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We are delighted to launch our brand new, completely redesigned website. We think you will find it much easier to navigate and far more ‘user friendly’, both on conventional PCs and laptops and especially on mobile internet devices.
If you are a TechMarketView subscription service client then you’re in for a real treat. We have completely redesigned the Research section so you will find it much easier to view our research. In particular, the Search facility has been substantially upgraded so that you will find it quicker and easier to access precisely the content you need.
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We really hope you enjoy using the new website. There’ll be more enhancements coming during the year.
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Posted by HotViews Editor at '17:43'
Following on from yesterday’s release of Atos’ Q1 results, this morning we spoke with a rightly upbeat Ursula Morgenstern, Atos’ CEO for UK & Ireland. As we highlighted in ‘Atos UK impresses in Q1’, the UK & Ireland business reported solid growth of 5.8% in Q1 (compared to Q111). Speaking with Morgenstern it appears that the growth was across pretty much all the verticals. Subscribers to TechMarketView can read more analysis in UKHotViewsExtra.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '16:53' - Tagged: results trading systemsintegration
The big news from the last fortnight at TechMarketView is the launch our newest research stream, InfrastructureViews. Led by Research Director Phil Codling, TechMarketView’s fifth research stream is focused on the £14bn market for infrastructure services in the UK. With topics including the move to cloud, mid-market opportunities and the changing infrastructure supplier landscape, InfrastructureViews is already proving popular with subscribers.
The inaugural InfrastructureViews report – BYOT: opportunities and threats from disruption - was published last week. This major piece of research provides a new perspective on the “bring your own” trend, with analysis of both the opportunities that it will offer for many and the threats it will bring for a wide range of suppliers.
The last couple of weeks also saw the publication of the latest report from our public sector research stream. The UK Government CIO Agenda April 2012 examines the reality behind the UK Government ICT strategy and is a must-read for anyone with ‘skin’ in the UK public sector IT market. In the report Georgina O’Toole shares her views on this question and those of two key government CIOs: Andy Nelson, CIO at the UK Ministry of Justice, and Robin Pape, CIO at the Home Office.
Our PublicSectorViews team also brought you early insight on HP’s failure to ‘defend’ its Service Personnel & Veteran’s Agency (SPVA) BPO contract with the UK Ministry of Defence in UKHotViewsExtra, as news broke that CSC had been awarded the ‘SPVA Future’ contract.
John O’Brien, Research Director for TechMarketView's BusinessProcessViews research stream, takes up the theme of intense competition in the UK business process services market in his latest research note. Second generation BPS deals: supplier challenges and opportunities, which was published just last week, analyses the issues faced by suppliers as the UK BPS market reaches a point of inflexion in 2012 with many more second and third generation deals coming to market.
Those with an interest in the UK BPS market would also find John’s latest UKHotViewsExtra article worth a read. In 'Quindell makes another curious move' John gets to the bottom of the strategy behind the latest acquisition by the insurance-focused business process services provider. Also in UKHotViewsExtra last week we took a closer look at IBM’s Q1 results and Infosys’ disappointing Q4.
TechMarketView in the press
It’s also been a busy couple of weeks for TechMarketView in the press. Phil’s BYOT report in particular has attracted the attention of a wide range of publications from Computing to Information Age. But the highlight of last week’s press coverage has to be Richard Holway’s quote in The Times last Wednesday about Facebook’s bid for Instagram and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s role. We’ve reproduced it here for those of you that can’t get behind the paywall:
“Of course, when everything is going well, a dictator as a chief executive is fine,” Richard Holway, chairman of the industry analyst TechMarketView, said. “But he or she is normally the last to recognise when things are starting to go wrong. An independent chairman, plus a strong chief executive and a supportive but questioning board, is still the best model. Even Facebook will get to that in the end.”
Given how busy a fortnight can be at TechMarketView, it would be easy to miss something that we’d published in a whole quarter. But never fear, our Quarterly Research Summary for Q1 2012 is available now - subscribers and non-subscribers alike can download a free copy here. Of course if you’re not yet a subscriber to our full research services we’d be delighted to welcome you aboard – simply email Deborah Seth for more details.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '20:17'
Last week I had the honour of attending the 10th Anniversary Celebration at Clarence House for the Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group. Since its formation it has raised over £13.5m for the much needed work of the Trust helping disadvantaged young people in the UK. Indeed, with around 60 of the leading tech companies operating in the UK now Patrons or Members, the TLG is the ‘de facto’ charity initiative for the sector. Given that TechMarketView also services that same market, it is not surprising that our customers and those that support the Trust tend to be one in the same! So good to see so many of you last week.
A bit of history
The first seed for the TLG was sown by Steve Allen and David Ashworth of BEA Systems in July 2001. They brought that idea to Julian Barrell at the Trust. A lunch was organised with Sir Angus Olilvy which brought John O’Connell (then at Staffware) in as the Trust’s first major Patron and, indeed, John is now its longest supporter. A number of others joined the ‘advance party’ including James Bennett who, I think, invited me to the TLG launch on 1st May 2002. I pledged to do an ‘event’ for the Trust – the first of which (IT’s all over now) was held at Bloomberg in Nov 02 and the last (The Last Time) will be held on 27th Sept 12. In total my events have raised over £1m.
