Search through our UKHotViews and UKHotViewExtra articles plus complete research reports
We met up recently with Capita’s IT services executive director Mark Wyllie and MD Mark Quartermaine to discuss their plans to take Capita forwards as a leading player in UK IT services in its own right (see Capita's big ambitions in IT services).
Capita’s big ambition is to create an IT services business that can compete head-to-head against industry heavyweights like HP, IBM, Atos, Accenture, Capgemini, Fujitsu, and Logica - and win! It’s a tough challenge, but one which both Wyllie and Quartermaine are more than ready to take on.
The prize is replicating the same kind of success it has achieved in UK business process services (BPS), where Capita is the undisputed market leader. But IT services is a very different proposition, and as a 'work in progress' there is much still to be done.
TechMarketView subscribers to BusinessProcessViews can read our analysis of Capita's IT services strategy, prospects and challenges here.
Posted by John O'Brien at '07:15' - Tagged: publicsector bpo bps itservices
Despite a precipitous fall in the number and value of VC investments in UK/Irish tech companies in Q4 last year, there was almost 30% more invested in 2011 (£789m) than in 2010, according to data from corporate finance firm, Ascendant. This is still 15% lower than the most recent peak year, 2008, when £923m was invested in 251 deals.
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can read much more in the latest edition of IndustryViews Private Equity, including highlights of key UK software and IT services VC deals in Q4, and another in our occasional BuySideViews series, featuring Lyceum Capital.
Plus there’s our regular update on the private equity transaction flow courtesy of Regent Partners (International).
IndustryViews Private Equity 2011 Review is available for download today.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '12:59'
We have just completed our preliminary estimates of the UK revenues for the leading India-centric IT/BP offshore services suppliers and yet again the players have gained significant share.
According to our estimates, the leading players in aggregate generated UK revenues of around £3b in the UK last year, 22% more than in 2010, when they grew by a more stately 16%. We are expecting our final estimates for 2011 UK software and IT services market growth to come in around flat; whichever way you look at it, the Indian firms grew significantly faster than any other player in the market.
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can read more in the latest edition of OffshoreViews, downloadable right here, right now!
Posted by HotViews Editor at '10:32'
TechMarketView’s analyst team has been busy once again over the past fortnight, publishing a raft of quality research and analysis, on a broad range of hot topics, for our eligible subscription service clients.
Phil Codling, infrastructure services research director, published a company note on Accenture’s plans to embrace BYOT across the business, and what challenges and opportunities this presents (see Accenture: taking the BYOT medicine). As Hot Views readers will know BYOT is white hot right now, so this is a must-read test case. Managing partner Anthony Miller meanwhile, continued with his analysis of Logica’s troubles after missing its full year 2011 margin target by some way (see Logica’s margin challenge – 2012).
Since our last update (see A fortnight in the life of TechMarketView), we have published a further 50+ Hot Views comments, taking our monthly tally to just shy of 100. And there are still a few days left in March. But TMV subscribers have been able to get deeper insight behind the key stories in HotViewsExtra.
Director Tola Sargeant provided further analysis on Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s announced £1.8bn cuts across NHS IT, and outlined the implications for suppliers to the sector (see NHS IT: Fresh opportunities despite ‘£1.8bn cuts’). Research director John O’Brien spokoe to Sean Riddell, CEO of leading GP systems supplier EMIS and assessed his plans to expand further in 2012 (see EMIS delivers healthy full year (update)). Meanwhile, infrastructure services research director Phil Codling, spoke with Mike Norris, CEO of Computacenter, to assess his views on the consumerisation of IT and ‘bring your own technology’ (see Computacenter: benefitting from infrastructure service fragmentation).
As usual much of our commentary has been picked up by the media. Among the most notable, director Georgina O’Toole was quoted in PC Advisor, ContractorUK for her analysis of the Budget’s impact on the UK IT sector; Phil Codling was quoted by PC Advisor and The Register on Computacenter’s decision to pull out of a loss-making ITS deal at Cumbria County Council. Meanwhile, Angela Eager, research director for enterprise applications and applications services (ESAS), was quoted in Computing on the collapsed Misys/Temenos merger; ComputerWorld on Oracle’s Q3 performance, and PersonnelToday on Oracle’s acquisition of HR software vendor Taleo.
Over the next few weeks we will be publishing many more reports and notes. So if you’re not yet a subscriber Deb Seth will be very happy to hear from you!
