Accenture bolsters public sector skills

Services giant Accenture has recruited two former civil servants to its ranks to boost its UK and global public sector services capabilities.

Tim Godwin, former Deputy Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police Service, started this week in a senior global role in Accenture’s public safety practice. Meanwhile Ruth Ormsby, former head of the NHS Shared Business Service, has joined the company from Capgemini. She is taking a senior UK role in Accenture’s healthcare practice.

Public sector organisations are going through a major shake-up as governments attempt to make dramatic cuts in spending. Outsourcing service providers are ramping up their expertise in the sector as outsourcing becomes an attractive option for capital starved organisations.

Accenture has room to grow. Speaking to Computer Weekly when the government began slashing spending in 2010, Accenture UK managing director at the time David Thomlinson said the public sector was the smallest portion of its UK business.

The company won its first major local government contract in March last year when City of London Corporation contracted it to help it cut procurement costs by £30m over five years through a procurement shared service for multiple departments.

Godwin is best known for taking charge at the Met when Sir Paul Stephenson went on sick leave in 2010 and later when he resigned.

Ruth Ormsby, headed up the Department of Health's Shared Business Service (SBS) before switching to Capgemini in 2010.

Also see this special report on Accenture.