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The UK Business Process Services (BPS) market is seeing an unprecedented level of change as both service providers and their clients work to adapt operating models and service delivery to the impact of COVID-19. BPS players are having to transform their own operations at the same time as their clients at record speed, whilst trying to deliver both KPIs and contract profitability.
Moving delivery centres to WFH on mass will have a profound effect on future service delivery, accelerating a range of transformation activities that have been long overdue and needed the “burning platform” of a pandemic to get kick started. In the longer term, we expect service delivery to remain dispersed and geographically fluid with automation investment both increasing and becoming more strategic.
In the short to medium term service providers have the cushion of long-term contracts, whilst risk associated with Covid-19 and Brexit will also drive caution. This should favour incumbents as contracts get renewed and extended until the dust finally settles.
The smartest operators will use 2021 as an opportunity to accelerate their own transformation ahead of the wider industry curve, towards a hybrid robotics, tech-enabled and human delivery model, all necessary to ensure the long-term relevance of the sector.
Our latest BPS Operations Supplier Prospects report looks at the Top Ten leading players (by revenue) in the UK SITS BPS Operations market, and assess what they will need to do to be successful now and beyond. We also provide our analysis of the potential hurdles that will prevent suppliers reaching their potential in the short and mid-term.
Subscribers to TechSectorViews can download the BPS Operations Supplier Prospects report by clicking this link. If you are not currently a TechSectorViews subscriber and would like to gain access the report, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Marc Hardwick at '14:29' - Tagged: bps suppliers newresearch
All the main indices enjoyed a positive first quarter in 2021. The FTSE 100 outperformed the NASDAQ, as traditional cyclical stocks became more attractive with the end of the pandemic in sight.
In the 12 months since end Q1 2020 however, the NASDAQ has grown 72%, compared to 18% on the FTSE 100. The FTSE SCS, representing the listed Software and Computer Services stocks, has fared somewhat better YoY, posting 25% growth in that period.
Subscribers to the TechMarketView Foundation Service and UKHotViews Premium can read more by downloading the Q1 2021 edition of IndustryViews Quoted Sector.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '08:00'
The impact of COVID-19 has added significant impetus to the transformation agenda across UK financial services and this is reflected in the varying performance of the SITS vendors in the market.
For some, “Heritage” revenue sources are declining far more quickly than expected as increasing numbers of end-users have embraced “New” digital and cloud-based technologies during the pandemic.
Subscribers to FinancialServicesViews can learn more about the performance and prospects of the leading vendors by downloading UK Financial Services SITS Supplier Prospects 2021. This analysis explores which companies have shown the agility to adapt best to the evolving market conditions and discusses how vendors can position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities for future growth.
If you are not already a subscriber but would like to access this report or any content related to the UK Financial Services marketplace, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Jon C Davies at '09:35' - Tagged: accenture tcs ibm financialservices insurance banking microsoft Capita HCL Atos DXC CapitalMarkets financialmarkets wealthmanagement SS&C Cognizant
We recently caught up with the team behind innovative HR-tech specialist The Happiness Index, which is dedicated to transforming the way companies engage with their employees on workplace satisfaction and happiness. Co-founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneurs Matthew Phelan and Chris Hyland, alongside Tony Latter, the company has built a machine learning driven software platform which provides real-time feedback on employee engagement, trained on neuroscientific principles.
The technology operates by customising the employee engagement survey in real-time according to the responses given by workers to simple opening questions about their emotional wellbeing. The premise is that tailored questions – rather than a standardised pre-scripted set, as used in many traditional workplace surveys – will generate in-depth feedback on workplace happiness, giving employers actionable insights and ultimately leading to improved productivity.
The company has a range of products available and now boasts in the region of 70 paying clients, including several blue-chip companies. Financial metrics are moving in the right direction, with both Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and the proportion of recurring revenue increasing during the last year.
Covid has thrown the topic of employee wellbeing firmly into the spotlight and the issue is now front of mind for many CEOs and HR Directors. There are several players already operating in the space, for example the Bain-originated Net Promoter System. Indeed, many of us will, at some point, have completed an employee engagement survey. The key for the success of The Happiness Index will be whether the corporate mindset has shifted sufficiently towards emotional wellbeing and whether the company can effectively promote the USP of their software.
