Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 11:24:00

Axe falls on technology workers whose roles are "unclear"

Barclays is to cut over 400 IT staff whose "responsibilities are unclear", the banking giant announced today.

The cull will take place mainly in London and Cheshire, and will involve the elimination of 150 permanent jobs and 250 freelancers from the Global Infrastructure and Service Delivery areas of the business. The bank said that none of the roles are being offshored.

"Barclays continually reviews its operations and resources so that it functions as efficiently as possible as business needs and customer requirements evolve," the group said in a statement.

"As part of this process, we have identified some aspects of our technology operations where the organisational structure impedes performance, and roles and responsibilities for colleagues are unclear. In some cases, roles are obsolete or being duplicated elsewhere within the bank."

Jobs will also be shed in Northampton and Poole. Barclays announced last summer that it had changed its plans to close its current facility in Poole to go to a new site to increase efficiency.

It was understood at the time that the move would cause the loss of around 1,100 jobs and that 800 to 900 staff would stay, but the bank has rejected calls from workers union Unite for written guarantees that jobs will be kept.

Barclays cut more than 1,800 roles in July as it offshored parts of its technology setup. At around the same time, it reduced IT contractor rates by around 10 per cent to "bring them in line with market rates".

Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 10:56:00

Sales skyrocketed in the lead up to Christmas

Web shopping firm Ocado has announced its strongest ever Christmas performance, nearly doubling the results from the previous year.

The company, which delivers products for department store John Lewis and supermarket chain Waitrose, reported 25 per cent sales growth for the four weeks to 3 January. During the week leading up to Christmas, sales increased by 97 per cent on the previous year.

The positive Christmas results will bring some cheer to the retailer after a grim period in 2008, when it reported trading losses of more than £7m.

John Lewis, previously a majority shareholder in Ocado, diluted its stake to 24.1 per cent, despite recently agreeing to keep supplying it with Waitrose food for the next five years at least.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 12:34:00

Insurance group offloads application development and support to reduce costs and risk

Capita Life & Pensions has closed a deal with Steria for the outsourcing of its IT application development and support services as part of an effort to reduce costs and cut the time involved in processing customer claims.

The insurance group said that the five-year agreement, due to start in early 2010, is also aimed at reducing some of the risk of maintaining life and pensions policy administration.

Steria will be in charge of improving the reliability and stability of the IT applications at Capita Life & Pensions, which expects ultimately to reduce the cost per policy for clients by achieving better customer service standards.

"Our overall objective was to manage our IT expenditure so that we could offer our clients the most cost-effective service possible," said Craig Rodgerson, IT director at Capita Life & Pensions.

Bryan Glick, Computing, Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 06:30:00

But the decline in job vacancies is much worse in every other sector except healthcare, says survey

The number of permanent and contract IT job vacancies in the UK is falling faster than at any time in the past six years, as recruitment consultancies report overall demand for staff across all sectors declining at record rates.

But the state of the IT jobs market is not as bad as elsewhere - IT recruitment is falling more slowly than most other sectors, according to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs survey, released today.

The only roles showing a growth in demand in the UK are in the nursing, medical and care sector – everywhere else has shown a drop. But the rate of decline in IT is less than every other sector covered by the research.

Permanent IT vacancies have an index ranking of 33.1 in the study – a rank of 50 means no change, greater than 50 is an increase in demand, and below that figure represents a fall. Twelve months before the December survey, IT's ranking was 56.7.

For temporary or contract staff, the IT index is 35.3, down from 58.5 in December 2007.

The key IT skills that remain in demand were identified by the survey as .Net, PHP, C#, and web development.

Across all job sectors, decline in demand fell at record levels, with the overall survey index figure falling to 29.5.

"These figures are deeply worrying and show that the contraction in the labour market is now rapidly accelerating," said REC chief executive Kevin Green.

"The decline in both permanent and temporary appointments in December is the sharpest recorded since the survey began in 1997."

Mike Stevens, partner and head of business services at KPMG, added: "These latest figures only serve to confirm the most pessimistic projections for the UK jobs market."

Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 07:30:00

Combination of web and phone expected to improve security

HSBC has deployed a new authentication system to protect online and remote transactions from fraud.

Using the system provided by Authentify, the authentication process is isolated from the web, and user or transaction details must be entered via a telephone call synchronised to online sessions, making it more difficult for criminals to hack into accounts even when using compromised personal information.

The out-of-band system claims to offer the highest security with the most convenience, as opposed to two-factor authentication – whereby devices give customers automatically-generated one-time passcodes to use in conjunction with the password they already know – as a way to tackle fraud committed in cases where the cardholder is not present, such as online shopping.

A number of UK banks including Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland have introduced two-factor authentication schemes, while HSBC and Abbey have opted not to, saying the devices were considered impractical.

Figures released in October by UK payment service Apacs showed that online banking fraud losses totalled £21.4m during the six months to June 2008, a 185 per cent rise on the 2007 figure.

Computing, Computing, Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 07:30:00

Computing editor Bryan Glick looks at the workplace trends, policy issues, business drivers and technological developments that are most likely to influence IT agendas in the year ahead

Nine IT priorities for 2009

The economy

Like it or not, the state of the economy will overshadow everything else this year. Ignore all the predictions ­ the only thing anyone can say with certainty is that nobody really knows what will happen. But cost control and efficiency will be the watchwords for IT decision-makers nonetheless. For IT professionals, job security

will be a concern. But hopefully far-sighted businesses will look after their valuable IT experts ­ after all, they will need you once the recession is over.

