 Nov'11

  Standard Life overhauls IT department and cuts jobs

  Insurer Standard Life is to axe a number of IT staff following a review of its IT and operations division.

• November 23, 2011 23 Nov'11

  Government mutual will be a beacon for IT procurement

  The pension administration mutual being set up by the government will be the first of a wave of new business models that could shake-up central government outsourcing contracts.

• November 21, 2011 21 Nov'11

  Government opens its procurement heart to IT suppliers

  The government has promised more openness with suppliers and published its first forward-looking pipeline of business, with £25.9bn of IT projects.

• November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11

  Rentokil moving HR system into cloud with Workday SaaS

  Rentokil Initial is moving the management of its 66,000 human resources to cloud based software from Workday.

• November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11

  Biffa ups virtualisation in infrastructure refresh

  Biffa Waste Services is reducing the number of physical servers it uses from over 150 to about 25 as it accelerates its existing virtualisation strategy.

• November 10, 2011 10 Nov'11

  TCS bags rare megadeal and 1,900 more UK workers

  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary, Diligenta, has won a deal with life insurer Friends Life worth £1.37bn.

• November 04, 2011 04 Nov'11

  The Best of vForum 2011 awards: A roundup

  Instituted by SearchDataCenter.in and supported by VMware, The Best of vForum 2011 awards saw the best of India Inc battling it out for the honors.

• October 11, 2011 11 Oct'11

  Moving from in-house IT to third-party hosting services: Case study

  A supplier of civil engineering and building materials moved its IT infrastructure to a third-party data centre to resolve its in-house IT problems, including cooling and flooding issues.

• October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11

  CW500: Andy Beale, technology director, Guardian News & Media

  In this CW500 Club video, Andy Beale talks to Computer Weekly editor in chief Bryan Glick to share his practical advice on how to move to the cloud.

• October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11

  IT supplier CSC repays £170m as NHS complains of Lorenzo record progress

  IT supplier CSC has repaid £170m after the NHS said it was unhappy with the progress of CSC's Lorenzo patient care records contract. The NHS paid a £200m advanced payment to CSC for the 2011 project costs when a memorandum of understanding was ...

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  IBM signs £525m DWP contract to provide Universal Credit systems

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has signed a seven-year contract with IBM worth £75m per year to provide systems, which will include the delivery of its flagship Universal Credit programme.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Security firm selects Fujitsu IT services

  Security company G4S has outsourced its IT infrastructure and services to Fujitsu and has agreed a £32.9m seven-year contract.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  How BP made its supplier ecosystem work

  Oil and gas giant BP spent 65% of its $3bn annual IT budget with 3,000 suppliers in 2008, but now it outsources to only seven and has reduced its annual IT budget by $800m as a result.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Mitchells & Butlers continues to drive down IT costs

  Pub group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) is continuing an IT cost-cutting plan to respond to pressure on its operating margins.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Cognizant acquires Zaffera

  Outsourcing company Cognizant has acquired Zaffera, an SAP retail consulting and software development firm, for an undisclosed sum.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  BASF extends BT network contract

  Chemical group BASF has signed a €200m deal with BT for networking 900 BASF sites in more than 80 countries. The contract includes the provision of IP telephony and local network services (managed LAN services) at 300 sites in North and South ...

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Global BPO sales to reach £60bn in 2015

  The world market for business process outsourcing (BPO) will be worth $93.4bn (£59.7bn) in 2015 compared with $72bn last year, according to Ovum.

• September 09, 2011 09 Sep'11

  Cambridge exam board outsources applications support to Cognizant

  Cambridge University's examination group has outsourced applications management and support to Cognizant that will see the company replace 20-year-old bespoke applications with off-the-shelf alternatives.

• August 30, 2011 30 Aug'11

  Cloud computing and the public sector: What IT managers need from suppliers

  IT departments and suppliers have a long way to go before they understand each other on cloud computing – that was the conclusion when IT practitioners and suppliers met at London law firm DLA Piper to discuss the barriers to cloud.

• August 18, 2011 18 Aug'11

  NHS trusts already planning a way out of National Programme contracts

  NHS trusts in the National Programme for IT's beleaguered southern region have already begun drafting specifications for systems that may replace those supplied under the controversial project.

• August 17, 2011 17 Aug'11

  Atos employees to be investigated over Facebook remarks about disability benefit applicants

  Two Atos Healthcare employees are being investigated over allegations they made inappropriate remarks on Facebook about the people they assess for sickness benefit.

• August 12, 2011 12 Aug'11

  Parliamentary group of MPs to discuss outsourcing and shared services

  A parliamentary group of MPs that will look at how the public sector can get more out of outsourcing and shared services will begin work when it has its first meeting this month.

• August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11

  Royal Pharmaceutical Society outsources to cope with restructure

  The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has outsourced the management of e-mail and storage to support a major restructure.

• August 05, 2011 05 Aug'11

  Energy giant outsources smart meter services to Logica

  Scottish and Southern Energy has outsourced some of its smart metering processes to Logica to help support the UK national roll-out.

• August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11

  NHS trust forced to adopt National Programme patient records system or face £8.8m fine

  An NHS trust was forced to buy care records software through the National Programme for IT or face the threat of an £8.8m fine - even though it had a longstanding supplier in place.

• July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11

  Highlights from 'A recipe for rip-offs' - the Select Committee report on government IT

  The Public Administration Select Committee has published a scathingly critical report on government's use of IT. We've chosen a selection of the highlights from the report.

• July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11

  Virgin Media sees small drop in business sales, and loses 18,000 broadband users

  Cable telecoms supplier Virgin Media has reported a small drop in business revenue for its second quarter, while the firm also revealed it has lost 18,000 broadband users...

• July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11

  DWP asks system integrators to list SME contractors to open up public sector deals

  The Department for Work and Pensions is asking its systems integrators to list the number of SMEs in their supply chains, in a move designed to open up more public sector contracts to small businesses.

• July 13, 2011 13 Jul'11

  HMRC saves £21m with first centralised government procurement contract

  The government has awarded its first centrally managed contract for print services at HMRC with outsourcing company Williams Lea. The deal is expected to save £21m, replacing 140 contracts with one.

• July 12, 2011 12 Jul'11

  Infosys changes name and splits into four vertical sector divisions

  Infosys has split itself vertically to enable it to do more work in specific business sectors, while a change of name reflects its broader remit.

• July 04, 2011 04 Jul'11

  IT services supplier Capita buys contact centre business Ventura for £65m

  Capita has bought contact centre business Ventura for £65m in a further sign of IT and BPO consolidation.

• July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11

  DWP adds agile development into IT contracts for £2bn Universal Credit system

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has modified contracts governing the supply of its £2bn Universal Credit system by adding clauses encouraging agile development.

• June 24, 2011 24 Jun'11

  Government cancels SME contracts and hands IT services deals to Capita

  Government departments have been cancelling freelance IT contractors supplied through SMEs and giving their interim staff business to Capita under orders from the Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), in apparent contradiction of ...

• June 17, 2011 17 Jun'11

  Most enterprises plan cloud move but data location concerns the bottleneck, says Dell

  Most large enterprises are still only considering the cloud and less than a third are currently using cloud services, according to Dell.

• June 16, 2011 16 Jun'11

  NHS pays £200m advance to CSC as contract renegotiation nears conclusion

  The NHS has paid £200m to troubled supplier CSC as an advance while awaiting the conclusion of discussions on amendments to the controversial deal.