Soon after that the TLG committee was formed which also included Adam Hale. John O’Connell took over from Steve Allen as Chair. Since then James Bennett, myself, Adam Hale and now Fiona Timothy/John Caterer have served as chair.
At the reception last week over 50 of the people involved in this incredible movement over the years attended.
Leadership Group concept
But, as well as the debt of gratitude owed to the TLG’s supporters over the years, it has been the somewhat unsung heroes from the Trust itself to which much praise is due. They have included Tara Leathers, Jamie Webb and, in particular, Julian Barrell who, as the Trust’s Director of Fundraising, is as enthusiastic for the concept now as he was on Day One. Indeed the Leadership Group concept has been adopted by the Trust in Retail & Consumer, Construction & Business Services, Insurance & Financial Services and, most recently, Internet & Media. The Leadership Groups are now supported by getting on for 200 of the leading companies trading in the UK and are responsible for a significant proportion of the Trust's private sector revenues.
Youth unemployment
Julian Barrell in his speech last week pointed out why the Trust’s work was so important. In 2002, ten years ago, youth unemployment stood at 561,000. Today, at over 1m, it is getting on for twice that figure. The Trust has the funds to ‘touch the lives’ of just 50,000 of those this year. They need the help of the tech sector even more now than when those pioneers had such a great idea ten years ago.
Posted by Richard Holway at '15:49'
The UK business process services (BPS) market is reaching a point of inflexion in 2012, where we are now seeing more second and even third generation deals coming to market. However rather than renewing with incumbent providers, they are increasingly changing hands to new suppliers.
In the first quarter of 2012, two major UK BPS renewals have occurred—one with defence contractor BAE Systems (see Logica scores BAE Systems HR BPO deal) and the other with the MoD’s Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) (see HP fails to 'defend' MoD SPVA contract: goes to CSC). However both have moved from their long-standing incumbent supplier to a new player—to Logica and CSC respectively.
Subscribers to TechMarketView's BusinessProcessViews service can read our analysis of what is driving this shift in second generation BPS deals, and the challenges and opportunities this presents UK BPS suppliers here.
Posted by John O'Brien at '13:13' - Tagged: bpo bps
In the spirit of promoting ‘Little British Battlers’, we thought it was worth highlighting an initiative called Tech All Stars, organised by the European Commission Information Society and Media, which is trying to “foster an environment of growth for start-ups in the EU”.
Tech All Stars is trying to find twelve of the best start-ups across Europe. The intention is to connect them with top EU funding sources, successful entrepreneurs and “hot” networking opportunities. It would be great to see a UK start up as one of the 12 selected! To be in with a chance, your company would need to be less than three years old, be registered within the EU, and have raised less than Eur1m in external funding. For more details see http://techallstars.eu/. The deadline is May 15th.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '15:42' - Tagged: startup
TechMarketView is proud to launch the fourth in our series of specialist research programmes, further expanding our in-depth coverage of the UK SITS (software and IT/BP services) scene. Like our PublicSectorViews, BusinessProcessViews and ESASViews programmes, InfrastructureViews offers unique insights into the market and supplier landscape.
With its focus on the £14bn market for infrastructure services in the UK, InfrastructureViews gives vendors, advisors and investors a close-up view of the growth of the fast-evolving infrastructure space. Topics include the move to cloud, mid-market opportunities and the changing infrastructure supplier landscape.
And as you would expect from TechMarketView analysis, the emphasis is not just on what is happening and what will happen, but also on the implications of market trends and disruption for those attempting to grow their share.
Coinciding with the launch of the programme, TechMarketView is today publishing its inaugural InfrastructureViews report: BYOT: opportunities and threats from disruption. This major piece of research provides a new perspective on the “bring your own” trend, with analysis of both the opportunities that it will offer for many and the threats it will bring. It shows how BYOT is set for dramatic growth, with organisations forecast to spend £2bn over the coming five years to get BYOT working securely and effectively.
The report also explains why and how interested players should take a position in BYOT in order to capitalise on that growth. But there is a clear warning for suppliers too: the move to “substitutional” BYOT, where personal devices replace centrally-owned kit, will put significant downward pressure on the support and hardware markets in particular.
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can download BYOT: opportunities and threats from disruption from today.
InfrastructureViews is led by TechMarketView research director Phil Codling, who brings 15 years of IT market insight and analysis to the programme.
If you’d like to learn more about the trends shaping the UK infrastructure services sector, the areas of opportunity, and the keys to success, then please contact Deborah Seth (dseth@techmarketview.com).