The company recently closed a £1.035m raise, with the funds coming from a range of individual investors. The plan is to invest that in further developing the technology and in honing the sales and marketing effort. It plans for a further fundraise in early 2022, this time backed by VC funds. We will watch its progress with interest.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '08:00' - Tagged: funding start-up
The UK Government’s shared services journey has reached an interesting junction with signposts pointing to multiple future opportunities for software and IT services (SITS) suppliers. In the last few months, we have seen the successful adoption of the Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite by the Home Office under its METIS programme; the announcement of a range of imminent Home Office METIS procurements to support the next phase in the department’s own journey; and the publication of a refreshed Government Shared Services (GSS) Strategy.
In this latest report from the PublicSectorViews' team, TechMarketView's Chief Analyst, Georgina O'Toole, analyses the current situation, considers ‘what next?’, and outlines the potential opportunities for software and IT services suppliers.
If you are a current PublicSectorViews subscriber, you can download the report - UK Government Shared Services: The Opportunity - now. If you are not sure if your company has a corporate subscription or would like to find out more about accessing this research and a lot more besides, please contact Deb Seth to find out more.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '14:57' - Tagged: centralgovernment erp defence bpo sharedservices government backoffice public+sector
When Amazon opened its Fresh branded walk-out, no till grocery store in London in March 2021 it put computer vision in the public’s eye so to speak. It also illustrated how deep learning and neural networks have enabled the technology to advance, making it somewhat more accessible and opening up use cases within both existing and new domains.
Movement restrictions put in place to cope with COVID-19 have played a pivotal role in changing mindsets about how technology like computer vision can be used to overcome challenges.
Combine that with:
· the unstoppable drive for digital transformation,
· the acute need to deploy advanced automation in the manufacturing sector,
· rising demand for vision-guided quality inspection systems,
· and increasing Health and Safety initiatives including COVID-secure workplace requirements impacting offices as well as industrial environments,
and it’s clear computer vision is positioned to play a key role in the COVID-suppressed world.
For insight into the Computer Vision sector, developing application areas and emerging opportunities, download the latest TechSectorViews report Spotlight on Emerging Tech: Sights on Computer Vision.
The report examines the expanding industrial and business roles, its position in terms of natural interfaces and as it is not a silver bullet, highlights the limitations of this aspect of the AI tech stack.
Click HERE to access the report – and if you’re not already subscribed to TechMarketView contact Deb Seth to find out how to access our services.
Posted by Angela Eager at '08:17' - Tagged: cloud software machinelearning startups
The stark warning from the science community is that we have less than 10 years to halve greenhouse gas emissions and avoid global warming of above 1.5° - anything above this will cause dangerous impacts to kick in. Technology is part of the problem, but can also contribute to efforts to reduce human impact on the environment.
Whether it’s described as GreenTech or SustainabilityTech, the purpose is the same: the use of technology to enable individuals, organisations and governments to meet sustainability objectives. In the context of this background, there is a growing role for IT suppliers to provide the tools and solutions to facilitate the protection, conservation and replenishment of natural resources and the environment; the reduction or mitigation of negative impacts from human activity; and the drive towards more sustainable ways of living through reuse and renewables.
In case you missed it, the recently published Making a Difference with SustainabilityTech research note provides a snapshot of this fast moving sector, gauging current activity among UK sustainability-focused startups and the innovative solutions they bring to tackle real problems. It also explores the industry sectors targeted and the types of technology – and technology combinations - being applied.
As well as being necessary for the planet, increasing activity around IT-supported sustainability is opening up new business opportunities for software and services suppliers. A credible sustainability approach will help attract new and retain existing clients, the lack of one carries the very real risk losing them.
TechMarketView subscribers: click HERE to download the report. If you don’t subscribe to our services and would like to find out more about them please reach out to Deb Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:45' - Tagged: software startups sustainability
A strong start to 2020 in the UK SITS Consulting market was stopped in its tracks by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns. The resulting business and economic impacts took a disproportionately heavy toll on this line of business. The early phase/non-operational nature of most consulting engagements left them comparatively easy to cancel or pause. Furthermore, their higher reliance on personal interactions made them more challenging to initiate on a remote working basis. The shorter-term nature of their contractual commitments also meant that the stall in client decision making that accompanied Lockdown 1 resulted in a fast growing, often expensive bench.
