IT services and outsourcing

Cloud and ICT adoption by MSBs in the UK, France and Netherlands

This report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research and Cordys, assesses the business potential of cloud services for medium sized companies. Continue Reading

Interview: Martin Russell, head of IT services, Just Eat

Just Eat's head of IT services, Martin Russell speaks to Computer Weekly about his experiences of switching to Google Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UCAS adopts public cloud to process university admissions

Ten days before the A-level results, UCAS adopted a public cloud infrastructure to scale up its IT and to make admission process efficient Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Less than 1% of Universal Credit IT spend goes to SMEs

Despite a 25% target, less than 1% of IT spending for government’s flagship Universal Credit programme has gone to small businesses Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

How to appoint a new outsourcing supplier

Outsourcing can come with its own security risks if not managed appropriately, making due diligence and clear contractual arrangements key Continue Reading

By

• Sheila Pancholi

Government to put 50% of all new IT spend through SMEs

The government wants to put half of all new IT spending through small IT suppliers – doubling the previous target Continue Reading

Enterprises spend more on third-party datacentres than in-house ones: Uptime survey

Uptime Institute’s annual datacentre industry survey reveals shift in IT spend away from enterprise-owned datacentres to outsourced options Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Government opens fourth iteration of cloud framework G-Cloud 4 for business

Cabinet Office has opened the fourth iteration of UK government cloud – G-Cloud 4 to accept tenders from new cloud suppliers and existing ones Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Foreign direct investment to underpin Indian cloud computing

Will the 100% FDI allowance in the telecoms sector help cloud computing reach Indian companies reliant on mobile connectivity? Continue Reading

By

• Satarupa Bhattacharya

Capita and Barnet deal to be completed after campaigner’s court appeal fails

Outsourcing contracts worth over £470m will be signed off by Barnet Council after a Court of Appeal ruled that the deal was lawful Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Microsoft concedes to BSkyB over SkyDrive trademark

The tech giant admits defeat and will be forced to rename its cloud storage service after losing a court battle in the UK Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Dutch banking regulator approves use of AWS public cloud in the financial sector

Dutch banking watchdog approves use of AWS cloud in websites, mobile apps, retail banking platforms, HPC and credit risk analysis Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Hailo taxi app maker drops Sage for NetSuite OneWorld

Taxi cab app maker Hailocab has switched from Sage Line:50 to NetSuite OneWorld, in a bid to speed up accounts reconciliation Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Outdated classifications hide true extent of UK digital economy

The UK’s digital economy is much larger than the Government estimates. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

European banking firm UniCredit to introduce cloud in its datacentres

European banking firm UniCredit has signed a multi-billion dollar deal with IBM to bring cloud into its datacentres Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

John Lewis seeks out innovation from technology startups

John Lewis has been investing in technology innovation to keep ahead of the game in the changing landscape of the UK high street Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Michelin creates fuel efficiency service with Accenture

Tyre maker Michelin has begun a major project to create a business division focused on providing IT solutions for logistics Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Facebook to acquire UK startup Monoidics

Facebook is to acquire UK startup Monoidics, which makes code verification and analysis tools and specialises in detecting coding errors Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Managed Print Services Landscape, 2013

A vendor analysis of the global enterprise MPS market Continue Reading

Hidden cost of cloud computing is CIOs’ biggest concern

A study into attitudes and concerns relating to cloud computing has revealed that 80% of CIOs are concerned about its hidden costs Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

GDS tracks 'digital by default' progress of top 25 government services

Government Digital Service (GDS) launches website to track progress of the 25 services targeted as the first to go online under the digital strategy Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Taking the pulse of the cloud computing market

Archana Venkatraman looks at the figures behind the take-up of cloud technology in this Computer Weekly research report. Continue Reading

Six reasons why manufacturers should consider cloud ERP

There are a number of benefits beyond total cost of ownership when manufacturing companies deploy cloud ERP, this research from Analyst Group Nucleus reveals. Continue Reading

CW500: Back to the Future: Big Data at Channel 4

Bob Harris, Chief Technology Officer of Channel 4 Television, explains the broadcaster's approach to big data in this presentation for Computer Weekly's 500 Club. Continue Reading

Cloud takes to the stage at the Royal Opera House

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the Royal Opera House about how using public cloud boosted ticket sales and improved performance of its IT infrastructure. We examine why agile development failed in the government's flagship Universal Credit welfare programme. And we analyse the real risks of sweating your IT assets. Continue Reading