Posted by HotViews Editor at '07:50' - Tagged: publicsector nhs software health BYOT services
This time last year we questioned the viability of Logica CEO Andy Green’s aspiration to move medium term ‘adjusted’ operating margins towards double digits (see Logica's margin challenge). In announcing results for 2011 (see Logica profits hit by restructuring), that aspiration was conspicuous by its absence. Andy Green now only forecasts that 2012 adjusted margin will exceed 6.5%, in line with that expected by Atos, though below that of Capgemini’s outlook of >7.4%. We think even 6.5% will present a challenge, and eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can see why we think that, by downloading Logica's margin challenge - 2012.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '18:14'
As HotViews readers will know, we've been flagging for some time the BYOT trend as an emerging disruptor in enterprise IT. Accenture provides an interesting example of BYOT in practice. The firm is introducing bring-you-own policies for its employees, while also working on opportunities for BYOT-related services among its clients. A new note entitled Accenture: taking the BYOT medicine examines the company's experiences in both these areas so far. It's available to eligible TechMarketView subscription clients from today.
Posted by Phil Codling at '16:47' - Tagged: BYOT
2012 looks set to be the year that the UK’s Public Services Network (PSN), which has been talked about in a number of guises for many years, finally moves from vision to reality. PSN is designed to create a single logical network for use across the public sector. A set of standards will enable the creation of a ‘network of networks’ so that information can be shared securely between different public sector organisations.
Two new procurement frameworks are being put in place as we speak to increase transparency in the market and open it up to far greater levels of competition and commodity pricing. For the telecoms and network services suppliers there is everything to play for: although PSN is (in part) a cost reduction exercise for the government, many suppliers have an opportunity to increase their market share under PSN and to offer new services across the network.
Indeed, PSN itself is really rather dull relative to the things that it could enable once it’s up and running. It is the foundation upon which the government is hoping to build cloud services (see UK Government CloudStore: Cynical? Us?). It should enable changes to ways of working across the public sector (e.g. making use of mobile and flexible working easier and cheaper). It should enable more collaboration and facilitate the sharing of information securely between different public sector organisations. In short, PSN has the potential to radically change the way services are delivered across the UK public sector market.
But how much progress has really been made? Will PSN actually deliver? What are the benefits really likely to be? Which barriers are still holding progress back? Which will the key suppliers be and how will the supplier landscape evolve?
These questions and more are answered in the latest report from TechMarketView’s PublicSectorViews research stream – The Public Services Network: the foundation for change in public sector IT? – which is available for download by eligible subscribers from today. (If you’re not yet a subscriber and would like further details please email Deborah Seth, who will be only too happy to help).
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '08:00' - Tagged: publicsector
Over the last fortnight, TechMarketView’s analyst team has published a raft of quality research and analysis, on a broad range of hot topics, for our band of eligible subscription service clients. For starters we continued our IndustryViews reports with the latest quarterly review of M&A activity.
But there was more besides. Following two successful ‘maiden’ events at the end of January – our ‘Little British Battler’ day and our ‘UK local government dinner debate’ – the team has been hard at work drawing out the important messages from the days’ discussions. The result is two publications: our first-ever Little British Battlers report (Little British Battlers – Q1 2012), which provides an in-depth view of the first 12 SMEs to meet the TechMarketView team; and a view of the changes facing the UK local government sector and what that means for SITS suppliers, in ‘UK local government dinner debate: facing change’.
We have also published a major report within our BusinessProcessViews’ stream. ‘Communications-focused BPS – opportunities beyond document outsourcing’ introduces a new term – communications focused-BPS – to our clients, covering the entire ecosystem of software and services supporting communications into and out of the enterprise. The report is incredibly timely as it highlights the impact of some of our key 2012 themes, such as BYOT, the Consumerisaton of IT, and Big Data.
And hot off the press this morning, we are publishing a major report from our PublicSectorViews team focused on the Public Services Network (PSN). ‘The Public Services Network: the foundation for change in public sector IT’ seeks to answer key questions about the UK Government’s planned ‘network of networks’ relating to the progress being made, the benefits achievable, the barriers being faced, and the evolving supplier landscape.
Of course it is also results season so we have been hard at work analysing the full year results of the UK software and IT services providers. So far in March, we have published 39 HotViews articles (and we’re less than two weeks in!). But TechMarketViews’ subscribers have also been able to benefit from a more in-depth analysis in HotViewsExtra articles (such as Xchanging stablilised but still in transition and Colt finally looks ahead to growth) as well as in CompanyViews notes (such as Capita emerging from a lean spell and Atos UK: making the most of SIS). Once all the results are in, and all the numbers have been crunched, our clients will, of course, be able to look forward to our annual UK SITS supplier rankings report.
