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The manufacturing sector has not had an easy time over the past couple of years. In its Q122 manufacturing outlook survey, manufacturers organisation Make UK identified the activities and pain points of the quarter. The Spring Statement was deemed not to have gone far enough in helping the sector. And against that already challenging background, there is the 2050 Net Zero goal.
However, what is promising is the willingness of the sector to commit to tech-enabled change, both for growth and to enable the sustainability transition. There is a discernable shift from pledges to progress, despite barriers such as the lack of data standards and reporting frameworks. Even though the manufacturing sector tends not to be a tech early adopter it is ramping up investments to meet mandatory and voluntary sustainability requirements which is creating opportunities for both manufactuers and tech suppliers.
In ‘Sustainability in manufacturing: challenges and considerations’ we provide a first pass examination of the manufacturing sustainability climate, highlighting next key steps and providing illustrative examples from IFS, Salesforce and Microsoft, of the type of developments software suppliers are undertaking to help the sector move forward.
TechMarketView subscribers – including those who have signed up to UKHotViewsPremium - can access the research note here. You can email Deb Seth for information on how to access our services if you do not have a current subscription.
Posted by Angela Eager at '19:39' - Tagged: manufacturing sustainability
Sitting quietly in the background, operational software is not one of the ‘bright and shiny’ tech areas but it is critical in enabling organisations to go about their business. Brexit, COVID, war, economic and political disruption across the world, in addition to challenges around climate change, spotlight the role of operational software in enabling business resilience.
IRIS Software Group (IRIS) has been a stalwart of the UK software landscape, turning 40 in 2018 and currently heading towards 44 years in business. Over the years its form has changed but one thing has been consistent – a focus on the business-critical accountancy function. These days that core competency is augmented by capabilities in HR, Education and Payroll but the unifying theme is the provision of operational software and services to enhance compliance, efficiency and accuracy.
This is the background acquisitive IRIS operates against. The question is whether it is breaking through in terms of its scale, portfolio, cloud strategy, expansion and market visibility. This question is addressed in the latest TechSectorViews research Could 2022 be a breakthrough year for IRIS Software Group?.
TechMarketView clients can access the research here. If you don’t have a subscription and would like to find out more about our services please email Deb Seth.
Posted by Angela Eager at '09:20' - Tagged: education cloud software accounting
We’re looking for another Principal Analyst to join the growing TechMarketView team on a full-time basis. If you’re passionate about tech, enjoy writing and are naturally analytical, this could be you!
The role would suit someone with a background in the tech sector. You may already be an analyst, or you may be looking to make a move from an adjacent field such as market intelligence or journalism, for example.
We would welcome applications from those with broad expertise across the tech sector, but an understanding of the public sector or healthcare tech markets, or cyber security, would also be advantageous.
The successful candidate will work with other members of the friendly TechMarketView team to produce high quality research on the UK software and IT services sector – including UKHotViews articles, longer in-depth reports and market forecasts – and to support our clients with custom research requests.
We all work remotely from home, but you’ll need to be able to travel into London, or to other locations in the UK, for client meetings as well as to internal meetings in the Guildford area from time to time (travel expenses are paid).
Email us for further details, including the salary range, and to apply send a covering letter and your CV/LinkedIn profile to our Managing Director, Tola Sargeant – tsargeant@techmarketview.com – by 31 March at the latest. (No agencies please)
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '08:00'
The UK wealth management sector has witnessed significant activity over recent months as the impact of the pandemic has added to the existing forces already driving technology-based change. Demographics, the evolving face of investment advice, interest in new asset classes and technology innovation are all key elements in the mix.
TechMarketView’s Wealth Management Update 2022 explores the business and technology trends impacting the sector, the performance of the SITS market and the prospects for further growth. The report highlights some of the most interesting recent technology-related developments, and offers recommendations on how SITS vendors can capitalise on opportunities in the sector.