IT energy consumption lower than previously claimed

Research has debunked the myth that consuming IT and media services on mobile devices is hurting the environment Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Lower uptake of cloud, ICT limiting medium-sized enterprises' productivity: CEBR

Medium-sized enterprises in the UK lagging behind large businesses in terms of productivity, because of lower adoption of ICT and cloud Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

CIO interview: Anne Boden, COO, Allied Irish Bank - on moving to private cloud

AIB’s private cloud has meant a tenfold reduction in the number of Oracle databases and gives the bank internal technological ability and development flexibility to respond to a changing and demanding market Continue Reading

By

• Lisa Kelly

Interview: Joanna Shields, CEO, Tech City

Joanna Shields has been at the helm of reshaping the UK’s tech startup scene since taking the role of CEO at Tech City seven months ago Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

How to monitor and improve the health of your datacentre

Any datacentre manager looking to support the business should take an end-to-end systems management approach to keep the datacentre in shape Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

Azure powers Eurozone network to combat counterfeit drugs

Microsoft Azure will be used to power a cloud platform designment to combat counterfeit pharmaceutical product in the EU Continue Reading

Why agile development failed for Universal Credit

The DWP has ceased all agile development on the Universal Credit programme. Was agile not up to the job? Or was DWP not up to agile? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

CIO interview: Pete Marsden, CIO, Asos.com

As online fashion retailer Asos.com continues to expand, its IT strategy is focused on new international locations and keeping up with web retail Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Renegotiating services contracts

As European businesses push to get more from existing IT services providers, renegotiations are common for improving contracts. But business and delivery models emerge and evolve quickly, meaning organisations that focus solely on cost could be missing out on other benefits which could prove of greater use – such as more transparent contracts to give the CIO a better view across the IT operation. CW Europe’s IT services editor explores whether businesses could be missing out by focusing on cost alone. Continue Reading

Scottish police outsource system to Accenture

Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland have chosen Accenture to maintain its i6 administration system after two-year tendering process Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How BP made its IT future-ready with a hybrid cloud infrastructure

BP bridged its cloud gap with a cautious and calculated approach using a mix of private cloud, public cloud and in-house IT infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Encrypting enterprises miss out on cloud benefits

Enterprises sending encrypted data to the cloud are missing out on some of the greatest benefits of cloud computing, says Thales e-Security Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Oracle offers enterprise software on Azure and Hyper-V

Microsoft and Oracle form an alliance to enable Oracle software to run on Hyper-V and Windows Azure infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HR technology booming as businesses turn to the cloud

Over the next 18 months, 60% of companies plan to roll out HR technology solutions, says analyst group Bersin by Deloitte. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Startup profile: Growth Intelligence

Growth Intelligence is a technology startup offering a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product to B2B corporations wanting to search for sales leads. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

IT departments to shrink dramatically within five years as cloud takes over

IT professionals will need to rethink their careers as corporate IT departments undergo a radical restructuring over the next five years Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Senior judge hears Barnet Council outsourcing challenge

The second most senior judge in England and Wales will hear a legal challenge against Barnet Council’s outsourcing programme Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Can Dell survive in the cloud era despite killing its public cloud offering?

Dell has ditched its public cloud IaaS in favour of partner cloud programme. But will the strategy help secure its future in the cloud era? Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Universal Credit will cost taxpayers £12.8bn

The government’s review of major projects revealed the flagship Universal Credit programme will cost nearly six times more than previously billed Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

ARI uses HANA to power self-service BI for fleet management

ARI, the leasing and fleet management business, has used SAP HANA to boost business intelligence (BI) and predictive analytics Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UK cloud firm Iomart sees annual profits soar by 56%

Cloud computing company Iomart has reported a pre-tax profit up 56% to £10.7m for the year ending March 2013 Continue Reading

Eurovision Song Contest app built and delivered via Google's cloud platform

Service providers Scalr and Grandcentrix used Google Compute Engine to build the app for the second largest television event Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

UCL turns to private cloud to solve its data storage woes

University College London is building a storage infrastructure in the cloud that will scale up to 100PB Continue Reading

Million Pound Startup competition launches to attract worldwide companies to London

Million Pound Startup – a global competition to bring tech companies to London’s Tech City – has launched today Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