As usual much of our commentary has been picked up by the media. Most remarked on were our views on CSC’s latest agreement with the NHS (for example, in Information Age); on the launch of the UK Government CloudStore (for example in CIO); on the future of PSN (for example in Computer Weekly), on the MoD’s search for a strategic partner (for example in Computerworld), and on Oracle's plans for Taleo (for example in Personnel Today). But as you know, for the best source of insight and opinion, there’s only one place to come. So if you’re not yet a subscriber Deb Seth will be very happy to hear from you!
Posted by HotViews Editor at '07:00'
At the end of January, TechMarketView hosted a dinner debate (sponsored by Computacenter and Unit 4) focused on the topic of ‘UK local government: supplier models of engagement’. Attendees included top level decision makers from local authorities and IT and business services companies. Further details of the event can be found in previous HotViews posts.
We were driven to organise the event based on research findings in our report UK local government SITS supplier landscape, which highlighted a shift in the way that some suppliers were choosing to target the market. For example, several suppliers were coming to market having developed ‘point solutions’ to tackle discrete problems faced by local authorities.
Those same suppliers had previously been the beneficiaries of numerous multimillion – and in some case, multibillion – pound multiple service line mega deals. However, as TechMarketView research has shown, those types of deals are far less prolific than they once were.
By gathering the great and the good from UK local government and from the leading software and IT services suppliers into the market, TechMarketView hoped to elicit the answers to some key questions about how local authorities are reacting to budgetary pressures and government policy changes. In particular, we were intrigued to determine whether the large single authority multi-service line mega deal, which has been a key feature of the UK local government SITS supplier landscape over the last decade or so, still has its place. Or are local authorities beginning to favour alternative models of engagement?
In the latest note from TechMarketViews’ PublicSectorViews’ team we summarise the evening’s discussions and provide our opinion on what it all means for suppliers tackling the UK local government market (the evening’s discussions were under Chatham House rules so views are unattributed). The discussions centred on changes in the UK local government market and what they would mean for local authorities, and secondly, what that would mean for software and IT services suppliers to the sector. Subscribers to TechMarketViews PublicSectorViews stream can download the note here. If you’re not a subscriber, please contact Deb Seth to rectify the situation!
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '09:34' - Tagged: publicsector localgovernment markettrends
Disruptive change is taking place across the whole document services market due to the effect of IT consumerisation and ‘bring your own technology’ (BYOT).
The burgeoning take-up of communications media like smartphones, tablets and social media is changing how businesses and consumers interact, and blurring the boundaries between what is considered B2B and B2C. These newer communications channels are rapidly growing their influence on buying behaviours, while traditional communications channels like voice and print are becoming less relevant.
Communications focused-business process services (BPS) is TechMarketView's new term covering the entire ecosystem of software and services supporting communications into and out of the enterprise. It allows suppliers to bring together best-of-breed software and services to respond to these changing dynamics, with a range of value-added services that can assist clients attract new revenue opportunities.
It has the potential to be highly disruptive across several BPS and software segments, with profound implications for established document outsourcing vendors, such as Xerox, HP, Pitney Bowes, Ricoh, Williams Lea, Arvato and Communisis. Incumbent BPO players like Capita and Serco are also keen to get in on the action.
Subscribers to TechMarketView’s BusinessProcessViews service can read the implications and opportunities for suppliers to the UK market in the new report, Communications-focused BPS – opportunities beyond document outsourcing. (If you’re not yet a subscriber and would like further details please email Deborah Seth, who will be only too happy to help).
Posted by John O'Brien at '07:55' - Tagged: bpo socialmedia bps BYOT communications
Our year-end round-up of the UK software and IT services and European tech M&A scene is now available to download for eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '15:55'
Following Capita’s mixed full year results last week (see Capita ‘ups and downs’ in 2011), we have now had time to digest the detail, speak with management, and assess progress across the business. There are signs that it has now turned the corner with a strong start to 2012, and promising signs for a return to organic growth this year. Nonetheless plenty of challenges remain, not least in key target markets like IT services and life and pensions.
Subscribers to TechMarketView’s BusinessProcessViews research service can read the full analysis and implications here.
Posted by John O'Brien at '09:00' - Tagged: publicsector bpo bps