Subscribers to FinancialServicesViews can download this research now. If you do not already have access and are interested to learn more, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Jon C Davies at '07:00' - Tagged: financialservices wealthmanagement
Posted by HotViews Editor at '06:00'
Arup will be familiar to many readers as a major player in the UK construction industry associated with some of the most complex and iconic developments of recent years – think Heathrow Terminal 5, the Sydney Opera House or HS2, for which the firm typically leads the engineering design. However, Arup is not necessarily the most obvious organisation you immediately associate with software and IT Services (SITS), but like so many other leaders in their fields it’s increasingly becoming a technology-led business. This is particularly true in the digital space where Arup provides a complementary set of services to the same customers that it designs bridges, tunnels, and buildings for. TMV caught up recently with David Moran, Arup’s Digital strategy and transformation leader and Alan Newbold, the firm’s Regional digital services lead, to understand more about the company’s digital ambitions.
Building on its own transformation
The construction industry overall is a “digital laggard” where planning, designing, building and operating infrastructure assets are typically very siloed across different organisations. Broadly, consultants like Arup undertake the engineering design, specify the project, and then hand over to a contractor who goes on to build it. Different organisations involved with different responsibilities but working from the same designs. Historically, this was all done manually with paper-based drawings derived from CAD, updated by multiple parties as things inevitably changed during a project. To improve this process, Arup has been working through its own transformation looking to digitise pretty much everything that they do and where all its projects are now digitally driven from the design process onwards.
This has seen Arup become both an early digital adopter within the construction sector and a big consumer itself of digital technologies in recent years. For example, Arup is using data platforms to optimise route planning for highways and railways, and BIM (Building Information Modelling) as standard to drive cross-silo collaboration in buildings and infrastructure projects. This position as an early adopter has given the firm good insight into what works digitally and what doesn’t, and how to automate in the most effective way to support higher quality and better project outcomes.
Consequently, Arup has built up a strong in-house digital capability that employs some 3,000 practitioners globally across digital consultants, IT architects, analysts, project managers, software developers, data scientists and visualisation experts, of which they have 150 consultants working on client-facing digital advisory engagements. To put this in context Arup’s entire global workforce is 16,000 strong so a significant portion are “digital”. This is already contributing some £60m in Global fee income from its digital propositions.
TechMarketView clients, including subscribers to UKHotViewsPremium, can read more by downloading the full article here *UKHotViewsExtra* Arup targets digital growth.
If you are not already a subscriber and but would like to learn more or gain access to this or any other of our content, please contact Deb Seth for more information.
Posted by Marc Hardwick at '08:13' - Tagged: construction engineering design
TechMarketView's Public Sector Supplier Prospects 2022 report is now available. In this publication we look at the Top 20 suppliers in the UK public sector Software and IT Services (SITS) market, reviewing recent progress, looking at the key market challenges and assessing what suppliers need to do to maximise their potential in 2022 and beyond.
The suppliers profiled in this report are: Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Atos, BAE Systems, BT Group, Capgemini, Capita, CGI, Civica, Deloitte, DXC Technology, Fujitsu, IBM, Kainos, Leidos, Microsoft, NEC Software Solutions UK, Oracle, Serco, and Sopra Steria.
This report should be read alongside our UK Public Sector SITS: Suppliers, Trends & Forecasts 2021-2024 report, our recent Market Outlook Update, and individual subsector reports on the Central Government, Defence, Local & Regional Government, Health, Police, and Education SITS markets.
If you are an existing PublicSectorViews subscriber, you can read the report now. If you’d like to discuss an extension to your existing subscription or would like details of how to subscribe to TechMarketView, please email Deb Seth.
Posted by Dale Peters at '07:30' - Tagged: prospects public+sector
Yesterday's Spring Statement 2022 saw Rishi Sunak announce an increase in the National Insurance threshold, a reduction in the basic rate of income tax to 19% (although not until April 2024), and a 5p cut to fuel duty, but he resisted calls to scrap the Health and Social Care Levy.
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) said, due to the invasion of Ukraine, there is unusually high uncertainty in its outlook; however, it is now predicting higher global energy prices will help drive CPI inflation to a 40-year high of close to 9% in the fourth quarter of this year.
The Statement said very little about public spending, sticking with the plans announced in last year's Spending Review; however, it highlighted a renewed efficiency drive in Whitehall. Sunak also announced a plan to create 'a new culture of enterprise', with plans to review tax cutting options on business investment, changes to the apprenticeship system, and R&D tax credit reform.