O2 questions CWU redundancy claims as union threatens action

Mobile operator O2 questions Communication Workers Union (CWU) claim of 600 redundancies in outsourcing deal with Capita Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

O2 selects Capita for 10-year customer service outsource

Mobile operator O2 is outsourcing management of its customer services centres to Capita in a 10-year deal expected to be worth about £1.2bn Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Workplace IT services in flux: wherever, whenever, whatever

Enterprise computing is in upheaval as the emphasis shifts towards automation and user-device provision. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Martorelli and Wolfgang Benkel

CIO Interview: Graeme Hackland, CIO, Lotus F1 Team

Graeme Hackland, CIO of Lotus F1, has worked for the race car team for 16 years. He has seen major changes in IT both on and off the track Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Domino’s Pizza plans to move web services to the cloud

After using cloud for testing and development apps, Domino’s Pizza is now looking to move its web services to the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

SAP readies the Hana-powered enterprise cloud

SAP is making its Hana in-memory database available as a hosted service to power enterprise applications Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna and Cliff Saran

Adobe moves to cloud-based subscription model

Adobe has announced that it is to introduce a cloud-based subscription model for popular applications, including Photoshop Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Procter & Gamble could follow General Motors’ move in-house

US manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble is reportedly considering moving outsourced work in-house Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

SME Arcus brings AWS IaaS and PaaS to public sector with G-Cloud

UK SME Arcus Global has become the first certified Amazon Web Services reseller on the government’s third G-Cloud framework Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Salesforce.com targets communities

Salesforce.com says it wants to address communities with its software as a service (SaaS) platform Continue Reading

95% of local councils share services

Hundreds of local councils are sharing services as government cuts force them to fund new ways of providing services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Report into Post Office Horizon system expected in July

The findings of an independent investigation into the Post Office's Horizon accounting system are expected to be published in July Continue Reading

The Great Deverticalisation – part 5: Mind the GaaP

Politicians and government have the opportunity, through the power of open platforms, to take the lead in creating modern public services Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Jerry Fishenden & Alan Brown

ISG Outsourcing Index (EMEA)

The ISG Outsourcing Index provides a quarterly review of the latest sourcing industry data and trends. Continue Reading

Opinion split on whether to offshore IT to China

Relatively low costs and high levels of software skills give China immense potential when it comes to providing large businesses with IT services, but opinion is split on whether it is an option Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Case study: London's Olympic network from BT

After receiving an honourable mention in the European user awards for networking, Computer Weekly looks at the challenge of rolling out the network for the London Olympic Games in 2012 Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

The Great Deverticalisation - part 4: The role of the private sector

Why do we persist in running vertically integrated organisations when standardising many of these processes would free us up to do things so much better, and more cheaply? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson & Jerry Fishenden

Flying easyJet in the cloud

It’s been a few months since the European Commission announced its new strategy for unleashing the potential of cloud computing in Europe. So how are we doing? In this issue of CW Europe we explore how to best exploit the benefits of the cloud in Europe. Specifically examining how easyJet aligned the cloud with its business. Continue Reading

Scottish IT and digital businesses look elsewhere due to skills shortage

Scottish IT and digital businesses are struggling to fill job vacancies with over half recruiting from outside Scotland, according to ScotlandIS Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Southern Water contracts TCS for transformation

Southern Water is transforming customer service and revenue management through IT services from Tata Consultancy Services Continue Reading

Farewell to Logica brand as CGI completes UK integration

The Logica brand will disappear next week as buyer CGI migrates the services supplier's UK IT to CGI's own global system Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The Great Deverticalisation - part 3: New skills and structures in the public sector

Why do we persist in running vertically integrated organisations when standardising many of these processes would free us up to do things so much better, and more cheaply? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson & Jerry Fishenden

Warwickshire Council adopts Gmail

Warwickshire County Council is to complete a full Gmail roll-out across its 4,500 users next month, in a move that will deliver £250,000 in savings Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Majestic Wine swaps Microsoft for Intershop in ecommerce refresh

Majestic Wine is revamping its website with an InterShop 7 ecommerce engine, which replaces a legacy Microsoft Commerce Server system. Continue Reading

AstraZeneca opts for co-operation after IBM falls out

AstraZeneca has changed its approach to outsourcing to encourage co-operation with suppliers after its deal with IBM failed to deliver Continue Reading

