Industry News

News articles supplied in conjunction with MCN Direct Newswire and Top-Consultant.com
PwC comes fourth in Sunday Times Best Companies survey
11 March 2010	PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), the UK’s largest professional services firm, has come first of the major professional services firms in the annual Sunday Times Best Big Companies to work for. The firm increased its position from seventh place last year. Ian Powell, PwC’s chairman and senior partner, commented: "This result is a testament to our people’s commitment to making PwC the leading professional services firm.” In the findings of the survey, PwC was praised for its commitment to staff development throughout the recession. It said: “During the past year, despite the economic difficulties, the firm has maintained its professional development programmes and even rolled out a company-wide women’s leadership scheme, admitting 16 women to partnership.” This is the third year running that the firm has maintained a two star rating indicating ‘outstanding performance’. 82% of staff said they were proud to work for PwC, while 80% said their work at PwC was stimulating and that their experience at the firm would give them great future prospects. PwC was also shortlisted in the Best for Leadership and Best for Innovation in Engagement categories and PwC leadership were ranked third overall nationally. PwC were recently ranked in 10th position in the Business Superbrands survey of the top 500 business brands – the highest position of any professional services firm. PwC were recognised in the UK’s Top 50 Where Women Want To Work for the fourth year running in 2009. In January the firm was listed in the Top 20 Companies in the Stonewall equality index at 15th place. For the past six consecutive years, students have voted PwC the Top Graduate employer. Source: Top-Consultant

Atos Origin strengthens its consulting practice
11 March 2010	Atos Origin has strengthened its consulting practice in the UK with the appointment of one Partner and three Associate Partners. “I am delighted to welcome our new joiners, who bring a wealth of experience and expertise from the market,” said Paula Sussex, Senior Vice President for Consulting at Atos Origin UK. “Our priority in 2010 is to help our clients to plan for growth in the private sector and to restructure service provision in the public sector. Our solution focus is on CIO advisory, finance transformation, financial control, information assurance and operational efficiency.” CIO Advisory Greg Smith joins as Associate Partner from Capgemini. He will work with the CIO advisory team to provide advice and guidance on how organisations can move from ‘heavier to lighter weight approaches’ such as agile development, cloud computing and Web 2.0 while ensuring that IT both enables and fully supports business objectives. At Capgemini, Greg provided advisory services to IT leaders across a range of public and private sector clients. He developed propositions on optimising the retained IT function following outsourcing, and the effective application of service orientation. Prior to consulting he held a number of senior management and IT roles in retail, distribution and professional service organisations, including Entertainment UK, where he played a key role in developing the digital and B2C businesses. Health Kevin Hunter joins as Associate Partner from PA Consulting. He will help to further develop the company’s footprint in national and local NHS organisations across England and extend its offerings around the whole system approach and integrated care. At PA Consulting, Kevin led business development into new market areas. During his ten years, he focussed on leading complex transformation programmes in health, central and local government, such as developing the Healthcare for London stroke strategy. Prior to PA, he spent seven years with Price Waterhouse delivering major public sector reform programmes in the UK and Hong Kong. Before his consultancy career, he held senior financial and business management roles for the Burton Group and Marley Tile Company. Enterprise Hugh McDowall joins as Partner from Accenture and Sanjay Chawla as Associate Partner from Perot. They will be responsible for developing new business opportunities and working with our existing clients in the CPG/food, distribution, manufacturing and pharmaceuticalmarkets. Hugh joined from Accenture, where he held a Partner position for 11 years, primarily practising in the area of strategy and business architecture with specific leadership roles in CRM and pricing and profit optimisation. Hugh has deep experience in designing and delivering business transformation programmes for consumer products companies across Europe, specialising in front office capabilities and was responsible for developing go-to-market offerings such as financial performance analytics, pricing and trade terms and business intelligence. Prior to Accenture, Hugh held senior sales and marketing positions at Procter & Gamble, Diageo and Allied Domecq and is recognised as having deep knowledge of the beverage and food industries. Sanjay comes from Perot Systems where he was the Head of Business Consulting for the EMEA region. Prior to that, Sanjay worked with PA Consulting, FreeMarkets (Ariba), i2, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has extensive background in operational performance improvement, business and IT strategy alignment, and IT-enabled business transformation, across a range of sectors in sales and delivery management. Source: Top-Consultant

MCG announces resilient results for 2009
11 March 2010	Underlying operating margin at level with 2008 despite revenue shortfall. Management Consulting Group PLC (MCG), the global professional services group, reported a 19.4% drop in revenue to £276.5m for the year ended 31 December 2009. The group, which comprises three independently managed practices: Alexander Proudfoot; Ineum Consulting; and Kurt Salmon Associates, said underlying operating profit was also down 19.3% to £28.0m (2008: £34.7m), however the company reported a profit £9.6m, compared with a £15.9m loss in 2008. Underlying operating margin unchanged at 10.1% (2008: 10.1%), the company said. Alan Barber, Executive Chairman, commented: "2009 has been a challenging year for MCG, but one during which good progress has been made to establish a strong platform for future development. In line with many other professional services businesses the Group was adversely affected by the unprecedented environment that existed in the world economy over the past year and a half. We continued to take decisive action to protect the bottom line while leaving the Group in a sound state to take advantage of the economic upturn as and when it arises. The business is showing encouraging signs in early 2010" MCG said that since the final quarter of 2009 the tough economic climate has eased to a degree and it looks forward to better conditions in 2010. Kurt Salmon Associates returned to profitability in the second half of 2009 and Alexander Proudfoot has significantly more leads for new business than six months ago. Ineum Consulting continues to trade well, particularly in its French heartland. The number of employees in MCG has fallen from a high of around 2,350 in June 2008 to below 1,650 at the end of 2009, and the Group now operates from a far slimmer portfolio of offices. Performance by consultancy Kurt Salmon Associates was loss making in the period ended June 2009. However, as the company forecasted at the time of the half-year results, the consultancy staged a recovery in the second half of the year, with cost cutting measures and encouraging signs of new business generation in both sectors contributing to its return to profit for the year as a whole. Alexander Proudfoot reported good results in the first half of 2009 reflecting the strong order book brought forward into the year from 2008. However, as the group reported in November, the new business usually seen following the summer slowdown did not materialise this year and, as a result, second half revenue was lower than originally expected. Alexander Proudfoot is a business that generally performs well when the world economy is experiencing either an upswing or a downturn, as companies require throughput and revenue maximisation or cost reduction projects respectively. In 2009 potential clients tended towards a "wait and see" approach and, as a result, prospective business was often deferred. Although Alexander Proudfoot ended 2009 with an order book significantly lower than it started the year, this has improved in recent weeks and there is room for cautious optimism that the spring 2010 selling season will be more productive and that the second half of the year will therefore see trading return to more traditional volumes. Overall Ineum Consulting had a very satisfactory year, although its reported results for 2009 benefited more than the other divisions from the continued strength of the Euro. It has been the Group's most consistent performer throughout the year, reporting profit 25.7% higher than 2008. Particularly successful has been the division's well-diversified French business and in particular its public sector division which has benefited from continued French governmental expenditure during the recent economic crisis and its CIO advisory practice. Outside France, where the division relies far more heavily on the financial services industry for its revenue, business was slightly less robust although this has improved during recent months. Source: Top-Consultant

MCA report: UK consulting industry “generates benefits worth £56bn to UK clients”
5 March 2010	A new Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Report demonstrates value of consultancy. A new Management Consultancies Association (MCA) report released today reveals that the UK consulting industry generates annual benefits worth £56bn to UK clients. The MCA’s report The Value of Consulting, based on pioneering research involving analysis of 1800 consulting projects [1] and in-depth interviews with 30 clients, found that the majority of projects in both the public and private sectors generate financial returns of between two and 20 times their cost. The MCA report provides a simple yet meaningful and authoritative way to quantify the value consultants add, to both their clients and the wider economy. Key findings from the MCA report indicate that in 2008: • The UK consulting industry spent more than £180million on innovation, £85million on training and £80million on pro bono work for charities. • 58 per cent of clients say they are very satisfied with the work their consultants do; 41 per cent are satisfied. • For these very satisfied clients, the value of the benefits of using consultancy was between two and 20 times its cost or, on average, around 10 times the fees paid2. This suggests that the benefits of using consultants are worth around £56bn to UK clients, a return of £6 for every £1 invested. Alan Leaman, Chief Executive, MCA said: “Too many conversations about consulting start and end with the assumption that it is just a cost; we can now see that there is a significant return on this investment as well. This work is based exclusively on the views and experience of clients and the methodology was cautious. The UK is substantially better off because it has a vibrant and competitive consulting industry.” Experts involved in the development of the report The MCA worked with a steering committee of industry experts to develop a robust and objective research methodology for this project. The steering committee was made up of senior representatives from the consulting industry, from both MCA member and non-member firms, and Tim Morris, Professor of Management Studies at Oxford University, who specialises in professional service firms. Tim Morris, Professor of Management Studies at Oxford University, commented: “This was an important but difficult project to carry out. It has involved clarifying how we can understand the ways in which consultants can add value to clients, developing a robust model to reflect this and then operationalising it to generate results, which as far as we can tell, stand up to critical review. As a result, the findings and implications are worth taking seriously.” Source: Top-Consultant

TCS wins contract from new UK pension authority
5 March 2010	PADA intends to sign a contract for scheme administration services with TCS. The UK’s Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) has confirm that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been named as the successful bidder for the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) scheme administration services. PADA intends to sign a contract with TCS later this month. The contract is divided into two stages and runs for ten years, with possible extensions for up to a further five years. The first stage will run to October 2010, allowing TCS to begin the activity required to set up and administer NEST. Prior to the expiry of the first stage, a decision will be made on whether to proceed with the contract for the remainder of the contract term. Angela Eagle, Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society, said: “I congratulate TCS on their success in the competition to provide the scheme administration services for NEST, which will be central to the new pensions landscape. Together with automatic enrolment, NEST will help millions of people save for their retirement, with a guaranteed employer and Government contribution.” The national, trust-based pension scheme NEST is to help millions of people on low and moderate incomes, who do not have access to a good-quality workplace pension, save for their retirement. Source: TOp-Consultant

Accenture wins 5-year IT and application management contract from UK broadcaster
3 March 2010	Under a five-year agreement, Accenture will provide ITV plc with core IT service management, infrastructure. and application management services. ITV, one of UK’s leading free-to-air broadcaster, plans to transition its desktop services, help desk, and data centre management to Accenture later this year. Financial terms of the five-year agreement were not disclosed. Accenture demonstrated its industry vision and capabilities to ITV at the Accenture Innovation Centre for Broadband, a specialized facility based in Rome that serves clients who seek innovative video solutions that can be quickly transformed from ideas to reality. At the Centre, a team of specialists design and deploy complex solutions for leading media organizations across Europe. “ITV is transforming its business, and working with Accenture will provide us with the flexibility we need as our business changes,” said Richard Cross, Group Technology Director, ITV. “Our selection of Accenture affords us access to world-class capabilities that the Accenture Innovation Centre for Broadband can provide. Their deep experience in web TV, over-the-top services and the digital supply chain will help us as we look to transform our business.” “ITV selected Accenture for two key reasons: Accenture’s ability to deliver the IT infrastructure and applications management services needed and Accenture’s deep experience in the broadcast industry, and our innovative vision in the areas of digital TV and the digital home,” said Stuart Orr, ITV client account director, Accenture. “I am delighted to team with ITV to support its business as it changes over the coming years.” Source: Top-Consultant

Logica delivers annual results in line with guidance
3 March 2010	Outsourcing revenue increase of 9% is offset by decline of 10% in consulting and professional services. Logica reported a revenue increase of 3% to £3.7 billion (2008 actual: £3.6 billion) for the year ended 31 December 2009, representing a pro forma decline of 3% in line with the company’s guidance. The company said strong growth in the UK was offset by declines in other geographies, namely the Benelux region, which remained Logica’s most difficult market. In the Nordics, strong growth in Finland was offset by the weakness in Sweden. The second half in France saw a similar year on year decline to the first half, while the International business was stable on last year in the second half. Both France and the International business showed modest growth in the fourth quarter. Adjusted operating profit was £272 million (2008 actual: £267 million), representing an adjusted operating margin of 7.4% (2008 actual: 7.5%). Logica said the decrease in operating profit to £66 million (2008 actual: £86 million) was the result of higher exceptional items, including charges related to the planned disposal of a business in the Benelux region. The company said that it anticipates no further restructuring costs in 2010. At group level, Logica said growth in Energy and Utilities, Public Sector and Telecoms and Media was offset by the decline in Financial Services and IDT. Telecoms and Media was the best performing sector, with exceptionally strong growth in the second half in the Nordics and the UK. The Financial Services sector remained the weakest sector, although there were signs of stabilisation in the second half. Public Sector and Energy and Utilities benefited from a strong first half, with the second half being broadly stable against a strong 2008 comparative. Orders for the year were 4% ahead of 2008 on a pro forma basis, resulting in a book to bill of 114% (2008: 106%). Logica said that while clients’ discretionary spend continues to be constrained, the company has seen some stabilisation in the volume of opportunities and pricing levels in consulting and professional services in the second half of 2009. Commenting further on the state of the market, Logica said it continues to see an increase of outsourcing opportunities in its commercial sectors. In the Public Sector, it continues to see a good pipeline of opportunities across Europe, despite the fact that it expects UK public sector decision-making to slow in 2010. Despite the pressures on European governments to reduce spending, there continue to be opportunities to deliver cost reductions through outsourcing over the medium term, the company said. The outsourcing market remains competitive, with margins mainly driven by execution excellence, it added. Looking ahead, Logica said its order backlog will drive continued growth in Outsourcing throughout the year and the company expects a gradual stabilisation in consulting and professional services. Logica expects revenue to decline modestly in the first half, with full year revenue expected to be at a similar level to 2009, on a constant currency basis. The effect of its continued cost reduction programme should offset the full year impact of volume and pricing reductions agreed during 2009, maintaining margins in a stable revenue environment in 2010. Source: Top-Consultant

Capgemini sees annual revenues down 5.5%
3 March 2010	Capgemini said its business demonstrates resilience in a particularly difficult environment. Capgemini reported total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2009 of € 8.37 billion, down 3.9% on 2008 published revenues. On a like-for-like basis (constant Group structure and exchange rates) revenues fell 5.5% on last year. Bookings totaled € 9.28 billion during the year, down 2% on comparable figures for last year. Outsourcing Services – and particularly BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) – proved particularly dynamic, with a 14% surge in bookings. Bookings in the other businesses, more sensitive to the economic context, remained at acceptable levels, with an average book-to-bill ratio of 1.08. At € 595 million, operating margin represents 7.1% of 2009 consolidated revenues, a limited fall on last year and in line with the announced objective. Outsourcing Services even reported a further improvement in profitability to 7.2%, representing an increase of 1.8 points. Net other operating expense is € 262 million and mainly comprises restructuring costs (€ 213 million) necessitated by the drop in demand. As a result, operating profit is only € 333 million. The net financial expense is € 93 million and was heavily affected by the fall in short-term interest rates, which led to a marked decrease in returns on cash investments. After the income tax expense of € 61 million, Group profit for the year is € 178 million. In 2009, Capgemini also launched two major initiatives to prepare for the market recovery, while strengthening its productivity. Firstly, the creation of five global service offerings in highly promising market segments should enable the Group to increase its related bookings by € 800 million in 2010: data management (Business Information Management) and applications development and maintenance (Application Lifecycle Services) launched in 2009; applications testing (Testing), smart meters and networks (Smart Energy Services), and assisting clients in the virtualization and cloud computing era (Infostructure Transformation Services) to be set up before the end of March. In addition, Capgemini launched a two-year plan aimed at optimizing its productivity and further improving its competitiveness. Outlook for 2010 Capgemini said the IT services market appears to be stabilizing in the first half of 2010. The Group has, in particular, noted a significant increase in the appetite of clients for larger projects and, in several geographical areas, a turnaround in the attrition rate, which generally reflects an upturn in activity. As comparative figures for the first half of 2009 remain high, Capgemini will record a further fall in revenues in the first half of 2010, before a return to growth in the second half of the year. For 2010 as a whole, the Group forecasts a slight contraction of between 2 and 4% on a like-for-like basis, with an operating margin rate of between 6 and 6.5%. Operations by major region: • France – which retains its number-one spot among the Group’s regions – reported a 6.1% drop in revenues like-for-like, although it is interesting to note the slight rise enjoyed by Technology Services. The operating margin rate of 6.2% resisted well, reporting a decrease of less than one point; • The United Kingdom and Ireland, the only major region to report an increase in revenues like-for-like (+7.5%), benefited from the importance of Outsourcing Services and a solid presence in the public sector. This region improved its profitability to become the most profitable of the major regions (8.9%); • Revenues in North America – the epicenter of the financial crisis - reported a slump of 8.5% like-for-like, but only 4.7% on published figures, due to the appreciation of the US dollar. The resistance of the operating margin was remarkable, reaching 4.9%, down only 0.6 points on 2008; • The crisis was particular acute in Benelux, where revenues plummeted 12.9% like-for-like. While this region suffered a marked fall in profitability, it nonetheless maintained an operating margin rate of 8.7% for the year and even a double-digit rate in the second half; • The other regions reported a fall in revenues of 7.6% on average, like-for-like (although Italy and the Asia-Pacific region enjoyed remarkable growth). These regions reported an average operating margin rate of 10.4%, spurred by the profitability of the Asia-Pacific region, the Group’s leading resource center. Operations by business: • Outsourcing Services, which accounted for 36.4% of Group revenues, played its stabilizing role to the full. It reported growth of 0.3% like-for-like, despite the scheduled decrease in revenues generated by a major North-American contract. The operating margin rate improved to 7.2%; • Technology Services reported a 7.4% fall in revenues, like-for-like and an operating margin rate down on 2008 at 6.9%; • Sogeti, whose activities are exposed to economic cycles by their very nature, reported an 8.3% drop in revenues, like-for-like, but maintained a satisfactory operating margin level (9.7%), thanks to good resource management and price resistance; • Consulting Services, which are also particularly sensitive to the economic environment, reported a decrease of 14.7%, like-for-like; thanks to tight control over operating items, it managed to maintain a quite remarkable operating margin rate of 11.4%, down only 1.4 points on 2008. The total headcount is 90,516 at December 31, 2009, compared to 91,621 at end-2008. Primarily concentrated in India, but also in Poland, Latin America, China, Morocco and Vietnam, offshore employees represented 31% of the total Group headcount (i.e. 28,000 employees) at December 31, 2009. Source: Top-Consultant

IBM PROMOTES SALESMAN TO LEAD UK BUSINESS
24 February 2010	IBM has signalled a major sales drive with the appointment of sales veteran Stephen Leonard to the post of chief executive in the UK & Ireland. Leonard returns to the UK after 15 months as vice president of system sales for North America. He previously held UK and EMEA roles in IBM's system and technology group. Since joining IBM in 1990, his sales management positions have included business partner sales and corporate enterprise sales. Leonard replaces Brendon Riley, who was UK CEO for two years and has moved to become general manager of IBM's Northeast Europe region. IBM describes Leonard's responsibilities as looking after "one of the corporation's fastest growing portfolios worldwide" with a workforce of about 20,000 employees. An early win for IBM since Leonard's tenure began on 12 January is with UK airline BMI, which is working with IBM Global Business Services' travel & transport group to transform its kiosk, web and mobile check-in systems at airports across the UK and Ireland. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

HP-LED CONSORTIUM SECURES £575m MoD DEAL
24 February 2010	The Atlas consortium, led by HP Enterprise Services (formerly EDS), has been awarded an $890 million (£575 million) extension to the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) contract it signed with the MoD in 2005 to create a single defence information infrastructure. The latest deal is designed to improve global collaboration and communication between the MoD and its counterparts in allied countries. It requires the Atlas consortium - led by HP and including Fujitsu, EADS Defence and Security Systems, General Dynamics and Logica - to replace legacy systems with 42,000 computer terminals that will support 60,000 personnel in restricted and secret domains. The DII programme is already providing operational support to the UK's front-line troops and the MoD, and is expected to be used by 300,000 people in 2,000 locations when the contract ends in 2015. Huw Owen, CEO of the Atlas consortium and UK vice president of HP Enterprise Services Defence and Security, said: "It is critical to national defence that the MoD and its allies have highly secure and real-time global access to the information they need. This latest contract enhancement sends the market a strong message about the trust that the MoD places in Atlas to deliver this critical capability." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