When we published our annual Market Trends and Forecasts report in June 2020, we estimated that sales of Consulting services would fall by between 3.5% and 9.4% in 2020. We revisited this analysis towards the end of last year (see here) and concluded that the decline would be at the less severe end of this range. We also now expect that this market will recover quickly through the next twelve months and beyond as, post-COVID, clients across all sectors embark on fundamental reformulations of their strategies and operating models.
This is the market context for our Consulting Supplier Prospects 2021 and beyond report which is now available to download (click here). Subscribers to TechSectorViews can read the full analysis of the challenges facing the players in this market over the coming year, what they need to do to be successful and the ways to win in the longer term. The document also includes profiles of the Top Ten leading players (by revenue) in the UK SITS Consulting market.
If you are not currently a TechSectorViews subscriber and would like to gain access the report, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Duncan Aitchison at '07:56' - Tagged: consulting suppliers newresearch
The UK government’s Universal Credit (UC) service has not garnered the best of reputations for a variety of different reasons. But the performance of its digital services in the face of surging demand from hundreds of thousands of new claimants during last year’s Coronavirus lockdowns suggest the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has got something right.
It's reliance on MongoDB and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host its UC database helped the department scale up provision to meet unprecedented demand in the Spring of 2020. And it also illustrates a wider move towards in-house development teams and the use of public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) resources to support new application and service creation.
Subscribers to TechSectorViews can read our latest report Case Study: DWP takes credit for firm Universal Credit database foundation for more details about the implementation and how it provided an important testing ground for the migration of additional public sector workloads into cloud hosted environments.
Posted by Martin Courtney at '09:56' - Tagged: cloud database public+sector
TechMarketView’s latest Market Readiness Index (MRI) report is now LIVE for our tech user clients. The Market Readiness Index is a keystone piece of research within the TechMarketView Tech User Programme, for tech buyers – see here.
The MRI is designed to help end user organisations – tech buyers and decision makers – determine the readiness of ICT suppliers to support them as they transform.
This year’s report is our third and as ever it provides unique insight into the largest providers of IT and Business Process Services to the UK market (measured by revenue, according to our latest published analysis, UK SITS Ranking 2020): Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, Capita, Cognizant, DXC Technology, Fujitsu, HCL Technologies, IBM, and TCS. A big thank you to all the analyst relations people and company leaders for their inputs - and of course to their customers for contributing.
We’ve questioned and probed, we’ve analysed the numbers, the investments made, and the decisions taken. We’ve undertaken a rigorous scoring and analysis exercise across six key areas:
The MRI launched in 2019 with our first report looking at how well placed the UK’s Top Ten IT and Business Process Services players were then in terms of their ability to deliver digital transformation. In 2020, TechMarketView published our Market Readiness Index looking at the UK's IT/BP Services providers ranked 11-20.
This year’s report revisits the ten largest players and assesses where they are now. Tech User Programme members can read the research here: TechMarketView Market Readiness Index 2021.
If you would like to find out more about joining the programme and accessing the report, please contact Deb Seth.
If you are an IT/BP services provider and an existing TechMarketView subscription client, reports published within our Tech User Programme are available to purchase. Please also contact Deb Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '09:11' - Tagged: MarketReadinessIndex MRI
Over the last weekend in June, our Chief Analyst, Georgina O’Toole, has committed to a 45km trek along Hadrian’s Wall. She’s doing it in order to raise money for LimbPower, a charity that has supported her youngest son, Thomas, since his amputation in June 2019.
LimbPower was launched in 2009 to engage amputees and individuals with limb impairments in physical activity, sports, and the arts to improve quality of life, aid lifelong rehabilitation, and reach their potential. Three months after Thomas’ amputation he joined the charity for an outdoor activity weekend in Hereford – it was the perfect environment, surrounded by other children with similar stories, to rebuild his confidence. He participated in climbing, paddle-boarding, canoeing, and exercise sessions. Over the months that have followed, he has continued to attend numerous events (both physically and virtually) and made lots of friends.