TechMarketView subscribers, including those signed up to UKHotViewsPremium can read more about the Spring Statement 2022 here. If you are not yet a subscriber, please contact Deb Seth to find out how to access this and much more.
Posted by Dale Peters at '10:25' - Tagged: strategy government budget
Arup will be familiar to many readers as a major player in the UK construction industry associated with some of the most complex and iconic developments of recent years – think Heathrow Terminal 5, the Sydney Opera House or HS2, for which the firm typically leads the engineering design. However, Arup is not necessarily the most obvious organisation you immediately associate with software and IT Services (SITS), but like so many other leaders in their fields it’s increasingly becoming a technology-led business. This is particularly true in the digital space where Arup provides a complementary set of services to the same customers that it designs bridges, tunnels, and buildings for. TMV caught up recently with David Moran, Arup’s Digital strategy and transformation leader and Alan Newbold (both pictured), the firm’s Regional digital services lead, to understand more about the company’s digital ambitions.
Posted by Marc Hardwick at '08:20' - Tagged: software construction engineering design
In December 2021, BT invited TechMarketView to visit the National Management Centre (NMC) to see the progress that has been made in improving the ability for UK policing to prepare for, respond to, and recover from cyber attacks and security breaches. This report provides the background to the NMC, reviews the role the NMC is playing in police cyber resilience, and the importance of a strong partnership and effective collaboration in driving progress.
The contract to support the establishment of the NMC, in partnership with the NEP team, was awarded to BT in 2018. It deploys a range of security tools, technologies and a specialist team of analysts that monitor, hunt and help to detect unknown, sophisticated and evasive cybersecurity threats 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days each year.
Services provided by the NMC include:
One of the keys to the success of the NMC to date has been the strength of the partnership between BT and the PDS. It provides a good example of the benefits of deeply integrating staff within partner organisations in the public sector.
A key challenge faced by policing in enhancing their cyber resilience is the demand for skills. Police forces struggle to compete with private sector organisations when it comes to recruitment in areas of skills shortage, so it makes sense to take a unified approach across the sector rather than duplicating effort.
The speed at which the NMC has been setup has been remarkable. Within the space of two years, a derelict site has been transformed into a state of the art facility; it has successfully recruited people in a sector facing extremely high demand for skills; it has scaled its offering to policing; and secured buy-in from 43 forces. It is now playing an increasingly important role in helping defend police forces in England and Wales, and doing so in a way that improves efficiency and reduces duplication of effort.
PublicSectorViews’ and TechSectorViews’ subscribers can download the research today. If you are not yet a subscriber, or are unsure if your company has a subscription, please contact Deb Seth to find out how you can access the research.
Posted by Dale Peters at '09:48' - Tagged: police security cyber resilience law+enforcement public+safety
We are excited to bring you news of the TechMarketView Evening 2022, which will take place at the magnificent Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) building in London on 22 September.
Our popular flagship event is back for the eighth time, and, after a two-year hiatus, we can’t wait to spend the evening with so many of you in person. As in prior years, you can expect an opportunity to mingle with your peers at the welcome drinks reception supported by InterSystems; to hear first-hand from our analysts and guest speakers through a series of short presentations on our latest research; and to network over dinner with leaders from across the UK tech sector.
The theme for the evening will mirror TechMarketView’s research theme for the year, Building Resilience, which seems even more appropriate now than it did when we launched it at the end of 2021.
“Over the coming years we expect organisations – both the tech suppliers and their clients (in the public and private sectors) – to focus on resilience in a wide variety of ways. To minimise risk, prepare for disruption, and be able to rebound swiftly when faced with unexpected events. At the national level and at the corporate level, there will be an increased focus on economic and financial resilience; strategic resilience; IT and cyber resilience; workforce resilience; and supply chain resilience, to name a few. Across all these areas, technology will play a crucial role as organisations rethink every part of their operations and look to be ‘future ready’.” Georgina O’Toole, Chief Analyst, TechMarketView.
Join us from 6.30pm on 22 September to gain insight from – and share views with - our expert analyst team and guest speakers around the theme of ‘Building Resilience’ and what it means for the UK tech sector.