FUJITSU NEARS DEAL ON JOB CUTS
24 February 2010	Industrial action at Fujitsu has been suspended after proposals made by the company through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to the Unite union were accepted. The proposals will be voted on by staff this week with a final outcome to the dispute due to be announced on Friday. The clash began after Fujitsu announced last September that it would cut 1,200 of its 12,500 UK staff to achieve cost-cutting targets. This, along with a pay freeze and planned changes to the company's pension schemes, led to 320 of Unite's 1,620 members in Fujitsu taking strike action. Fujitsu says that under its latest proposals, only 23 staff who would like to continue working at the company now face the risk of compulsory redundancy, and that they will leave at the end of March - the previous deadline was the end of January - unless jobs can be found for them. Fujitsu further proposes that it will enter discussion on pay reviews in areas of the company where Unite has collective pay schemes and that it will make a defined-contributions pension scheme part of employee contracts. With union acceptance of the proposals, it is likely that Fujitsu staff will follow suit this week and that the company will return to business as usual. This will include fulfilling a new contract with the Department for Work and Pensions that is expected to be worth £330 million over six years and covers transformation of the department's desktop environment and outsourcing services for 140,000 desktop devices. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

CAPGEMINI SUFFERS STEEP SLIDE IN PROFIT
24 February 2010	Capgemini's profits more than halved in 2009, despite a slip of only 4% in revenue. The company blames the consulting and IT services markets for the drop in revenue, which was partially offset by its stable outsourcing business. In 2009, Capgemini's net profit was €178 million (£156 million), down from €451 million in 2008. Revenue fell to €8.4 billion. But the company did well to hold its operating margin at €595 million, representing 7.1% of 2009 revenue, down from 8.5% in the previous year. Globally, Capgemini UK & Ireland was the only major region to report an increase in revenue, up 8% mainly on the strength of outsourcing services and its presence in the public sector. France fell 6%, North America 9% and Benelux 13%. Revenue from consulting services fell 15%, but the company achieved an exceptional 11.4% operating margin due to tight control of operating costs. Outsourcing revenue was up a marginal 0.3%, with technology services and Sogeti showing a fall in revenue. Capgemini's two main corporate officers, Serge Kampf and Paul Hermelin, agreed to pay cuts last year, reporting that they were "sensitive to the impact of the 2009 results on the group managers' compensation". Looking ahead, the company expects a further fall in revenue in the first half of 2010, as comparative figures for 2009 were high, but predicts a return to growth in the second half of the year. For 2010 as a whole, Capgemini is forecasting a revenue fall of 2-4% and an operating margin of 6-6.5%. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Atos Origin achieves 2009 operating margin goal
24 February 2010	The company increased its operating margin by more than 80 basis points.Atos Origin, an international IT services company, announced its results for the full year ending 31 December 2009, reporting revenue of EUR 5.13 billion, down 3.7% compared to 2008 at constant scope and exchange rates. Operating margin reached EUR 290 million, representing 5.7% of revenue and up more than 80 basis points compared to 2008. At same scope and exchange rates, operating margin increased by 13%. Atos’ objective was to increase its operating margin rate by 50 to 100 basis points during the year. Net income for the year was EUR 32 million after several non recurring items, including a EUR 154 million company restructuring charge, compared to EUR 23 million in 2008. Adjusted net income was EUR 196 million, up by 9% on 2008. Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos Origin declared: “Despite a declining economy in 2009, the Group achieved its objectives. The operating margin increased by more than 80 basis points and the cash flow generation improved to reduce the net debt by 165 million euros. “The transformation of the Group, in particular through its deep reorganisation and the TOP Program, allows us to pursue in 2010 according to our plan the improvement of the profitability and the reduction of the financial debt.” Orders in 2009 totalled EUR 5.15 billion in 2009, down 3% organically compared to 2008. At 31 December 2009, full backlog was EUR 6.8 billion, representing 1.3 year of revenue. This amount includes the cancellation of almost EUR 400 million due to Arcandor’s bankruptcy. The full qualified pipeline was EUR 3 billion, up 14% compared to 2008, mainly thanks to HTTS and Medical BPO; Systems Integration showed a slight increase. Due to the Arcandor bankruptcy, Atos expects in 2010 a slight revenue organic decrease, however at a lesser extent than the one seen in 2009. Revenue by Service Line Representing 5% of revenues, Consulting revenue reached EUR 248 million down 23.7% at same scope and exchange rates compared to 2008. Throughout the year, this activity faced tough market conditions, in particular due to delays or cancellations of projects from large customers. However, during the fourth quarter, Consulting grew sequentially by 14.1%. Managed Services revenue, 38% of total revenue, reached EUR 1,953 million up 4% compared to 2008. This performance was led by the United Kingdom which grew organically by 22 per cent. Increased focus on cross and up-selling in most geographies resulted in organic growth. Systems Integration accounted for 37% of company revenue and reached EUR 1,894 million, down 11.2% organically mainly due to the decline in Time & Materials activities. High Tech Transactional Services (HTTS) reported revenue of EUR 879 million, up 3.5% compared to 2008, representing 17% of company revenue. Medical BPO revenue, which accounts for 3% of Atos' total revenue, was EUR 153 million, up 3.5% at constant scope and exchange rates. This business is fully operated in the United Kingdom only with increasing volumes with all the major clients, particularly for occupational health services. Revenue by geographical area The United Kingdom reported organic growth of 7.4% thanks to the contribution of Managed Services. France saw a slight decline of 3.0%; Rest of the World declined 4% thanks to the growth in Asia. Benelux reported a decline of 13.6% affected throughout the year by the weight of cyclical activities, namely Consulting and Time & Materials. Germany Central Europe / EMA was down by 6.7% and Iberia / South America by 10.1% due mainly to the negative impact of cyclical activities. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Moorhouse and partners win place on public sector procurement framework
15 February 2010	Moorhouse Consulting and its partners – the Moorhouse Consortium - have been awarded a place on the coveted Buying Solutions framework agreement - Management Consultancy and Accounting Services. A place on the framework agreement means the Consortium’s combined specialist skills will be directly accessible to the whole of UK Public Services, including Central and Local Government, NHS and the wider Public Sector looking for consulting solutions in the UK. Dom Moorhouse, managing director of consortium lead Moorhouse Consulting, said it was a huge achievement, and his team were looking forward to continuing to support their public sector clients through the challenging times that lie ahead. Dom said: “There is not a single public sector leader in the UK who isn’t feeling the pressure to drive change and find more effective ways of working. Between us we have a wealth of experience in helping government leaders improve what they do; we already count the Department for Transport, Transport for London, Ministry of Justice, Department of Health, Connecting for Health, DirectGov and the Crown Prosecution Service amongst our valued clients. We now look forward to extending our services to the wider public sector and helping even more leaders reach their strategic goals.” The Consortium will be offering its strategic and delivery services in the areas of ‘organisation and change’, ‘procurement’ and ‘project and programme management’, and the specialist organisations working with Moorhouse – Hay Group, BiP, Lane4, Molten, PIPC, DS&A, buyingTeam, RedRay, L.E.K. Consulting, Suiko, TPI, and ERM - have over 1300 UK consultants at their disposal. They are expert in disciplines such as strategy development, change management, organisational design, leadership coaching, cost reduction, BPR and lean, eProcurement, sustainability, strategic partnering and outsourcing, category management and portfolio, programme and project management (PPM). This ‘consortium of experts’ is a genuine alternative to the traditional supply model and, as such, a real ‘Value for Money’ differentiator to public sector organisations. Dom explains: “The Moorhouse Consortium provides equivalent scale, expert skills and breadth of disciplines offered by the ‘Big Firms’, yet with the added benefits of our more tailored, personal approach and the deep specialist expertise of our individual partners.” Source: Top-Consultant

Hudson & Yorke joins MCA
15 February 2010	MCA members represent around 70% of the UK consulting sector by fee income. The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has announce that Hudson & Yorke has joined the Association. Hudson & Yorke specialises in providing large end-user organisations with Strategy, Sourcing and Governance services in the business-critical area of telecommunications and networks. It provides a comprehensive range of consultancy services covering the full lifecycle of any major telecommunications contract from pre-contract strategy to contract negotiation and service delivery. “Hudson & Yorke views MCA accreditation as an important statement regarding the integrity, professionalism and maturity of our consultancy service offering,” says Harry McDermott, CEO of Hudson & Yorke. “We are fully aligned with the ethics and code of practice espoused by the MCA and we consider it important to demonstrate this through our membership. We were impressed with the depth of the MCA’s assessment of our business and the degree of rigour given to our membership application. We are delighted to have been welcomed into the organisation.” MCA members represent around 70% of the UK consulting sector by fee income and membership has become synonymous with quality and professionalism in consulting. All members adhere to the MCA Code of Practice that provides the consultancy buyer with reassurance that MCA firms maintain the highest standards. The MCA also offers a wide range of activities and member services, and provides a platform for government and industry stakeholders and the media to engage in debate with consultants about wider issues facing the UK economy. “We are delighted to welcome Hudson & Yorke to membership of the MCA,” says Alan Leaman, CEO of the MCA. “Management consulting is in the spotlight in 2010 and a major theme for us will be the value that consulting generates for clients and the economy as a whole. As the recession starts to recede and companies look to the future, it is great to see firms such as Hudson & Yorke deciding to join us and acquire the badge of quality provided by membership of the MCA. “All our members adhere to our rigorous Code of Practice enabling buyers of consultancy to purchase their services with confidence. They also provide enormous support and input for our role as the representative voice for the industry.” Source: Top-Consultant

Cognizant sees full year revenue grow by 16%
15 February 2010	The company is provides guidance for 2010 revenue growth of at least 20%. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation reported revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 rose to $902.7 million, up 20% from $753.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Net income was $144.0 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, compared to $112.3 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. "Despite a very difficult economy, Cognizant delivered strong results with 16% annual revenue growth. The investments we made in our business leave us in an even stronger position than when we entered 2009,” said Francisco D’Souza, President and CEO of Cognizant. "During the year, we grew our workforce by more than 16,700 people, improved our employee utilization, strengthened our client partnerships, and brought new services and capabilities to market. We believe Cognizant is set to deliver robust performance in 2010 and will continue to set new standards for our industry." Revenue for 2009 increased to $3.279 billion, up 16% from $2.816 billion for 2008. GAAP net income was $535.0 million, or $1.78 per diluted share, compared to $430.8 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, for 2008. Cognizant is forecasting first quarter 2010 revenue to be at least $935 million, with diluted EPS expected to be $0.48. Fiscal 2010 revenue is expected to be at least $3.935 billion, up at least 20% compared to 2009, with diluted EPS expected to be at least $2.03. “Cognizant delivered exceptional performance in 2009. A continued focus on operational excellence, combined with aggressive hiring in the latter part of last year, leaves us well positioned for a strong 2010,” said Gordon Coburn, Chief Financial and Operating Officer. “In addition, we further strengthened our balance sheet in 2009 with our cash, short- and long-term investments increasing by over $210 million during the fourth quarter, and over $625 million for the full year, to a total of approximately $1.55 billion.” Source: Top-Consultant

CSC reports increases in profitability and new business awards
15 February 2010	The company reported new business awards of $6.8 billion for the quarter and $14.9 billion through three quarters, an increase of 17% over the previous year. CSC reported third quarter fiscal 2010 revenue of $4.0 billion and fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.36 compared to third quarter fiscal 2009 revenue of $4.0 billion and EPS of $1.06, a 28% EPS increase over last year. Commenting on the results, CSC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Laphen said, “Despite the sluggish pace of the worldwide economic recovery, our revenue held firm both sequentially and year-over-year as our margin rates and earnings continue to improve. I was particularly pleased with our new business awards of $6.8 billion, significantly above last quarter and last year. On a year-to-date basis, we are $2.2 billion ahead of last year and well positioned to meet our guidance expectations of $17-$18 billion in new business awards.” For the quarter, the new business awards totaled $6.8 billion. Across the three lines of business, North American Public Sector (NPS) contributed $0.8 billion, Business Solutions and Services (BSS) reported $0.8 billion, and Managed Services Sector (MSS) closed $5.2 billion of new business including the previously announced contract with Zurich Financial Services and the 5-year renewal and expansion of the Raytheon contract. “The market trend towards increased Outsourcing continues, as evidenced by our MSS bookings,” said Laphen, “and this underlines one of our core competencies in delivering customer value. We expect this trend to fuel sequential growth in the fourth quarter. In BSS, our Verticals show encouraging growth signs, particularly in transformational and compliance projects, and this is expected to contribute to fourth quarter growth. We anticipate our NPS business will return to positive growth with the awarding of delayed contracts and closure of other opportunities, delivering mid single digit growth for the full year in this sector.” NPS revenue was $1.48 billion, MSS revenue was $1.62 billion, BSS revenue was $0.89 billion. These amounts were comparable to last year’s results. In constant currency, MSS was down 5.3% and BSS was down 8.4%. Collectively, CSC’s commercial lines of business, MSS and BSS, realized sequential growth of 3%. The company re-affirmed its guidance for fiscal year 2010 anticipating revenue in the $16.0 – $16.5 billion range, EPS in the higher end of the $4.80 - $5.00 range, and free cash flow equal or greater than 90% of net income. Source: Top-Consultant

Leading UK Lean consultancy establishes an Ireland branch
15 February 2010	S A Partners, the UK’s longest standing Lean Enterprise consultancy, has announced the opening of a new branch in Ireland. Lean Enterprise is a methodology for improving business performance. It focuses on increasing value for customers by maximising process efficiency and reducing waste – whether physical waste, wasteful activity or untapped opportunity. The company already works closely with Irish businesses including C&C Group – producers of Magners cider – which appointed S A Partners to help it not only to implement Lean principles, but also to develop a skilled internal resource that could sustain and build on the improvements made. C&C’s IT & Continuous Improvement Director, Shane Hughes commented: “S A Partners has provided leadership and technical skills that have helped us to embrace and sustain a Lean approach to doing business. We work with them as strategic partners, not consultants, and this subtle difference is the key value they add to an organisation.” S A Partners has also established close ties with the Irish Centre for Business Excellence and with Cork-based online learning provider Leading Edge Group. Director of S A Partners Ireland, Chris Butterworth commented: “We believe we have a distinctive offering that goes beyond our consulting expertise. S A Partners has access to the latest academic research on Lean and offers learning programmes that enable our clients to take ownership of their continuous improvement going forward. We hope that by establishing a base in Ireland we can develop our client relationships further and, if successful, recruit local people to join our growing business.” S A Partners Ireland office is located in Dublin and opened in January 2010. Interested local and national media are encouraged to speak with Chris Butterworth for an overview of the company’s plans or to discuss how Lean Management techniques are helping Irish companies. Source: Top-Consultant

Gartner: Thought leadership marketing can be a powerful tool for IT services providers
15 February 2010	Once the preserve of large consultancy firms, TLM is rapidly becoming an established field within marketing. Thought leadership marketing (TLM) can be a powerful tool for improved marketing success in IT services, according to Gartner, Inc. While thought leadership has been used by consulting firms for a long time — often accounting for as much as 20 percent of marketing expenditure — an organized discipline of TLM is only now emerging, allowing marketers to use this as a manageable tool to drive business. Gartner defines TLM as the giving — for free or at a nominal charge — of information or advice that a client will value so as to create awareness of the outcome that a company’s product or service can deliver, in order to position and differentiate that offering and stimulate demand for it. "The principle of TLM is simple enough: You give away a little valuable intellectual property to establish your potential usefulness to the client, in the expectation that the client will use your expertise and services" said Rolf Jester, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Its essence is to show, rather than tell what a company can do, and to do so in a way that positions and differentiates that company’s offering for the chosen target audience" Jester cited some examples of leading IT services organizations that use TLM * Under the heading "Capgemini Point of View — the way we see it" Capgemini publishes future-oriented "TechnoVision" documents for vertical industries. * Deloitte’s many activities in this category include a series of debates published on its website and publicized via e-mail, drawing out opposing views on current key business issues and highlighting considerations that executives need to take into account * IBM, among its many other activities, maintains a substantial "Institute of Business Value" to publish business research. Gartner’s review of the TLM activities of IT services providers has shown three types of program. These are not mutually exclusive but will often be combined: * Opportunistic. This type of program tends to be short-term and promotional-campaign focused. It boosts interest in and therefore sales of a specific offering. * Door-opening. This type of program can help establish or expand permission to play and is ongoing, although it evolves as acceptance grows to build visibility and credibility in the market. * Brand support. This is the most sustained type of TLM program and is used to reinforce the brand promise and image. Regardless of the programs employed, Gartner analysts said that the company’s brand and positioning must form the basis for the development of TLM strategy, and that strategy must be kept in alignment with the evolving direction and capability of the service firm. "A clear business plan, driven by the brand and positioning strategy, and accepted widely by multiple levels of leadership, is the essential starting point" said Christine Adams, managing vice president at Gartner. "External intelligence on competitive activity is critical, as is a good understanding of what is already being done in your company and why." Source: Top-Consultant

TPI Index finds outsourcing market in Europe surged during Q4
15 February 2010	The value of outsourcing contracts awarded in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) surged during the fourth quarter of 2009, contributing significantly to the turn of the global market, according to TPI, a sourcing data and advisory firm. The 4Q09 EMEA TPI Index, which tracks commercial outsourcing contracts valued at €20 million or more, showed Total Contract Value (TCV) in the region hit €12.4 billion in the last three months of the year, an increase of 135 percent compared with the previous quarter and 61 percent year-on-year. EMEA’s strong performance in the quarter drove the global market and contrasted sharply with a modest sequential improvement in the Americas and a decline in Asia Pacific. Fourth-quarter TCV in the region was just shy of the level achieved in the second quarter of 2008, the last quarter before the downturn in the sourcing market began, and mega-deal TCV reached €4.7 billion, the highest level in six quarters in EMEA. However, as in other regions of the world, the strong quarterly performance was not enough to offset the effects of the global recession and the pause in outsourcing decision-making on full-year results. EMEA’s €29.3 billion of TCV for 2009 represented a 21 percent year-over-year decline and was the lowest annual total for the region since 2006. In the United Kingdom – the world’s second most mature outsourcing market after the United States – full-year TCV fell by half from its 2008 level. In addition, despite the improvement in mega-deals, the overall market shift to smaller value deals continued. More than 70 percent of all contracts awarded in the broader market in 2009 were valued at under €80 million, the highest in EMEA outsourcing history. “The fourth quarter showed clear signs of recovery, but as expected, the recession took a toll on the full-year results,” said Duncan Aitchison, Partner and President, EMEA, TPI. “The market clearly bottomed in the first half of 2009 but managed to turn in the second half of the year. While we don’t expect a bounce back to pre-recession levels, we are maintaining a positive outlook for 2010 as the market starts to show momentum in key industry verticals and signs of steady recovery in the broader market.” IT Outsourcing (ITO) dominated EMEA market activity in the fourth quarter. TCV in this category was up 127 percent from the previous quarter and 62 percent year-over-year, and at €10 billion marked the best quarterly ITO performance in more than four years. Business process outsourcing (BPO) TCV in the region grew 214 percent compared to the third quarter and 57 percent year-on-year. For the year, however, BPO TCV fell 45 percent in the region, its worst showing since 2002. The three industry sectors that have historically led the outsourcing market in EMEA showed significant improvement during the second half of the year and were integral to the overall regional performance. The TCV of contracts awarded in Financial Services, driven by mega-deal activity, increased 57 percent from the first half of the year, while in Telecom & Media it increased 198 percent on the strength of one significant transaction and in Manufacturing it was up 7 percent. Source: Top-Consultant

Atos Origin launches Cloud and Green IT services
28 January 2010	The company aims to not only increase its own operational performance, but help its customers reinvent their growth model to increase business results and gain competitive advantage. Atos Origin launches Atos Sphere - its Cloud Services solution - and Ambition Carbon Free solutions - its Green IT services. Atos Origin is strengthening its strategy and will announce further solutions in the course of 2010. Atos Origin believes that the pay-per-use, highly flexible and shared solutions offered by Cloud Computing, are perfectly aligned with clients current needs and will therefore have a very strong impact on the IT market in the coming years. Atos Origin already has a solid track record in developing and delivering Cloud Services, especially through its Atos Worldline subsidiary, and has decided to develop new solutions for helping its client take the new opportunity of the Cloud. With Atos Sphere the company has formed a new combination of its consulting, hi-tech transactional services, systems integration and managed operations services to deliver a complete package of offerings. Atos Origin has developed a scientific and technological expertise to minimize its own operations’ impact on the environment (Green for IT) and, through its IT solutions, to help its clients optimize their environmental efficiency (IT for Green). In 2010 Atos Origin will be the first IT services company to report its sustainability achievements for 2009 according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which are the worldwide de facto standards in sustainability reporting. In this respect it has measured its own carbon footprint and reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project. To go even further, in France, Atos Origin has carried out a Carbon Audit in partnership with ADEME & O2 France to evaluate the global carbon footprint of its Aubervilliers Data Center. This assessment can be considered as a groundbreaking initiative in our ICT market. Many of the technological solutions proposed in our portfolio have been deployed to minimize the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games’ carbon footprint. As a result Atos Origin was awarded a “Sustainability Star” by the Vancouver Organizing Committee in December 2009. “Cloud Computing and Green IT represent a major shift in business approach for the IT industry, as well as to our clients. Atos Origin can help its customers in their journey and accompany them all the way to transfer to green Cloud Services, as we are able to create transformation solutions customized with our client needs. We anticipate that the new Atos Sphere and Ambition Carbon Free services will be integrated into our customers’ existing environment and considered within their overall strategy. We predict that our new services are the cornerstone of new ‘after crisis’ growth models not only to companies but also for the public sector,” says Thierry Breton, CEO at Atos Origin. Source: Top-Consultant

