Search through our UKHotViews and UKHotViewExtra articles plus complete research reports
TechMarketView’s theme for 2016 is ‘Surfing the Waves of Disruption’ – and there is no better time than now for SMEs to disrupt the market. We want to meet the disruptors!
Over 80 UK tech SMEs who are punching above their weight in local and overseas markets have already joined the ranks of the TechMarketView Little British Battler brigade. Here’s another chance for your company to enlist!
We’ll be holding our eighth TechMarketView Little British Battler Day (LBB8) in London on Thursday 21st April 2016.
Founders, CEOs and board executives from twelve outstanding, ‘disruptive’ companies will be selected to participate. They will share their aspirations, ambitions and challenges in closed session with TechMarketView research directors and senior partners from our sponsors, MXC Capital, London’s technology merchant bank.
In return they will get insightful feedback and advice on their business plans, and privileged coverage in TechMarketView UKHotViews, the leading daily source of opinion and comment on the UK tech scene. UKHotViews reaches tens of thousands of senior executives and professionals in the tech industry, government, investment community and the media. Coverage in UKHotViews has brought many exciting, little known UK tech SMEs to the attention of the market.
LBB8 is open to privately held, UK-owned tech companies with established clients and annualised revenues under £20m. Companies with minority external investors are eligible, however publicly quoted companies and subsidiaries of private or public companies are ineligible.
To register your application for LBB8, please complete the web-based Pre-Qualification Form by clicking here. There is no charge to apply or to participate.
APPLICATIONS CLOSE AT 6PM ON FRIDAY 4TH MARCH.
We will advise whether or not you have been selected to participate by 29th March. If you were previously unsuccessful and believe your company is a ‘disruptor’, then please feel free to apply again.
Contact our LBB coordinator Deb Seth for further information.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '17:00'
UK SITS and business process services market leader Capita released its full year 2015 results last week, which highlighted a few trouble spots, and slower organic growth in 2016 (see Capita predicting slower organic growth).
A lower win rate year to date, and continuing declines in its insurance business will give Capita some ground to make up during 2016. However, the underlying performance across the group remains solid with areas like Capita Europe, Asset Services and Digital & Software Solutions growing well. Margins meanwhile, are back on the up, underlining why Capita continues to outperform most of the competition.
Subscribers to TechMarketView’s subscription research can read our detailed analysis of Capita’s FY15 results in UKHotViewsExtra here.
If you're not yet a subscriber, do contact Deb Seth (dseth@techmarketview.com) to find out more.
Posted by John O'Brien at '16:53' - Tagged: bps insurance
As customers start to shift more infrastructure into a cloud environment they will increasingly need suppliers that can provide the enabling services. The pure-play cloud firms are steering clear of providing these ‘wrap-around’ services, instead maintaining laser-like focus on their product and pulling in partners for the complementary services.
Skyscape is a Government accredited provider of public cloud services and in January it announced it would be partnering with managed services provider, Adapt, to work jointly in the government market.
Given where the market is in terms of its evolution, services partners now have an important role to play in helping buyers to get past the ‘first base’ of public cloud use, moving them on from the straightforward activities (e.g. test and development) to take on the development of more critical and complex programmes. Indeed, it could be argued that this type of services provider has an even more significant role to play in the government sector where IT resource is typically stretched to the maximum and/or where large parts of the IT function have been outsourced in the past.
Together we think Skyscape/Adapt could prove to be a disruptive force amongst the established community of traditional infrastructure services providers - stripping out significant cost from the provision of hosting services.
In this research note we take a closer look at Skyscape, the market it is operating in and the competition it, and its, partners face.
This research is only available to subscribers of our incredibly popular InfrastructureViews stream, which provides analysis of the UK Infrastructure Services landscape. Subscribers can read the research note here: Skyscape and Adapt join forces in Government cloud.
If you would like to become a subscriber, please contact Client Services Manager, Deb Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:28'
We know that application services suppliers feel the pressures of digital transformation as much as the opportunities within their own organisations and are responding by driving extensive change across investments, services offerings and delivery models.
The latest research note from the ESASViews stream identifies some of the top digital transformation challenges and requirements impacting the progress of digital transformation in the wider market and the impact on suppliers, paying particular attention to how CGI is addressing them. It is part of a series of reports evaluating supplier approaches and provides a lens onto digital transformation adoption in the enterprise market.
If you subscribe to ESASViews you can download Digital Transitions, Supplier Progress: CGI, here, if not you can contact Deb Seth for subscription details.
Posted by Angela Eager at '08:26' - Tagged: applications digital
In our initial write-up of Capgemini’s FY15 results last week (see Capgemini looks to step on the accélérateur), we left a few questions hanging in the air. To summarise our initial post, Capgemini achieved headline revenue growth of 12.7% (to €11.9b, including a six month contribution from iGate), but just 1% like-for-like revenue growth. It was, though, predicting 7.5%-9.5% growth for FY16 (at constant currency). In the UK, as expected, revenues declined by 14% organically (to €2,150m) following the novation of HMRC Aspire subcontractor revenues.