Ticket sales are now open with discounted early-bird rates available until 1 May. As usual, TechMarketView subscription clients (including our UKHotViews Premium subscribers) enjoy the biggest discounts.
To secure your place, book your table or individual tickets via our event partners tx2 Events today here.
If you’re unsure which tickets you’re eligible for, or you’d like details of the sponsorship packages available, please email info@techmarketview.com.
With grateful thanks to our sponsors
Posted by TMV Team at '09:15'
IBM is undertaking a massive transition. The firm’s objective is to create a portfolio focused on AI and hybrid cloud products and services, which is involving a considerable reconstitution of the business. In October 2020, it announced that it would create a new company (“NewCo”) to be spun-off as an independent entity and listed on the stock exchange. “NewCo” was to be the new home for IBM’s managed infrastructure services - which essentially equated to Global Technology Services (including hosting and networks, services management, and infrastructure modernisation) - a business that has struggled with growth for many years.
In November 2021, IBM completed the separation of what is now Kyndryl, a c$19bn business that’s listed on the NYSE. The separation is good for both parties. IBM’s first set of quarterly results since the split show that - not surprisingly - without Kyndryl on the books, its top line is a lot healthier. See IBM exits 2021 “a different company”. However, as a separate entity, Kyndryl is now free to pursue new partnerships and new market opportunities. It can steer investments to support its own specific strategy and reinvigorate staff with new strategic goals and opportunities. Work to evolve the firm has already very much begun as Kyndryl begins it next chapter.
Subscribers to our Foundation Service or TechSectorViews programme can read more in our new report: Kyndryl begins its evolution.
For information regarding a subscription, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '09:30' - Tagged: cloud partnerships digitaltransformation managedinfrastructureservices
Capita published its 2021 results this morning, which outline a return to revenue growth for the business for the time in around six years, as it concluded its three-year transformation programme. Adjusted revenue for the Group increased 0.4% to £3,009m, up from £2,996m 12 months ago. Profitability also improved with adjusted operating profits up 172% to £139.1m (FY20 £51.1m), whilst adjusted EBITDA grew 29% to £295.1m (FY20 £228.4m).
Whilst the headline numbers are moving in the right direction, the real story is very much a tale of two divisions. Capita is now structured into two main operating divisions – Public Service and Experience. Capita Public Service, which principally serves the Public Sector, grew adjusted revenue by 10.8% to £1,410.4m, following a range of good contract wins including its Royal Navy training contract mega deal (see here). It also benefited from the first full year of its Defence Fire & Rescue contract with the MoD and the commencement of DWP’s JETS scheme. There was also a recovery in its Local Government business where contract losses significantly reduced, and its software business improved.
By contrast, Capita’s Experience division (which mainly serves the private sector) is some 18 months behind Public Service in its “business improvement journey” and saw adjusted revenue decline -9.4% to £1,184.7m with contract attrition from the likes of Tesco Bank, Phoenix, VW Group and First Group. There were also volume decreases in its closed book Life and Pensions business as contracts “ran off” as well as reductions in some Covid-19 projects.
Capita has a third division called ‘Portfolio’, which contains a range of businesses and assets that it is looking to divest. Businesses here delivered revenue of £413m last year and where growh was flat. However, Capita has been making very good progress with its disposals easily exceeding its £700m target, well ahead of schedule. Indeed, Capita also announced this morning that its £115m disposal of Trustmarque to One Equity Partners had been cleared by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (see Capita agrees to sells Trustmarque). Good news for Capita is a £197m reduction in its net debt to £880m (FY 2020 £1,077m).
TechMarketView clients, including subscribers to UKHotViewsPremium, can read more by downloading the full review of Capita’s FY results here UKHotViews Extra - Capita’s tale of two divisions.
Posted by Marc Hardwick at '09:53' - Tagged: results bpo bps Capita
The Final Report of the Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales was published yesterday. It discusses how the technological revolution has changed the nature of crime and the need for a police service that has the skills and technology to meet the demands of the future.