Outsourcing industry turns in best performance in six quarters
28 January 2010	Advisory firm TPI released fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 data showing that the global outsourcing market had its best performance in six quarters and that a slow but steady recovery in the industry is underway as businesses commit to long-term strategies to reduce costs and streamline operations. The 4Q09 Global TPI Index, which measured commercial outsourcing contracts valued at greater than $25 million, showed the market’s total contract value (TCV) reached $24.7 billion, an increase of 47 percent sequentially and 8 percent year-over-year and the best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2008. Driving the market were strong demand for IT outsourcing (ITO), a regional surge in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and a continuation of the rebound in mega-deals and mega-relationships that began in the third quarter. Full-year 2009 results could not overcome the market’s weak showing during first two quarters. TCV for the year declined 13 percent to $74.5 billion, its lowest point since 2001. However, as 2010 begins, industry pipelines are healthier and more stable than a year ago. “As we anticipated, 2009 marked a low point in outsourcing because of the recession in the general economy and its impact on commercial buyers,” said Mark Mayo, Partner and President, Global Operations, TPI. “The global market bottomed in the first half of the year and turned in the second half. It now shows signs of recovering slowly and steadily, rather than bouncing back to pre-recession levels, but the outlook for building on its second-half momentum is positive.” Market overview The Global TPI Index provides a quarterly snapshot of the sourcing industry for clients, service providers, analysts and the media. Now in its 29th consecutive quarter, it is the authoritative source for marketplace intelligence related to outsourcing transaction structures and terms, industry adoption, geographic prevalence and service provider metrics. During the fourth quarter of 2009, ITO activity continued to drive the broader market, as it has all year. TCV in this category increased 54 percent over the prior quarter and 32 percent over a year ago to $19 billion, the highest quarterly total in six years. For the year, the market produced $56 billion in TCV, flat with 2008. The Network Services and Application Development & Maintenance towers both experienced declines for the year, but Infrastructure, the largest tower within ITO, grew modestly. Meanwhile, the market for business process outsourcing (BPO) continued to struggle in the fourth quarter. While TCV in this segment increased almost 29 percent sequentially, a third consecutive quarterly improvement, it remained 33 percent below the same period in 2008. For 2009, BPO TCV declined 38 percent to $18.5 billion, its lowest level since 2001, and the Finance & Accounting, Financial Services Operations and Human Resources Outsourcing categories remained stalled at a fraction of totals reached in prior years. Regions and industries Once again, the Global TPI Index showed vastly different results among the three major geographic regions of the world. In the Americas, TCV rose just over 4 percent over the prior quarter but remained off by 17 percent year-over-year. Despite growth in Latin America, full-year TCV in the region declined 6 percent to $27 billion, the lowest level of the decade. The service provider landscape continued to shift in the region due to significant consolidation and gains by India-heritage firms, which now make up nearly one-third of the top players. In EMEA, several large transactions boosted fourth-quarter TCV 135 percent sequentially and 60 percent year-over-year to $15.4 billion, its best performance since the second quarter of 2008. However, full-year TCV in the region fell 21 percent to $36.7 billion despite only a slight decline in the number of contracts, an indication that EMEA is experiencing the same shrinking transaction sizes that have slowed growth in the United States. Asia Pacific fourth-quarter TCV fell 37 percent sequentially and 56 percent year-over-year to $2.1 billion. But for the year, the region’s $10.5 billion in TCV represented stabilization with 2008 after several volatile years. While China and India have yet to reach their full potential as outsourcing markets, Australia continued its solid track record of late, doubling its share of the region’s TCV. Among industries, the three verticals with the largest footprint in the outsourcing market – Financial Services, Manufacturing and Telecom & Media – experienced significant increases in demand during the second half of 2009. Manufacturing, where softening consumer demand is necessitating investments in reducing operational costs, TCV rose 76 percent over the first two quarters of the year. In financial services, TCV was up 33 percent in the second half. And in Telecom & Media, a mature vertical that is nonetheless seeing contract renewals and renegotiations, TCV was up 24 percent. These three verticals will need to continue their positive momentum if the broader market is to maintain its gradual recovery. Outlook Looking ahead, industry pipeline metrics monitored by TPI have strengthened over a year ago, as have anecdotal descriptions of the health of service provider pipelines. The rate of new transactions added to pipelines, which had slowed in 2009, has apparently stabilized, and the level of contracts coming up for renewal is up 29 percent. “As businesses becoming more confident in making strategic decisions, we are seeing promising signs for the global outsourcing market,” Mayo said. “All in all, we sense that the worst is behind us and expect a return to growth in 2010.” Source: Top-Consultant

New report finds HR consulting to be biggest recession casualty
28 January 2010	A new survey by sourceforconsulting.com has found that the HR consulting industry in the UK has shrunk by as much as 20 per cent over the last year, making it the biggest casualty of the recession so far as consultants are concerned. The report, based on responses from 20 major buyers of HR consulting surveyed between September and October 2009, also found that there has been a substantial shift in the type of services being bought, away from traditional services, such as organisational design and change management, to those that offer a measurable return on investment. Sue Grist, co-founder and director of Egremont, a business transformation consultancy, who was among those interviewed for the report said: “There’s been a shift to using consultants to help save money. When we sell work now, the impact we’ll have on business processes and costs is front of mind.” The survey divides HR consulting services into three groups: * Recession-specific services, such as outplacement and advice on outsourcing the HR function, which have grown during the recession but have limited shelf-life beyond it. * “Past their peak”services, such as organisational design and capability assessment, which form the bedrock of much HR consulting but demand for which is likely to shrink. * Potential for growth, services that focus on performance management and personal productivity, as organisations look to get more from their employees and their consultants. Economic recovery is unlikely to reverse these trends, believes Fiona Czerniawska, joint managing director of sourceforconsulting.com and author of the report. She comments: “Our research points to a ‘generational’ shift in HR consulting, away from traditional areas to focusing more on performance management. The future of HR consulting will see traditional firms collaborating, even merging, with smaller, more innovative specialists, in order to survive. The merger of Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt announced in June, and the recent acquisition by PwC of performance management consulting firm, Paragon, is evidence of this evolving trend.” Source: Top-Consultant

IBM TOPS LIST OF GAY-FRIENDLY EMPLOYERS
25 January 2010	IBM has been named the best place to work in 2010 for lesbian, gay and bisexual people by equality campaigning charity Stonewall. Stonewall's 'Top 100 Employers 2010' ranking is based on a number of indicators including the largest-ever survey of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees, with over 7,000 participants. IBM was named the most gay-friendly employer for the second time in four years, but had to show improvement in a fierce competition with more entries than ever before. Professional services firms were the leading sector in Stonewall's top 100, ahead of the police and central government. Ernst & Young ranked third in the listing behind Hampshire Constabulary, with Accenture ranked 30th, Deloitte 39th and PricewaterhouseCoopers 63rd. Brendon Riley, CEO of IBM UK & Ireland, said: "IBM is extremely proud to accept this important accolade. In 2009 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of IBM's global LGB non-discrimination policy, but we're constantly looking for new ways to enrich and broaden the scope of what we can achieve. We pride ourselves on delivering a working environment that reflects equality of opportunity and experience for all." Ben Summerskill, Stonewall chief executive, commented: "The index is a powerful tool used by Britain's 1.7 million gay employees and 150,000 gay university students to decide where to take their talent and skills."Source: MCN Direct

CAPGEMINI SECURES CONTRACTS IN UK AND US
25 January 2010	Capgemini enjoyed a prosperous new year with a slew of contract wins across the UK and US. In the UK, Capgemini beat rivals to become the British Library's principal technology partner in transforming the library's range and quality of services for users and online customers. The intention is to develop website services that match or exceed those of leading commercial businesses. Caroline Brazier, associate director of the British Library, said: "We were impressed by Capgemini's genuine commitment to client collaboration and by the quality of its people, proposals and track record." Capgemini also started a business process outsourcing (BPO) collaboration with gas industry hub xoserve to transform its information capabilities for all participants in the gas supply chain - from generators, importers and shippers to supply companies, meter operators and end users. Also in the BPO market, Capgemini renewed and extended a contract with agricultural crop protection and seed specialist Syngenta. The new seven-year deal broadens the scope of accounting services provided by Capgemini and adds procurement services for Syngenta business units in over 50 countries. In the US, Capgemini secured an $88 million (£54 million), five-year deal with the US army to provide independent verification and validation support for a number of ERP systems. The army wants to reduce the total cost of the software and provide an enterprise view of all its assets. Source: MCN Direct

INDIA'S IT SERVICES FIRMS PICK UP MOMENTUM
25 January 2010	India's two largest IT services firms, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), have reported strong third-quarter results but warn that further growth could be hit by staffing restraints and rising costs. Infosys reported better-than-expected results for the quarter to 31 December 2009, with net profit up 1% on last year's comparable quarter to $334 million (£205 million) and revenue rising 5% to $1.2 billion. TCS' quarterly net profit climbed 39% to $384 million, on revenue rising 10% to $1.6 billion. But reflecting the heady days before the global financial crisis - when India's IT outsourcing industry grew at about 30% a year - Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan said renewed growth in the IT services industry is presenting staffing challenges that Infosys will address in part by increasing the proportion of foreign nationals in its workforce from 5% to 15%. Infosys had about 110,000 staff at the end of the third quarter and is planning to add a further 24,000 before the fiscal year end in March. Like many of its competitors, it froze salaries during the financial crisis but led the way back to wage inflation late last year with a salary rise of 8%. Commenting on industry growth, Gopalakrishnan said: "Global economic recovery seems to be led by the US and financial services. Even though IT budgets are expected to be flat in 2010, offshore outsourcing is expected to benefit from the recovery." Meanwhile, TCS added nearly 8,000 employees during the third quarter for a total of over 140,000 and said it was "prepared to meet the growth in demand. Source: MCN Direct

DELOITTE BUYS UK PERFORMANCE CONSULTANCY
25 January 2010	Deloitte will add 66 people to its 2,500-strong UK consulting practice through the acquisition of business performance and information management consultancy ReportSource. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Deloitte claims the addition of ReportSource will give it the UK's "largest and best-equipped business performance and information management team". ReportSource is an Oracle-certified partner and specialises in enterprise performance management and business intelligence solutions for financial planning, reporting and analysis. Managing director Ian Harrison will join Deloitte as a partner when the acquisition is concluded. David Owen, managing director of consulting at Deloitte UK, said: "Many UK businesses and organisations have invested significant time and money implementing new IT systems in recent years. Business leaders now want to maximise the benefit of this investment by extracting better, more insightful management information. ReportSource is a leader in providing the expertise to help organisations achieve this goal." Source: MCN Direct

FUJITSU FACES MORE STRIKE ACTION
25 January 2010	Further strikes are expected at Fujitsu UK as the Unite union continues to fight the company on issues of compulsory redundancy, a pay freeze and plans to close its final salary pension scheme. The dispute is over Fujitsu's plans announced last September to cut 1,200 of its 12,500-strong workforce, including consultants and professional services staff. The company had already introduced a pay freeze and was consulting with staff on changes to the pension scheme. Unite objected to the pay freeze, pension change and any compulsory redundancies. In November, the union rejected an offer from Fujitsu to resolve the dispute and staged six strike days, the latest of which was held on Friday 15 January. Looking ahead, Unite national officer for IT and communications Peter Skyte said: "There are still issues, but the gap could be bridged. It needs effort on both parts. I wrote to the chief executive last week asking HR to sit down with us and negotiate again. We haven't negotiated formally since early December. If Fujitsu was a failing company we could understand its actions, but it is not." The union says it will continue strike action if the company does not respond to it within a reasonable time. Unite has 1,620 members in Fujitsu, of whom 320 have advised the company they are on strike. Fujitsu suggests it will not budge. A company executive said the initial plan for 1,200 redundancies to meet cost-cutting targets had been changed, with 876 redundancies needed to meet the targets and only 257 staff being made compulsorily redundant. The last of these are due to leave the company at the end of January. The executive also pointed out that pay has been frozen, rather than cut, and that any change to the pension scheme has been delayed until March 2011 while discussions with employee representatives continue. He commented: "If the union will enter discussion with Fujitsu, rather than make demands, it may be possible to end the action through negotiation." A formal statement added: "Fujitsu has taken prudent measures to ensure that service to its customers is maintained." Source: MCN Direct

Infosys reports sequential quarterly growth of 6.8%
15 January 2010	Quarterly results are Infosys’ highest sequential gain in the last eight quarters. Infosys Technologies reported revenues of $1.232 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, a 5.2% growth from a year ago and 6.8% from the previous quarter. Net income after tax was $ 334 million for the quarter, a growth of 0.6% from a year ago and a 5.4% jump sequentially. “Global economic recovery seems to be led by the US and the Financial Services,” said S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director. “Even though IT budgets are expected to be flat in 2010, offshore outsourcing is expected to benefit from this recovery.” For the current quarter the company expects revenues to be in the range of $ 1.24 billion and $ 1.25 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 10.6% to 11.5%. For the full year Infosys expects revenues to be in the range of $ 4.75 billion and $ 4.76 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 1.8% to 2.0%. Source: Top-Consultant

Management Consulting Group reintegrates 2009 results
15 January 2010	Ineum Consulting is still performing strongly; Kurt Salmon Associates has seen trading recover somewhat; and Alexander Proudfoot has continued to operate at a lower level. Management Consulting Group PLC (MCG) said in a trading update it expects to report revenue for the 2009 financial year in the range of £280m to £290m and underlying operating profit between £28m and £30m. Net debt is expected to be around £90m. The Group is in compliance with the covenants under its existing banking facilities and will manage its affairs to ensure that this continues to be the case. Executive Chairman, Alan Barber, commented, "2009 was a challenging year for MCG after the record results achieved in 2008. We took decisive action during the year to manage the cost base in a difficult trading environment. We are dedicated to ensuring the business is well positioned to benefit from the eventual recovery in the global economy and to create long term value for shareholders." MCG said Ineum Consulting is still performing strongly, especially in its heartland of France where the public sector business performed particularly well in 2009. Kurt Salmon Associates has seen trading recover somewhat over the past few months in both its businesses, consumer products and health care, and has returned to profit in the second half of 2009. Alexander Proudfoot has continued to operate at a lower than normal level, although it is beginning to see new leads that inspire some confidence for the Spring 2010 selling season. Ineum Consulting Chiheb Mahjoub was appointed Chief Executive of Ineum Consulting on 9 December 2009, replacing Miguel de Fontenay who stepped down from that role. de Fontenay has subsequently left the Group, along with one other senior manager of Ineum Consulting. As previously announced Mahjoub was appointed to the Board of Directors of MCG on 10 November 2009. Under the terms of the acquisition of Ineum Consulting in 2006, the vendors have the right to put forward a director for appointment to the Board of Directors of MCG until 1 September 2010. As previously announced, Marco Lopinto was therefore appointed to the Board on 15 December 2009 as an Executive Director. Lopinto has been with Ineum since 2005, is responsible for the Strategy Practice of Ineum Consulting and plays a key role in the development of the Ineum Consulting business. Non-recurring items During 2009 the Group continued to restructure its business, rationalise office space and reduce its headcount. Currently MCG employs around 1,500 people, a reduction of over 35% from the 2,350 employed in June 2008. The company is currently vacating one floor of its KSA office space in Atlanta and closing another office in Minneapolis. The non-recurring cost of these latest closures is £3.6m and will be recorded in the 2009 results. As a result of this the Group will benefit from lower rental costs of £0.5m per annum from 2010 onwards. In respect of the departure of de Fontenay, the Group will be showing a non-recurring item of £1.3m. As a result of these major items, and the continuation of the other Group redundancy plans detailed earlier in the year, the total non-recurring cost for 2009 is expected to be in the range of £15m to £16m. MCG 's 2009 preliminary results will be announced on 8 March 2010. Source: Top-Consultant

Employee confidence increases in fourth quarter 2009
15 January 2010	UK employee confidence increased 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter 2009 and showed an increase of 5.3 percent since the first quarter, according to a quarterly measure of worker opinions from Kenexa, a global provider of business solutions for human resources. Employee confidence has been found to relate to multiple economic and business performance outcomes at the individual, organisational, industry and country levels as well as being predictive of consumer confidence. A high level of employee confidence is achieved when employees perceive their organisation as being effectively managed and competitively positioned, and believe they have a promising future with their organisation, as well as job security and skills that are attractive to other employers. Employee confidence influences individual behaviour and has implications for organisational performance and economic conditions. Kenexa's quarterly study, which measures the degree of confidence employees have in their employers' marketplace competiveness and their own careers, involves over 15,500 employees in 12 countries (Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, the UK and the United States). In December 2009, the global employee confidence index score was 98.0, a very slight improvement from the third quarter (97.9). Brazil (107.5), China (105.6) and India (101.3) reported the highest levels of employee confidence, while France (94.9), Japan (94.0) and Spain (92.4) reported the lowest levels. The United Kingdom's employee confidence index score was 99.8 (an increase from 97.2 in the third quarter). For the year ending 31 December 2009, the 12 largest economies reported an increase in employee confidence index scores, with the exception of Japan, which reported a slight decrease for the year. The global employee confidence index score for the fourth quarter of 2009 increased approximately 4 points, from 93.8 in the first quarter. Countries that reported the most improvement in employee confidence index scores throughout 2009 were China (15.8 point increase), Italy (8.1) and Brazil (7.1). Anne Herman, research consultant at the Kenexa Research Institute, said: "Employee confidence fluctuated throughout 2009, with the majority of the countries reporting both increases and decreases. India and China were the only two surveyed countries that had an increase in scores, quarter over quarter." She continued: "We enter 2010 on a positive note. Our studies have linked employee confidence to higher country-level GDP and stronger organisation performance, among other metrics. Therefore, this indicates that as employee confidence increases, GDP and organisation performance should both improve, indicating that we appear to be in a state of resurgence." Kenexa's quarterly Employee Confidence Index was started in June 2008 and was normalised for each country to equal 100. Subsequent scores are reported in percents above or below that starting point. The resultant data is available by country, industry, age, gender and job type. Source: Top-Consultant

Deloitte UK acquires reporting consultancy
15 January 2010	Deloitte to boost its consulting business with acquisition of ReportSource. Deloitte, the business advisory firm, is to acquire ReportSource, the UK’s leading business performance and information management consultancy. The deal will see 66 people join Deloitte’s 2,500 strong UK Consulting practice, with Ian Harrison, the managing director of ReportSource, joining Deloitte as a partner. David Owen, managing director for Consulting at Deloitte UK, commented: “Many UK businesses and organisations have invested significant time and money implementing new IT systems in recent years. Business leaders now want to maximise the benefit of this investment by extracting better, more insightful management information. ReportSource is a leader in providing the expertise to help organisations achieve this goal. “We are delighted to welcome the ReportSource team into the business systems arm of our Consulting practice. The quality, experience and specialist skills they bring complement our existing technology advisory and technology execution expertise, and add a considerable new string to Deloitte’s bow. We are now proud to have the UK’s largest and best equipped business performance and information management team. Ian Harrison, managing director of ReportSource, commented: “Having developed the UK’s most respected and largest niche performance management practice, Deloitte was the only logical home for ReportSource. In joining Deloitte we are able to put our skills and experience to work, in the service of our clients, by ensuring that our staff work alongside the world’s most sought-after talent, drawn by Deloitte’s eminence, culture and diversity. I am very proud of what ReportSource has achieved and delighted to have joined Deloitte.” David Owen continued: “Ian Harrison and his team bring valuable new expertise to the considerable technology skills and experience we already offer in this market. This deal ensures that Deloitte offers an unrivalled breadth and depth of services and resource to help businesses solve complex problems and optimise their technology.” Source: Top-Consultant