By

• Lindsay Clark

Enterprise Security Architecture – an outsourcer's view

Alan Jenkins, chief security officer of outsourcing specialist, T Systems, explains the company's approach to enterprise security architecture. Continue Reading

Logicalis saves 2e2's UK managed services arm

Logicalis has taken over the European business of defunct IT services supplier 2e2, which went bust in January 2013, owing millions to creditors Continue Reading

Fifth of all IT services firms could disappear by 2014, says Gartner

Up to 20 of the world’s top 100 IT service providers could disappear by 2014 because of the tough economic conditions, says Gartner Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Special Report on Cognizant

This 7 page special report from Computer Weekly gives you the facts on Cognizant, its strategy, products and services and financial performance. Continue Reading

Universal Credit has the hallmarks of another IT failure

Charities, housing associations and consultancies have warned that the Department for Work and Pensions’ £2.2bn Universal Credit programme has all the hallmarks of another public sector IT disaster. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Tesco to host private cloud infrastructure within its internal datacentres

Tesco will run a private cloud infrastructure from its internal datacentre to host its website and retail related apps Continue Reading

British businesses are not making most of the cloud, study shows

British businesses have yet to make the most of cloud computing services because many are hesitant to adopt it Continue Reading

Action for Children takes fundraising to the cloud with Rackspace

Charity Action for Children has overcome its website traffic issues and has saved costs by using Rackspace cloud Continue Reading

Bad outsourcing decisions cause 63% of data breaches

Bad outsourcing decisions nearly two-thirds of data breaches investigated by security firm Trustwave in the past year Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IT budgets to grow in 2013 as economy bumps along

UK IT departments are planning to spend more on IT in 2013 despite the downturn, a worldwide survey of IT managers has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

European IT services spending priorities 2013

Find out the results of TechTarget's 2013 European services purchase intentions survey. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

In-house tape vs cloud archiving: What are the pros and cons?

Have cloud archiving services reached a tipping point that makes them cheaper and easier to manage than in-house tape archives? Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

CIO interview: David Matthewman, CIO, Open University

Three years after joining the Open University, CIO David Matthewman continues to push a strategic programme to deliver value and innovation Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Totaljobs hires public cloud services for agility, better performance

Totaljobs Group, the recruiter that runs Totaljobs.com, adopts AWS public cloud to improve IT performance and have an agile infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

How 3D printing impacts manufacturing

With the ability to create on-demand specialist tools, any initial investment in 3D printing technology could quickly pay for itself. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Capacity management most underestimated cloud problem

Capacity management is the most underestimated problem of cloud computing, says Morgan Stanley strategy director Evangelos Kotsovinos Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

EasyJet lifts off with Azure seat bookings

The Azure cloud has allowed Easyjet to enable web site and mobile users to check seat availability Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

The great deverticalisation – part 1: the street

Why do we persist in running vertically integrated organisations when standardising many of these processes would free us up to do things so much better, and more cheaply? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson & Jerry Fishenden

Amazon sales soar in 2012

Amazon sales rose 27% to $61bn (£39bn) in its 2012 results and 22% in its 2012 fourth quarter revenues to $21.27bn, compared with 2011 Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Windsor and Maidenhead council migrates services to cloud

Windsor and Maidenhead borough council will migrate critical services such as childcare, benefits and transport services to the cloud by 2014 Continue Reading

Enterprises bringing data back in-house for more flexibility, shows study

European enterprises are improving their internal datacentres and storing data in-house rather than on the external cloud Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

National Rail Enquiries puts web services on the public cloud

National Rail Enquiries is migrating applications that power its home page, online journey planner service and real-time service updates on to AWS cloud Continue Reading

Interview: Alan Clark, chairman, OpenStack Foundation

Alan Clark, chairman of the board of the OpenStack Foundation, talks to Computer Weekly about the future of cloud and the role of open source Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

UK will be 33,300 short of IT workers by 2050, finds research

The UK will be short of 33,300 IT workers in 2050 as a result of a skills shortage, an ageing workforce and a restrictive migration policy Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

GE uses big data to power machine services business

GE, one of the UK's largest manufacturers, is using big data analytics with data generated from machine sensors to predict maintenance needs Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Post Office wants to get to bottom of IT system allegations

A system that set out to modernise the Post Office in 1996 is under the spotlight after claims that Horizon accounting system is error prone Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA