Search through our UKHotViews and UKHotViewExtra articles plus complete research reports
It is becoming apparent that one of the stumbling blocks in digital transformation is the shift from departmental and PoC projects to enterprise-wide initiatives. Tools and methodologies that help with the digitisation shift and on going management, at scale, are in the ascendancy and DevOps fits firmly into that category.
However, for application services providers, the practice of DevOps is not something that can be embraced lightly. It can open opportunities, indeed its practice will become a prerequisite, but DevOps adoption is high risk because it requires entrenched silo’s to be broken open and wholesale changes in process, thinking, culture and organisation, along with the requirement for new tool chains and attendant skills. It also demands changes to business models.
The challenge for application services providers is dealing with the necessities of DevOps adoption, internally and on behalf of customers, without breaking the business. That is exactly what the “DevOps: strategies for supplier success” report examines.
ESASViews subscribers can click to download this latest report; if you don’t have a subscription you can talk to Deborah Seth.
Posted by Angela Eager at '09:00' - Tagged: software applications digital DevOps
Venture capital funding of UK and Irish technology companies got off to a good start this year, maintaining the momentum built up in 2016, according to the latest data from corporate finance firm, Ascendant. During Q1, £784m was invested in 186 deals of more than £0.5m by 242 investors at an average deal size of £4.2m. This represents a 28% yoy increase in the number of deals, but the total value fell 10% from the record high of £873m set in Q1 2016.
Subscribers to TechMarketView's Foundation Service can read our analysis, along with commentary on selected UK tech VC deals, in our latest IndustryViews Venture Capital report, which is available for download here.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '07:24' - Tagged: funding
One of our most eagerly awaited reports of the year is out now: the UK SITS Supplier Rankings report 2017. And we can reveal that Capita has retained the UK SITS market crown for the fourth year running despite having one of its more ‘challenging’ years.
But that's not all. There’s a lot going on below the top spot. For the first time, subscribers to TechMarketView’s Foundation Service can see where DXC Technology – the business created through the merger of CSC and HPE Enterprise Services – has landed in the rankings. Having based our analysis on the company’s proforma revenues, we get as close as we can to understanding the true underlying performance of the business.
As usual, the UK SITS Supplier Landscape report includes all our brand-new ranking tables; as well as rankings for UK SITS (Top 60), we include rankings by IT and business process services, rankings by pure IT services, and rankings for each of the four UK SITS areas as defined by TechMarketView: enterprise software, application services, infrastructure services, and business process services.
Overall, the UK SITS Top 60 grew faster in 2016 – at both headline and organic level – than in 2015. Diversity of performance amongst the players, combined with a high level of corporate activity, means we have seen three new players enter the Top 30 and four new players enter the Top 60.
The so-called ‘spin-merger’ that created DXC Technology, had the biggest impact on the infrastructure services rankings; as well as DXC emerging in the Top 20, HPE is also a high-ranking player. Meanwhile, in the application services market, we saw a particularly strong performance amongst the top players, boosted by intense M&A activity and strong demand as organisations sought to prepare for a digital shift. And in the business process services market, the major disruption, identified in our UK SITS Market Trends & Forecasts 2017 report, upset the established incumbents at the very top of the market, whilst benefiting those trying to climb the ladder.
UK SITS Supplier Rankings 2017 is available for download now.
For further information on becoming a client, please contact our Client Services team.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '08:07' - Tagged: rankings
Today, we publish our keynote annual UK Software & IT Services Market Trends & Forecasts report for 2017.
Market developments in 2016 and our forecasts through to 2020 highlight rapidly changing dynamics. Notably, we predict that 2017 will be a watershed for the UK SITS market. It will be the first year that ALL growth will be driven by cloud computing.
The most potent driver of this change remains the economic necessity to cut the cost of computing. However, it has become about much more than that. In line with our 2017 research theme – Unlocking the Intelligence – it is also about enabling the adoption of innovative internet-based applications that create, record and analyse vast volumes of data.
This structural market transition is irreversible and it is having a major impact on all areas of UK SITS and on the suppliers. Organisations presented with the possibilities brought by new ‘digital’ technologies are questioning their relationships with existing software, IT and business process services suppliers. As such, we are witnessing major disruption, creating both opportunities and threats and leading suppliers to consider new go-to-market approaches.
One of the fastest growing areas of the UK SITS market - as cloud computing adds a new level of risk and complexity to the safety of systems and data - is Cyber Security (see our specialist research programme, SecureConnectViews). As a result, today also sees TechMarketView launch its brand new Cyber Security forecasts – also available in UK SITS Market Trends and Forecasts 2017.