Predictions for 2010 – what lies ahead for the UK consulting industry?
7 January 2010	Many a great reputation has been tarnished over the years, attempting to predict what the future might hold. So it’s with a degree of trepidation that I share my predictions for consulting industry developments in 2010. Clearly another major global shock could upset these projections quite considerably, but on our current trajectory I would foresee: A perception that the consulting industry has returned to growth.I fully expect those working within consulting firms to start feeling like better times have returned. Announcements of client wins will become more frequent and the numbers marooned on the bench will start to fall. Morale will be boosted, at least for those serving private sector clients. The reality that consulting returns to miserly levels of growth.With the major global consulting brands having announced growth figures indicative of a -10% market contraction in 2009, we’re clearly starting from a very low base in 2010. Even during the dot-com crash – when let’s not forget consultants lost their jobs in droves – the market as a whole still managed to grow revenues year on year. So this last year has seen extremes of revenue contraction, hiring freezes and utilisation collapses that have never been seen before and probably will not be seen again in my time with Top-Consultant. Our expectation is that UK consulting revenues will grow by just a couple of percentage points in 2010, with a stronger revival in private sector consulting spend offset by some high profile casualties amongst public sector consulting contracts. However, this still reflects a sea change from the significant contractions seen in 2009 and whilst not a return to the double-digit growth associated with much of the last 10 years it nonetheless will relieve the strain on consulting firms’ very survival. Utilisation rates will pick up and the atmosphere of fear within consultancies will be diminished. The public sector as the new drag on growth. Political pressure in the UK very clearly points to the culling of some high profile public sector consulting contracts this year – and an ongoing drive for greater frugality in the use of consultants. The looming general election makes consulting cutbacks an open goal and consultants akin to turkeys in the run-up to Christmas. Whilst Brown’s stated ambitions of halving consulting spend sound both far-fetched and self-defeating, 2010 will nonetheless undoubtedly see the climate for winning public sector work darken. What we’re definitely hearing though is that new projects are increasingly being put out to tender with smaller niche consulting practices, so these political clouds could also play into the hands of smaller firms and potentially have the greatest negative impact on the major brands. Improved fortunes for those job-hunting in the consulting market.Again this is a matter of all things being relative - mass hiring or a return to the war for talent are certainly not on the horizon. However two factors this year will mean hiring volumes pick up considerably at UK consulting firms. The first factor is that any change in the profile of client demand can stimulate the need for hires. So a market that’s not growing much but which is seeing public sector spend decline and private sector spend increase will actually generate the need for new hires to fill capability gaps in the parts of the business that are growing. The second factor is that consultant churn is bound to increase in 2010, following a year in which it’s probably been at an all-time low. So just the increased likelihood that consultants will try to switch careers this year is actually enough to stimulate an upturn in the hiring market – as on aggregate firms will need to replace all staff that leave in a given year just to stand still. Compared with a year that was typified by widespread hiring freezes, 2010’s jobs market is going to feel significantly more vibrant – albeit down considerably on the hiring levels prevalent in the boom. Continued downwards pressure on consulting fee rates.With both public and private sector clients increasingly willing to consider lower cost consulting providers, the pressure to reign in costs and reduce fee rates will be intense in 2010. The major western consulting brands will continue to offshore research and production tasks wherever possible so that services can be offered at a lower cost; while the major Indian players are increasingly making inroads in the US and European markets, adding to the pressure on rates. New start-ups will continue to pop up meanwhile, headed up by consulting practitioners with Big Firm backgrounds and the credentials therefore to woo major clients. In sum, then, price pressures will remain downwards and this can mean only one thing for salary outcomes too - meagre growth in earnings for the foreseeable future. Source: Top-Consultant

ACCENTURE BACKS PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION
15 December 2009	Accenture has joined with the Lisbon Council think tank and the College of Europe to set up a centre dedicated to developing innovative strategies and solutions for public sector organisations across Europe. Called the 'Government of the Future' centre, the Brussels-based venture will initially focus on four areas seen as key to improving the social and economic conditions of European citizens: the provision of healthcare; boosting employment; connecting citizens and governments; and enhancing the sustainability of public sector organisations. In 2010 the centre will also host a Government of the Future summit with government leaders, opinion formers and public sector organisations, publish a series of state transformation case studies; and convene public sector modernisation workshops. Paul Hofheinz, president and co-founder of the Brussels-based Lisbon Council, which focuses on economic modernisation and social renewal, explained: "Society needs more innovation in the public sector - not just as an antidote to the recession, but as a platform for meeting citizens' demands in a fast-changing world." Meanwhile, Accenture has also established an innovation centre for health in response to the growing challenges facing the global health industry. The centre, based in London and Chicago, will provide research and solutions aimed at delivering cost-effective care and services across the healthcare market. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

CAPITA DENIES BUSINESS SLOWDOWN
15 December 2009	Capita chief executive Paul Pindar has challenged analysts' suggestions that the group's sales growth is slowing - insisting that the days of double-digit organic growth are not over and that there are vast areas of government outsourcing work still to be tapped. In an interview with the Financial Times, Pindar likened today's situation to the recession of the early 1990s, when top-line growth slowed for a couple of years and took off as the economy came out of recession. He said: "If you look at the underlying strength in the business at the moment, the margin growth is still looking encouraging, as is profit. The environment for acquisitions is extremely healthy." As the UK's largest outsourcing group and a leading player in the public sector market, Capita has grown revenue at a compound annual rate of 26% over the past 10 years. But analysts say this could slip, pointing to a November trading statement that showed Capita had won £1 billion of new business this year, but £814 million was secured in the first half, meaning the win rate slowed in the second half of the year. Despite this Pindar remained bullish on the prospects for outsourcing, though he highlighted government reluctance to set up major IT projects in the run-up to the general election and concerns about a potentially hung parliament with no clear decision making. He remained adamant, however, that any new government will see outsourcing as a means of cutting IT spend and said Capita would not lower its prices to win public sector contracts. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

DELOITTE NAMES GLOBAL HEAD OF CLIMATE CHANGE
15 December 2009	Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has selected senior partner Nick Main as its global managing partner for climate change and sustainability, in the same week that it reinforced its green capabilities by being chosen by Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to measure the carbon footprint of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. Main will be based in London and will offer guidance to Deloitte member firms on laws and regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions, as well as advice on sustainability issues. He was previously chairman and CEO of Deloitte New Zealand. Commenting on Main's appointment, Deloitte global services managing partner Jerry Leaman said: "Deloitte firms recognise the urgency for many of their clients to address the potential impact of new and proposed greenhouse gas legislation on business strategy and operations. Nick Main's experience with climate change and sustainability issues will be critical to Deloitte member firm professionals." At the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Deloitte Denmark helped develop a method for calculating the local carbon footprint of the conference, taking into account greenhouse gas emissions of elements such as accommodation, local transport of participants and conference centre activities. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

HCL WINS $200m DEAL AT EQUITABLE LIFE
15 December 2009	HCL Technologies, the Indian IT services firm which last year acquired Liberata Financial Services, has beaten competitors to a $200 million (£123 million) BPO contract with Equitable Life Assurance Society. The deal is HCL's first and long-awaited major win in the life and pensions administration market since it acquired Liberata's financial services business. Under the contract which starts in March 2011, HCL Insurance Business Services (IBS) – essentially Liberata's UK operations - will take over a BPO contract currently being delivered by Lloyds Banking Group, along with Lloyds staff working on the Equitable Life account and a small number of Equitable Life staff. The transfer will place over 500,000 life and pensions policies under HCL IBS administration and is expected to save Equitable Life £8 million in the first full year. HCL Technologies senior vice president Stuart Drew said: "Over the coming years, we plan to develop the scope of this work to encompass other financial services clients. Ultimately, we aim to transform the operation into a centre of excellence within our global service delivery capabilities." Chris Wiscarson, chief executive of Equitable Life, said: "This is one of the most important decisions in the society's history. HCL has an impressive reputation and I am confident that it will provide great service and great value to policyholders." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

MCA SLAMS 'PERVERSE' GOVERNMENT PLANS TO HALVE CONSULTANCY SPEND
15 December 2009	The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has branded as 'perverse' government plans to reduce consultancy spending by 50%, warning that arbitrary cuts in consultancy would rob government of essential expertise and could leave it unable to reduce public sector debt. The MCA's attack follows publication of the Government's 'Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government' document, which describes how it will improve public service outcomes while cutting costs. One action will be to streamline central government for sharper delivery, a process that will involve "releasing further resources for front-line services by reducing spend on consultancy by 50%". In response, MCA chief executive Alan Leaman said: "Management consultancies will play a critical role over the next few years in helping the government to save money, improve front-line services and raise productivity. "It is perverse to announce an arbitrary reduction in consultancy without any analysis or explanation. The Government could easily miss its other spending objectives if it robs itself of the ability to use consultancy when it is appropriate to do so." As well as cutting consultancy spend, the Government plans to improve back-office and procurement processes "to the standard of the best", expand successful shared services centres, and explore best governance and ownership structures for every department. Source: MC Direct Newswire

Capgemini named one of Renault’s preferred partner in applications outsourcing
15 December 2009	Capgemini has signed a three-year outsourcing contract - through its Capgemini Outsourcing Services subsidiary - with the Renault Group, becoming one of the car manufacturer’s new preferred partners in outsourcing. Following a global tender offer, Capgemini will take responsibility for optimizing and managing one quarter of the Renault Group’s applications portfolio, over the entire application lifecycle. The project will involve over 180 Capgemini professionals and will include technical and functional updates and improvements, technical support, and applications development in Procurement, Quality and Sales. “To meet the constantly evolving needs of users, a good knowledge of their industry is essential. This enables good alignment between the service provided, current projects and priorities. Capgemini has the functional and industry capabilities required, as well as a great capacity for innovation drawn from its experience with other car manufacturers. These factors all create favorable conditions to meet the needs of Renault,” said Francois Gitton, Deputy CIO at Renault. Capgemini’s proven expertise in outsourcing, and its strong knowledge of the challenges facing the automobile sector, combined with its Sogeti subsidiary’s work with Renault, all played a key role in the car manufacturer’s decision to select Capgemini as its new partner in Application Development and Maintenance. “This contract is a great opportunity to build a strong partnership with Renault. Our commitment can be seen in both the length of the project and in our ambition to assist the group in its future challenges,” noted Alain Donzeaud, member of the Capgemini Group’s Executive Comm Source: News Direct

ea Consulting Group still one of the fastest growing UK companies
15 December 2009	ea Consulting Group (eacg) features for the second year running in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100, which celebrates the UK’s fastest growing unquoted companies. The company has continued to grow through its pioneering approach to helping its clients cope with the challenges of the recession.,br> Steve Robson, founder, CEO & Chairman of eacg said: “We’re delighted to be in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 again - especially given the tough market conditions. Our success this year is down to our whole team offering great value and delivering change effectively to our clients through innovation and special partnerships.” The last year has seen unprecedented change in the banking industry and eacg has focused on delivering results not theories. Jon Murphy, Executive Director at eacg commented; “We have cost-effective solutions to the problems facing the financial sector today, by providing professional interims and consulting teams to deliver the change they need. Whether that is in ensuring compliance or in managing mergers and transitions, they see a huge value in our services”. eacg is a change delivery firm that covers the full lifecycle of change from strategy through to the design and management of change solutions. eacg has over 1,000 consultants and interim change managers who are affiliated to eacg, and over the last 12 months we have had over 400 consultants and professional interims engaged on client programmes. eacg was founded in 1998 and has established itself as one of the largest independent companies providing change solutions in the financial services sector. eacg offers a client-centric approach by developing responsive long-term relationships. Source: News Direct

CMC Partnership now one of UK’s fastest growing companies
15 December 2009	Project management consultancy CMC Partnership has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the UK. In difficult trading conditions, CMC’s sales have grown 53% a year over the last 3 years from £3.7m in 2006 to £13.3m in 2009. Thanks to this, CMC Partnership has now made it onto the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 league table. Launched nine years ago, CMC has grown from a small specialist consultancy to one of the leaders in its field, with core contracts with Government and the Public Sector and a substantial track record delivering effective, tailored project and change management. The company recently played a pivotal role helping to set up the Government’s new Stabilisation Volunteer Network (SVN), to promote stability in countries affected by violent conflict such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. CMC is also the major supplier of consultancy services to the Driver’s Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea. Managing Director Brian Clancy attributed CMC Partnership’s success to the commitment and excellent performance of its staff. He said: “Our rapid growth reflects the trust our customers have in our ability to deliver and the benefits of our very close way of working with our clients to ensure we exactly meet their business needs and deliver long-term value for money.” CMC is based in London and Wales. The company has twice been named the fastest growing company for financial and business services in Wales. Source: News Direct

BP awards global communications contract to T-Systems
8 December 2009	T-Systems, the business solutions arm of Deutsche Telekom, has secured a contract to provide telecommunications services to global energy group, BP plc. BP awards global communications contract to T-Systems The five year contract will play a key role in supporting BP's ongoing efficiency programme by delivering significant cost savings. T-Systems will transform BP's global telecoms services network enabling it for next generation voice and data services. In a flexible contract, BP's business units will have the freedom to choose communications services that align with their specific needs and cost base. The agreement heralds the introduction of a new multi-sourcing model for communications services. The transformation programme will simplify BP's existing network, heavily reducing the number of suppliers to remove complexity, significantly lowering the cost of operations and ensuring end to end service quality. In a parallel agreement, Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN Group) will be providing a global managed service that supports BP's voice requirements, including managed telephone and audio visual services. The two companies have extensive experience of working together and enjoy a strong track record of successful collaboration. Dana Deasy, BP Group CIO, said: "We are looking forward to working with our new strategic partner for BP's telecoms services. Their expertise, new perspective and energy will give BP a significant opportunity to reduce complexity and lower our overall cost base." "We are proud to have become a key partner for change at BP", said Reinhard Clemens, CEO, T-Systems. "In the current economic climate, it is imperative that ICT providers demonstrate a clear ability to have a positive impact on their clients' business performance. From today, it will be a priority for T-Systems to apply our combination of IT and Telecommunications capabilities to deliver strong business results for BP." Today's announcement underlines T-Systems' continued progress in achieving its goal of becoming the leading ICT provider for global corporations and public institutions. Source: Top-Consultant

Ernst & Young top for financial services risk management
8 December 2009	Ernst & Young in the UK has been voted the best financial services risk management advisory business by over 300 operational risk and compliance professionals in this year OpRisk & Compliance magazine annual consultancy survey. Ernst & Young top for financial services risk management In addition to placing Ernst & Young first overall, the global professional services organization also secured the top spot in 6 of the 13 categories: Operational Risk; Compliance Effectiveness; Operational Risk Software Selection, Implementation; Compliance Software Selection, Implementation; Business Process Improvement; and Financial Crime Prevention. Ernst & Young was ranked in the top 3 in all other categories. Hank Prybylski, leader of the Global Financial Services Risk Management (FSRM) practice said: We are clearly in a period of intense and rising regulatory expectations regarding risk requirements. For over 12 months we have been at the center of one of most trying global financial services environments. These results speak volumes about the hard work of our professionals and client focus we continue to display. We often highlight the power of our collective talent but industry recognition, like this, proves it. EMEIA FSRM leader, Dr Stephen Christie, comments: The pace of change, complexity and technical breadth expected from financial institutions and regulators has increased significantly. Our integrated advisory services have been critical to ensure successful outcomes for our clients. This has been a key factor, we believe, in our differentiation reflected by this award. Phillip Straley, FSRM leader for the Far East added: Beyond global connectivity and integrated offerings, which are critical, we have focused on building capability to execute in local markets of importance to our clients. This means knowing local regulations and regulators, delivering depth of skills in the local language, and tailoring services to local operating environments and governance expectations. Survey respondents were from Europe (48%), North America (40%) and Asia-Pacific (10%). Source: Top-Consultant

BANK OF ENGLAND INVESTS IN LOGICA
1 December 2009	Logica has won a competitive five-year contract with the Bank of England to develop HR services. The bank was looking for a partner to automate and standardise its HR operations, in turn improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of services to 1,750 employees and 7.000 pensioners. Logica will provide a managed software service solution based on an Oracle platform and will offer applications including performance management, recruitment, time & attendance, flexible benefits, self-service, HR analytics and a bureau payroll service. Implementation will be phased, with the service due to go live next year. Logica's director of BPO UK, Patricia Taylor, said: "We are delighted to have been chosen to help the Bank of England with its HR services. We were keen to demonstrate our ability in a solution that would meet long-term business requirements by using a flexible system and service options." The contract follows a run of successes for Logica in the HR and payroll market, with new clients including Channel 4, KPN, Martinair and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

HP BUILDS SERVICES REVENUE
1 December 2009	Hewlett-Packard increased its services revenue by 8% in the last financial year, despite an overall fall in net profit and revenue. Services revenue reached $9 billion (£5.5 billion) in the year to 31 October, generating an operating profit of $1.4 billion, up from $945 million the previous year. Infrastructure technology outsourcing contributed revenue of $4.1 billion, technology services $2.5 billion, application services $1.5 billion and BPO $778 million. HP said the integration of its subsidiary EDS was ahead of plan, helping it end the year with a surge in services signings. For the full year, HP's net profit fell 8% to $7.6 billion, on revenue down 3% to $114.6 billion. Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 8% to $30.8 billion, with the EMEA region down 17%, the Americas down 3% and Asia-Pacific down 1%. HP chairman and CEO Mark Hurd commented: "HP's solid performance in services drove record profits, and the accelerated pace in signings creates strong momentum going into 2010. Our operational execution and improving cost structure generated strong quarterly and year-end results. We expect to outperform the market due to our significant scale, broad portfolio and market-leading position." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

SATYAM SINKS INTO WORSE FINANCIAL TROUBLE
1 December 2009	Satyam Computer Services, the Indian IT services firm rocked by financial scandal in 2008 and rescued by Tech Mahindra this April, has slipped into deeper trouble following new charges made by India's Central Bureau of Investigation. The charges have been filed against former chairman Ramalinga Raju - who was detained in January on charges of cheating and forgery after admitting he had manipulated the company's accounts - and nine other people who have not been named. The charges state that the alleged fraud at Satyam was larger than initially admitted by Raju and could total 118.8 billion rupees (£1.6 billion), against the 71.4 billion rupees previously stated. Allegations include using forged board resolutions to raise loans, the creation of fake customers and invoices, and acquisitions of land and property made with money taken illegally out of the company. The new charges will be a blow to the recently formed company, Mahindra Satyam, which has been rebuilding the Satyam customer base and market confidence since the acquisition in April. Speaking recently, Mahindra Satyam president Atul Kunwar said customer attrition had stopped and that the company was adding clients, including General Electric and Cisco Systems. Mahindra Satyam declined to comment on the new charges. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Environment Agency of England and Wales partners with Capgemini for a green IT contract
1 December 2009	The Environment Agency of England and Wales has chosen Capgemini to provide the partial outsourcing of IT services under a new seven year IT service contract which aims to be the greenest in government. It should see the Environment Agency reduce IT carbon emissions by around 50 percent within the next few years. Environmental considerations have been the core of the design of the service – from the production and transportation of hardware, to energy savings for each end-user. Further green measures will include reduction, reuse and recycling of hardware, while all disposals will be done under strict Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations. It is the first time that such a comprehensive set of green measures has been formally set within a U.K. IT contract. It is widely accepted that IT usage globally contributes to two percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to that usually attributed to aviation. For these reasons, the Environment Agency has contracted with Capgemini to ensure that this service can be reused by Government and other public sector organizations. In designing a framework with environmental measures built in from the outset, such as equipment purchase, its delivery and use on the desk, through to its ultimate disposal, the total cost of IT purchase and operation should be reduced. The result is that public sector organizations and businesses can not only improve their environmental performance, but also can make long-term cost savings. Graham Ledward, Director of Resources at the Environment Agency said: "This contract not only aims to exceed the Government’s sustainable IT targets, it also sets a high standard for environmental performance which we hope that other public sector organizations and businesses would wish to reflect." Ledward continued, "The real message of success is that a green IT contract can be frugal, cost-effective and environmentally beneficial. The Environment Agency is not only reducing its carbon emissions, it’s also saving money in the long term. We will effectively do more for less." Christine Hodgson, Vice President and member of the Capgemini Group Executive Committee, said: "We are proud to have won this important contract on the strength of the value of our proposition to the Environment Agency and our commitment to sustainable IT. We believe this contract should become a benchmark that will shape and influence how other organizations in the public and private sectors adopt sustainable IT as a business benefit, and that where the Environment Agency has led, others will inevitably follow." With much of the Environment Agency’s existing IT provision reaching the end of its useful lifecycle, this contract means that the organization will be more efficient and flexible in meeting its future challenges. This will underpin the delivery of the Environment Agency’s ambitious new Corporate Strategy 2010-2015, which was unveiled on Tuesday (November 10, 2009). Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Nearly 80% of consultancy firms are currently hiring, Prism survey reveals
1 December 2009	Many candidates find their job search frustrating and fragmented. Having seen a significant upturn in interview activity since the beginning of September, Prism Executive Recruitment conducted a market survey in early November with a prequalified sample of candidates and employers, with responses from 45 employers and 153 candidates. The headline results show candidates are slightly more confident but, digging deeper into the responses, opinions are somewhat polarised, with some finding the market very buoyant and more active, while many others are commenting that things are very slow. As you might expect of a recruitment agency database, many are actively interviewing but many of these are making negative comments about the market. Common themes relate to slow recruitment processes, salary pressures, window shopping and employers setting very tight specifications and unwilling to compromise. On the employer side, the results are quite startling: the overwhelming majority are primed to recruit AND are finding candidates hard to find. While this might seem at odds with the candidate experience it suggests employers are chasing the same population of candidates who have the "best" CVs AND the "in demand" skillsets and sectors. These include: Public Sector (particularly security cleared candidates), Energy/Utilities, Financial Services, Strategic IT, risk, lean and transformation (both consulting and delivery). Source: MCN Direct Newswire