Through their involvement with the charity, Georgina and her family have witnessed the support provided by LimbPower to children and adults with limb loss and impairment. By participating in this charity event, she would like to give back to LimbPower, after a difficult year for fundraising, so that they can continue to provide this invaluable support.
Georgina would really appreciate your sponsorship – no matter how big or small – as she must raise a minimum of £990 by the first week in May. She has joked that, for those who know her (and her love of home comforts well), you might be more inclined to sponsor her for spending the weekend in a youth hostel… If you’d like to support this small charity, and help get Georgina through this ordeal (!), you can find her JustGiving page here: Georgina O'Toole is fundraising for LimbPower.
(Photo credit (jumping): @brianophotography)
Posted by HotViews Editor at '09:17' - Tagged: fundraising charity
Merger and acquisition activity grew again in Q4 2020 in the UK software and IT services (SITS) sector, according to data from technology investment bank Silverpeak. This followed the strong bounce-back recorded in Q3 and suggests the market recovery continues after the initial shock of the pandemic impacted heavily on Q2 numbers.
Q4 saw an increase in both buy-side and sell-side deals, with 102 buyers and 111 sellers. 2020 as a whole saw only slightly fewer transactions than 2019, despite Covid, with 302 buyers and 320 sellers, compared to 331 and 388 respectively in 2019.
TechMarketView Foundation Service and UKHotViews Premium subscribers can read more by downloading the Q4 2020 edition of IndustryViews Corporate Activity.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '08:00' - Tagged: acquisition M&A
In recent times, the FTSE100 beating NASDAQ has been somewhat of a rarity. But investors have turned their attention to ‘Value’ stocks. Ie those that pay dividends and are less ‘frothy’ than their tech brethren. FTSE100 put on an impressive 3.6% in Mar (+3.9% YTD) against a flat NASDAQ (up 3% YTD)
The FTSE Software & Computer Services Index was up 3% (+3.7% YTD). The largest riser was the FTSE Telecom Index which was up 9.3% in Mar (+10.5% YTD). This was all pretty much down to BT.
The ‘tech’ news has been dominated by yesterday’s IPO of Deliveroo. Its shares fell nearly 30% and was seen as a great blow to the London Stock market.
Really hope that the Deliveroo experience will not dent the appetite for the impending London IPO of DNA tester Oxford Nanopore as we really rate them.
But great to see some UK Tech stocks at the top of Leaderboard for Mar 21. Companies like The Panoply, Micro Focus, INSTEM, Triad , Softcat and Computacenter.
From a UK viewpoint, the outlook looks pretty good. We – unlike most of the EU – really seem to have got on top of C-19 and are losing restrictions just as other countries are facing yet another wave.
The global outlook is more mixed. C-19 is a global pandemic and recovery on any major scale is unlikely until the whole world is out of danger
All the detail and comment in our Review of Share Performance in Mar 21 on HotViews Extra available to all subscribers including HotViews Premium.
Why not join them for just £395pa. For more details CLICK HERE
Posted by Richard Holway at '14:42'
Today (01 April 2021), marks the launch of the Police Digital Service (PDS), the new identity for the Police ICT Company. This represents far more than a name change; the organisation will have a broader remit and the resources to drive significant changes in policing.
The Police ICT Company was established in 2015 with the aim of supporting law enforcement agencies in England and Wales to make the best use of technology to deliver efficient and effective policing. It was intended to create a bridge between the policing, technological and commercial worlds, as well as helping cut the cost of police ICT, reduce duplication, and improve collaboration.
Although the Company has made progress in recent years and achieved some of those aims, including establishing several commercial agreements and frameworks, there has always been a feeling amongst suppliers (and the organisation itself) that it could be doing more. The formation of the PDS should provide the organisation with the platform it needs to achieve its potential.
You can find out more about the leadership, vision and strategy of the Police Digital Service and what it might mean for technology suppliers with ambitions in policing here.
Posted by Dale Peters at '09:23' - Tagged: strategy police opportunity bluelight law+enforcement
