MCN Direct Newswire

Vol. 8 No. 14, 16 November 2009

This issue is sponsored by:

CODA, PRIAM Software and 2009 UK Consulting Industry Half-Year Report

This issue news

1. TCS wins £150m contract at Cardiff
2. MCA names top consultant talent
3. Logica creates business consulting service line
4. Fujitsu secures work in Scotland and Sweden
5. IBM works on smart water management in Ireland
6. Further information - feedback/pass on to a colleague/remove from mailing list

Sponsor

CODA

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1. TCS WINS £150m CONTRACT AT CARDIFF

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has made its long-awaited break into local government as a strategic partner to Cardiff Council. TCS has secured a 15-year deal worth an estimated £150 million to support Cardiff's strategic transformational change programme.

The contract will not involve any council staff transferring to TCS. Instead, the two organisations will work together to change the way the council's technology infrastructure supports day-to-day operations and to improve service delivery to the people of Cardiff.

TCS is expected to use its government framework DigiGov, which has been implemented in Gujarat in India, to support the programme and will be looking to impress other local government organisations with its work in Cardiff.

TCS UK public sector director Brian Woodford commented: "We want this to be an outstanding example of innovative engagement between the public and private sectors - a genuine partnership-based approach rather than the traditional supplier versus buyer."

Councillor Mark Stephens, executive member for finance and service delivery, said: "We need to be more innovative and put the citizen at the heart of everything we do. Key to this has been bringing a technology partner on board and I am delighted TCS has been awarded the role."

Cardiff Council leader Rodney Berman added: "This exciting collaboration will help us make savings in our spending on technology and enable the council to raise money through the development of technology-enabled products."

2. MCA NAMES TOP CONSULTANT TALENT

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has awarded accolades to three career stage winners and six category leaders in its 2009 consultant of the year awards.

KPMG associate partner Rakesh Majithia scooped the award for 'outstanding achievement'. Majithia works in KPMG Advisory's sourcing team and won the prize for a global change project at a leisure group requiring efficiencies from its shared finance services model.

Also among the career stage winners were Lisa Henneghan, a director in Deloitte's technology integration practice, who beat finalists from KPMG and CSC to win the 'future leader' award. Taking the 'young consultant of the year' accolade was Kimberly Hurd from Accenture.

In the MCA's category awards, Derek Felton from Tribal secured the change management award, Rustin Richburg from Accenture took the HR prize and Will Cooper form Ernst & Young won the IT award. Julian Horberry from Propaganda scooped the top marketing honour, with the performance improvement award going to Graham Ramsden of BT Global Services and the strategy award to Richard Lewis of Ernst & Young.

MCA CEO Alan Leaman said: "This year's awards recognise the top talent in the British consulting industry. The standard of entries was very high and everyone who was shortlisted can be proud of their achievement."

Sponsor

PRIAM Software

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3. LOGICA CREATES BUSINESS CONSULTING SERVICE LINE

Logica has bundled its business units - with the exception of outsourcing services - into a global business consulting service line that will be led by Patrick Guimbal, former CEO of Logica in France.

The introduction of a second service line alongside outsourcing comes as Logica shuffles its executive committee. This now includes six regional CEOs covering vertical markets, and CEOs in charge of three horizontal service lines – outsourcing, business consulting and global operations.

Logica's aim is to combine local client-facing operations with low-cost shared services and global service lines to deliver consistent capabilities wherever they are needed.

The business consulting operation will be under pressure to perform when the new structure comes into force on 1 January 2010. Logica's latest third-quarter financial results show a 12% drop in revenue from consulting and professional services, offset by 11% growth in outsourcing revenue.

Total revenue for the quarter was down 4% at £862 million, leading the company to forecast annual revenue down 3% for the year - a previous forecast suggested a 2% fall - and to announce a further 300 job cuts in weak markets including the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

These job cuts will add to the 1,900 cuts made since Logica launched a restructuring and cost saving programme under incoming CEO Andy Green in early 2008.

Sponsor

2009 UK Consulting Industry Half-Year Report

The UK Consulting Industry Half-Year Report is the shorter sister publication to the UK Consulting Industry Report, produced annually by the Management Consultancies Association and published jointly with MCN Direct (owned by NCC).

The Half-Year Report January-July 2009 provides unique data and insight into the state of the UK consulting industry over the last half-year, which has been so critical for the UK and global economies. This 11-page report looks at industry performance across sectors and service lines; changing growth rates, fee rates and income; year-on-year comparisons; and the outlook and challenges for the second half of 2009 and beyond. It provides detailed statistics as well as hard-hitting analysis.

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4. FUJITSU SECURES WORK IN SCOTLAND AND SWEDEN

Fujitsu has won a £66 million, five-year IT modernisation deal with the Scottish Highland Council and an IT services outsourcing contract from Volvo in Sweden.

The contracts will be a welcome fillip for Fujitsu, which recently announced a 10% cut in its UK workforce and forecast a 7% fall in annual revenue for fiscal 2010.

The Highland Council has awarded Fujitsu preferred bidder status to transform and modernise its entire ICT infrastructure, systems and services. Projects include customer relationship management and the provision of unified communications solutions across the council.

Councillor Carolyn Wilson, chair of the Highland Council resources committee, said: "This contract will deliver significant efficiency savings - £6.76 million over the next five years - and cut the carbon footprint of the council through reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption."

At Volvo, Fujitsu has won a competitive tender to provide outsourced services for the company's IT platforms, desktops and service desks.

Twenty-five Volvo employees will transfer to Fujitsu's offices in Gothenburg in Sweden and Gent in Belgium as part of the arrangement, while another 50-60 will be recruited at operations centres in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Russia. Under the contract, Fujitsu will become the sole supplier of IT infrastructure to Volvo.

5. IBM WORKS ON SMART WATER MANAGEMENT IN IRELAND

IBM has teamed up with Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide smart water management across the country's beaches and lakes, plus a portal that offers immediate information on water quality for the general public.

Working with An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, IBM and EPA are collecting and analysing environmental data from Ireland's coastline and lakes on water quality, tides and weather forecasts. The information is being made available at online portal Splash.

Prior to Splash, public reports on water samples and compliance with standards were not available until the year after samples were collected.

EPA director general Mary Kelly said: "Our collaboration with IBM and An Taisce is paving the way for smarter water quality management at our beaches and lakes. It is a good example of how smart green technologies can be deployed to provide easily accessible and useful information to the public. The Splash portal is just the beginning of what we hope to accomplish."

Sharon Nunes, vice president of big green innovations at IBM, said: "By providing near real-time access to water conditions we are enabling environmental agencies and citizens to make smarter decisions about everything from how to handle changes in water quality to where to plan their next vacation."

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

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Written by Sarah Underwood. Copyright 2012 The National Computing Centre Ltd.

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