PwC's Financial Services regulatory practice scoops best consulting award
1 December 2009	PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in the UK was named the Best Consulting Firm of the Year at the annual Complinet Compliance awards last night. The awards are the pre-eminent annual event for compliance professionals in the financial services industry. The award recognises the strength of the PwC team, which brings together knowledge and experience from the Consulting, Assurance, Forensics, Actuarial & Insurance Management Solutions and PwC Legal practices. Pat Newberry, Chairman of PwC's UK Financial Services Regulatory Practice, commented, "We are delighted to have received the award. Navigating the complexities of regulatory compliance remains a challenge for organisations, particularly in the current environment, and we are hugely committed to helping our clients succeed in this area." Ian Powell, Chairman and Senior Partner, said: "I would like to congratulate the team on winning this award. This is an excellent example of bringing expert insight and skills to our clients. I believe it is the depth and breadth of our experience that stands us apart." Source: MCN Director Newswire

Logica says orders up 6% in Q3
1 December 2009	Logica, the Anglo-Dutch IT services provider, said orders were up 6% in the third quarter ended 30 September, driven by outsourcing. Logica said overall quarterly revenue was down 4% on the previous quarter, while year to date revenue was down 3% to £2.731 billion. For the quarter outsourcing revenue grew 11%, while Consulting and Professional Services declined 12%, due to lower volumes and pricing agreed in the first half. By geography, the UK remains Logica’s strongest performer, with the Benelux its weakest region. The company will focus additional cost reductions in markets with weaker demand that will deliver ongoing cost savings of £15 million from 2010 at a one‐off cost of around £20 million in 2009. Logica expects full-year revenue to decline 3%, while its margin guidance remains at around 7.5%. The company had 39,157 employees at the end of September, compared to 39,525 as at the end of June. Logica said attrition stabilised through the quarter, remaining at around 7%. The company its utilisation rates are good in most regions outside the Benelux. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Capgemini reiterates its profitability targets for 2009
1 December 2009	The Capgemini Group reported consolidated revenues of €1,946 million, down 9.0% on a like-for-like basis versus third-quarter 2008, despite a challenging environment with reductions in corporate IT spending. Capgemini said its revenues for fourth-quarter 2009 should experience a similar decline to that recorded in the three months to September 30. Thanks to costs controls, the Group said it is able to confirm its operating margin guidance of around 7% for full-year 2009. Outsourcing Services fulfilled its role as a stabilizing force despite posting a slight 2.7% decline in quarterly revenues from Q3 2008 due to the expected – and announced – fall in business under a major contract in North America. Revenues for the Group’s other three business segments retreated 12.5% on average, with those activities most vulnerable to the economic cycle (Consulting Services and Local Professional Services) recording the largest decline. UK and Ireland continued to gain ground, delivering a 1.5% increase in revenues. Although revenues for North America were down 7.3% on the same year-ago period, this was a better performance than in the three months to June 30, 2009. The group’s other regions saw revenues contract 13.3% on average, with France posting a fall of 9.9%. Bookings in the three months to September 30, 2009 represented €1,981 million. Bookings advanced 7% for Outsourcing Services compared with third-quarter 2008. In the Group’s other three businesses (Consulting Services, Technology Services and Local Professional Services), the book-to-bill ratio remained above 1. Although there are signs that activity is stabilizing and even picking up in some market segments, benefits are not expected to filter through immediately. To leverage the upturn, Capgemini has decided to launch five comprehensive service offerings between now and March 2010. The offerings focus on high-growth markets such as those targeted by Business Information Management (BIM), the services package just announced. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Consultancies dominate Top 10 list of most attractive employers
1 December 2009	PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG, McKinsey and Deloitte top list of first global index of employer attractiveness. This is the first global index of employer attractiveness by employer branding company Universum, which highlights the world’s 50 most powerful employer brands – those companies that excel in talent attraction and retention. The ranking is based on a survey of business students from the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Canada and India. Nearly 120,000 students from top academic institutions chose their ideal companies to work for. Google is the world’s most attractive employer, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, placing the highest among the Big Four firms and boutique management consultancies. Ernst & Young placed 5th, KPMG 8th, followed by McKinsey and Deloitte 10th, rounding off the top 10. The global ranking is based on the national rankings that Universum conducts annually all over the world. The companies that are featured in at least eight out of the twelve leading economies were included in the global ranking, and the 50 most attractive employers were identified. The Big Four accountancy and professionals service firms; financial services companies and management consultancies, still remain strong. They are globally attractive employers and are especially popular with business students. The Boston Consulting Group narrowly missed the top 10, placing 11th. Accenture was 23th and Bain & Company 26th. “These companies in the Top 50 really work with employer branding strategically. The Big Four, for example, are all in the top 10 business ranking, as they have employer branding as part of their business strategy. Many associate their corporate brands to people. This is normal for the service industry, but it’s a new approach for other companies” says Michal Kalinowski, Universum CEO. “These companies are in the Top 50 because they are focused, consistent and differentiate themselves in their communication.” Irrespective of rank, the Top 50 Global Employers for business and engineering students are very similar, showing strong employer brands transcend many skill and industry groups. Conversely, Oracle and Philip Morris make it to the Top 50 for business students, but not for engineering students. GlaxoSmithKline and Alcatel-Lucent appear in the engineering ranking, yet not in the business ranking. Aside from these differences in choice of employers, what the rankings most certainly reveal is that the big multinational brands are favoured. Due to the globalisation of the talent market, multinational companies are generally recognised as being attractive employers. Findings from Universum’s various student surveys show that students would like a good career reference, an international career and an employer that can offer secure employment. Lovisa Öhnell, head of research and consulting at Universum, comments, “These multinational brands are globally well-known, they offer relocation opportunities and business travel, interaction with clients and colleagues in various countries, and due to their size and economic strength, they are also seen as being the safest choice.” Google’s number one position is no surprise. Due to its remarkable brand image, students worldwide see it as a company they would like to work for. What’s surprising about Google, however, is that it doesn’t invest in employer branding much in comparison to other companies that spend massively on branding activities. Farhad Manjoo, a journalist from Time magazine, recently said it best, “What’s astonishing…is how effortlessly Google has come to earn the public’s affection,” while others “spend enormous sums to stay in the consciousness”. The question remains: will Google be able to do this forever? Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Baringa Partners marks successful year with two partner promotions
1 December 2009	Baringa Partners, the specialist management consultancy in energy and financial services, has promoted Nick Tallantyre and Gareth Campbell to the position of partner. The move follows Phil Leonard’s appointment earlier this year as a partner in the company’s energy networks and water practice. Nick Tallantyre said: “When I joined the wholesale energy practice of Baringa Partners in 2002, I was attracted by the quality and experience of the team who had already established themselves as a high value consulting practise with exceptional client relationships and an entrepreneurial spirit. Over the last seven years, our offerings have matured further to become industry leading practises and we continue to provide quality results to a highly sophisticated client base. It’s been very rewarding to be a part of that growth, and I’ve really valued the chance to shape the direction of the business. It is a testament to the quality and attitude of our staff when I reflect on the fact that our spirit and values today are identical to when I joined despite growing from a 20 to a 120 person organisation.” Gareth Campbell said: “I came into the firm in 2007 to help establish the newly formed financial services practice. We really hit the ground running there and we have won some major new clients due to the unbeatable value we offer in terms of quality, expertise and measurable results. To achieve as much as we have in spite of these incredibly challenging economic conditions is a real testament to the calibre and capabilities of our people.” “Not only will I continue to help lead the financial services practice, but I’ll also be taking on the responsibility for HR and people development across the firm,” continued Campbell. “Our reputation in the market hinges on our ability to recruit and retain people of the highest possible quality, especially as we grow the firm to meet increasing client demand for our services. This has always been a major focal point for us, and we are very proud to have been named the second best place to work in the UK for the last two years by the Great Places to Work Institute. We’ve worked hard to embed that culture of being a positive, stimulating and rewarding place to work into the company, and I look forward to helping the firm strive to uphold those values as we expand.” Mohamed Mansour, managing partner of Baringa Partners said: “It gives me great pleasure to announce the promotion of Nick and Gareth. Nick has been with us from a relatively early stage of the company and has been an integral part of our development over the last few years. We always strive to bring in senior individuals at a high level, and that’s the case with Gareth, who has really spearheaded our financial services practice and played a key part in its success.” Mansour continued: “More broadly, 2009 has been a remarkably strong year from successfully completing our re-branding exercise to being named Energy Risk’s Advisory House of the Year. Our sustained growth has demonstrated that clients really value our highly specialist approach. We look forward to continuing to deliver exceptional work for all clients, both established and new, as we move into 2010.” Source: MCN Director Newswire

Atos Origin begins the countdown to two Olympic Games
1 December 2009	Atos Origin, the Worldwide IT Partner for the Olympic Games, is beginning the 100- and 1000-day countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the London 2012 Olympic Games, respectively. “As Worldwide IT Partner for the Olympic Games we are delighted to confirm that with 100 days to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and just less than 1000 to the London 2012 Games the implementation of the technology for the information systems is on track,” said Patrick Adiba, executive vice president for the Olympic Games at Atos Origin. “As long-standing partner to the International Olympic Committee, we are committed to delivering a flawless performance to ensure the Games are successful in Vancouver in 2010 and in London in 2012.” In 100 days Atos Origin will begin bringing real-time results from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to a global audience of 3 billion people. First it will lead the technology team to complete testing of all the IT infrastructure, systems and processes including simulating the three busiest days of competition during which about 500 operational scenarios will be executed (such as a flood and network disconnection). It will also deploy 5,800 computers, 800 servers and 5,000 PCs to 35 venues in just 10 weeks and in January will switch to operational mode to manage and monitor 24/7 the technology at all the competition and non-competition venues. Meanwhile in London there is just under 1000 days to the 2012 Games. Like the athletes who are hoping to take part in the Games, Atos Origin must prepare extensively between now and the opening ceremony. As lead integrator, Atos Origin will work with its partners under the direction of LOCOG’s Technology Department to design the extensive technology infrastructure and systems that will deliver the results and support the planning and operations of the Games. This will include developing the volunteer portal that will help London 2012 recruit up to 70,000 volunteers for Games time; conducting more than 200,000 hours of testing to ensure that the technology provided for the Olympic Games delivers a gold winning performance and processing 200,000 accreditations that serve as a visa for athletes, workforce, volunteers, media, sponsors, officials and other members of the Olympic Family to enter the UK as well as accessing the Olympic venues. Atos Origin designs, integrates, manages and secures the multiple Information Technology systems needed to manage the Olympic Games and the systems that communicate the results to the world. Atos Origin holds the largest sports-related IT contract in the world. The contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) encompasses Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010, and London in 2012. It was renewed in 2009 for Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

HMRC revises Aspire IT agreement with Capgemini
1 December 2009	Under the revised Aspire agreement, Capgemini, Fujitsu and Accenture have committed to save £110 million a year for HMRC, in addition to the £70 million per annum savings committed in 2007. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) – the UK's tax authority - has committed to channel all core external IT spend through the Aspire contract, HMRC’s contract with Capgemini and major sub-contractors Fujitsu and Accenture, for the provision of IT services, which runs until 2017. In return, the revised agreement will enable HMRC to reduce its IT running costs. A transformation program has been established to implement standardized systems with common industry components, and investment in modern, more flexible, technologies to better meet the needs of HMRC’s integrated organisation and drive cost savings, which will be realised from financial year 2011/12. Under the revised Aspire agreement, Capgemini, Fujitsu and Accenture have committed to save £110 million a year for HMRC, in addition to the £70 million per annum savings committed in 2007. The service providers under the Aspire agreement have been granted exclusivity on all project delivery for HMRC until April 2013, with a minimum revenue commitment on project work thereafter in addition to exclusivity on data centre services delivered through the subcontract with Fujitsu until 2015. The existing desktop service has also been extended, whereby Capgemini will act as HMRC’s procurement agent in respect of office IT equipment and consumables, which will enable Capgemini to deliver an improved end user experience for HMRC employees. Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Permanent Secretary for HMRC said: “HMRC and Capgemini have worked together to achieve outstanding savings for the Department. This is just one of the ways HMRC will be reducing operating costs and it signals the intent to bring IT costs down as announced in the 2009 Budget." Nigel Martin, CEO, Capgemini Aspire said: “The latest change to the Aspire contract has been made possible by collaboration both with HMRC and Capgemini’s Aspire partners particularly Fujitsu, our core infrastructure partner, and Accenture. Together we’re helping HMRC respond to a challenging environment and our flexible contract is continuing to set the standard for all outsourcing arrangements five years after it was first signed. The new agreement would not have been possible without our track record of reliable service and up to 200 projects delivered on time and within budget for HMRC each and every year.” Source: MCN Direct Newswire

PA Consulting: Businesses must act now to survive the new zombie reality of half dead banks, governments, consumers and companies
1 December 2009	New book from PA Consulting explores strategy on how to survive in the ‘new normal’ of the coming recovery. We have avoided an economic apocalypse and a form of recovery is imminent but we must prepare ourselves to live in a world dominated by powerful forces of half-dead, half-alive zombies. These zombies will ensure business does not return to any kind of acceptable normality for at least several years, according to PA Consulting Group's book The Zombie Economy: Leadership in times of uncertainty. It will be at least 2011 before we return to pre-crisis performance levels and growth rates will remain subdued for longer still. In this zombie world business leaders have at least two years before they can start thinking about business as usual -- and even then it will not be the same business as usual. Why a zombie economy? The zombie economy is made up of not quite dead banks, governments, consumers and companies staggering along, struggling to function in the new world: - Zombie banks whose balance sheets are too weak to support sufficient lending. Banks may be declaring huge profits but their recovery is partly an illusion. Losses of US$3.4 trillion in the financial system have still not fully unfolded. - Zombie governments whose finances are too stretched to sustain expansionary policies. Highly expensive government intervention means debt to GDP rates are set to rise to levels not seen outside war-time. - Zombie consumers whose wealth is too depleted to allow them to consume. Because of the state of the economy in general, and bank lending in particular, US consumers are spending 5% less of their disposable income -- they will be unable to act as the world's 'consumer of last resort'. - Zombie companies the combined impact of zombie banks, governments and consumers is exerting a powerful negative force on companies. They are saddled with debt that they cannot comfortably service, impeding growth and investment. UK Corporate insolvencies are now at record rates. The impact of a zombie world on any recovery The impact of zombies on the economy cannot be overstated. The zombies are set to create a vicious circle that prevents any rapid return to business as usual, and a recovery that feels more like a recession. Mark Thomas, author of the book and head of the strategy and marketing practice at PA, says: "The simultaneous existence of the zombies is something that has not occurred before in the working lifetime of anyone in business today. Business leaders are struggling to assess the impact of the zombies on their organisation. "Companies are battening-down the hatches and waiting for recovery -- but in the zombie reality this is a high risk strategy. We must prepare ourselves to live in the zombie world and companies need to take radical action. Businesses need to take certain actions now to survive and thrive in the zombie economy." The winners and losers The zombie economy will divide the business world into winners and losers. The winners are highly liquid and well-positioned to meet the needs of the zombie economy. They are more likely to benefit from competitor distress and they are unlikely to go under. While there will be winners and losers within each sector, some sectors overall have shown signs of resilience in the zombie world. Healthcare has so far been most resilient, though even here, the future will bring greater challenges. In contrast the losers are companies who are not liquid or whose business model is unsuited to the zombie world. They could go under, and if they survive, are likely to struggle. Manufacturing, Banking and Construction are all sectors which face significant short term challenges and where further consolidation is likely. How business leaders can overcome the threats from the zombie economy There are four steps to thriving in the zombie world: - secure liquidity - create a portfolio of potentially winning businesses - remodel each business to ensure that it can perform strongly in the new world - subject to the success of the first three steps, take bold action to stake out a massively enhanced market position in the new world Source: MCN Direct Newswire

IBM WORKS ON SMART WATER MANAGEMENT IN IRELAND
1 December 2009	IBM has teamed up with Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide smart water management across the country's beaches and lakes, plus a portal that offers immediate information on water quality for the general public. Working with An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, IBM and EPA are collecting and analysing environmental data from Ireland's coastline and lakes on water quality, tides and weather forecasts. The information is being made available at online portal Splash. Prior to Splash, public reports on water samples and compliance with standards were not available until the year after samples were collected. EPA director general Mary Kelly said: "Our collaboration with IBM and An Taisce is paving the way for smarter water quality management at our beaches and lakes. It is a good example of how smart green technologies can be deployed to provide easily accessible and useful information to the public. The Splash portal is just the beginning of what we hope to accomplish." Sharon Nunes, vice president of big green innovations at IBM, said: "By providing near real-time access to water conditions we are enabling environmental agencies and citizens to make smarter decisions about everything from how to handle changes in water quality to where to plan their next vacation." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

FUJITSU SECURES WORK IN SCOTLAND AND SWEDEN
1 December 2009	Fujitsu has won a £66 million, five-year IT modernisation deal with the Scottish Highland Council and an IT services outsourcing contract from Volvo in Sweden. The contracts will be a welcome fillip for Fujitsu, which recently announced a 10% cut in its UK workforce and forecast a 7% fall in annual revenue for fiscal 2010. The Highland Council has awarded Fujitsu preferred bidder status to transform and modernise its entire ICT infrastructure, systems and services. Projects include customer relationship management and the provision of unified communications solutions across the council. Councillor Carolyn Wilson, chair of the Highland Council resources committee, said: "This contract will deliver significant efficiency savings - £6.76 million over the next five years - and cut the carbon footprint of the council through reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption." At Volvo, Fujitsu has won a competitive tender to provide outsourced services for the company's IT platforms, desktops and service desks. Twenty-five Volvo employees will transfer to Fujitsu's offices in Gothenburg in Sweden and Gent in Belgium as part of the arrangement, while another 50-60 will be recruited at operations centres in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Russia. Under the contract, Fujitsu will become the sole supplier of IT infrastructure to Volvo. Source: MCN Director Newswire

LOGICA CREATES BUSINESS CONSULTING SERVICE LINE
1 December 2009	Logica has bundled its business units - with the exception of outsourcing services - into a global business consulting service line that will be led by Patrick Guimbal, former CEO of Logica in France. The introduction of a second service line alongside outsourcing comes as Logica shuffles its executive committee. This now includes six regional CEOs covering vertical markets, and CEOs in charge of three horizontal service lines – outsourcing, business consulting and global operations. Logica's aim is to combine local client-facing operations with low-cost shared services and global service lines to deliver consistent capabilities wherever they are needed. The business consulting operation will be under pressure to perform when the new structure comes into force on 1 January 2010. Logica's latest third-quarter financial results show a 12% drop in revenue from consulting and professional services, offset by 11% growth in outsourcing revenue. Total revenue for the quarter was down 4% at £862 million, leading the company to forecast annual revenue down 3% for the year - a previous forecast suggested a 2% fall - and to announce a further 300 job cuts in weak markets including the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. These job cuts will add to the 1,900 cuts made since Logica launched a restructuring and cost saving programme under incoming CEO Andy Green in early 2008. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

MCA NAMES TOP CONSULTANT TALENT
1 December 2009	The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has awarded accolades to three career stage winners and six category leaders in its 2009 consultant of the year awards. KPMG associate partner Rakesh Majithia scooped the award for 'outstanding achievement'. Majithia works in KPMG Advisory's sourcing team and won the prize for a global change project at a leisure group requiring efficiencies from its shared finance services model. Also among the career stage winners were Lisa Henneghan, a director in Deloitte's technology integration practice, who beat finalists from KPMG and CSC to win the 'future leader' award. Taking the 'young consultant of the year' accolade was Kimberly Hurd from Accenture. In the MCA's category awards, Derek Felton from Tribal secured the change management award, Rustin Richburg from Accenture took the HR prize and Will Cooper form Ernst & Young won the IT award. Julian Horberry from Propaganda scooped the top marketing honour, with the performance improvement award going to Graham Ramsden of BT Global Services and the strategy award to Richard Lewis of Ernst & Young. MCA CEO Alan Leaman said: "This year's awards recognise the top talent in the British consulting industry. The standard of entries was very high and everyone who was shortlisted can be proud of their achievement." Source: MCN Director Newswire

