MCN Direct Newswire

Vol. 4 No. 26, 28 November 2005

This issue is sponsored by:

TeleWare

This issue news

1. EDS pays £71m to settle tax credits debacle
2. Three make shortlist for major BBC contract
3. IT consulting leads market growth
4. Xansa extends relationship with Lloyds TSB
5. Atos Origin delivers e-pharmacy service
6. Further information - feedback/pass on to a colleague/remove from mailing list

Sponsor

TeleWare

The proposition is to replace the PBX with a hosted solution using IP VPNs between sites.

For the business this reduces CAPEX, enables the company to grow without upgrading or replacing their PBX, outsources PBX management reducing the demands on busy staff, and gains the added advantage of Carrier Grade resilience.

For a copy Hosted Services Demystified White Paper and to register on the TeleWare consultants programme click here.

Existing TeleWare hosted services customer solutions have resulted in cost savings through improved communications. To find out more click here.

1. EDS PAYS £71m TO SETTLE TAX CREDITS DEBACLE

EDS has reached a £71.25 million settlement with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs - formerly the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise - to compensate for the poor performance of its systems in support of the 2003 introduction of tax credits.

Problems with the systems' speed and availability led to late payments of tax credits, an Inland Revenue claim against EDS for compensation, and EDS' exclusion from the Revenue's £3 billion Aspire contract that went to Capgemini.

While the specific terms of the compensation agreement have not been disclosed, the £71.25 million will be paid both through an upfront payment and subsequent payments over time.

Doug Hoover, EDS managing director for the UK, Ireland and Africa, commented: "We were always focused on reaching an equitable settlement. HM Government remains a very important client for EDS and we are pleased that we have been able to settle this dispute without incurring the costs and uncertainties of what would have been a lengthy and complex legal case."

EDS said the settlement would not impact its financial guidance for the fourth quarter of 2005 and full-year 2006. .

2. THREE MAKE SHORTLIST FOR MAJOR BBC CONTRACT

The BBC has named Accenture, Capita and Xchanging as the final bidders for an outsourcing contract covering most of its human resources services.

The three suppliers have been chosen for their strategic and service delivery capabilities, according to the BBC. They will now enter final negotiations before a winner is named in the new year and the contract becomes operational from spring 2006.

Stephen Dando, director of BBC People, the HR team managing 27,000 employees plus thousands of casual and freelance staff, said: "We have been impressed by the quality of bids and all three final bidders deserve to have reached the shortlist stage."

The value of the outsourcing contract has not been disclosed, although analysts suggest it may be worth £10-25 million a year as its scope is broad, including services for recruitment, remuneration, staff development, HR administration, relocation, occupational health and disability access.

The BBC said its preference is to award one contract for all the services, but said it would award more than one contract if that was deemed commercially advantageous or necessary to achieve required service standards.

The corporation's procurement process began in July with the publication of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. The BBC reported 'widespread interest' in the contract, before long-listing Accenture, Capita, Convergys, EDS' Excellerate HRO, Hewitt Associates, IBM, Northgate Information Systems and Xchanging.

Accenture previously missed out on the £2 billion contract to outsource the BBC's IT and purchase its technology organisation, which went to Siemens Business Services.

3. IT CONSULTING LEADS MARKET GROWTH

The UK Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has reported a year-on-year gain of 7% in third-quarter underlying revenues - excluding new members - of £1.9 billion.

IT consulting led the way with revenue up 37% at £426 million. Outsourcing followed with a gain of 34% to reach £671 million, while management consulting grew 21% to £789 million.

The MCA noted that total revenues have been on an upward path since the final quarter of 2002 and said 80% of its members - representing about 65% of the UK consulting industry - expect an increase in the number of consultants employed over the next quarter. Some 70% also forecast an increase in the volume of new orders over the period.

But countering these upbeat forecasts, the MCA reported a dramatic decline in confidence in the UK's economic performance in the third quarter, with 58% of members 'not confident' or 'not at all confident' in the country's economic performance - the first radical change of opinion since the first quarter of 2001.