Posted by Phil Codling at '06:36' - Tagged: BYOT infrastructure
We have written extensively within TechMarketView’s PublicSectorViews research about the UK Government ICT strategy and its implementation, most notably in reports such as UK Government ICT Strategy: the ‘whats’ to the ‘what ifs’ and UK Government ICT strategy: progress and direction, but also in numerous UKHotViews and UKHotViewsExtra articles.
However, we were keen to understand the reality i.e. what is really happening within the departments and agencies. The Cabinet Office is ‘talking the talk’ but are those working to implement the strategy at the coalface ‘walking the walk’. Over the last few weeks we have met with Andy Nelson, CIO at the UK Ministry of Justice, and Robin Pape, CIO a the Home Office to find out. In this latest research note, available to TechMarketView PublicSectorViews subscribers, Georgina O’Toole highlights the key findings. If you're not yet a subscriber please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '12:18' - Tagged: publicsector centralgovernment strategy
The TechMarketView analyst team has had a spring in its step over the last two weeks, delivering another round of thought provoking research for eligible subscription service clients, covering a range of hot topics.
Managing partner Anthony Miller released the latest research from his IndustryViews programme, IndustryViews Quoted Sector Review – Q1 2012 and IndustryViews Private Equity 2011, which are essential reading for subscribers keen to understand UK performance and movements, while OffshoreViews – 2011 Review, contains the year-end review of the Indian offshore services providers which form an important part of the UK scene.
Services-backed software: a new dynamic for services providers, the latest report from Angela Eager and the ESASViews research stream, explores the emerging trend within the services space, whereby services providers are moving deeper into the software sector. This is the start of another disruptor trend that will impact both the software and services space, so this report is a ‘must read’ for suppliers in both segments of the SITS market.
HotViews posts have been streaming out at a high rate of knots as usual, with additional in depth coverage available in HotViewsExtra where Tola Sargeant has been assessing Civica and RM’s plans and performance in Civica: Ambitious plans in a tough market and RM on course as it starts FY12.
Our commentary continues to be picked up by the media. Selected references include CIO UK picking up on comments by Georgina O’Toole and John O’Brien on the government framework. Contractor UK, the Register and PC Advisor quoted John O’Brien on Capita’s recent activity, which includes plans to offshore IT services roles and its latest acquisition of Bluefin Corporate Consulting. PC Advisor also quoted Angela Eager on the decision by CVC/ValueAct to drop out of the bidding for Misys while BusinessCloud9 picked up her comments on SAP’s social networking bid.
The next couple of weeks will see the publication of many more reports and notes. If you’re not yet a subscriber Deb Seth will be very happy to hear from you!
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:51'
March was a relatively quiet month on the markets (see Share indices March 2012), but the big leaps forward in January and February helped push some of the key indices into double-digit rises during the first quarter of 2012. Nasdaq showed the highest gains, up 19%, with the FTSE Telecom Fixed Line index close behind (17%) on the back of BT’s 16% rise. The FTSE SCS index (rose almost 15%, just behind the FTSE Support Services index. Only the FTSE Mobile index declined (-3%) in line with Vodafone, which is wrestling with uncertainties over Indian tax changes. The quarter also saw the highest number of UK software and IT services exits from the London markets since Q4 2008 – and there are more to come!
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can read more in the latest edition of IndustryViews Quoted Sector, downloadable here.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '15:00'
As the impact of technology developments and enterprises’ demand for business agility causes the boundaries between software and services to splinter, it is becoming harder to differentiate one type of asset from another. This is generating a new class of software – services-backed software. And that is bringing another wave of disruption to the SITS market as IT service suppliers develop more of their own software IP and go to market with services-backed software portfolios in which line of business applications feature heavily.
Software and IT service providers are both crossing into the opposing domain but it is the services providers who are pushing the software players hard as they move deeper into the software space. It is here that they are preparing to gather the fresh opportunities that are opening up as a result of technical developments like cloud services and services oriented architecture (SOA), plus the impact of advances in the mobile, social and analytics areas. The latest report from the ESASViews research stream - Services-backed software: a new dynamic for services providers - explores the new dynamics that are impacting the IT services market and analyses where the opportunities and risks lie, making it essential reading for both services and enterprise software suppliers.
UK and European headquartered providers like Atos, Logica and Capgemini stand to gain from the movement but will face intense competition from offshore providers like TCS and Infosys. Global system and services providers like HP and IBM are also poised to gain, as are consultancy-led providers like Accenture and Deloitte. Then there are the software-centric providers like Civica and NorthgateArinso. The emerging value proposition is what makes services-backed software appealing enough to attract the number and variety of participants. Eligible TechMarketView subscribers can download the report here.
Posted by Angela Eager at '18:11' - Tagged: cloud socialmedia software mobility analytics services
Operating margins at the leading European SIs seemed trapped in mid-single digits, less than half the level of global majors and a fraction of the Indian offshore services firms. UK margins are little better. Management are mostly confident that they will be able to improve profitability in 2012. But we wonder if they can do so without relying on further ‘restructuring’.
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can download our brief analysis here.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '17:07'