Privacy

After a year of endless data-loss stories, the privacy of our personal information has become a top priority. Tackling privacy concerns and reassuring the public is one of the defining challenges of the digital age. Without confidence in the integrity and confidentiality of our data, there could be a backlash against the “database state” that would set back the role of technology for years. The worries are genuine and justified ­ and the government has to respond.

Collaboration

If there is one potentially game-changing technology for companies, it is collaboration. Businesses have yet to fully exploit the techniques exemplified by social networking sites such as Facebook and tools such as blogs and wikis, but many look enviously at the potential for improving interaction and information sharing between staff and with customers, suppliers and partners. The technology will rarely be a limiting factor ­ this is more of a cultural challenge. But in tough times, firms that collaborate most effectively will thrive.

Next-generation broadband

Most experts agree that building a high-speed broadband infrastructure is an important part of the UK’s future economic wellbeing ­ but with a price of up to £28bn, it won’t come cheap. The government will not pay, and BT needs reassurances that the benefits of investment will not be curtailed by regulations. But decisions need to be made on the structure, funding and rollout of next-generation broadband ­ both as an economic stimulus and for the sake of international competitiveness.

Cloud computing

The term “cloud computing” already sounds very 2008, but the buzzword is becoming widely used so we should get used to it for a while. However, the technologies and trends that the phrase encompasses are here to stay. Software as a service, virtualisation, utility computing, Web 2.0 ­ these are all different aspects of the move to software and hardware hosted on the internet. Large firms are some way off moving critical infrastructure to the cloud ­ but growth is likely to come from smaller organisations. Cloud will be this year’s green in vendor marketing.

Big government IT projects

With vast sums being spent on major projects such as ID cards and the NHS National Programme for IT, opposition politicians sniff an opportunity to make mischief for a government that is borrowing more than ever and needs to show prudence in other areas. There will be further calls to scrap, delay or review big IT initiatives ­ but the government must resist. IT is central to modernising public services ­ it is hard to seriously imagine an NHS without electronic patient records in 10 years’ time, for example ­ but these big programmes must do better.

Mobile

The future of technology is, without doubt, mobile. The big network operators and handset manufacturers are already focusing on the mobile web. Ofcom will start to auction vast amounts of radio spectrum this year, leading to new services and better, faster coverage. The growth of mobile technology will be driven by consumers but increasingly sets expectations for business users. Low-price laptops and powerful netbooks will make computing on the move

a standard.

The environment

Most IT managers have been thoroughly greenwashed by vendor marketing in the past 18 months, and a certain cynicism has inevitably developed about green computing. Nonetheless, it is acknowledged that IT has an energy-efficiency problem. Best practice is emerging from early adopters that will show the way for others to reduce the energy consumption of their IT, and since this is an effective way to cut costs too, there is little reason not to proceed. Clean technology will be one of the best-funded areas of research and development this year.

Innovation

Any IT leader who does not have innovation as a priority is failing their organisation. The role of IT is increasingly that of the innovator, driving change through the understanding of how technology can improve operations, create new ways of working and develop additional revenue streams. In a recession, innovation only grows in importance. IT leaders who demonstrate the benefits of IT-enabled innovation will be the success stories of the year.

Tom Young, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 17:33:00

Slow rate of repayment leads EDS to pay lump sum of £26.5m

A long-running dispute between HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and EDS over the introduction of a tax credits computer system has ended with the US supplier settling to pay the government £26.5m.

HMRC came to an agreement with EDS in November 2005 that the vendor would pay £71.25m in compensation for the IT problems associated with the introduction of tax credits.

Slow-running software caused massive backlogs of tax credit applications when the system was introduced in 2003, and miscalculations resulted in overpayments totalling £1.9bn in the first year.

It was agreed in 2005 that EDS would pay quarterly instalments of 4.5 per cent of income from future government work over three years.

But last year MPs on the Public Accounts Committee said that EDS had not paid enough to HMRC, and recommended fresh legal action to recover the total if it had not been paid by the end of 2008, estimating that it would take 106 years for EDS to pay what it owed the government at the current rate.

EDS this week decided to settle the matter with a one-off lump sum. The company was acquired by HP last year.

Linda More, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 16:35:00

Progressive IT chiefs are teaming up with business leaders to provide users with compelling new ways to sift through and make sense of corporate data

Information is the lifeblood of every business, second only to staff in importance. However, for years organisations have built Byzantine information management systems that pay little heed to how enterprises need to consume that information. As the volume of data being generated has escalated, the problems inherent in this systems-dominated approach to information have become pressing. Executives often spend much more time compiling the information they think they need to support a decision than they do on actually weighing up their options and their possible ramifications.

Today, some organisations are starting to appreciate the benefits of moving the responsibility of information management away from IT and into the business, where its ownership lies, and where the real value of the derived information and knowledge can be fully exploited.

In this model of information management, IT replaces its data stewardship role with that of facilitator, providing the tools to channel the flow of information throughout the enterprise.