Commenting on the MCA members' achievements, Deloitte managing partner and MCA vice president Nick Owen said: "Although there has been limited growth over the last quarter across all sub-sectors, the sustained growth within the consulting sector over the past two and a half years has provided further evidence of the value consultants add and the positive effect they are making on their clients' businesses, both in terms of improved productivity and increased revenues."

4. XANSA EXTENDS RELATIONSHIP WITH LLOYDS TSB

Xansa has added a further five-year contract to its business process outsourcing partnership with Lloyds TSB.

The companies declined to value the contract, but said Xansa was selected on its ability to meet the bank's requirement for "quality, industry-leading productivity and step-change cost efficiency".

Xansa's existing relationship with Lloyds TSB covers the delivery of industry-specific back-office processes. Under the new contract, Xansa will take on further back-office work, allowing Lloyds TSB to redeploy resources to personalised customer services.

Alistair Cox, chief executive of Xansa, proclaimed the win as proof of the company's strength as a provider of back-office processes from India. Ian Thompson, director of group operating services at Lloyds TSB, said: "To maintain our strong competitive position it is crucial that we focus on providing the right service to our customers in a cost-efficient way. Our partnership with Xansa expands our Indian capability and provides greater flexibility to our service operations."

While Xansa has achieved few new contract wins in recent months, it has maintained a track record of renewals and extensions this year. Besides Lloyds TSB, other customers coming back for more include Boots, Tesco, AXA Sun Life and MyTravel.

5. ATOS ORIGIN DELIVERS E-PHARMACY SERVICE

Atos Origin is replacing Scotland's paper-based prescription service with an electronic pharmacy solution that will cover 1,150 community chemists across the country.

Atos Origin, NHSScotland's IT partner since 1999, has worked with PA Consulting and NHS National Services Scotland to design and build the service, and will manage delivery of the ePharmacy infrastructure that will connect general practitioners and community pharmacists to a central message store and registration and payment systems.

The contract is a key part of the Scottish Executive's strategy for pharmaceutical care under 'The Right Medicine' programme. It will enable electronic transfer of prescriptions from the doctor's surgery to the pharmacy and the subsequent electronic claim from the pharmacy to the practitioner services payment systems.

Commenting on the contract, Atos Origin programme manager Dave Green said: "The significance of this stage is that we now have an infrastructure in place onto which we can deliver all the technology support for ePharmacy."

The first phase of the programme, which is underway, will cover minor ailments, allowing registered patients to get prescribed items direct from the pharmacist without going to the doctor. The second phase will cover acute medication, allowing pharmaceutical care of patients with acute conditions. The third phase of chronic medication will require an initial doctor's prescription followed by ongoing patient management by a pharmacist for up to a year.

• The UK pilot of a scheme to combat trade in counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs has been completed by PA Consulting subsidiary Aegate. The company now plans a commercial rollout of the solution across the UK, US and Belgium, claiming its 'authentication at the point of dispensing' scheme will allow security technologies such as barcoding and radio frequency identification to be used to protect drug brands. Pharmaceutical industry veteran Gary Noon has been appointed CEO of Aegate with the remit to lead the programme.

6. FURTHER INFORMATION - FEEDBACK/PASS ON TO A COLLEAGUE/REMOVE

• For more information or if you have any feedback on MCN Direct, please email editor@pmp.co.uk
• If you no longer wish to receive MCN Direct, simply send a reply to mcndirect@pmp.co.uk. In the BODY of the message please type MCN DIRECT REMOVE.

Please visit http://www.pmp.co.uk to view any of these publications, all of which are fully searchable and represent thousands of pages of information relevant to the consultant community.

Publications include:
Management Consultants' News
Consultants' Advisory
International Consultants' Guide
International Consultants' News

Written by Sarah Underwood. Copyright 2012 PMP (UK) Ltd.