TCS WINS £150m CONTRACT AT CARDIFF
1 December 2009	Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has made its long-awaited break into local government as a strategic partner to Cardiff Council. TCS has secured a 15-year deal worth an estimated £150 million to support Cardiff's strategic transformational change programme. The contract will not involve any council staff transferring to TCS. Instead, the two organisations will work together to change the way the council's technology infrastructure supports day-to-day operations and to improve service delivery to the people of Cardiff. TCS is expected to use its government framework DigiGov, which has been implemented in Gujarat in India, to support the programme and will be looking to impress other local government organisations with its work in Cardiff. TCS UK public sector director Brian Woodford commented: "We want this to be an outstanding example of innovative engagement between the public and private sectors - a genuine partnership-based approach rather than the traditional supplier versus buyer." Councillor Mark Stephens, executive member for finance and service delivery, said: "We need to be more innovative and put the citizen at the heart of everything we do. Key to this has been bringing a technology partner on board and I am delighted TCS has been awarded the role." Cardiff Council leader Rodney Berman added: "This exciting collaboration will help us make savings in our spending on technology and enable the council to raise money through the development of technology-enabled products." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

CSC signs Cloud computing agreement with UK Royal Mail Group
1 December 2009	CSC has signed an agreement with the UK's Royal Mail Group to provide cloud computing information technology (IT) services. The new agreement expands the company's current contract signed with Royal Mail Group in 2003 to maintain its desktop computers and manage and develop its servers, mainframes and IT processes. The new contract is an industry first, with CSC being the first Microsoft partner to lead and win a cloud computing services agreement of this scale. Under terms of the contract, CSC will provide Royal Mail Group's 30,000 employees with access to new IT services using Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), part of Microsoft Online Services. CSC will also provide first line helpdesk support. CSC's cloud services are designed to help businesses easily and securely adopt cloud computing solutions, allowing them to reduce the costs of managing and maintaining business systems while giving them access to the latest Microsoft Online Services including Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online and Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Royal Mail Group's Head of Technology Service Delivery, Carol Olney, said: "This deal forms part of Royal Mail's drive to invest in new technology to improve efficiency and customer service." "The Microsoft suite will give people across Royal Mail Group the tools they need to do their jobs more effectively, enabling our business units to collaborate with each other, partners and other external organisations more freely, easily and securely while securing cost savings." "We are pleased to expand our relationship with Royal Mail Group and deliver the benefits of cloud services," said Kevin Brown, vice president and chief operating officer of CSC in the UK. "Working collaboratively with Microsoft, we look forward to helping Royal Mail Group lower operational costs and providing more flexibility in the management of its IT systems." "Public and private sector organizations, such as Royal Mail Group, are moving their critical applications to Microsoft Online Services in increasing numbers," said Ron Markezich, corporate vice president at Microsoft. "Partners like CSC are important in helping our customers take full advantage of the enterprise-grade capabilities and flexibility Microsoft's cloud applications deliver." Source: Top-Consultant

Capgemini helps transform Hovis supply chain at Premier Foods
1 December 2009	The Hovis Division of Premier Foods, the UK’s largest food producer, is targeting improved customer service and reduced waste following a transformation of its supply chain carried out in collaboration with Capgemini UK plc. The new solution, which is currently being rolled out across all 23 Hovis bakery sites, will provide traceability for every batch of bread baked across the entire end-to-end manufacturing and distribution supply chain. Premier Foods says that key benefits of the new solution, which will be fully implemented by the end of 2010, include better customer service, with improved accuracy of order fulfillment, and an improved visibility of supply chain performance. The nationwide rollout of the new solution has now started following a successful pilot programme involving three Hovis sites. The project to develop and prove the new supply chain solution was led by a team of Capgemini SAP and supply chain specialists working closely with Premier Foods’ staff , with SAP, who provide the core technology underpinning the solution, and with barcode scanning specialists Zetes. Phil McCallum, Director of IT and Infrastructure at Premier Foods, said: “The traceability solution we are implementing will deliver important benefits, including improved customer service and reduced waste. We have been pleased with the expertise Capgemini has provided in this transformational project.” Capgemini was selected to lead the supply chain project, which started last year, because of its long and successful relationship as a principal IT infrastructure partner to Premier Foods, and because of its expertise in SAP technology and supply chain best practice. Other factors included Capgemini’s capabilities in rapid application development and its provision of cost-effective solutions based on its global delivery model. The solution automates many processes previously carried out manually, and utilises the inventory management, warehouse management, sales and distribution functionality of SAP, integrated with bar code scanning devices and software from Zetes to track the product off the production line and across the primary distribution supply chain, providing full visibility and control. Anthoula Madden, Vice President for Consumer Products at Capgemini said: “This is a very important project for Premier Foods, introducing full track and trace capability across the Hovis sites. The benefits to the business are considerable and should result in improved customer satisfaction. Bringing together the right technical solution has required strong supply chain expertise and SAP capabilities. We have been working closely with Premier Foods, SAP and Zetes to make the solution work end-to-end in an integrated manner to deliver value to the client.” Source: Top-Consultant

Logica creates new Chief Client Officer role
1 December 2009	Amanda Mesler, currently President and CEO of Logica in North America, will assume the newly created nExecutive Committee role of Chief Client Officer and relocate to Europe on 1st January 2010. As Chief Client Officer, Amanda will be responsible for leading Logica’s global sales, account management, marketing and for driving its client intimacy strategy, as well as its Global Innovation Function. Amanda joined Logica in January 2007 to lead the North American business. Prior to joining Logica, Amanda has held executive positions at EDS, BearingPoint (formerly KPMG Consulting) and General Electric. Most recently, she was Vice President, Strategy and Organization Design and corporate officer at SYSCO, North America’s largest food service marketer and distributor. Andy Green, CEO of Logica, commented: “During Amanda’s time at Logica, she has shown a real passion for Sales and Marketing as well as a desire to drive genuine customer intimacy in our relations with our clients. She has become a respected leader across the group and has spearheaded a significant transformation of our North American business. I am delighted that she will be joining the EC in this newly created role. I believe her wide-ranging skills and extensive experience will bring significant value to the team.” Source: Top-Consultant

PwC acquires 90-strong Consulting Business
1 December 2009	PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has acquired corporate performance management (CPM) business Paragon Consulting Group. The group will become part of PwC Advisory’s consulting business with immediate effect. As a result of the acquisition, PwC will now be able to leverage the CPM expertise of over 90 people within the teams based in the UK, Turkey and Singapore, as well as the joint venture in Dubai. Over forty staff have joined PwC in the UK. Ashley Unwin, head of consulting, PwC, said: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Paragon Consulting Group. Paragon is a leader in corporate performance management technology and this acquisition is an excellent strategic fit with our consulting business. “We already offer our clients corporate performance management capabilities, but this acquisition means that we can enhance our offering, giving clients full-service – from ideas to implementation – of corporate performance management systems.” Richard Wyles, managing director, Paragon Consulting Group, said: “We are really excited that we will be able to continue to deliver excellence in performance management, but look forward to new opportunities for us to enrich our skills and experiences, to extend our relationships and make a significant contribution to growing the consulting business.” Ashley Unwin, head of consulting, PwC, said: “The economic upheaval in the past year has shown organisations the imperative of having access to the information they need to make business-critical decisions. Corporate performance management systems aim to help companies marshall essential information, often from across complex organisations, and access it at short notice. It helps them ensure that they can lead their people and continue to stay ahead in challenging economic times.” PwC’s Consulting business had revenues in 2008 of 201m (£181m in 2007) and employs more than 1,100 people, working with leading private and public sector clients to deliver significant and enduring improvements in performance and profitability. Source: Top-Consultant

FINANCIAL SERVICES LEADS UPSWING IN CONSULTING SPEND
3 November 2009	Financial services firms are expected to return to increased investment in consultancy over the next six months, but organisations in other sectors are showing little sign of a spending recovery. According to sourceforconsulting.com's Quarterly Trends in Consultancy Buying report, the average large organisation spent 25% less on management consulting in the first half of 2009 than it did in the second half of 2008. But a significant proportion of the financial services firms surveyed said consulting spend had increased, with some noting a rise of 50% or more. Sourceforconsulting also reported that systems integration is ending its downward trajectory and growth is returning, fuelled by a resurgent banking sector. In terms of which firms are winning consultancy buyers' money, the report suggests the Big Four are doing best, ahead of specialist consultants, strategy houses, systems integrators and operational consultants. Sourceforconsulting director, Fiona Czerniawska, commented: "The financial services sector will be the key driver in the recovery of the management consulting industry. A return of confidence to the sector has seen a new wave of consulting projects. "Despite these more positive signs, the market as a whole remains weak. Consulting firms are continuing to discount their fees and are increasingly working with their clients on a risk and reward basis." Looking forward, research among 30 major consultancy-buying organisations finds that 24% expect to spend more on consultancy over the next six months, with 33% expecting no change and 43% expecting to spend less. Breaking out financial services, the number of companies in the sector expecting to increase spending by over 50% is double the number for organisations in other sectors. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

CONSULTING TOPS DELOITTE REVENUE GROWTH
3 November 2009	Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's global consulting revenue rose 7% in the latest financial year - the firm's fastest growing function in a year when both audit and tax remained flat. Total annual revenue from all Deloitte member firms was $26.1 billon (£15.9 billion), a decrease in US dollars of 5% on the previous year and growth of 1% in local currency. Revenue from Deloitte firms in EMEA rose 2% in local currency, with the Americas down 1% and Asia-Pacific up 8%. Taking a positive stance on revenue, Deloitte CEO Jim Quigley said: "Achieving growth in this exceptionally difficult economic environment was the result of close attention to the needs of clients and a strong commitment to professional excellence by our member firm professionals. Despite the tough economy, we remain focused on our vision to be the standard of excellence and will continue to invest in pursuit of this vision." Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu noted that many member firms had to adjust their cost structures in the fiscal year to 31 May 2009, realigning workforces while competing for talent. The outcome was an increase in the global workforce of 5% to 169,000 employees. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

PwC OPENS MORE CONSULTING OPPORTUNITIES TO GRADUATES
3 November 2009	PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) plans to recruit over 1,000 graduates and students to start work in 2010, despite the recession. More management consulting jobs are expected to be available and PwC plans to extend its consulting internship programme. Key strands of the recruitment programme include: a graduate specialist programme providing opportunities in strategy consulting; over 100 vacancies in the firm's advisory team to meet its management consulting growth strategy, with 20 graduates starting in January; over 200 internship vacancies, including a new consulting internship programme; a graduate generalist programme working in tax or assurance to train as a chartered accountant; and an international internship scheme linking UK students to the firm's network in America, Europe and China. PwC chairman and senior partner Ian Powell said the decision to maintain a graduate recruitment programme in the recession was commercially imperative. He explained: "We held our nerve in the market and maintained our recruitment levels in 2009 because no matter what the economic conditions, talented people are the lifeblood of PwC and will put our business in the best position in the recovery." Head of recruitment Sonja Stockton added: "If anything, the war for talent has got more, not less, intense in the recession, for graduates and employers alike. This year's recruitment campaign is not about maintaining our numbers, it's about our ambition and growth in the market." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

ACCENTURE SCORES IN UK AND FINLAND
28 October 2009	Accenture has won applications management and development contracts with Nokia Siemens Networks in Finland and QBE Europe in London. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed, but the Nokia Siemens contract runs for three years and includes the outsourcing of IT applications management services covering HR and finance functions, as well as corporate-wide tools and platforms. Manfred Immitzer, chief information officer at Nokia Siemens Networks, said the deal would "help provide our IT capability with additional flexibility, greater agility and increased cost management". Accenture's deal with QBE Europe, a subsidiary of Australia's QBE Insurance Group, lasts five years and covers application development and maintenance services that will accelerate a business transformation programme designed to improve QBE's service levels to brokers, customers and underwriters. Accenture will also run a change management programme to support QBE's rollout of core underwriting systems, improve its underwriting front-end and simplify its IT infrastructure. Steven Burns, CEO of QBE European operations, commented: "Our decision to partner with Accenture will help fulfil our strategic need to rationalise the platforms supporting our underwriting and product delivery, and simplify our legacy IT estate for future growth and acquisitions." Source: MCN Director Newswire

MCA LAUNCHES TWO AWARDS
28 October 2009	The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has added two awards to the 12 already slated for its 2010 Management Awards. The new categories cover the 'most innovative' and 'most collaborative' firms and have been designed alongside the MCA's updated Code of Practice to recognise the high standards that the UK consulting industry upholds. The most innovative award will be given to the management consultancy that demonstrates the most ground-breaking approach and business solutions for both its clients and its own business - examples could include business models, solutions, marketing programmes, contractual arrangements, or team leadership and management. The most collaborative firm will demonstrate the strongest team relations and approach to tackling business challenges. Examples could include client relations, partner relations or supply chain relations. The two awards add to existing MCA project awards covering environment, change management (public & private sector), customer engagement, operational performance (public & private sector), innovation, international, business strategy, human resources, outsourcing consultancy and technology. Consultancies wanting to compete need to move quickly as the deadline for entries, which for the first time can be made online, is Friday 6 November. The awards shortlist will be announced on 18 January 2010, with finalists heading for the podium at an awards dinner in April next year. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

Atos Origin's third-quarter consulting revenue plummeted 34% to €54 million (£49 million), the largest drop in the company's service lines that together recorded a 6% fall in revenue to €1.2 billion.
28 October 2009	India's Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro have both seen their second-quarter revenue fall, with TCS increasing its year-on-year net profit while Wipro slipped below last year's comparable period. TCS, India's largest IT services firm, followed the recent pattern of US competitors IBM Global Services and Accenture in reporting a rise in net profit of 8% to $336 million (£203 million), but a fall in revenue of 2% to $1.5 billion. Despite the drop in revenue, the company remains confident - noting strong demand for application development and maintenance services, and increasing demand for BPO and assurance services. Wins in the UK energy, retail and public sectors eased its weakness in Europe overall. N Chandrasekaran, TCS' ex-chief operating officer who recently replaced S Ramadorai as CEO and managing director when he stepped down to become non-executive chairman, said: "TCS has delivered a sterling performance during the quarter. We are seeing an improvement in market conditions. With our client budgets still tightly managed, we continue to deliver higher value to customers, deepening our relationships and focusing on superior operational management." Wipro's second-quarter results to 30 September showed a 1% fall in net profit to $317 million, on revenue down 5% to $1.2 billion. S Gopalakrishnan, Wipro's CEO, endorsed Chandrasekaran's view, saying: "In the second quarter the business climate improved. Clients are looking to invest in a few strategic initiatives and relationships to maximise value from opportunities when the economic downturn ends." Source: MCN Direct Newswire

CONSULTING REVENUE COLLAPSES AT ATOS ORIGIN
28 October 2009	Atos Origin's third-quarter consulting revenue plummeted 34% to €54 million (£49 million), the largest drop in the company's service lines that together recorded a 6% fall in revenue to €1.2 billion. Atos Origin's revenue will be hit again in its full-year results following the liquidation of its client Primando/Quelle, a German mail order company where around 250 Atos Origin employees are working. Atos Origin said its work at Primando/Quelle represented revenue of €45 million in the first nine months of 2009, but it now expects to lose €5-10 million from its full-year revenue as a result of the company's demise. Atos Origin is negotiating with working councils in Germany to reduce staff numbers and reach the lower level of resources now needed at Primando/Quelle. Its third-quarter results show poor performance not only in consulting, but also in systems integration where revenue was down 14% at €435 million. Managed services, high-tech transactional services and medical BPO all achieved positive performance. The UK led country revenue growth at 12% for a total of €234 million, supported by strong revenue from managed services. Despite the setback at Primando/Quelle, Atos Origin chairman and CEO Thierry Breton said the company would reach its targets for this financial year, including a revenue decrease of about 3% on the previous fiscal year and a slight gain in operating margin to between 5.3% and 5.8%. Source: MCN Direct Newswire

A.T. Kearney releases 2009 ranking of global corporate champions
22 October 2009	Corporate success in changing environment dependent on vision and discipline. A.T. Kearney releases 2009 ranking of global corporate champions A new study by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, The Global Champions 2009, demonstrates that despite the meltdown in the financial markets, companies that combine long-range strategic planning with nimble execution can still by far outperform the competition. The 25 companies in the A.T. Kearney Global Champions 2009, identified from the world's 2,500 largest companies operating internationally, dramatically outperformed their peers during the five years ending with the stock market crash, averaging nearly 15 percent growth annually from 2004 through 2008, while the average for the entire sample was an 8 percent loss. (See ranking of top 25 below). "The financial crisis has greatly accelerated the rate of change in underlying global business conditions," said Paul Laudicina, chairman and managing officer of A.T. Kearney. "Companies that were able to align a disciplined growth-oriented strategy to the transformed economic landscape were the ones that dominated. Companies like first-ranking Nintendo and third-ranking Apple are able to satisfy new consumer demands for a simpler, yet more fulfilled lifestyle. Incidentally, this is a trend we picked up pre-crisis and is manifesting itself in the demand for technologically sophisticated, yet simple to use, products. And businesses, like fourth-ranking Doosan have been able to capitalize on government mandates globally, to rebuild infrastructure." Laudicina further observed that bigger was not necessarily better. "The analysis shows that neither size nor market position is a necessary pre-condition for superior growth or a protection against market turbulence. Instead, the themes that emerge include an in-depth understanding of what the market needed at a particular time, an extraordinary ability to plan beyond the immediate environment, and a relentless focus on flawless execution." The companies represent industries from electronics to heavy equipment, with no single industry sector dominant, a stark contrast to the 2008 version of the study when the end of the "supercycle" in commodities buoyed the natural resources industry. The return to fundamentals precipitated by the recession led to a shifting geographic make-up of the list. While companies such as Mexico's America Movil and India's Reliance Industries are two of only seven companies that managed to maintain their status as Global Champions, the proportion of companies headquartered in emerging countries has dropped from 40% in 2008 to less than a third in 2009. Laudicina pointed out that 20 percent of the Global Champions are on the World Dow Jones Sustainability Index and fully 40 percent have signed the UN Global Compact, compared to 30 percent of the Global 500. "This list is yet another demonstration that sustainability is not in conflict with, or independent of, business success. Rather, a focus on sustainability is a sign that the company is looking well beyond the horizon." To create the list, A.T. Kearney first calculates the median value growth rate -- the rise of market capitalization after subtracting any increase in capital -- and the sales growth rate for the 2,500 largest publicly listed companies around the world. A.T. Kearney then only considers those companies with 2008 sales greater than $10 billion and at least 25 percent of sales derived from outside their home region. In addition to having positive value growth, the companies on the list also have above average (median) sales growth. The 25 A.T. Kearney Global Champions for 2009 1. Nintendo (Japan) 2. Google (United States) 3. Apple (United States) 4. Doosan (South Korea) 5. Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea) 6. GDF Suez (France) 7. MTM (South Africa) 8. Monsanto (United States) 9. Inditex (Spain) 10. BHP Billiton (Australia) 11. Reliance Industries (India) 12 Jacobs Engineering (United States) 13. World Fuel Services (United States) 14. Fouor (Unites States) 15. ABB (Switzerland) 16. CNOOC (China) 17. Amazon.com (United States) 18. America Movil (Mexico) 19. Occidental Petroleum (United States) 20. Teva Pharmaceutical (Israel) 21. Mapfre (Spain) 22. Petrobras (Brazil) 23. Kuhne + Nagel (Switzerland) 24. Sasol (South Africa) 25. Komatsu (Japan) Source: Top-Consultant News

PwC predicts wave of M&A activity in the European financial services market
22 October 2009	The first half of 2009 saw extremely low levels of European financial services M&A activity however, as we move towards and into 2010, an increase in deal activity is on the cards, PwC says. PwC predicts wave of M&A activity in the European financial services market. Nick Page, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), said: “'Steady as she goes' has been the ethos throughout the 2009 financial services deal market to date. However, a restructuring-led wave of deal activity will gather momentum across the European financial services landscape as we move into 2010. We anticipate that financial institutions will continue to identify, evaluate and sell their non-core businesses." According to the latest ‘European Financial Services M&A Insights’ report from PwC, just €32bn-worth of deals was announced during the first half of 2009, compared with €178bn for the whole of 2008. Government involvement has cooled significantly throughout 2009 and if government activity were excluded, the figures would be just €19bn for the first half of 2009 compared with €70bn for all of 2008. Page added: "The post-crisis restructuring in European financial services could bring an increase in the number of private equity backed deals in the sector. An increasing number of firms have expressed interest in the sector - both in the intermediary and services area as well as in the businesses that take underwriting risk." Key themes also include: Building societies: an M&A hot bed in the coming 12 months The UK building society sector has already been in-focus and is expected to remain one of the ‘hot’ areas for M&A activity over the coming 12 months; further deal activity in the sector is inevitable. Salv Nigrelli, Director, PwC, said: “The continued polarisation of the sector is likely to continue; it is possible that a small number of ‘supermutuals’ that can offer a wider range of products across the UK will become increasingly dominant. These organisations may be well placed to benefit from the commercial virtues of their mutuality in the years to come." European asset management: coming in from the cold? The short-term future is promising. The industry as a whole has stabilised and a number of positive trends are emerging. As a result, there will be attractive opportunities for both trade and financial buyers to return to inorganic growth strategies in the short-to-medium term. Pars Purewal, Partner, PwC, said: “We believe some large financial services institutions will need to continue to strengthen their balance sheets and as a result, large asset managers may become available for acquisition.” Fredrik Johansson, Director, PwC, said: “Underperforming small and medium-sized asset managers will attract the attention of both strong trade buyers making bolt-on acquisitions and financial buyers looking to enter into or expand their investment in the financial services industry.” A new financial services landscape: the operational impact of divestments European Financial Services look set to undergo major restructuring, with any increase in M&A activity in the sector being determined by the pace of restructuring in the major financial institutions. Len Sinclair, Partner, said: “The ability to act decisively may well prove to be the distinguishing feature of those financial institutions that prove successful in using M&A to reshape their organisations. We anticipate that the change from being acquirers to sellers may not come easily to some financial services businesses.” Source: Top-Consultant News