At global recruitment consultancy Hudson the ability to easily locate the ideal job candidate provides competitive advantage. On any given day it has three million candidate records in Europe that it may need to scour to unearth the right person for their clients. Hudson had historically relied on a database of candidates that consultants could query, says chief operating officer Laurent Chen. But with the volume of searches approaching 12,000 a day, “using the master database actually slowed down our consultants’ access to key information and hindered productivity,” he says.

By introducing a search appliance from Google, Hudson’s consultants can now search for candidates with particular skills, or similar positions that a candidate might fit, in a flash, says Chen.

Historically, business leaders may have assumed that databases, business intelligence systems and perhaps a few data quality tools would provide suffici ent analytical powers to understand what was going on in the business. Today, however, the burgeoning importance of unstructured data is redefining the toolset required to make sense of enterprise information. Recent research by Coleman Parkes for HP suggested that UK business leaders believe that only 25 per cent of their data is currently unstructured. However, that is at odds with most industry predictions, highlighting a dangerous blindspot in corporate information management plans.

Unstructured data includes emails, documents, and files from third parties that lie outside of internal systems. Ignoring, or underestimating, the amount of unstructured data in a company means that organisations are failing to fully understand their business information and its importance.

“All of our data is unstructured,” says Hudson’s Chen. “However, we have created specific mechanisms to automatically put some structure around the information so that every piece of data we produce will be in the right place and can be found.”

Such approaches are consistent with the information management frameworks constructed by analysts. Gartner defines enterprise information management as an integrated discipline for structuring, describing and governing information assets, regardless of organisational and technological boundaries, in order to improve operational efficiency, promote transparency and enable business insight.

Elsewhere, Ovum also has a framework for unified information management (UIM), but as practice leader Ian Charlesworth explains, the benefits of these frameworks are not necessarily achieved by rigid adherence to the vision, but from the aspiration to impose some order on information management practices.

“The real problem facing organisations is how to join the dots between the vision, the vendor offerings and the user’s demands,” says Charlesworth. “UIM offers the disciplines, organisation and structure that are needed to tie this moving feast together so that when companies are analysing the benefits of a smaller piece of information management technology they can assess it against the concept of a larger framework, to see whether it really fits.”

For many, those frameworks will be founded on tried and tested technologies, such as business intelligence, content management and enterprise search. But the gloomy economy is adding impetus to the need for effective information management, as business leaders strive to make better use of the data they collect, and to reduce the costs associated with that.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 16:46:00

"I'm on the subway..." - commuters can make calls using their mobile phone while travelling

The rollout of a mobile network that allows Glasgow commuters to use their mobile phones while travelling on the underground has been completed.

Led by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, the multi-user distributed antenna system has been fully operational since 1 January.

The introduction of underground mobile access is also intended to help attract firms considering setting up offices in the city's International Financial Services District (IFSD), the Glasgow equivalent of London's Canary Wharf.

The efficiency of more than 30,000 workers based at IFSD should be improved with the new service, according to Jim Watson, director of innovation agency Scottish Enterprise.

"Whereas commuters to Canary Wharf have to put their lives on hold when taking to the Tube, the thousands of people from across the world who work in Glasgow's IFSD can now make calls, send texts, email and access mobile internet while on subway station concourses and platforms across the city," he said.

"The City Council and Scottish Enterprise worked with businesses to establish what they need to improve their commercial competitiveness, and state-of-the-art mobile communications is one of the key requirements for modern employers."

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 16:51:00

Average pay has reduced for IT staff based in the north while London salaries rise

IT professionals in the north of England have seen their pay drop in the past year while their London counterparts have enjoyed an increase despite the credit crunch, according to a study by ReThink Recruitment using data from sector skills council e-skills UK.

Staff based in the north have had a salary reduction of 1.7 per cent to an annual average of £29,380, compared to a 1.2 per cent boost in the wages of London-based staff to an average of £45,240, according to the report.

IT staff in the north now earn just 65 per cent of London wages, compared to the 2007 figure of 67 per cent.

The study claims that the salary gap is due to a heavier concentration of lower-skilled jobs in the north than in London, such as data processing and IT support functions, and the likelihood of such roles being cut or outsourced to offshore IT centres to reduce costs.

"A lot of financial institutions, for example, have mortgage and credit card processing centres in the north of England. Banks also have back-office IT staff in northern cities that support trading functions in London. If business levels fall, these kinds of jobs can become vulnerable," said ReThink Recruitment director Michael Bennett.

"London IT staff tend to be concentrated in front- and middle-office roles, which are seen as value-creating by delivering productivity gains through more efficient systems. IT staff in financial services in London may be developing electronic trading systems, for example, which generate cost savings."

The business drive to invest in IT to generate efficiency gains during the downturn will translate into demand for specialist skills, according to Bennett.

"IT staff that are able to boost the bottom line tend to be more highly skilled and therefore less likely to be threatened by offshore competition," he said.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 12:37:00

Start using social networking and take your vendors out for lunch, says Gartner

Chief information officers (CIOs) should make prolific use of social networking systems to boost staff morale and retain key knowledge, according to a 2009 resolution list for IT leaders released by analyst Gartner.

According to the list, the CIO survival path under reduced budgets consists of using collaboration tools to invest in core strengths and to openly communicate internally and externally to "rebuild brand confidence, energise the company culture, develop ideas and refine solutions".

Strategic moves proposed by the analyst include the creation of people networks to maintain complex and legacy skills, and to identify new talent amid the thousands of IT workers now available in the market.