The Review was launched by policing think tank the Police Foundation in September 2019 with the intention of examining how crime, fear of crime and other threats to public safety are changing and to assess the ability of the police to meet these challenges. It was chaired by Sir Michael Barber, with guidance provided by an Advisory Board of former senior police officers, politicians and academics.
The comprehensive analysis details how the nature of crime has changed, the increasing demand placed on forces, the impact of austerity, the loss of public confidence in policing, and the role of technology in both committing and fighting crime. It highlights three key areas of challenge faced by policing: capacity, capability, and organisational.
As well as recommending significant structural reforms, including the establishment of a new Crime Prevention Agency and a major expansion of the National Crime Agency, it contains a raft of ideas to improve the use of technology in policing.
The Review states that police technology is in general "woefully inadequate" and is often outdated and cumbersome. It calls for the Government to increase investment to enable a significant upgrade of police IT; the introduction of a common set of ICT standards; and a Technology Fund to ensure adequate funding for national technology programmes. It also sets out the case for the College of Policing becoming a single home for police national improvement functions including IT and national procurement.
TechMarketView subscribers, including those signed up to UKHotViewsPremium can read more about the Review's recommendations, including changes to the structure of policing, the changing nature of crime, technology procurement, digital skills and ethics here. If you are not yet a subscriber, please contact Deb Seth to find out how to access this and much more.
Posted by Dale Peters at '08:27' - Tagged: strategy police law+enforcement public+safety
We are delighted to introduce InterSystems as sponsor of the Welcome Drinks Reception at our 2022 ‘Evening with TechMarketView’ in September.
As you may already know, our eighth TechMarketView Evening event will be held at the magnificent Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in Portland Place London, from 6.30pm on Thursday 22 September.
Over 200 of UK tech’s ‘great & good’ are expected to attend the evening event which has become a popular fixture in the tech calendar and has been described by attendees as “the best networking event in the industry”.
After a two-year hiatus, we are excited to be kicking the evening off with an extended drinks reception to give you plenty of time for that networking. And we’re particularly pleased that your welcome drinks will once again be sponsored by InterSystems, whose technology is used by businesses in finance, government, healthcare and other sectors where lives and livelihoods are at stake to help manage risk, meet regulatory demands, streamline operations, and transform enterprise data into sound business decisions.
Stay tuned to UKHotViews for more details on the evening and the opening of early-bird ticket sales next week.
If your organisation is interested in joining InterSystems as an event sponsor, you’ll find more detail on available packages here or email info@techmarketview.com to learn more.
Posted by TMV Team at '08:00' - Tagged: event
A series of acquisitions gave housing provider Flagship Group scope to exploit significant procurement synergies, an imperative that drove the company to explore innovative approaches to IT delivery designed to improve the services it provides for 70,000 tenants.
To that end the company migrated almost its entire IT estate into Amazon Web Services’ cloud infrastructure during 2020 with the help of managed service provider Digital Space (formerly Timico). The project involved shifting 140 servers, 600 browser based desktops, 50 applications and 150 contact centre agents into cloud hosted platforms, and is expected to deliver £250k of cost savings a year over a five year period.
TechMarketView subscribers can read more detailed analysis in our “Flagship Group goes all in on AWS” report here. This analyst note catalogues the company’s journey, the business drivers behind the migration and its reasons for recruiting Digital Space as a key transition partner. If you are not yet a subscriber, please contact Deb Seth to find out how to access this and much more.
Posted by Martin Courtney at '08:25' - Tagged: iaas migration VDI cloudtelephony cloudinfrastructure
Congratulations to the 30 entrepreneurs that have been shortlisted across eight categories for the 2022 Enterprise Awards. The judging panel had a challenging job narrowing down the list of exceptional entries from entrepreneurs from across the UK and is looking forward to meeting the shortlisted candidates for the next phase of the judging process over the next couple of weeks.
You can peruse the full shortlist (here) and to see the winners announced and join in celebrating the best of the UK’s technology entrepreneurial talent, book a place at the Awards Ceremony and Dinner at Goldsmiths' Hall, London, on 6 April (here).
