Search through our UKHotViews and UKHotViewExtra articles plus complete research reports
The highlight of last week’s research from TechMarketView was the UK SITS Rankings 2011 report, which ranks the top 60 UK software and IT services providers based on their 2010 financial performance. Also hot off the press are two research notes on UK business process outsourcer Liberata. John O’Brien, Research Director for our BusinessProcessViews research stream, considers whether Liberata’s new direction and clean balance sheet are enough to make it a renewed force in the market in ‘Liberata restructuring puts it on path to stability’. And Georgina O’Toole takes a closer look at its new virtual shared services capability for local government in her latest PublicSectorViews research note. Logica’s positioning in the UK criminal justice SITS sector also came under the spotlight in Georgina’s UKHotViewsExtra article, PND: a long time coming, which marked the launch of the Police National Database.
In the press this week, Microscope picked up on a theme from our UK SITS Rankings report highlighting the fact that organic real terms ‘growth’ in the UK SITS market was down at -3%. In other news, Tola Sargeant spoke to ComputerWeekly on the challenges facing the new NHS CIO, John O’Brien is quoted in Computing on Capita’s £100m car tax deal and Georgina O’Toole’s views on the public sector’s approach to offshore outsourcing appear in Information Age’s Globalising Government article.
Of course the TechMarketView reports mentioned above are only accessible by subscribers that have crossed our palms with silver. For more details on our subscription-based research services please contact Deborah Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '20:58'
Local government BPO provider Liberata completed a challenging turnaround in 2010, which culminated in a management buy-out backed by private equity firm Endless LLP (see Liberata under new ownership).
Endless was selected by the company after a competitive process involving a total of five private equity investors. At Liberata’s recent analyst day CEO, Dermot Joyce and CFO Martin Trainer outlined the serious difficulties Liberata had got itself into with numerous management changes over recent years, unprofitable sell-offs and a toxic pension deficit. However under Joyce the company has got a new direction and a clean balance sheet, but is this enough to see it emerge as a renewed force in the UK BPS market? Subscribers to TechMarketView's BusinessProcessViews and PublicSectorViews services can read the full analysis here.
Posted by John O'Brien at '08:00' - Tagged: publicsector bpo manda bps
If you are a subscriber to TechMarketView’s Foundation Service, you can download our latest UK SITS Ranking report today. Based on company performance during 2010, we rank the Top 60 UK software and IT services providers, as well as the Top 50 in IT and business process services.
The average growth (or lack of it!) in the Top 20 gives a good indication of the UK SITS market performance over the year. While there was a return to growth in terms of total revenues, much of the growth was driven by M&A activity. In real terms, we estimate organic growth remained in negative territory at -3%.
Our ‘diversity of performance’ theme continues to play out. The resources and critical mass of many of the bigger players, particularly those in the infrastructure services market, provided them with the sheer momentum to maintain revenue at similar levels to 2009. In addition, the India-headquartered players continued to gain market share, with TCS the best performer (with revenues up 27%).
However, some, like Siemens (-20%), Unisys (-10%), Liberata (-9%) and Getronics (-16%), struggled to win and retain business, mainly due to their own internal troubles.
Subscribers can download the full report, including separate rankings for the infrastructure services, application services, business process services, and software markets, now! If you are not yet a subscriber and you’d like more information, please contact Deborah Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:00'
When we published our Local Government Supplier Landscape report in February, we commented that BPO provider, Liberata, had developed a virtual delivery model for shared services aimed at allowing local government employees to remain based in their region.
The first step for the company was to use the virtual delivery model within its existing BPO contract base. However, the company has now ‘productised’ the model to bring it to market, and recently launched 'Capacity GRID'. Georgina O'Toole has considered whether the Liberata's new service offering has the potential to change the company's fortunes in the UK local government market. Subscribers to TechMarketView's PublicSectorViews and BusinessProcessViews research streams can read her analysis here.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '11:16' - Tagged: publicsector strategy bpo
TechMarketView continues to go from strength to strength. Last week we were delighted to welcome the latest addition to the team. Angela Eager joins us as the Research Director leading our Enterprise Software and Application Services (ESAS) research. If you missed her excellent debut HotViews article on the issues facing the evolving enterprise applications and application services landscape you can read it again here.