Off-line social skills will also come into play when recruiting key IT staff into the business. Gartner suggests that CIOs make better use of personal networking to identify ideal candidates for the most important mid to senior positions to fill during 2009, then discuss the possibility of holding fewer senior job slots open in return for a higher reduction target elsewhere.

CIOs should not lay off the people they will need long-term, such as enterprise architects and emerging technologies staff, as it will be harder to replace them later, said Gartner. Instead, IT leaders should enact tactical redeployment to other ongoing projects.

But cost saving will be a balancing act for businesses during 2009, and CIOs will need to "reset" their relationship with vendors and require more flexibility from their existing agreements, according to the analyst.

"Suppliers will be keen on staying in close touch, working hard to attract CIOs off-site for 'face time', so CIOs must resolve to politely decline vendor courtesy trips in 2009 and signal a reset to a new style of interchange," said John Mahoney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

"[CIOs] should identify the senior management leader in each of their key v endors, probably not the day-to-day account managers, and invite them to lunch or dinner at a chain restaurant venue that sets a starkly thrifty tone to discuss the value-driven cost optimisation that are required to deliver in 2009. "

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 11:54:00

Energy group hopes to improve customer service with £5m Vodafone contract

Energy distribution firm National Grid has signed a £5m deal with Vodafone for the provision of a mobile voice and data service.

Vodafone will support the firm's voice and data traffic for three years. During that time, embedded SIM cards in laptops and telemetry SIMs will be provided for diagnosing potential issues within the electricity and gas network.

Mobile broadband devices will also be supplied to ensure permanent access to company information by field engineers.

National Grid said that having reliable communications will help maintain service levels and quick response rates to its customers.

Tom Young, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 11:52:00

Former IT director of BGL Group lands the job at online portal Directgov

Directgov, the government's online portal for citizens, has appointed a new head of technology.

David Matthewman will begin work in the role shortly, with the offical title of director of product infrastructure and technical capability.

The job includes liaising with counterparts across Whitehall to achieve the most effective outcomes for citizens, Directgov and the whole of government. The site aims to become a one-stop shop for many online public services.

Matthewman was previously IT director for BGL Group, a leading insurance intermediary, and led the technology delivery for internal brands including Bennetts, Budget and ComparetheMarket.com, and for partners including Post Office, HSBC, Marks & Spencer and Autotrader.

He is one of three new appointments at the government portal.

"The three new directors are being put in place to provide stronger focused leadership, bringing with them commercial sector expertise," said Directgov chief executive Jayne Nickalls.

Directgov will soon begin a marketing campaign to persuade more people to use government services online.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 6 January 2009 at 10:41:00

Retailer delivers positive Christmas results and strong e-commerce performance

Department store Debenhams has reported positive financial results for the Christmas period due to a strong trading performance helped by its web site.

Debenhams Direct, the online business, registered growth in yearly visitor numbers and sales up 39.2 per cent and 37.4 per cent respectively.

Overall, despite posting a 3.3 per cent drop in like-for-like sales for the 12-week period since 21 October, the retailer said it enjoyed a rise in profit on last year's figures after achieving a "creditable" festive season.

"Our increase in profit is pleasing and reflects our stated intention to invest gross margin gains in strategic promotions as needed, but overall to run the business focusing on cash profit rather than just sales," said Debenhams chief executive Rob Templeman.

Debenhams has spent more than £30m revamping front- and back-office IT over the past two years, and improvements included a programme to use radio frequency identification technology to help measure in-store stock levels, as well as a data conductor to help gather sales intelligence from shops.

Some media reports have suggested that the department store delayed passing on the 2.5 per cent cut in VAT to customers, citing delays in updating store systems.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Monday 5 January 2009 at 16:01:00

Establishing your own company is less risky than being employed in IT, says study

Starting your own business is a safer option than being employed in the technology sector, according to research by UK Business Incubation (UKBI), the industry body for incubator centres.

UKBI cites statistics suggesting that 90 per cent of new ventures that are incubated are still flourishing after three years, and 80 per cent are trading after five years, while only 41 per cent of UK businesses in general have an average three-year success rate.

The figures show that starting a business with the support and resources of a business incubator is now less of a risk than remaining in normal employment and waiting for the axe to fall, said Nick Sturge, director of the SETsquared Partnership, a business incubator programme supported by the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey.

"If you have already been laid off, there has never been a better time to look at the option of starting on your own. There has never been more support available," said Sturge.

SETsquared claims that companies set up under the scheme have raised over £120m worth of investment in the past four years, and have created more than 1,000 new jobs.

The UK now has over 300 business incubators, compared to a handful at the start of the last recession in the early 1990s.

Tom Young, Computing, Monday 5 January 2009 at 11:35:00

Investment in IT could be equivalent of Roosevelt's public works programme, says prime minister

Gordon Brown has again highlighted the technology industry as a key factor in helping to manoeuvre the UK out of the current economic downturn.

In an interview with The Observer announcing plans to create 100,000 jobs through an ambitious public works programme similar to President Roosevelt's New Deal after the US depression of the 1930s, Brown said that technology is the railway of the current age.

"When we talk about the roads and the bridges and the railways that were built in previous times - and those were anti-recession measures taken to help people through difficult times - you could [by comparison] talk about the digital infrastructure and that form of communications revolution at a period when we want to stimulate the economy," he said. "It's a very important thing."