So, a couple of things needed more investigation. Firstly, how much of the 7.5%-9.5% growth predicted for FY16 would be organic? And secondly, what is the underlying picture in the UK market and how will the region contribute in 2016?
In UKHotViewsExtra, Research Director, Georgina O'Toole, delves deeper into the detail of the results to provide answers to these questions. TechMarketView subscribers can access the research now in 'Update: Capgemini bets on digital and cloud for growth'. If you are not yet a subscriber, please contact Deb Seth to find our how you can access these and much, much, more.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '14:37'
TechMarketView is continuing its research into the banking software market which is the focus of a lot of attention as challengers enter the market and as incumbents look to modernise. In this report we ask the question, Can Finacle drive growth for Infosys in Financial Services?
The Finacle subsidiary of Infosys is at the core of its EdgeVerve software products business. One-third of Infosys Group revenue is from the wider Financial Services sector where the provision of software and the associated implementation and services is seen as a key generator of revenue and value-add. Finacle has significant international scale and a highly rated, modular software suite. It is also developing more cloud delivery partners and extending the capabilities of its portfolio.
However, despite a large global installed base, Finacle and other software products still generate less than 5% of group revenue. In the UK, Finacle has been limited to supporting niche operations of the major banks and has yet to show progress among the challenger banks. We look for a major contract win in the UK as a sign that Finacle can boost Group revenue growth and help sustain its margins.
FinancialServicesViews subscribers can access this research report, here.
If you're not yet a subscriber and would like to learn more please contact Deb Seth dseth@techmarketview.com.
Posted by Peter Roe at '23:24' - Tagged: software bpaas legacy banking
Founded in Leeds in 1993, BJSS has grown organically from its roots—two founders doing small bespoke software development projects in the Financial Services sector - to a 550 person ‘full service IT company’ turning over upwards of £50m p.a. Despite its rapid growth, the SME has maintained its entrepreneurial spirit and is renowned for its technical excellence, cost-effective delivery and ‘Enterprise Agile’ ® approach to IT delivery. It’s a fascinating company and definitely ‘one to watch’.
We recently caught up with BJSS to hear how, over the last five years, it has moved from its roots in the UK Financial Services sector into the Government and Healthcare markets with great success. The SME was quick to spot the opportunities in the UK public sector as the National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT) wound down and the Cabinet Office extolled the virtues of working with smaller suppliers. Early wins with the NHS in its home town of Leeds—notably on the NHS Spine 2 and e-Referral Service deals (see NHS IT: learning lessons from ‘Choose & Book’) - paved the way for success in Central government too. Indeed, BJSS has been one of the key beneficiaries of G-Cloud, topping the table of suppliers doing the most business through the government framework in revenue terms (see UK Government G-Cloud: meeting its objectives?). Today BJSS’ biggest client is the DVSA where it’s working alongside fellow SME Kainos, providing the cloud architecture, testing and development services to support the new MOT system under a multi-year managed services contract.
To read our views on BJSS and its outlook, eligible TechMarketView subscription clients can download our latest piece of research - Company Snapshot: BJSS - today.
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '15:21' - Tagged: financialservices health government
TechMarketView keeps a close eye on the technologically-driven innovation which is having such a profound effect on financial services and is a major cause of the waves of disruption that are central to this year's research theme.
Finovate is an important event in the fintech calendar and last week 72 companies had the opportunity to present their technology in concise, 7-minute presentations. The conference thus provided an excellent opportunity to take the temperature of the wider fintech scene and to understand the themes emerging among the wide range of companies represented.
We are pleased to introduce Richard Johnson as an Associate to TechMarketView. Richard has substantial experience gained as market insight/strategy lead at Monitise and from his time with NatWest/RBS. He will be contributing to TechMarketView’s research, especially in the areas of digital banking, mobile payments and commerce, as well as in fintech.
Richard’s report on Finovate, assessing how the fintech innovators can help the financial services sector “surf the waves of disruption” is available to FinancialServicesViews subscribers, here.
Posted by Peter Roe at '22:06' - Tagged: financialservices innovation
Business process services provider Liberata is mid-way through a strategic turnaround led by long-time executive and recently appointed UK CEO Charlie Bruin (see Liberata unveils new structure and UK CEO role).
Liberata has had its fair share of challenges over recent years. But to its credit, the company has never given up. It has dug deep, embarked on M&A to add new software and IT services capabilities to its business via Trinity and Trustmarque (see here and here) and is now re-energising itself to take advantage of new opportunities around digital transformation in the UK public sector.
Under Bruin’s leadership, Liberata is transforming itself into a new type of public sector BPS player, focused around innovations in Business Process Automation (BPA) and Business Process-as-a-Service (BPaaS).
Subscribers to TechMarketView’s BusinessProcessViews and PublicSectorViews research streams can read our analysis of its strategy and prospects here.
If you're not yet a subscriber, and would like to learn more, please contact Deb Seth (dseth@techmarketview.com) who will be happy to help.