Consulting market shrinks by 10% but is now primed for hiring recovery
22 October 2009	Recent results announcements by Accenture and IBM were a wake-up call for anyone thinking the consulting industry has been able to shield itself from the effects of the global downturn. The reality looks more like the consulting industry will have declined 10-15% by the time the industry emerges from recession. However, extensive research just published by Top-Consultant.com shows that hiring will be kick-started within the coming months following an 18 month period in which recruitment activity slumped. The majority of consulting firms believe a hiring upturn will be underway by early 2010. An industry shielded from recession? As recently as May of this year, the MCA’s annual report showed the UK consulting industry growing revenues at 5% per annum. Could it be that the scale of restructuring and turnaround opportunities were powering the consulting industry ahead in spite of the general economic malaise? Certainly the mass redundancies and collapse in hiring activity made this story seem hard to swallow. However these figures were based on financials to the end of December 2008 and with hindsight clearly masked the deterioration that firms have seen in their order books since late 2008. The reality now looks more like the consulting industry will have declined 10-15% during the recession, following more than a decade in which the growth rate has rarely dipped below 10%. Announced within the last weeks, Accenture’s Consulting net revenues for their fourth quarter 2009 were $2.91 billion, a decrease of 12% in local currency terms from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. Similarly IBM’s Global Business Services unit reported its latest quarterly revenues were down 11% compared with 2008. Both firms’ order book figures suggest the industry will see stabilisation over the coming quarters rather than a return to stratospheric growth. Whilst the Top-Consultant team are certainly seeing many niche consulting firms thriving in the current climate, from an industry growth perspective the importance of firms like Accenture and IBM is overwhelming. With consulting revenues slipping at other leading brands like Atos (-23%) and Capgemini (-13%), the inescapable conclusion is that consulting as a market will have declined by 10% or more by the time the industry returns to growth again. Consulting hiring primed for recovery Against this backdrop and the significant redundancies that have been undertaken over the last year, Top-Consultant surveyed 122 recruiters from a wide range of consulting firms and agencies to determine when we can expect an improvement in the consultancy recruitment market. The results were mixed in that a hiring upturn is expected imminently, but it will be at least 3 years before we see anything like the hiring frenzy that has characterised much of the last decade. Overall the findings paint a picture of a modest recovery in hiring activity that is only just now starting to get underway, which would explain the difficulties that consultants have experienced in securing new positions up until now. Only 7% of respondents believe the market began picking up earlier this year; 45% believe a hiring recovery is either already underway or is just getting underway now. This leaves the majority (55%) expecting to see a hiring upturn only get underway from 2010 onwards. Set against the terrible hiring climate of the last year it’s a positive to see that 79% of all recruiters believe a recovery will be underway by early 2010. Respondents were also asked to quantify how their hiring volumes for 2010 and 2011 were likely to compare with the hiring volumes they had seen during the most recent boom. For 2010 the respondents expect hiring volumes to be 45% of what they were during the last boom, with this figure growing to 60% in 2011. These figures compare with the ~25% of previous volumes figure that Top-Consultant estimate the market had dropped to at its low. The key message from the above is that hiring activity will increase steadily over the coming two years, but that the “War for Talent” seen during the boom will not return until 2012 or beyond. In the meantime, candidates will need to be shrewder in their choice of application strategies – and potentially consider career moves outside consulting too. Source: Top-Consultant News

Logica ranked industry leader for carbon reduction
15 October 2009	The Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Global 500 report, which provides the most comprehensive assessment of global data on corporate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies, has ranked Logica top of the FTSE 350 for IT Services. Logica ranked industry leader for carbon reduction The leading IT and business services company scored 77% on the measurement of its greenhouse gas emissions and its climate change strategy. The CDP's rating of Logica's climate change programme reflects the significant efforts the company is making to become more sustainable in its working practices. Commenting on the achievement, Tony Rooke, Sustainability and Climate Change Leader, Logica, said: “We are very proud to have been recognised by the CDP as the number one IT services company with regard to our work to reduce emissions and implement a climate change strategy. Logica has been working hard to reduce the environmental impact of both our internal processes and the products and solutions we offer to our customers.” The CDP is widely recognised as holding the most comprehensive collection of global data on corporate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies. Thousands of organisations measure and disclose their data through CDP. The CDP then uses this information to positively influence financial and policy decision-making. Recently Andy Green, CEO, Logica, signed the Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change sponsored by the Corporate Leaders’ Group on Climate Change on behalf of Logica. The Communiqué outlines the need for an “ambitious, robust, and equitable global deal on climate change.” It is set to become the definitive statement from the business community ahead of the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009, which aims to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol, expiring in 2012. Source: Top-Consultant News

KPMG sets sights on £1 million for Alzheimer’s Society
15 October 2009	KPMG has raised £482,000 through fundraising events across the country in its first year supporting staff selected charity, Alzheimer’s Society – and is targeting reaching at least £1 million by the end of the second year, making KPMG the largest supporter of its kind in the history of the Society. Alison Halsey, lead partner for the relationship at KPMG, said: “KPMG people have shown sheer determination and enormous enthusiasm in the first year of our partnership with Alzheimer’s Society. We have made real headway reaching almost half a million pounds and with our people’s continued support there is all to play for in the coming twelve months.” People from all of KPMG’s 22 UK offices have been involved in supporting the charity programme. Alongside the fundraising events – which have included conquering the 3 Peaks, cycling from London to Paris, and completing the London Marathon – more than 160 KPMG people have volunteered their time, skills and experience directly to Alzheimer’s Society, from transforming gardens and painting day centres, to supporting dementia services at a branch, or providing pro bono advice. Paul Searles, a KPMG volunteer, said: “My background in Financial Management Advisory placed me in an excellent position to help Alzheimer’s Society improve annual planning and budgeting processes. I was very keen to take this opportunity to be able to give something back and the society’s receptiveness and gratitude has made this a really rewarding experience." The largest sum of money raised came through KPMG’s ‘First Hour Appeal’ which allowed KPMG people to donate their first hour of pay in 2009 to Alzheimer’s Society. Through this scheme KPMG people donated £43,000. Neil Hunt, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Society, said: “'Alzheimer's Society is delighted that KPMG has raised nearly half a million pounds to help us fight dementia. Employees across the country have raised funds by baking cakes, wearing blue, climbing Ben Nevis and even rowing the English Channel. KPMG's support hasn't stopped there: employees have volunteered their time and professional skills to help us. Well done and thank you to everyone who has supported us. We look forward to another successful twelve months and to reaching the partnership's £1million target.” Source: Top-Consultant News

Accenture selected for strategic support on smart grid roll out
15 October 2009	Accenture has been selected by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to provide strategic consulting on the planning and implementation of smart grids in the UK. Accenture selected for strategic support on smart grid roll out Accenture will be responsible for analysing the UK’s electricity grid network and market structure, and will advise on the UK’s readiness to adopt smart grid technology and services. Accenture will also support DECC on the development of a business case showing the financial viability of smart grids in the UK and on the potential benefits that they could deliver. Smart grids represent the next generation of electricity distribution that will help the UK reduce its carbon emissions. Smart grids are designed to give energy and utility companies the ability to manage distributed sources of renewable energy, such as energy generated from wind farms and biomass plants, in the most effective way. An underlying ‘intelligent infrastructure’ in the smart grid also helps to reduce wasted power generation and network losses by automatically distributing power optimally. Smart grids will further support the use of electric cars and help consumers offer power they generate at home back to the grid. In essence, smart grids provide the network that enables households to create their own low carbon homes. “The UK Government has some of the most ambitious emissions targets in the world and smart grids will be play a central in achieving them, by helping to reduce electricity consumption and by better managing intermittent renewable sources,” said Omar Abbosh, managing director of Accenture’s Resources operating group in the UK and Ireland. “Smart grids are a national priority but will be built locally. As such, city authorities will play a major part in making smart grids the basis for low carbon living, working and transport.” Accenture is helping cities and utilities deploy smart meters and smart grids in Asia, Europe and North America. Accenture also supports them through its Intelligent City Network, in which public and private sector organizations committed to building smart grids exchange practical knowledge and experience. Source: Top-Consultant News

Home Office renegotiates contracts with Atos Origin and Fujitsu
15 October 2009	Current contracts between the Home Office and two of its major IT suppliers have been extended – saving the taxpayer more than £100 million over six years. Home Office renegotiates contracts with Atos Origin and Fujitsu Atos Origin and Fujitsu will provide IT services to 24,000 users across the Home Office and UK Border Agency. The £430 million agreements will reshape current services to deliver significant improvements between now and the end of the contracts in 2016 – cutting IT costs by around a quarter. Other improvements include delivering a more efficient service to staff, enabling greater mobility and flexibility; making systems more reliable and responsive; and helping to bring the Home Office in line with the Government’s wider strategy for information systems and technology. Helen Kilpatrick, Home Office Director General, Financial and Commercial, said: “The extended contracts are a great achievement, which will help the Home Office improve the service we provide to the public. By working collaboratively with Atos Origin and Fujitsu from the outset, we have been able to re-engineer the existing contracts in record time. “The result is a completely new approach to IT service provision in the Home Office, reducing costs by a more than a quarter over the lifetime of the contracts.” The extensions cover the provision of IT services including desktop, applications hosting, networks and supporting infrastructure and services to around 70% of the current Home Office user community. Total contract extension value over the period is approximately £430 million - £330 million to Fujitsu and £100 million to Atos Origin. Source: Top-Consultant News

PwC: UK workers have mixed reactions to pay freezes and other changes to their employment deal
15 October 2009	Employees are divided in how they receive changes made to their employment deal during the recession, according to research commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). PwC: UK workers have mixed reactions to pay freezes and other changes to their employment deal The research surveyed over 700 UK workers who have been impacted by changes to their reward (pay, benefits and bonuses), working hours or who work for organisations that have made redundancies. Almost half (49%) of respondents said their reaction to their employers’ decisions was that they understood as times are tough. Just 8% said the changes made them angry. While this is encouraging, a further third (34%) said they found such decisions demotivating and just 3% said they were motivated by their employer taking decisive action. Some 6% did not agree with any of these sentiments. In its recent report – Managing tomorrow’s people: how the downturn will change the future of work - PwC warned that many once-powerful employer brands will be unable to attract top talent in the next decade as a result of people-related decisions made during the recession. Jon Terry, partner and head of reward, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), commented: “Pay and promotion freezes, changes to pension schemes, cuts in recruitment and slashed training budgets, combined with poor communication, have eroded the bonds of trust between some employers and their employees. In contrast, other organisations have excelled at doing more with less to engage and develop their employees in an unstable employment landscape where many individuals view their career prospects as stagnant or diminishing. “Amid reports of subdued growth in both the permanent and temporary jobs markets, news of pay freezes and cuts across various sectors confirms many organisations are still very much focused on managing their people costs. While workers are generally resigned to what the recession may mean for their pay and promotion prospects, communication between employers and employees can make all the difference between how this news is received and the level of trust in the relationship. And, while a pay cut is never good news, some companies are showing their top performers how much they value them in other ways such as explaining their succession plans or offering smaller ad-hoc awards for specific projects. “As the long-term impact of people decisions taken during the downturn begins to be felt, the winners and losers of the war for talent are starting to reveal themselves - with those who continued to focus on investment and employee engagement emerging as clear leaders. Those who continued to offer their employees new opportunities and invested in their people pipeline are now at a competitive advantage.” Source: Top-Consultant News

Increase in employee confidence not sustained in Q3
15 October 2009	UK employee confidence has declined 1.8 percent since June, according to a quarterly measure of worker opinions from Kenexa, a global provider of talent management and retention solutions. Employee confidence has been found to relate to multiple economic and business performance outcomes at the individual, organisational, industry and country levels as well as being predictive of consumer confidence. A high level of employee confidence is achieved when employees perceive their organisation as being effectively managed and competitively positioned, and believe they have a promising future with their organisation, as well as job security and skills that are attractive to other employers. Employee confidence influences individual behaviour and has implications for organisational performance and economic conditions. Kenexa's quarterly study involves over 15,500 employees in 12 countries (Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, the UK and the United States). In September 2009, the global employee confidence index score was 97.9. Brazil (105.3), China (102.8) and India (100.2) had the highest levels of employee confidence, while Germany (96.7), Japan (95.6) and Spain (93.3) had the lowest levels. The United Kingdom employee confidence index score was 97.2. The UK score had risen 4.6 percent in the second quarter. The largest declines in the 2009 third quarter employee confidence levels compared to the second quarter were registered in France, followed by Spain and Germany. Anne Herman, research consultant at the Kenexa Research Institute stated that: "Globally there was approximately a one point decline in the third quarter 2009, compared to a five point improvement in the second quarter. China and India sustained and built very slightly on the improvements seen in the second quarter of 2009, while Japan reversed a second quarter downward trend." Herman continued: "While the second quarter of 2009 showed a global economy rebounding strongly, the third quarter employee confidence scores indicate that recovery is not going to be a straight line of positively improving results. Nine of the 12 studied countries show third quarter declines compared to second quarter of 2009. "The positive news is that none of the countries completely lost the gains made in the second quarter, but the new data suggests that the amount of improvement seen in the second quarter was not sustainable in this economic environment. This is a bit like three steps forward and one step back." Source: Top-Consultant News

Qedis achieves 35% growth
14 October 2009	London-based Qedis has smashed targets for the year, grown sales and recruitment and thrived in the current economic downturn, the company has reported. Adding 152 new projects and winning a place in the Top 25 Best Small Companies to work for, Qedis continues to grow. In a year when the consulting market has only grown by 5% (MCA, May 2009), Qedis said it boosted revenue by 35% to GBP10 million. Qedis wins work despite the economic downturn because it puts relationships at the heart of its business, the company says. "93% of our clients continue to rehire us to solve new problems,” says Paramjit Uppal, CEO. “Our clients have told us that this is because we are committed to putting their interests above our own, consulting in an open way, delivering real impact without costing the Earth." Qedis is predicting huge growth for the year ahead, increasing its size from 85 to 135 consultants and forecasting sales of GBP16 million. In 2003, Qedis, an employee-owned management and technology consulting company, was established to create a new kind of consultancy: one with a more personal style, one that aims to change the way the world thinks about consulting. Source: Top-Consultant News

PwC 2009 global revenues fall 7%
14 October 2009	Adjusting for currency changes, PwC revenues fell in the firm's tax and advisory services business but rose slightly in its audit business. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said total gross revenues from operations for its worldwide network of member firms rose marginally at constant exchange rates for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2009. However, adjusted for foreign exchange fluctuations, particularly the strengthening of the US dollar, PwC's FY2009 network revenues were US$26.2 billion, a decline of 7.1 per cent from the previous 12-month period. Revenues continued to grow for PwC's core Assurance services, where revenues of US$13.1 billion were up by 2 per cent despite the impact of the recession, reflecting both the market-leading strength of the business and its continued focus on improved customer service and very competitive pricing. Tax revenues remained steady at US$6.9 billion. Growth in revenues from this area was impacted by the worldwide decline in corporate deals and restructuring work. Given the cyclical nature of its business, PwC's Advisory operations were hardest hit by the recession. However in the circumstances they continued to hold up well with revenues of US$6.1 billion, down by 3 per cent. This fall in revenues was driven by the sharp drop off in transactions and initial public offerings, as well as by cuts in discretionary spending by clients. The drop was partially offset by a rise in restructuring work. "The past 12 months have been challenging for our network, with most PwC member firms facing tough economic conditions. While PwC's results for FY 2009 are not as good as we would have liked, they have held up well in the circumstances," said PwC Global Chairman Dennis M. Nally. "In addition the combination of first rate customer service and very competitive pricing has allowed us to increase our market share in many of our markets around the world. "The ability of so many PwC member firms to successfully sustain their business and their people through this difficult period provides us with a strong platform from which to serve clients in the recovery and to continue to invest in our own growth. While we cut our costs substantially, the PwC network also hired about 30,000 new people and increased its total workforce to more than 163,000 demonstrating a commitment to attracting the right people to serve clients around the world." "PricewaterhouseCoopers continues to have the best and strongest network to help clients succeed. We see opportunities emerging in the recovery in industries such as healthcare, financial services and infrastructure, and we are prepared to help clients capitalise on them by anticipating their needs and providing a quality of service that sets us apart. Our strategy is to excel in every marketplace in which we compete by delivering a distinctive PwC Experience to our clients and to our own people." PwC member firms in some regions of the world were less affected by the slumping global economy than others. There were continuing strong results from South and Central America, which saw revenues increase by 13.3 per cent, while the Middle East and Africa produced revenue growth of 9.1 per cent. Asia saw revenues grow by 5.4 per cent, lower growth than last year, but a continuing indication of the growing contribution of PwC's member firms in Asia to the network. However, revenues from PwC member firms in Central and Eastern Europe, North America and Western Europe declined. Revenue growth was high in a number of PwC member firms around the world, with particularly good results in Japan, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Canada. "The ability of those firms and others across the PwC network to sustain their operations without major cutbacks in personnel confirms PwC's rank as the strongest professional services organisation, well positioned and poised to capitalise on opportunities presented in the coming turnaround," added Mr Nally. Source: Top-Consultant News

Accenture 2010 forecast lower than expected
14 October 2009	Accenture reported a fall in quarterly profit, in line with previous guidance, but its outlook for the new fiscal year fell slightly short of market expectations. For the fourth quarter ended Aug. 31 net revenues were $5.15 billion, a decrease of 14 percent in US dollars and 7 percent in local currency and in line with the company’s previously guided range. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.39, compared with $0.67 in the same period last year, and reflect a negative $0.24 impact from the previously announced $253 million restructuring charge. New bookings for the quarter were $5.54 billion. Operating income for the quarter was $420 million, and operating margin was 8.2 percent. Absent the restructuring charge, operating income for the quarter was $672 million and operating margin was 13.1 percent. For the full fiscal year, net revenues were $21.58 billion, a decrease of 8 percent in US dollars and flat in local currency, in line with the company’s previously guided range. Diluted earnings per share for the full year were $2.44, compared with $2.65 in fiscal 2008, and reflect a negative $0.24 impact from the restructuring charge. New bookings for the full year were $23.90 billion. Operating income for the full year was $2.64 billion, and operating margin was 12.3 percent. Absent the restructuring charge, annual operating income was $2.90 billion and annual operating margin was 13.4 percent. Accenture shares forecast earnings in the new fiscal year of $2.64 to $2.72 per share, compared with $2.44 in the previous year. On average, analysts had expected $2.75. Accenture’s Board of Directors has declared an annual cash dividend of $0.75 per share, an increase of $0.25 per share, or 50 percent, over its previous annual dividend, and has approved moving from an annual to a semi-annual schedule for the payment of dividends starting in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. The Board has also approved $4.0 billion in additional share repurchase authority. William D. Green, Accenture’s chairman & CEO, said, “Our fourth-quarter and full-year results clearly show that we continued managing our business well in challenging economic conditions. We delivered on revenue, we generated exceptional cash flow, we are pleased with our operating-margin expansion for the year, and our balance sheet remains rock-solid. We continue to return cash to shareholders through a 50 percent increase in our annual cash dividend and through the repurchase of $1.9 billion of our shares during the year. “We remain focused on operational discipline and superior execution to ensure that we continue to deliver value to our clients and shareholders. Importantly, this has allowed us to take proactive steps — including refreshing our core business and investing in new high-growth areas — that have positioned us very well for the upturn.” Consulting net revenues for the fourth quarter were $2.91 billion, a decrease of 19 percent in US dollars and 12 percent in local currency from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. Outsourcing net revenues were $2.23 billion, a decrease of 7 percent in US dollars and an increase of 1 percent in local currency compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. New bookings for the fourth quarter were $5.54 billion. This reflects a negative 6 percent foreign-currency impact compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. Consulting new bookings were $2.87 billion, or 52 percent of fourth-quarter bookings. Outsourcing new bookings were $2.68 billion, or 48 percent of fourth-quarter bookings. Consulting net revenues for fiscal 2009 were $12.56 billion, a decrease of 11 percent in US dollars and 4 percent in local currency from fiscal 2008. Outsourcing net revenues were $9.02 billion, a decrease of 3 percent in US dollars and an increase of 6 percent in local currency compared with fiscal 2008. New bookings for the full fiscal year were $23.90 billion, a decrease of 11 percent in US dollars and 3 percent in local currency from fiscal 2008. New bookings for fiscal 2009 reflect a negative 8 percent foreign-currency impact compared with fiscal 2008. Consulting new bookings were $12.78 billion, a decrease of 14 percent in US dollars and 6 percent in local currency from fiscal 2008. Consulting represented 53 percent of new bookings in fiscal 2009. Outsourcing new bookings were $11.12 billion, a decrease of 7 percent in US dollars and an increase of 1 percent in local currency compared with fiscal 2008. Outsourcing represented 47 percent of new bookings in fiscal 2009. Source: Top-Consultant News