Brown explained that investment in broadband could be a key factor in encouraging growth, and highlighted jobs in digital industries as a priority.

The prime minister will tour a number of towns and cities around the UK later this week, and host a summit on boosting employment on 12 January. More detailed plans will be announced at that time.

David Cameron also outlined the need for better broadband in Britain today, but was more explicit than Brown in his policy commitment.

He said the Conservatives would "encourage and support" private investment in broadband and said he wanted to achieve universal superfast broadband coverage within ten years of being elected.

"We need to move much faster towards a Britain where high speed networks right into people's homes is the norm for everyone," he said.

"We will do all we can to create the conditions that make investment in a fibre network an attractive possibility for telecoms companies."

Angelica Mari, Computing, Monday 5 January 2009 at 10:24:00

Transaction volumes of same-day payments reach new peak

The £300m Faster Payments (FP) banking service reached a new peak in December, with more than 63 million payments being sent or received since its May launch, according to figures from UK payments association Apacs.

Under FP, payments made over the web or phone are cleared in a few hours as opposed to the previous three days. Around two-thirds of such payments are now processed through the service, but still represent fewer than half of all standing orders.

The system processed over 63 million payments during its first six months of operation, representing a value of over £26bn in automated payments. The highest point came on 1 December, when almost four million payments were made.

Of the banks joining the initiative, Barclays, Citi, HSBC and RBS are among the institutions capable of sending and receiving payments under the scheme.

More than 40 per cent of all credit card accounts are now payable through the service, and three credit card companies offer the facility for customers to pay their bills.

Since its delayed launch last year, the scheme has been criticised for the limited time allowed to perform the necessary security checks on transactions, but banks expect that an initial transaction cap of £10,000 and a phased implementation will help mitigate fraud and settlement risk.

Parliamentary reporter, Computing, Monday 5 January 2009 at 09:55:00

Former BCS president Wendy Hall made a Dame as IT is rewarded

Professor Wendy Hall, a founding director of the Web Science Research Initiative, has been made a Dame in the New Year Honours List.

The professor of computing at Southampton University is one of the first and foremost computer scientists to undertake serious research in multimedia and hypermedia, and has been a significant influence in the development of digital libraries and the semantic web.

She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to science and technology".

Professor Hall is the elected president of the US Association for Computing Machinery, and until July last year was senior vice president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

She is a member of the prime minister's Council for Science and Technology, a founder member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council and a former president of the British Computer Society.

Among other honours, Douglas Caster, chief executive of Ultra Electronics Holdings, has been made a CBE "for services to the defence industry".

His company is involved in battlespace IT systems and equipment intended to improve situational awareness and provide quicker and more reliable command and control and the ability to synchronise military firepower.

And Nicholas Buckland, a former senior manager in the UK IT industry, has been made an OBE for "services to technology and innovation".

Buckland is chairman of Tamar Science Park and managing partner of an IT headhunting organisation, management consultancy and sponsorship management consultancy.

Computing, Computing, Friday 2 January 2009 at 15:29:00

We reveal the 10 articles from 2008 that you read more than any others on Computing.co.uk during the year

Here is the list of the most popular articles on Computing.co.uk written this year. What do you think of the topics we have covered? Let us know what else you would like to read about on our web site by submitting your comments below.

1: Review: Mini laptops are light on the wallet - 6 June 2008

Low-cost, compact laptops have been one of the technology success stories of the year – and our review of the latest products on offer was your most popular read of 2008.

2: Fujitsu Services chief executive steps down - 10 December 2008



Fujitsu Services has had an up-and-down year – some big contract wins, but a high-profile falling out with the NHS led to losing its contract for the National Programme for IT. But the news that caught your eyes was the departure of chief executive David Courtley in December.

3: Top 10 best features found in laptop computers - 24 October 2008



Our tongue-in-cheek look at the best in laptop computers – from the most expensive to the most likely to repel potential girlfriends – took the number three slot in this year’s list.

4: IT skills shortage reaches highest level in 10 years - 8 February 2008

IT skills and careers issues are always popular topics for Computing readers – sadly we bet that skills shortages aren’t such an issue now after so many redundancies in recent months.

5: Schools fear being frozen out - 17 April 2008

The £4.5bn due to be spent on overhauling schools IT came under fierce criticism from IT managers in the education sector worried about the way the £45bn Building Schools for the Future programme would affect their roles.

6: Lose data and you go to jail - 8 May 2008

Better late than never – the government announces proposals to update the Data Protection Act to make losing other people’s electronic personal information a criminal offence.

7: Lack of IT students puts future at risk - 28 August 2008



As the number of pupils studying IT and computing subjects at GCSE and A-level fell again this year, our leader article highlighted the problems that lay ahead for IT if young people don’t choose a career in IT. You weren’t shy to give us your opinions on the matter too.

8: Lloyds TSB and HBOS merger to lead to major IT integration - 18 September 2008



As the growing financial crisis saw the government encourage Lloyds TSB to rescue ailing rival HSBC, we examined the IT integration challenges for such a huge merger.

9: Lloyds TSB appoints new IT director - 4 November 2008

And the appointment of the man responsible for overseeing that massive IT integration project was almost as popular – good luck Mark Fisher.

