Take a look at any newspaper on any given day at the moment and the narrative focuses on economic matters, more specifically the uncertainty in Western European countries.  Markets are dominating the political landscape with profound effect as both Greece and Italy take drastic action and draft in sober-looking technocrats to steady the tiller.  Nevertheless, uncertainty remains and the prospect of the dreaded “double-dip”  looms large.  So how is this affecting the Outsourcing industry?

According to the outsourcing analysts HfS Research, over 40% of corporate IT leaders surveyed in their recent analysis said that a double-dip recession would lead to increased outsourcing.  (more…)

Technorati Tags: cloud computing, double-dip, new relationships, offshoring, Outsourcing, recession, technocrats, technology

With one day until Intellect’s 4G Mobile Broadband Conference in London, O2 have begun 4G trials in London.

These trials represent a significant ramping up of 4G development and signify O2′s serious intent to provide the first 4G service in the UK. Trials are usually performed in areas with low populations and medium radio traffic, allowing data to be captured easily without fear of interfernce. Trials within London represent a serious undertaking both technically and financially by O2. Their customers can expect data reception to devices at around 50 MBits per second or less for the duration of the trial – the current average being 1.5 MBits per second. (more…)

Technorati Tags: 2012 Spectrum release, 4G networks, 4G trials, 50 Mbps, commercial 4G services, Everything Everywhere 4G, Germany 4G network, Long term evolution, LTE, mobile broadband, O2 brings superfast 4G to London, Ofcom, research and development, Sweden 4G network, Telefonica O2, Vodafone 4G

This weekend sees the opening of a global gathering of ICT executives, government officials and policy makers, who are meeting to share ideas on how ICT can drive economic growth, create jobs, overcome social exclusion and improve quality of life. (more…)

A. Not a lot – a lack of transparency covered both up by which point it was too late to mitigate significant losses.

You can’t help but feel that the Independent Commission on Banking’s final report, published a couple of weeks ago, has somewhat missed a massive opportunity in the reform of the UK’s banks and has looked more at the symptoms of the financial crisis, rather than the cause. Now this is not a criticism. The report was a thorough piece of work undertaken with the best intentions but which suffered from an over reliance on those institutions that contributed to the financial crisis in the first place and significant (and indeed oscillating) political pressure on the eventual outcomes. However, it does present HM Treasury with a significant amount of work to do over the coming weeks to consider what is missing from the report, not just what is present.

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Monday, 12 September 2011 is going to be interesting. Very interesting. As the culmination of almost 14 months of deliberation, the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB, otherwise known as the Vickers Commission) will be publishing its final recommendations on the reform of the UK banking system. ‘Ring fence’ and ‘account switching’ will once again become phrases ‘du jour’ and we will see the beginning of the next phase of banking reform – legislative scrutiny. The Joint Committee on the Draft Financial Services Bill has already started its own three month project of scrutinising HM Treasury’s planned reforms of the UK financial services regulatory architecture, and we look forward to the House of Lord’s own debate on the ICB’s findings on 15 September 2011. The House of Commons, and the irrepressible Treasury Select Committee will surely not be far behind.

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The phone hacking inquiry notwithstanding, it is almost time for a notable demographic within Westminster Village, our MPs, to return to their constituencies to tend to more pressing local matters for the summer. Indeed both houses of parliament will call a temporary halt to their legislative duties until returning in earnest at the beginning of September, a good month before the usual return, post Conservative Party conference.

However, policy development waits for no man/democratically elected representative and the wheels of deliberation will continue to turn over the ‘sleepy’ month of August. In fact, August is a time when those with a view on policy can make hay, and Intellect intends to do so by continuing to work across a number of areas.

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It is expected that a ring-fence would facilitate the continuation of crucial economic and social functions that the retail arms of universal banks perform, in the event of a failure of the investment banking arm. From providing access to funds for individuals; facilitating personal and commercial transactions; and providing finance to business; banks play a crucial role in the UK’s economy. This was, after all, why the government felt compelled to step in and bail out RBS, HBOS and Northern Rock and it is widely accepted that the consequences for the UK economy had they not done so, would have been significantly worse than what has been seen to date.

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Technorati Tags: banking reform, banks, financial crisis, Independent Commission on Banking, ring fence, risk data

Recently I’ve been at the EU’s first Digital Agenda Assembly held in the Brussels’ Autoworld, surrounded by a superlative collection of cars and planes from the past century. Issues discussed included fixed/mobile superfast broadband, green IT, creative content, smart grids, cyber and many other ICT related themes. Rather than discussing about specific policies, I’d like to share some general thoughts on Europe’s ambitions and Britain’s role in technology-driven innovation.

Continental Europeans still chuckle when I say “the UK and Europe” but I’m serious. As a Southern European who has spent enough time in this country, I’ve changed from being a EU enthusiast to being pragmatically critical about this noble but thorny project. Neither cynicism nor tribalism would help here. Political realism should be the answer: too many “Europeans” still don’t grasp how hard is to keep a Union together but – fortunately or unfortunately – the UK knows better… (more…)

Technorati Tags: Digital Agenda, EU, ICT, single market

Despite the fact that the financial services sector has spent much of the last three years under the regulatory microscope, you can’t help but feel that the latest round of ‘democratic kickings’ for the ‘Big Four’ banks, by the Treasury Select Committee, marked a small but significant step change in this seemingly perennial process. Or at least it did to me.

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Live from the Intellect/Payments Council ‘Driving Change in Payments 2011′ Conference, Philip Cullum, Deputy Chief Executive of Consumer Focus has set out that its disappointing that there has been little progress in the development of alternative payments systems in the UK to date. The banks, also, have not got off lightly – with the implementation of Faster Payments varying wildy in quality and comprehension across numerous high street banks.

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