Posted by TMV Team at '08:44' - Tagged: awards charity
IBM is in the midst of undertaking a massive transition. The firm’s objective is to create a portfolio focused on AI and hybrid cloud products and services, which is involving a considerable reconstitution of the business. In October 2020, it announced that it would create a new company (“NewCo”) to be spun-off as an independent entity and listed on the stock exchange. “NewCo” was to be the new home for IBM’s managed infrastructure services - which essentially equated to Global Technology Services (including hosting and networks, services management, and infrastructure modernisation) - a business that has struggled with growth for many years.
In November 2021, IBM completed the separation of what is now Kyndryl, a c$19bn business that’s listed on the NYSE. The separation is good for both parties. IBM’s first set of quarterly results since the split show that - not surprisingly - without Kyndryl on the books, its top line is a lot healthier. See IBM exits 2021 “a different company”.
Earlier week, Kyndryl announced its first set of full year results since separating from IBM last year. Annual revenue to end of December 2021 declined 5% (constant currency) to $18.7bn. The company had a pre-tax loss of $1.9bn, which included a goodwill impairment charge ($469m) and transaction-related costs ($627m).
However, as a separate entity, Kyndryl is now free to pursue new partnerships and market opportunities. It can steer investments to support its own specific strategy and reinvigorate staff with new strategic goals and opportunities. Work to evolve the firm has already very much begun as Kyndryl begins it next chapter.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:30' - Tagged: cloud partnerships data infrastructureoperations digitaltransformation
Merger and acquisition activity in the UK software and IT services (SITS) sector held steady during Q4, to round out a strong 2021, according to data from technology investment bank Silverpeak. There were 123 acquisitions by and 147 sales of UK companies in Q4, compared to 123 and 140 respectively in Q3. This data includes deals announced as well as those closed.
As discussed in our Q3 2021 report, the dip seen in Q2 was likely due to deals having been accelerated into Q1 in anticipation of changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime in the March 2021 budget, which did not materialise. Dealmaking bounced back in Q3 and Q4 to round out a strong year amid increased business confidence.
Subscribers to the TechMarketView Foundation Service and UKHotViews Premium can read more by downloading the Q4 2021 edition of IndustryViews Corporate Activity.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '13:19' - Tagged: acquisition M&A
I caught up recently with Anthony (Tony) Grosso, the global marketing lead for US insurance software specialist, EIS. Tony is currently overseeing a push into the UK and mainland Europe as EIS looks to capitalise on opportunities on this side of the Atlantic.
Founded in 2008, and headquartered in San Francisco, EIS has created a comprehensive suite of core insurance applications, designed to help insurers accelerate innovation at scale. Tony tells me that since entering the UK market, he has been surprised by the high volume of activity that EIS has witnessed and by the appetite for change.
The EIS digital insurance solution has just been selected by Belgian property and casualty insurer, Ageas, as it looks to accelerate its transformation in the UK. The Ageas win follows hot on the heels of two other recent successes for the EIS platform off the back of the vendor's European market entry.
TechMarketView clients, including HotViewsPremium subscribers, can learn more by downloading (UKHotViewsExtra - EIS capitalises on UK opportunity). The article examines the factors fuelling demand in the core platform space and discusses how EIS is helping insurers to address their transformation challenges.
If you do not currently have access but are interested in this UKHotViewsExtra or other of our services, please contact Deb Seth for more information.
Posted by Jon C Davies at '07:00' - Tagged: insurance EIS
The end of February means the end of our FutureSteps Challenge for The Prince’s Trust - over the course of the month, our two TechMarketView teams have done an incredible 3,759,064 steps! That’s considerably over the 10k per day each that we were aiming for and achieved despite days stuck at home thanks to Covid isolation or storm warnings.
Well done to both the teams (& all the others across the UK tech sector that have been stepping with us!) and thank you to everybody who has sponsored us.
We are very close to our fundraising target and it’s not too late to help us reach it! If you’d like to donate you can support either the Client Services team (who managed 1.883m steps between five of them!) as TMV Trekkers or the analyst team (who racked up 1.875m steps) as TMV Tramps.
Thank you on behalf of The Prince’s Trust and the amazing young people that it supports to take steps to achieve a brighter future.
Posted by TMV Team at '09:10' - Tagged: fundraising