10: Computing Awards for Excellence 2008: The winners - 6 November 2008



If only everyone who read about the winners at this year’s glittering Computing Awards for Excellence was able to win a prize, there would have been a lot of happy people. But congratulations to everyone who won and those who were nominated too. Why not have a go at winning next year?

And don’t forget – let us know what else you would like to read about on Computing.co.uk by submitting your comments below.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 31 December 2008 at 14:24:00

We look back at Computing’s highlights in the retail industry in 2008

It has been an eventful year for retailers. IT leaders from the sector have had to deliver savings from mergers and technology-led transformations, tackle security and privacy challenges and ensure their businesses are ready to meet customer demands for a multichannel experience. We review the retail highlights of 2008.

Royal Mail delivers changes

Royal Mail reskilled half its IT department and retooled its 10-year outsourcing deal with supplier CSC to get a stronger focus on software development.

Thomson merger saves £150m

Travel group Tui aimed to save £150m following last year’s merger of Thomson Holidays with rival First Choice, with a significant proportion coming from streamlining IT operations.

Sainsbury’s checks out secure payments system

Sainsbury’s started a contactless payments trial as part of a multimillion-pound revenue protection programme.

M &S appeal dropped as it encrypts laptops

Marks and Spencer (M&S) dropped its appeal against a decision by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ordering the retail giant to encrypt all its laptops.

Tesco speeds up with its next-generation network

Tesco planned to use its £100m IP network infrastructure rollout as the platform for a datacentre consolidation programme, a company-wide HR system and plans to trial in-store kiosks offering live interaction with consumer experts.

Payment data rules criticised

Department store John Lewis wass unhappy about the inconsistency of requirements for systems geared at compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and claimed that “moving goalposts” translate to a waste of money.

Retail survival lies in good IT service

Retail IT leaders were advised to resist short-term cost-cutting pressure and focus on back-end system integration to deliver consistent online and in-store customer experiences.

Co-op's takeover of Somerfield may present serious IT challenges

News of the £1.57bn purchase of supermarket chain Somerfield by rival The Co-operative Group was predicted to result in a string of challenges related to integration and outsourcing management.

Retailer loses thousands of card details in online hack

Credit card details of up to 38,000 customers were stolen in a hacking attack of clothing firm Cotton Traders. One arrest has been made in connection to the case.

Retailers’ fingerprint plans prompt privacy concerns

A small group of Budgens and Costcutter shops introduced a system to monitor the hours worked by staff and to prevent staff clocking each other in, prompting privacy concerns.

Tom Young, Computing, Tuesday 30 December 2008 at 14:36:00

Green computing is fast becoming a requirement as the financial crisis calls for more efficiency on energy use - we look back at the year's highlights

Green computing has become a key priority for many IT managers - not just because of the ennvironmental benefits, but because energy-efficient IT cuts costs too. We look back at the top stories in 2008 from Computing.

Whitehall must push green IT

The government’s failure to include environmental factors in its technology spending criteria is weakening innovation and slowing progress towards carbon reduction targets, say experts.

With annual IT spending of £14bn, the public sector has significant market influence. But calls for green procurement guidelines have gone unheeded because they contradict the strict remit of Whitehall buying agency the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to ensure value for money.

Government faces calls to target e-waste cowboys

The government is facing calls to step up to its responsibilities for policing e-waste laws.

Charity Computer Aid International has launched a campaign following the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) failure to make an investigation into the dumping of electronic waste in West Africa and China.

The EA, responsible for enforcing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, needs more resources to police the legislation, said the charity.

Unilever makes green progress

Consumer goods giant Unilever has started a European datacentre decommissioning programme affecting 5,000 servers, and will consolidate most of its transactions from separate territorial datacentres down to two primary locations.

The firm refused to detail the exact number of datacentres affected by the initiative or dates when the facilities would be discontinued, citing “employment-related” issues.

Understanding where to focus is a key green IT challenge, said Unilever’s Europe vice president of IT services Paulo de Sa.

DWP upgrade drives £1.5m savings

The Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) IT upgrade will save £1.5bn by the end of 2010.

Server consolidation and a refresh of all laptops and desktops will be major contributors to the cost savings, which will also deliver annual power savings of 50 GigaWatt hours.

Frank Tudor, director of supplier relationship and performance management at the DWP, said the IT refresh, which began in 2005, became increasingly about saving energy.

Government pushes for green

Government plans revealed last week to make the energy consumption of public sector IT carbon neutral within four years contain a useful get out of jail free card ­ and one that will almost certainly be needed.

Any emissions that are not reduced will be offset, though it is made clear that this will be a “last resort” and will only happen through a scheme accredited by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

As Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson, who launched the green IT strategy, said: “Turning off every one of Whitehall’s 500,000 computers at night would have the same effect as taking 40,000 cars off the road.”

Whitehall set to follow Defra's green IT blueprint

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has completed a green IT refresh that will become the template for all government departments.

The success of the Defra scheme ­ which covered some 10,000 civil servants ­ will be an indicator of how far the government’s overall green IT strategy can reduce the public sector’s carbon footprint.

Chris Chant ­ the ex-chief information officer (CIO) at Defra, who has now moved to be CIO of the Government Olympic Executive ­ believes the scheme should succeed.

Knowledge gap in green IT is hampering further adoption

Ignorance among UK IT managers and suppliers remains the key obstacle in the adoption of green IT practices.

In a survey carried out by the National Computing Centre (NCC) with 120 IT decision-makers, 18 per cent said they always evaluate the carbon footprint of any new IT systems they purchase, but nearly half said they still did not consider the environmental impact of IT equipment.

“The industry needs guidance to make more well-informed choices when it comes to choosing suppliers,” said a head of IT, who requested anonymity.

Accenture sees profit in green IT

Accenture is positioning itself to capture a new market created by the growing concern over the environmental footprint of enterprise IT.

The consultancy giant insists its green technology differs from the strategies launched by big hardware vendors, such as Dell, IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems, which offer greener products that meter the power use of systems.

Accenture’s services will study power use, attempt to quantify the benefits of changes and analyse side effects, and look at greener product procurement and disposal strategies, said Rockwell Bonecutter, green IT managing director at Accenture.

DHL goes green with e-billing service

International logistics company DHL is hoping to cut its carbon footprint by offering customers an e-billing service.

DHL plans to eliminate more than a third of the 18 million paper invoices it sends to European customers every year by 2010. The firm will do this by offering customers an e-billing option, whereby users login to an online portal to view and receive information about their invoices. As a result, the courier expects to save the equivalent of 2,400 trees and 600 tonnes of C02 a year.

Green issues baffling IT users

Enterprise IT users are being confused by vendor 'greenwash' as the industry changes its focus to environmentally friendly IT, according to a report by Gartner.

The talk of long-term and medium-term green IT products at conferences is leaving CIOs baffled about what is and is not available.

"The IT industry is saturated with green IT talk," said Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner.

What do you think about the year in green IT? Tell us your views by submitting a reader comment below.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Monday 29 December 2008 at 17:04:00

From the disastrous opening of Terminal Five to the debate around smartcards for ticketing, we look back at the top stories from a sector that is increasingly reliant on IT

The transport sector is being rapidly changed by technology, from the tickets we buy to the services we use. We look back at the 10 biggest IT stories from the transport industry in 2008.

Free smartcard travel arrives

The Concessionary Bus Travel Act came into force on 1 April, giving senior and disabled citizens free off-peak travel by bus anywhere in England ­ building on current free passes available for local services. But the majority of passengers outside London will not be able to use the advanced functions.

Staff at T5 equipped to use new IT system

In setting up the most technologically advanced airport terminal in the world, the main objective of British Airways (BA) and operator BAA was to ensure that staff were ready to use the IT innovations. But...

Terminal Five plagued by technical problems

The opening of Heathrow’s Terminal Five was plagued by a faulty infrastructure which caused major problems in various areas including baggage distribution and staff work allocation.

Air traffic gets out of control

The implementation of IT infrastructure underpinning the European Commission’s Single European Sky scheme could be hampered because of system integration issues.

Keeping IT on track

Network Rail’s IT department is facing growing pressure to keep down costs as The Office of Rail Regulation confirmed that the company will be given an overall budget of £28.5bn in 2009, £2.6bn less than it asked for - we talked to Network Rail's IT chief about the challanges.

Virgin Wi-Fi is hit by delays

The rollout of Virgin Trains’ onboard Wi-Fi internet access suffered operational issues and the service was still undergoing trials a year after it was due to go live.

EasyJet reviews IT processes

The budget airline is carrying out an IT-driven strategic shift in its aircraft management, back-office and customer-facing operations to cut fuel costs and grow revenue.

Smartcard bill will top £1bn

The transport sector is facing a bill of more than £1bn to set up systems supporting industry-standard smartcards mandated by the Department for Transport .

IT overhaul is just the ticket for TheTrainline

Online ticket provider TheTrainline is implementing service-oriented architecture and virtualisation as part of an overhaul of its core IT system designed to provide extra customer-facing functionality and improve corporate services.

Mixed reaction to decision by TfL to end Oyster contract

Transport for London ended its contract with the TranSys consortium ­ – which comprises EDS, Cubic, Fujitsu and WS Atkins ­– to generate cost savings, which allegedly will be channelled into improvement work on London’s transport network.

Eurostar pins hopes on IT revamp

Eurostar’s big challenge is to use technology to maintain market leadership as EU regulations will allow any train operator to use the tracks on which Eurostar runs the first high-speed service connecting the UK and mainland Europe.

Tom Young, Computing, Wednesday 24 December 2008 at 17:04:00

Major IT projects in the public sector have come under threat in 2008 as the financial crisis hits public spending

The public sector has been in the headlines again this year - from data loss scandals to high-profile problems with major IT projects. We look back at the big government IT stories of 2008.

Calls to scrap youth database - 28 February

The government is under pressure to scrap its planned national children’s database after a report from consultants warning it can never be made totally secure.

The ContactPoint scheme is intended to help childcare professionals, medical staff and teachers share information on vulnerable young people, to stop potential cases slipping through gaps between the different services. The £224m project was launched following the Climbie inquiry.

Whitehall must push green IT - 21 February

The government’s failure to include environmental factors in its technology spending criteria is weakening innovation and slowing progress towards carbon reduction targets, say experts.

With annual IT spending of £14bn, the public sector has significant market influence.

But calls for green procurement guidelines have gone unheeded because they contradict the strict remit of Whitehall buying agency the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to ensure value for money.

Communications database would be a "step too far" - 15 July

A government database that held records of citizens' phone and internet communications would be going a "step too far", according to the UK privacy watchdog.

While acknowledging that the monitoring of communications was important in the fight against crime, information commissioner Richard Thomas said such proposals should not go ahead without proper public and parliamentary debate.

Government to mandate smart meter rollout - 29 October

The government yesterday threw its weight behind proposals for a nationwide roll out of smart meters, announcing that it would mandate that all UK households have the technology by 2020.

Smart meters are widely regarded as an effective means of curbing energy use, providing homeowners with the ability to monitor their energy usage in real time, analyse impact of specific appliances, switch suppliers with greater ease and potentially even programme appliances to turn off when not in use.

Government backs central e-crime unit - 1 October

The government has finally put its weight behind a new centralised police unit tasked with leading a coordinated national response to e-crime.

The proposed Police Central E-crime Unit (PCEU), which has been awaiting funding for over a year, will act as a national coordination centre and work to improve the specialist e-crime skills of police officers in regional forces.

MPs slam MoD loss of 1.7 million records - 14 October

MPs have criticised continuing government incompetence over government data handling practices after it was revealed a missing Ministry of Defence (MoD) hard drive could contain information on as many as 1.7 million individuals.

Armed Forces minister Bob Ainsworth made the admission in a written statement to the Commons, adding that the disk was unlikely to have been encrypted. His estimate is far higher than those originally given for the loss. Officials had placed the potential tally at a modest 100,000 records.

First ID cards are dealt out - 26 November

All foreign nationals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who successfully apply for an extension to stay in the UK on the basis of marriage, civil partnership or as a student will be required to apply for an ID card from now on.

The standalone card will have a chip that holds a digitised photograph and fingerprint data, alongside biographical information.

ID cards will then be introduced in phases, beginning with a compulsory rollout to airside workers at two UK airports at the beginning of 2009, and a voluntary rollout to young people from 2010.

NHS care record rollout grinds to a halt - 28 October

NHS trusts in London have admitted that they are revising dates to go-live with electronic care records systems after reports that the £12.7bn programme had ground to a halt.

London trusts were reluctant to install care records systems after seeing the significant problems encountered by trusts that had already done so.

And an early adopter site for the care record system in Morecambe Bay was due to go live in June but has failed to do so.

There are no published plans as of yet for when two other early adopter sites in the North of England will go live.

Straw bulks up Information Commissioner powers - 24 November

The Information Commissioner is to be given tougher powers to regulate the Data Protection Act under proposals put forward today by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

The proposals form part of the government's response to the Data Sharing Review, which highlighted serious deficiencies in the handling of citizens' data in central government.

Government has "overstepped" itself on DNA database - 4 December

Two British men who were arrested but not convicted of crimes should have their DNA records removed from the national DNA database, according to the European Court of Human Rights.

The case is likely to provoke a flurry of applications for citizens to have their information removed from the database.

About 500,000 of the 4.5 million people on the UK's DNA database have not been convicted of crimes but had their DNA taken as part of an investigation.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 23 December 2008 at 16:21:00

Embattled bank offloads another captive technology unit

Wipro Technologies has agreed to acquire Citi Technology Services (CTS), the India-based information technology services and solutions provider owned by financial services provider Citi.

Under the $127m (£86.3m) deal, the two firms have also signed an agreement for the delivery of technology infrastructure and application development and maintenance services for six years. The agreement is expected to generate around $500m in service revenues over that period.

Citi Technology Services is based in Mumbai and Chennai and employs around 1,650 staff servicing the bank’s offices in over 32 countries. Apart from its core focus area of technology infrastructure services, the business also specialises on ADM for cards, capital markets and corporate banking.

Revenue for CTS is expected to reach around $80m (£54.3m) in 2008. With the acquisition, Wipro hopes to strengthen its relationship with Citi, while the bank claims it will offer the possibility to “improve operating leverage while focusing on core banking competencies.”

The news follow Citi’s recent disposal of its India-based business processing outsourcing arm to outsourcing group Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for around $505m (£343.3m).

Citi said at the time that its motivation for the sale of that unit was a prospective reduction in operating expenses related to business processing, as well as the opportunity to free up resources to focus on other core areas.

Angelica Mari, Computing, Tuesday 23 December 2008 at 12:25:00

CIOs will be investing more in tools that aid automation, says research

European and US businesses expect to cut technology spending by two per cent in 2009. But software maker SAP is one of the few vendors where spending could increase, according to a UBS study.

Some 75 per cent of 100 chief information officers (CIOs) polled claimed they did not anticipate terminating maintenance contracts, but 70 per cent said they would renegotiate the terms of their supplier agreements in the coming year.

Around 12 per cent of the CIOs surveyed said they expected to increase spending on SAP products in 2009, as well as systems supporting automation and reduction in staff costs in areas such as the datacentre.

Meanwhile, 12 per cent of the respondents said they expected to cut back spending on Microsoft products, 15 per cent said they would spend less with Oracle and 19 per cent would reduce spending with IBM.

Server deployments are highlighted by the study as one of the slowest areas of IT spending, with adoption of Windows server platforms forecast to grow two per cent in 2009 after the three per cent growth seen in 2008, says the study. Adoption rates of Linux server tools will remain flat at one per cent.

Virtualisation software suppliers will see slowing decrease to six per cent in 2009 from 10 per cent in 2008, according to UBS.