Of course, the path to ‘digital’ does not run smooth, and this could be good or bad depending from where you are viewing the show. Moreover, macro political and economic developments relating to Britain’s exit from the EU mean the path could be even rockier.
Subscription clients of the TechMarketView Foundation Service can download UK SITS Market Trends and Forecasts 2017 now to read the views of the TechMarketView analyst team.
And don’t forget, there’s also an opportunity to hear directly from the TechMarketView analyst team at our Annual TechMarketView Presentation & Dinner on Thursday 5th October 2017. More information here.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '08:35' - Tagged: AI RPA
We are delighted to announce the six companies who will be participating in the inaugural TechMarketView Great British Scaleup Programme in London over the next two days.
They are:
We launched Great British Scaleups in April (see HERE COME THE GREAT BRITISH SCALEUPS!) as a follow-on to our hugely successful Little British Battler Programme with the express purpose of helping fast-growing, privately-held UK tech SMEs realise their potential.
Founders and CEOs of the participating companies will be tapping into the knowledge and experience of TechMarketView Research Directors along with business specialists from Great British Scaleup Programme Advisory Sponsor, ScaleUp Group, an elite team of successful tech entrepreneurs chaired by John O’Connell, one of the best known and most respected names in the UK tech sector.
Applicants are also eligible for an initial infrastructure assessment by managed cloud and infrastructure services firm Cogeco Peer 1, the Enterprise Cloud & Infrastructure Services Technology Partner for the Great British Scaleup Programme.
We will bring you highlights of each of the participating companies in UKHotViews next week.
Many congratulations to the successful companies; we look forward to helping you on the next stage of your scale-up journey.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '06:00'
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this month may have underwhelmed its fan-base who are always hoping for a shiny new toy, but there was an intriguing nugget in there for the payments industry.
Apple announced that the new iOS11 (later this year) will enable ApplePay users (albeit initially only in the US) to send money to friends and family through iMessage.
Now it could be argued that this is just an attempt to drive up ApplePay penetration (which is poor in the US) especially amongst the key millennial segment, but the other aspect of the proposition is that when funds are sent the recipient receives the funds into an ‘Apple Cash’ account. This is an ewallet, a bit like a PayPal account. The Apple Cash balance can be used instantly for ApplePay transactions (paying in-store, online or for another P2P), or be transferred to a bank account.
For the first time, ApplePay is moving from being a digital version of a leather wallet, i.e. just a container for your various cards, to actually having its own store of value. And why is that significant? Well that’s how Alipay started, and they have built from that foundation to be the go-to place for a wide range of financial services; bill payments, savings, loans, investments, insurance….
So this announcement, tucked away as an iOS iMessage feature update, crosses an important line in establishing a key foundation for potentially a much wider play for Apple in financial services.
Subscribers can read more insight and analysis of this key development in our latest FintechViews report, Apple P2P – Crossing the Line.
Posted by Peter Roe at '09:15' - Tagged: financialservices mobility payments
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will bring significant changes to existing data protection laws in May next year.
Yet we get the distinct impression that end user organisations and cloud service providers alike are still struggling to understand its requirements and their respective responsibilities when it comes to safeguarding the information pertaining to EU citizens and customers.
The EU and cloud service providers are keen to minimise any confusion and deliver clear guidance on how to comply. But TechMarketView can’t help but think that the rival Codes of Conduct (CoCs) now emerging may end up just muddying the waters further rather than delivering the certainty and transparency required. More…
Posted by Martin Courtney at '10:00' - Tagged: cloud regulation EU GDPR
We caught up with the new management team at Northgate Public Services (NPS) earlier this month and were impressed by what we found. Steve Callaghan was appointed CEO by NPS’ private equity owners Cinven last September. He recruited Group CFO, Alan O’Reilly in November last year and has made a number of other changes. Both have a track record in turning businesses around and driving growth and although NPS isn’t a ‘turnaround’ per se, it’s clear that the new approach is already transforming the business.
Steve started his career as a commissioned officer in the British Army and his straight-talking leadership philosophy owes a lot to principles more usually associated with the military or elite level sport. The strategy for Northgate Public Services comprises three phases: Crawl (FY17 to end April), Walk (FY18) and Run (FY19+). As the business enters FY18 and begins to ‘walk’, it is set on a path for profitable growth after a transformative FY17.
The crawl phase had four core elements (or ‘swim lanes’ as Steve refers to them)... More...
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '09:37' - Tagged: publicsector localgovernment strategy police health housing
It was back in 2009 that I last took a closer look at Bangalore-based offshore services major, Wipro’s consulting practice and, not surprisingly, much has changed since then.