Posted by John O'Brien at '08:52' - Tagged: bpaas bps automation
Capita has been selected as preferred bidder by Blackburn with Darwen Council for its technical services partnership, vindicating the company’s decision to include highways, property and schools improvement inside the local government business (see here).
The partnership, expected to be worth at least £60m over five years, has the potential to extend for another five years. Capita will be responsible for increasing efficiencies across the council, and will draw upon its non-SITS expertise managing highways and property, and most significantly, helping the council generate new income through the ‘commercialisation of existing services and assets’.
The council is calling the engagement ‘the next generation of partnerships between local government and the private sector’ in that Capita will need to help deliver new commercial opportunities around the development of land, local assets and skills, to transform the entire region.
It’s noteworthy that the council is also bringing in-house its 15 year BPO contract with Capita from June this year, and is moving to a cloud-based platform from Northgate Public Services for revenues and benefits software (see here). So here traditional back-office white collar BPO is going away, and being replaced with assistance in front line infrastructure, assets and revenue growth opportunities.
There is a potentially big prize up for grabs, via a proposal for a Lancashire Combined Authority. Residents and businesses in Lancashire are being encouraged to take part in a countywide consultation (see here). The plan is to generate further business from a framework that will enable all 14 other councils within Lancashire to directly procure Capita’s services for infrastructure and development projects. The framework could potentially generate revenues of £2bn for Capita.
Capita is well positioned to help authorities like this to thrive, by taking on responsibility for transport, economic development, housing and regeneration. Meanwhile, we expect this to be a start of a trend among future local government partnerships. For instance, another provider we have spoken to is in discussions with an authority about how to generate revenue from advertising on council assets. Outsourcers of the future are going to need to deliver more commercial solutions like this for their local authority customers, built around delivering longer-term growth.
Posted by Michael Larner at '08:35' - Tagged: localgovernment contracts transformation
This morning we wrote that NHS IT was hitting the headlines again as momentum builds behind the government’s push to use technology to ease pressure on the NHS frontline. But we alluded to a lack of detail surrounding the £4.2bn of investment that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had promised would be invested in NHS technology over the next five years (see here). Since then NHS England’s director of digital technology, Beverley Bryant, has revealed more about how the money will be spent, and where it will come from.
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can read the detail - and our analysis - in our latest UKHotViewsExtra article: NHS IT funding boost creates SITS opportunities.
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '20:28' - Tagged: funding health
The number of European TMT deals announced in January remained at about the same level as the previous three months, according to latest data from corporate finance firm Regent Partners. However the total value of deals dropped below £10b for the first time since Q3 2012 as there were fewer large transactions. Deal valuation multiples continue to hold up with aggregate Price/Sales ratio at 1.3x and Price/EBITDA ratio at 9.8x.
There was the usual flurry of smaller deals involving UK software and IT services players, including Access Group’s acquisition of HCSS Education (see Access Group furthers its education with HCSS), Capital Markets software developer First Derivatives’ acquisition of QuantumKDB (UK) (see First Derivatives’ acquisition spree continues), and a rare excursion into the UK market for Noida-based offshore service major, HCL Technologies, which ‘did the double’ at Point to Point (see HCL gets to the point – twice - with Point to Point).
There’s more besides, and subscribers to the TechMarketView Foundation Service can read our quarterly summaries of corporate activity in the UK SITS sector in IndustryViews Corporate Activity.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '16:42' - Tagged: acquisition
At TechMarketView we are constantly on the hunt for small British firms that are doing interesting things – hence our Little British Battler programme. Last year, Lemongrass Consulting caught our eye following our discovery that it had landed what was probably Europe’s largest AWS/SAP implementation.
What is notable about the drive to digital is that in many areas of the market it is flattening the competitive field. Consulting and technology specialists are highly sought after not just by enterprises but also by established suppliers that are looking to partner with, or acquire, such entities. Lemongrass is talking to some seriously big global brands and its perseverance (and education of the market) is starting to pay off. It has already ousted IBM from an account in which it had been an incumbent supplier for 15 years.
In this SME Snapshot research note, we take a closer look at Lemongrass Consulting to understand a little more about the company and its activities. Subscribers can read it here.
If you would like to become a TechMarketView subscriber, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Kate Hanaghan at '09:16' - Tagged: cloud consulting research SAP
With its back office and ecommerce focus, and all the related complexities, cloud pure play NetSuite did not chose an easy path. Nevertheless it is achieving consistently high growth, the latest being 33% revenue growth to $741m in FY15 (see here). International growth is high on its agenda and despite an established presence in the UK, there is scope to do much more.
It is ramping up at a time when the competition for mid market cloud ERP is heightened however but it is a challenger to pre-cloud providers and part of the competitive firmament around emerging providers with strengthening cloud credentials like Unit4, Infor and UK players like Advanced Computer Software and Access Group. If you are an eligible subscriber you can download our analysis of NetSuite here. If not, contact Deb Seth for information on how to subscribe to TechMarketView.
Posted by Angela Eager at '09:15' - Tagged: erp cloud software