DELOITTE TAKES TWO LEADERS FROM DETICA
7 October 2009	Deloitte has recruited the managing director of Detica's UK consulting business and one of its top practice leaders in the wake of the security and business intelligence consultancy's acquisition by defence giant BAE Systems last year. Former Detica Consulting MD Carl Bates has joined Deloitte's telecoms data team. He has worked in the telecoms and technology sector for the past 18 years, including four years as a director of Deloitte. Ed Marsden is joining Deloitte's technology, media and telecoms (TMT) data team from a similar role at Detica where he led the company's TMT practice. He has worked in the telecoms sector for 14 years, including eight years at Accenture in the UK and Australia. Both Bates and Marsden will focus on telecoms, specifically covering data, security and technology transformation. Jolyon Barker, global leader of Deloitte's TMT practice, commented: "The importance of data and security is clear to Deloitte's clients. They are focusing on the commercial challenges of better understanding and serving their customers, and on using enterprise data to improve performance and competitiveness in a mature market." Source: Management Consultants News Direct

MCA TO CHOOSE BRITAIN'S TOP TALENT
7 October 2009	The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has shortlisted candidates for its Consultant of the Year Awards 2009 and will reveal the UK's top talent at a ceremony later this month. The awards include nine categories, with Accenture and CSC leading the competition with six shortlisted consultants each. Other consultants in categories including strategy, change management, IT, HR, marketing and performance improvement consultant of the year come from Tribal, IBM, Deloitte, Xantus, Ernst & Young, Propaganda, KPMG and BT Global Services. On the shortlist for the 'Future leader of the year' award are Alex Phelps, a senior manager dedicated to financial management in KPMG's advisory business; Claire McCormack, a senior manager specialising in insurance within Accenture's financial services consulting practice; Lisa Henneghan, a director in Deloitte's technology integration practice; and Tahir Ayaz, a principal consultant and business process architect at CSC. If these are tomorrow's consultancy leaders, they will be highly regarded by those on the shortlist for 'Young consultant of the year'. In this category are Devyani Gupta of Avail, Farida Bendahmane at CSC, Frances Lysak of Deloitte and Kimberley Hurd at Accenture. MCA chief executive Alan Leaman said: "These awards recognise the top talent in the British consulting industry. The MCA works constantly with its members to attract the best people into consulting and our code of practice puts high standards and clients' interests first. This year's entrants all displayed outstanding consulting skills." Source: Management Consultants News Direct

ACCENTURE RESULTS REFLECT RECESSION
7 October 2009	Accenture's net profit and revenue slipped in the last financial year though it successfully sustained its operating margin at around 12%. Accenture's net profit fell 6% to $1.6 billion (£1 billion) in the year to 31 August, the drop being partly the result of a $253 million restructuring charge. Revenue was down 8% at $21.6 billion. Accenture's consulting revenue fell 11% to $12.6 billion, with outsourcing revenue down 3% at $9 billion. The company's operating margin was 12.3%, down from 12.9% in fiscal 2008. Admitting that its business continues to be affected by global economic conditions, Accenture reported that only its public services operating group increased revenue in the year, while revenue dropped in EMEA and the Americas and only Asia-Pacific achieved an increase. Total new bookings for the year were down 11% on 2008, with consulting bookings down 14% at $12.8 billion and outsourcing bookings down 7% at $11.1 billion. Accenture CEO William Green claimed: "Our fourth-quarter and full-year results clearly show that we continued managing our business well in challenging economic conditions. We remain focused on operational discipline and superior execution to ensure that we continue to deliver value to our clients and shareholders. Importantly, this has allowed us to take proactive steps that have positioned us very well for the upturn." Source: Management Consultants News Direct

CSC CLOSES IN ON $2.4bn MEGA-DEAL
7 October 2009	CSC has been selected to enter exclusive negotiations with Zurich Financial Services Group for an outsourcing contract valued at about $2.4 billion (£1.5 billion) over 10 years. This is one of the few mega-deals to be offered in the recession and, if CSC pins it down, it will be a fillip to both its revenue and reputation. The contract covers the provision of data centre and IT infrastructure managed services in Europe and North America, including data centre centralisation and server virtualisation. The 10-year master service agreement will allow country-specific deals to be made between Zurich and CSC, building on previous relationships between the companies. In 2004, CSC signed its first contract with Zurich, a $1.3 billion, seven-year deal covering applications outsourcing. This was followed last year by a $399 million, six-year global IT desktop outsourcing agreement. CSC declined to discuss the new contract, saying only that the exclusive negotiation period is for six months and that services are expected to start under the master agreement with one or more contract-specific agreements in the first half of next year. CSC emphasised: "There can be no assurance that CSC and Zurich will reach a final agreement on the master service agreement or any particular country agreements, that required approvals will be received, or that a transaction will take place." Source: Management Consultant's News Direct

DELL AND XEROX JOIN IT SERVICES SUPER LEAGUE
7 October 2009	Hardware manufacturers Dell and Xerox have followed the trend to build services revenue with acquisitions worth over $10 billion that propel them into the top 20 global IT services firms. Dell has bought veteran IT services and solutions company Perot Systems for $3.9 billion (£2.4 billion). It says the companies together will generate $8 billion in services revenue out of a total of $15 billion. Dell has been trying to break into the services market for years, leading CEO Michael Dell to say: "We consider Perot Systems to be a premium asset with great people that enhances our opportunities for immediate and long-term growth." Xerox, best known as a document management specialist, is pushing into the BPO market through its $6.4 billion acquisition of Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services (ACS). Xerox says the deal will create a $22 billion global company, with services revenue tripling from $3.5 billion to about $10 billion next year. Xerox CEO Ursula Burns said: "This is a game changer for Xerox. By combining Xerox's strengths in document technology with ACS's expertise in managing and automating work processes, we are creating a new class of solution provider." As Dell and Xerox expand their presence in the services sector, the brand name of former IT services leader EDS has disappeared. Following its acquisition by HP last year and subsequent integration into the company, 'EDS, an HP company' has been rebranded as 'HP Enterprise Services' and will operate within HP's enterprise business unit. Source: Management Consultant's News Direct

DWP OFFERS CONTRACTS WORTH £275m A YEAR
21 September 2009	The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued tenders for five IT outsourcing contracts worth up to £275 million a year. The contracts are expected to run over seven-year terms with an option for a further three years. The contracts form part of an IT services framework agreement to upgrade and support the department's core benefits systems. They will deliver application services to the DWP and other government organisations in a shared services arrangement. The contracts will replace existing agreements, covering over 100 applications, when they expire between 2010 and 2014. The five contracts, or lots, cover customer-facing systems, the core benefit system, business-facilitating systems, application deployment services and enterprise-level application support services. Prospective suppliers must register interest in the contracts by the end of this month, after which a competitive procurement process will start with an expected three to six IT services suppliers. Source: Management Consultants' News Direct

BP AXES 35 IT SERVICES SUPPLIERS
21 September 2009	BP has whittled down its list of IT application development and support suppliers from 40 to five, choosing IBM, Accenture, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro as its favoured partners. The oil & gas giant had previous relationships with all five suppliers except TCS, which has gained a contract covering refining, manufacturing and corporate IT maintenance work and the development of IT solutions for BP's upstream and trading businesses. The consolidation and procurement programme has taken BP a year to complete and is aimed at simplifying processes, improving service quality and standardising its IT applications and maintenance worldwide. BP said the consolidation is also expected to knock $500 million (£300 million) off the cost of work which would otherwise have totalled $2 billion over the next five years. IBM won the largest contract, although no financial details have been declared, to manage and run BP's enterprise applications and integrated service desk responsibilities. Accenture will provide application development services, while Infosys will work for BP's integrated supply and trading, exploration and production business. Wipro will deliver applications development and maintenance services for the company's fuels value change and its corporate businesses on a global basis. Source: Management Consultants' News Direct

PwC CONTINUES PUSH IN CONSULTANCY
21 September 2009	PricewaterhouseCoopers' advisory business grew by 5% to reach £741 million in the year to June. The company's audit and tax businesses performed less well, with audit down 1% at £826 million and tax down 4% at £681 million. According to advisory head Kevin Ellis, PwC's consulting business grew by 10% during the year, and the advisory group also won the largest share of insolvencies by value, including the largest ever, Lehman Brothers. Staff numbers within the advisory business rose above those of tax for the first time, with an average of 3,525 employees, compared to 3,465 in tax and 6,316 in audit. Looking ahead, PwC said: "Our strategy for fiscal 2010 and beyond is designed to achieve transformational growth of our consulting market share and extend our lead in our core businesses of audit, tax, business recovery services and transactions." In total, PwC reported revenue for the year up 7% at £2.3 billion, leading UK chairman Ian Powell to comment: "This year has been one of general economic turmoil and against this backdrop our results represent a solid financial performance as we held our nerve and stayed close to the market and our clients." During the year, PwC acquired the executive remuneration business of Halliwell Consulting, adding 10 people to its mid-tier reward business. It also acquired Sustainable Finance and invested in the Middle East. Source: Management Consultants' New Direct

MANAGERS BUY BEARINGPOINT EMEA
21 September 2009	The break-up of BearingPoint has continued with the sale of its Europe, Middle East and Africa practice to its European management team for $69 million (£41.4 million). Following the transaction, the EMEA practice will operate as an independent private partnership, but continue under the BearingPoint brand. Peter Mockler, EMEA leader for BearingPoint since 2006, and his management team will continue to lead the organisation, which includes about 3,000 consultants. Mockler said: "We are very pleased to finalise the purchase of BearingPoint EMEA and look forward to continuing to serve our valued clients for many years to come. The leadership team and consultants are dedicated to the success of our business and remain steadfast in their commitment to providing leading-edge management and technology consulting services. "We are confident that this is the best path forward for our clients and employees, as many examples have shown that the private business model makes sense for a professional services firm." Source: Management Consultants' News Direct

FUJITSU OPENS TALKS ON 1,200 JOB CUTS
21 September 2009	Fujitsu Services has entered a 90-day consultation period with elected employee representatives that will decide who will be made redundant in the company's plan to cut almost 10% of its 12,500-strong workforce. The consultation process started late last week and will consider all the options available to eliminate 1,200 jobs from the company's payroll. Some employees are expected to take voluntary redundancy, but Fujitsu will not rule out compulsory redundancies and said some consultants will be among the casualties. The cuts are being made in areas of over-capacity - including engineering services, essentially break/fix services, and HQ functions - following the integration of Fujitsu Siemens Computers and its 800 staff into Fujitsu Services in April. Staff are expected to exit the company over the next few months, with the redundancy programme due to be completed by the end of this year. Fujitsu Services blames the cuts on the economy, lower-than-anticipated revenues and a shortfall in its predicted order pipeline. Reduced revenues and orders are the result of the termination of the company's £896 million contract in the NHS IT programme and its failure to secure a role in the Government's National Identity Scheme, despite being one of three shortlisted suppliers. Looking ahead, Fujitsu Services CEO Roger Gilbert forecast a 7% drop in revenue for fiscal 2010. This follows a positive fiscal 2009 in which the company grew revenue by 4% to £1.7 billion. Source: Management Consultants News Direct

Slight growth of permanent and temporary staff appointments in August
14 September 2009	Candidate availability in the UK rose at weaker pace; permanent and temporary staff pay fell at slower rates, according to latest Report on Jobs. The latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs provides the most comprehensive guide to the UK labour market, drawing on original survey data provided by recruitment consultancies. The report signals a return to growth of both permanent and temporary staff appointments during August, albeit only marginal. Latest survey data signalled marginal increases in both permanent and temporary/contract staff appointments during August. It was the first growth of permanent appointments for seventeen months and the first increase in temp billings since July 2008. The rate of contraction of demand for staff eased further in August. The latest drop in overall vacancies was the weakest in just over a year. Recruitment consultants reported another month of declining pay rates in August. However, the latest reductions in both permanent salaries and temporary/contract staff hourly wages were the slowest in ten months. Although the availability of candidates to fill job vacancies continued to rise strongly in August, the rates of improvement in both permanent and temporary/contract staff availability eased to the weakest for a year. Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, says: “For the first time in 17 months, this month's report shows signs that the UK jobs market is improving. It seems that employers are becoming more confident in their hiring decisions with an increase in permanent recruitment and growth in temporary placements for the first time in over a year. “The stabilisation in the jobs environment must not be put at risk by the introduction of ill-designed regulation like the Agency Workers Directive. This legislation needs careful consideration to avoid putting jobs at risk and must not be introduced until the last possible moment in 2011. Unemployment will continue into 2010 so we call on the Government, employers and recruitment businesses to work more effectively together to build on these green shoots and safeguard the recovery of the jobs market.” Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG comments: “This is the first time we have seen really positive news for the UK jobs market in 17 months. However, it is too early to speculate whether this signals the end of the recession. One important factor to watch over the coming months will be how the public sector is coping with the financial and economic crisis. Given that employment costs are a substantial element of public sector spending, you would expect significant pressure on those costs going forward. This is likely to have a significant impact on the UK jobs market.” Source: Top-Consultant News

Many of world's labour markets headed in right direction
14 September 2009	Emerging markets more optimistic than G7 countries with Indian and Brazilian employers reporting strongest hiring plans globally; More US employers say they will hold on to current staff. According to the latest global Manpower Employment Outlook Survey results the fourth quarter of 2009 will continue to challenge job seekers in labour markets around the world, but employer hiring expectations have improved somewhat from three months ago in nearly two thirds of the countries and territories surveyed, suggesting an easing in the pattern of job cuts prevalent for several quarters. Hiring plans are strongest in the emerging markets of India and Brazil, while job prospects remain weak in the United States. However, a greater percentage of US employers expect to keep staff levels unchanged in the quarter ahead, suggesting some stability. Across Europe, hiring sentiments remain generally negative but forecasts have improved in nearly half of the countries compared to the third-quarter forecast. "Job seekers will still have limited opportunities as our data shows the world's labour markets will not experience recovery in the fourth quarter. The good news is that many markets appear to be heading in the right direction with results from 20 countries and territories showing positive movement from three months ago," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc. "Interestingly, employers in emerging markets are more optimistic about hiring compared to their counterparts in more developed economies. While a quarter-over-quarter comparison shows modest improvements in six of the G7 countries, with the exception of Canada, all are reporting negative hiring expectations. As demand for their products and services continues to be weak, employers remain very selective in their hiring process, resulting in a sluggish job market." Employers in 17 of 35 countries and territories surveyed expect some positive hiring activity in the quarter ahead, while those in 15 report negative hiring expectations with 10 reporting their weakest hiring plans since the survey was established. Employers in 31 countries and territories are reporting weaker year-over-year forecasts. Fourth-quarter hiring plans are strongest in India, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, China, Australia, Singapore, Costa Rica, Canada, Taiwan and Poland and weakest in Romania, Spain, Ireland, Japan and Mexico. Many employers in the 18 countries surveyed in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continue to report negative hiring expectations for the quarter ahead, with employers in Poland, Norway, Sweden and South Africa reporting the only positive, but slow, hiring activity. However, compared to three months ago, outlooks improved in eight EMEA countries. In contrast, where year-over-year comparisons can be made, hiring intentions are weaker in 15 countries. Job prospects in the region are strongest in Poland and weakest in Romania. "Eighty percent of employers in Europe are telling us they will make no changes to their staffs, which will most likely lead to some labour market stability in the fourth quarter," said Joerres. "European job seekers in the Manufacturing sector will continue to encounter a difficult market, particularly in Germany, where employers lower their hiring expectations for the sixth consecutive quarter." Employment prospects have improved in comparison to the third quarter across six of the eight countries and territories surveyed in the Asia Pacific region. However, hiring activity is expected to be slower than historical patterns across the region. Employment prospects are strongest in India, China and Australia with the weakest and only negative outlooks reported in Japan and New Zealand. Compared to 12 months ago, employer hiring expectations are weaker in all countries and territories, most notably in Japan, India and Hong Kong. "Indian employers have absorbed the layoffs conducted in the third quarter and are telling us they will begin hiring again at a conservative pace, but most intend to keep their workforces intact through the end of the year. Government stimulus efforts around infrastructure projects are contributing to accelerated hiring plans in India's Mining and Construction sector," said Joerres. "Meanwhile, hiring expectations in China are among the most optimistic of the year, with outlooks improving from three months ago across all industry sectors, particularly in the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate and the Services sectors." Across the nine countries surveyed in the Americas region, hiring expectations have improved from three months ago in all countries with the exception of the US and Mexico, where hiring plans of employers in both countries are at their weakest since Manpower established the survey. On the other hand, year-over-year comparisons reveal weaker hiring activity throughout the region. Manpower surveyed Brazilian employers for the first time this quarter. "The solid job prospects in Brazil are being bolstered by the Services sector where 37 percent of employers expect to add employees in the quarter ahead. Employer optimism in Canada bounces back into positive territory with the Construction and Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sectors holding the most promise for job seekers," said Joerres. "To the south, the US and Mexican labour markets continue to struggle in tandem, with the majority of employers continuing hiring freezes, opting instead to get work done with the staff they have until conditions improve." Source: Top-Consultant News

PwC posts revenue growth of 0.5%
14 September 2009	Despite a year of “general economic turmoil,” PwC in the UK increased underlying net revenue increasing 1%. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) said turnover for the year ended June 2009 reached £2.25 billion up from £2.24 billion, a marginal increase on the previous year, with underlying net revenue increasing 1% to £1.98 billion. The advisory business achieved growth of 5% to £737 million with our assurance and tax businesses seeing small declines in turnover of 1% to £861 million and 4% to £650 million respectively. Ian Powell, UK Chairman, commented: “This year has been one of general economic turmoil and against this backdrop our results represent a solid financial performance as we held our nerve and stayed close to the market and our clients.” Profit available for division among members increased by £3m to £667 million, but profit per partner at £777,000 decreased by 3% from £797,000. Powell will take home the largest entitlement to profit at £3.3 million. The firm's closest rival, Deloitte, reported revenues were down 2% to £1.97bn, when it published results at the beginning of August. Ernst & Young and KPMG are still to report results for 2008-09. Commenting on the firm’s outlook, Powell said: “The outlook in the UK remains uncertain in an environment where consumer confidence remains fragile and business investment slow. Business and government need to work hard to ensure that the attractiveness of the UK is maintained. As a firm we will continue to make long-term investments and do the right thing for our people, our business and the wider community to ensure that we have the balance of skills and resources to support our clients as we move out of the downturn.” The firm’s 2009 annual report also reviews its performance in non-financial terms. Highlights include: • Named finance sector graduate employer of the year in The Times High Fliers survey and topped the accountancy sector for the tenth year running; • Placed seventh up from eleventh in The Times best big companies to work for survey; • The appointment of four PwC partners as administrators to Lehman Brothers in Europe which showcased PwC at its best as a ‘one firm’ team of business recovery, banking and financial experts; • Britain's finance directors voted the firm 'Large Audit Firm of the Year' in the Real Business Awards; • Recognised for outstanding environmental performance in The Sunday Times Best Green companies list; • Admitted 53 new partners, including 21 direct entry partners; • 16% of partner admissions were women, bringing the total number of women partners to over 100; • 4,600 of our people donated over 41,300 working hours to a wide range of activities focusing on education, employability and the environment in addition to their personal volunteering efforts; • Total community contributions totalled £7.9 million (cash, time and in-kind support) compared with £6.8 million in FY08. Top-Consultant News

News & Events: Industry News; Prism News

Industry News

PwC comes fourth in Sunday Times Best Companies survey

Atos Origin strengthens its consulting practice

MCG announces resilient results for 2009

MCA report: UK consulting industry “generates benefits worth £56bn to UK clients”

TCS wins contract from new UK pension authority

Accenture wins 5-year IT and application management contract from UK broadcaster

Logica delivers annual results in line with guidance

Capgemini sees annual revenues down 5.5%

IBM PROMOTES SALESMAN TO LEAD UK BUSINESS

HP-LED CONSORTIUM SECURES £575m MoD DEAL

FUJITSU NEARS DEAL ON JOB CUTS

CAPGEMINI SUFFERS STEEP SLIDE IN PROFIT

Atos Origin achieves 2009 operating margin goal

Atos Origin launches Cloud and Green IT services