Early this year Wipro recruited ex-Cognizant UK consulting lead, Phil Dunmore, to bring together the disparate parts of Wipro’s consulting ecosystem with the aim of substantially increasing the size of the business. That journey is now well under way.
I met up recently with Dunmore, and subscribers to the TechMarketView Foundation Service can read more in the accompanying OffshoreViews note, downloadable here.
Posted by Anthony Miller at '13:33' - Tagged: offshore
This year’s Evening with TechMarketView will take place on Thursday 5 October 2017 at the magnificent Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in Portland Place, London.
The enjoyable evening provides a mix of valuable insight from TechMarketView’s leading analyst team with quality networking over drinks and a three-course dinner. It is TechMarketView’s flagship event and a fixture in the calendars of leading figures across the UK software, IT services and business process services sectors (SITS).
Unlocking the Intelligence
Join us on October 5 to rub shoulders with some 250 of UK tech’s ‘great & good’ and to hear TechMarketView’s analysts share their views on the latest developments across the sector under the banner of TechMarketView’s 2017 research theme, Unlocking the Intelligence.
The guestlist for the evening – which has been a sellout for the last four years - typically includes CXOs from a broad range of SITS companies large and small, CIOs from public and private sector organisations, and a cross section of others with a keen interest in how the sector is evolving, including decision makers from the VC and private equity community.
If previous years are anything to go by, tickets are likely to sell quickly so we’d recommend booking early. As in previous years, TechMarketView research subscription clients are eligible for a 20% discount on standard ticket prices. For full details and to book your place visit tx2Events here.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:25' - Tagged: events
Last month, TechMarketView held a Roundtable dinner for vendor and bank representatives where the subject was how the banks could monetise the benefits of Cloud and the importance of moving to Platform-as-Service. The event was again kindly sponsored by Cast Software.
The informative and enjoyable dinner generated much debate about the issues faced by large banks as they accelerate their adoption of Cloud Services, opening up new opportunities in terms of greater agility, better customer and user experience and lower cost. The important issues of next steps, the future role of the CIO and the implications for the bank’s overall culture and strategy were also considered.
FinancialServicesViews subscribers can gain considerable insight about this important and necessary migration by accessing our comprehensive report, “Cloud Services – the road to PaaS". There are crucial questions of how banks can deal with complex, multi-generational application stacks and poor access to customer data, all of which need to be answered before the “mouth-watering” benefits of moving to cloud and platform-as-a-service can be fully realised.
Note: In December, we held a roundtable dinner focusing on the question “Are the Digital Strategies of the Banks working?” Subscribers can access the follow-up report on that discussion here.
Posted by Peter Roe at '14:09' - Tagged: saas cloud iaas legacy banking
TechMarketView is proud to have been a sponsor for the seventh annual Enterprise Awards, run in association with the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT), at The Dorchester last night. The event, hosted by the one and only John O’Connell on his birthday, showcased some truly inspiring entrepreneurs and a broad range of innovative, fast growing UK tech companies and raised money for Founders4Schools, a very worthy cause.
The judging panel, of which I was delighted to be part, had had a very hard time selecting the winners from a record number of worthy candidates. Congratulations to all the finalists and shortlisted entrepreneurs, and especially to the winners who were:
Young Entrepreneur – Chris Baker-Brian, BBox
Evergreen Entrepreneur – Imam Hoque, Quantexa
Female Entrepreneur – Julie Walters, Raremark
Social Enterprise Entrepreneur – Laurence Kemball-Cook, Pavegen
Public Sector Entrepreneur – Paul Volkaerts, Nervecentre
Emerging Entrepreneur – Asher Ismail, miDrive
Developing Entrepreneur – Terry Walby, Thoughtonomy
Enterprise Entrepreneur – John Synder, Grapeshot
Scaling Up Award – Saurav Chopra, Perkbox & Alasdair Paterson, Digital Shadows
Team of the Year Award – Emily Orton on behalf of Darktrace
Special Judges Award – Jacyn Havens, Epos Now
Listed Company Award – Alastair Bathgate, Blue Prism
Mentor of the Year – Dr Steve Garnett.
These entrepreneurs, and the many others that filled the Dorchester’s ballroom last night including a good number of TechMarketView Little British Battlers and would-be Great British Scaleups, are testament to a thriving UK tech scene. It’s fantastic to see them innovating and rapidly growing their businesses in diverse sectors from IoT-enabled solar-powered energy kits for the developing world (BBox) and power generated by footfall (Pavegen), through automation (Thoughtonomy & Blue Prism) and cyber security (Digital Shadows & Darktrace) to health-focused software and services (Raremark & Nervecentre), to name just a few.
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '10:01'
Even before the result of the general election, the EU referendum vote had created a great deal of uncertainty for UK software and IT services (SITS) suppliers. We would like to know how the Brexit vote, and the eventual exit of the UK from the EU is affecting your business, as well as gathering your views on how the general election result may have changed things.
The TechMarketView analyst team is out and about, talking with ICT suppliers, on a daily basis. We hear voices of optimism and voices of pessimism. We have compiled a short survey to gather as much insight as we can and would like to ask those of you working for SITS suppliers, from amongst the c.20K readers of UKHotViews, to help. By gathering views from as many of you as possible, we will be able to get a comprehensive view of how Brexit will impact the UK SITS market over the next few years.
You can start the survey here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/TMVBrexitSurvey - it's open now (it should only take approximately 10 minutes to complete) and closes at 0700 on Wednesday 21st June.
We will publish the results of the survey in a special report in July (more details of our subscription services here). You should keep an eye out on UKHotViews, where we will feature some of the highlights of the survey, to make sure you don’t miss out. Participants have the option of entering a prize draw at the end of the survey, with one lucky person winning a ticket to TechMarketView’s Annual Presentation and Dinner on Thursday 5th October 2017.
Posted by Dale Peters at '08:09' - Tagged: election research brexit survey
Actions over declining revenue growth and declining margins among the Indian pure-plays (IPPs) have prompted wildly varying estimates on the potential impact on employment levels in the Indian IT industry.
One report claims that ‘hundreds of thousands of jobs could disappear in the next four years’. In contrast, India’s Law & IT Minister reportedly believes that the situation has been exaggerated. This is a view echoed by the leading suppliers, who claim that job losses have been overstated.
In the latest issue of OffshoreViews, we take look at the hirings and firings among the Top Six IPPs – the numbers may surprise you.
Meanwhile, as the H1-B visa hullaballoo rolls on, we take a look at the numbers of work visas being issued in the US and the UK. Again, the numbers may surprise you.
And, of course, there’s our regular updates on 7 of the mid-tier IPPs that operate in the UK.
Subscribers to the TechMarketView Foundation Service can download OffshoreViews right now.
Drop a line to our Client Services team at info@techmarketview.com to find out more.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '07:00' - Tagged: offshore
TechMarketView has provided increased coverage of FinTech over the past 18 months. It is a very fast-moving space and in response to this we are introducing a new FinTechViews feature, as part of FinancialServicesViews, highlighting key developments and providing analysis and insight for clients.
FinTechViews: Yolt launches in the UK market – a glimpse of the post-PSD2 opportunity?
After a closed Beta since last October, Yolt has now moved into open Beta with a launch into the iOS and Android app stores. This is a trailblazing account aggregation service: if you give the app the login details for your online banking and credit cards it collates all the information from your accounts and provides an analysis of your overall spending by category. This is the sort of service which is intended to be much more common after the EU Payments Services Directive II comes into force early next year (see our recent report Open Banking & PSD2).
At this stage, the only direct commercialisation of the service is through commissions by suggesting alternative providers for some of the user’s bills and subscriptions (e.g. Energy suppliers). However, as we noted in our recent Finovate 2017 report, some more disruptive plays are breaking cover which could see users not just changing their energy suppliers at the touch of a button, but also their financial services providers! In this context, it is particularly interesting that Yolt is actually owned by ING Bank, indeed a product of their innovation lab. A classic example of the “disrupt yourself” school of thinking originating from Clayton Christenson at Harvard?
FinancialServicesViews subscribers can read more about Yolt, the disruptive scenarios, and the opportunities this brings for SITS providers here.
Posted by Peter Roe at '09:20' - Tagged: payments banking customerexperience
After a series of delays, Microsoft will finally launch Azure Stack in July this year. But TechMarketView wonders what opportunitieswill the new platform present to third-party cloud solution providers and public/private sector organisations looking to enhance or expand their own cloud service delivery?
This report looks at how Azure Stack differs from cloud platforms already on offer from both Microsoft and rival suppliers in terms of the underlying technology and anticipated IaaS/PaaS usage scenarios. It profiles early Azure Stack partners and proponents committed to supporting it, and forecasts how successful Microsoft is likely to be in using the platform to drive private and hybrid cloud adoption amongst UK organisations.
Subscribers to SecureConnectViews can download the report "Azure Stack: Where Microsoft’s New Private/Hybrid Cloud Platform Sits in the UK Cloud Services Ecosystem" here. If you would to find out how to access the research please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Martin Courtney at '07:43' - Tagged: cloud microsoft Azure