Our public sector team has also been busy, publishing two UKHotViewsExtra articles for subscribers to our PublicSectorViews research stream last week. Georgina O’Toole examined the debate over open source in Government and Tola Sargeant considered the implications of the NHS reform re-launch for SITS suppliers.
On top of all that, our Managing Partner Anthony Miller has just published his latest review of the UK SITS M&A scene which subscribers to our Foundation Service can download here.
Highlights from our press coverage include our Chairman Richard Holway’s comments in the Telegraph on the outlook for IBM as it celebrated its 100th Birthday. Moreover, Richard’s views on iCloud and the implications for the consumerisation of workplace IT formed the basis of the Information Age article, ‘Apple’s iCloud will spur consumerisation, says analyst’. You may also have seen that his analysis of RIM’s outlook was picked up by The Register. Anthony was also widely quoted in CRN’s article on outsourcing deals going to overseas, A Passage to India.
As ever, if you don’t currently enjoy access to one of TechMarketView’s subscription services and you’d like further details please contact Deborah Seth, who will be only too delighted to oblige.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '21:01'
Our regular short review of the recent quarter’s UK software and IT services M&A activity is now available for download by TechMarketView Foundation Service clients here.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '16:29'
There are few certainties in life but change is one of them and if you’re in the software and IT services (SITS) space, that change will be frequent and dramatic. In the enterprise software and application services (ESAS) space there is an additional complicating dimension – disruptive technologies that are impacting every aspect of supply and buy side operations, of vendor, application service supplier, and enterprise client strategies and practices.
Determining what that means for the UK SITS market, identifying the opportunities and how to capitalize on them, and warning of the pitfalls, is why I am excited to be joining TechMarketView at this time to head up Enterprise Software & Application Services research.
When viewed from a distance the sector appears mature to the point of stultification, saturated at the high end and dominated by a small number of “mega vendors” (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft), who command around 80% of the market and seek to hold onto to it via “tied ecosystems” - partner networks dependent on a single mega vendor’s technology stack. But this rigid and top-heavy edifice is starting to break down, undermined by a wave of disruptive technologies
Cloud computing and SaaS applications, mobile communications, collaboration and social networks, are changing everything from the definition and development of applications, the mode of supply, access mechanisms, integration, payment models, and value-add service provision.
They are providing a new lease of life to traditional applications such as ERP, CRM and SCM. They are widening access and stimulating new ways of using analytics – a poorly understood and therefore shockingly underused business tool.
Stimulus for change is also coming from small and medium enterprises (SME’s) who are demonstrating a healthy appetite for disruptive technologies, while the consumer market continues to inspire technology and usage innovation in the business world.
As an established vendor or application service provider you need to adjust or completely revamp your business models and offerings in order to thrive – or even just plain survive - in this new environment. You need to understand yourself in the context of this rapidly evolving market, competitors, and potentially dangerous emergent players. It doesn’t pay to underestimate new players – just look at the impact salesforce.com has had on CRM, SaaS and the wider cloud environment. So, where are the opportunities and the traps, who will be the winners and losers? These are some of the issues I will be exploring over the coming months.
We are not going to see the mega vendors fall out of the market but we can expect new entrants because the barriers to entry have been lowered and the rules of engagement are changing. These types of changes will cause a reshuffle across the sector as business models and targets change and money flows to different places, giving some players a boost and inevitably destabilizing others. Spotting the changes in spending patterns, market size and growth that determine how you fare will be core to TechMarketView ESAS research. There will also be opportunities for new players and particularly for new alliances and this is where I expect a lot activity.
By exploring these types of issues I aim to help guide you through the evolving enterprise applications and application services landscape. I am keen to hear your views so please feel free to make contact (aeager@techmarketview.com).
Posted by Angela Eager at '07:20' - Tagged: saas strategy software
We are absolutely delighted to welcome to the team Angela Eager, who joins TechMarketView as Research Director for Enterprise Software & Application Services (ESAS).
Many readers will know Angela by reputation if not personally from her time at Ovum/Butler Group covering the enterprise applications space. Angela cut her teeth in the IT media – she was Principal Analyst at Computerwire and has had Editor and Executive Editor roles at various other UK IT publications.
Angela introduces herself here. You can look forward to a much greater coverage of the ESAS space both here on UKHotViews and especially in our subscription research programmes. It’s where so much of the ‘action’ is happening in today’s software and IT services market!
Posted by HotViews Editor at '07:17'
