Insights & Opinions

What Happens When The Lights Go Out?

The people of Japan discovered how to cope with severe power outages the hard way, because of the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.

How to turn the meter reading problem into a world leading opportunity

Smart metering can be the heart of digital Britain – if industry, commerce and government work together

Secure information technology

The current National Security and Resilience (NSR) situation is complex in that it covers resilience both in response to terrorist action and civil disaster or contingency. The recent publication of the National Security Strategy (NSS) provides a useful opportunity for taking stock.

Focus on business outcomes

Many organisations embarking on IT enabled change do so in an expectation that deployment of tried and tested methods and tools will bring about project and programme success. Significant investment been made to equip staff with the analytic and management capabilities to scope, define, manage and deliver change using mature, industry standard approaches.

Why retail banks

Other business sectors are maximising the new opportunities presented by the latest customer engagement technologies. Banks need to follow suit – and quickly

A sharper focus on Cloud

Retail Banks need a robust, structured approach to moving their business and financial applications into the Cloud, argue Fujitsu’s Andy Stewart, Quentin Creed and Francesco Casi. And that needs to extend to the management of the diverse range of SaaS options available from independent software vendors. Only then will they reap the benefits of greater business agility and increased competitiveness that Cloud promises — without exposing them to undue risk.  

Could the Cloud Drive a More

Security is often considered to be the Achilles heel of Cloud Computing. At Fujitsu, where we operate a unique ‘private’ Cloud model from our own UK facilities, we think differently. Our belief is that security, if approached correctly, could in fact turn out to be the catalyst for widespread Cloud procurement.

How to put the UK’s railways back on track

In this piece, Fujitsu UK’s Head of Rail, Nick Chisnall, argues that to boost the efficiency of UK railways in line with the McNulty report’s recommendations, the industry needs to embrace open, component-based systems that give train operators the flexibility to offer revenue-boosting retail innovations for customers as well as a raft of other compelling cost and efficiency benefits.

Reinventing the Retail Bank

Jeremy Worrell, a B2C consultant in the Private Sector Division of Fujitsu UK & Ireland, argues that high-street bank branches in the UK risk becoming irrelevant if they do not quickly embrace change. In order to assure themselves of a bright future, they need to differentiate themselves from online competitors by creating a consumer-focused revival, inspired by the broader retail industry, to create greater customer intimacy.  

How Mobile Technology

As connected in-vehicle IT becomes increasingly key to car-buyers’ purchasing decisions, it’s time for vehicle manufacturers to think more like smartphone suppliers.

Manage the Transition to Cloud

Cloud computing will probably be the biggest transformation programme an IT team undertakes, but it must not distract them from enabling business advantage. Read Fujitsu's Opinion.

The Gen Y Business Experience

There has been wide speculation that the behaviour of the Net Generation will shake up organisations. But direct feedback from this new workforce points to a subtler story.

Cloud-Powered Businesses

In this piece, Fujitsu's Ian Mitchell, Darren Ratcliffe and Mark Poley argue today's cloud affords CIOs unparalleled opportunities to transform the flexibity, agility and fortunes of their businesses for the better. They urge CIOs to move beyond thinking the cloud is only appropriate for low-level services and commodity applications and say the savviest organisations are already realising its exciting potential to add real value for their businesses and boost their ability to innovate products, processes and services.

Bring Your Own Device:

By encouraging people to use their own devices at work and focusing on services rather than hardware, IT teams have a real chance to deliver enhanced value to the business

Making Mobile Solutions

David Rosewell and Craig Merrick of Fujitsu argue that public sector organisations that equip their workforces with powerful mobile solutions can reap multiple benefits, in particular: maintaining front-line services in the face of budget cuts, boosting efficiency, and cutting costs. However, doing this requires careful planning and business change management.

Taking the Sting out of Public Sector Cuts

Fujitsu’s Mark Nicholls and Andy Fuller say government departments and local authorities can save billions lost through fraud and error if they adopt an innovative approach to detection already being pioneered by one large public sector organisation. The system and related processes can be implemented quickly and at zero upfront cost, while at the same time improving both the speed of service for claimants and the morale of claims processing staff. With government departments needing to do more for less, this an opportunity that mustn't be squandered.

Today’s Cloud services can be as secure, resilient and flexible as you need them to be.

Cloud computing is evolving fast. Today, organisations understand that they can use the model to cut costs, increase efficiency and be more responsive to changing market demands. They also know that the Cloud, with a range of ‘public’ and ‘private’ solutions available, can offer the security and information assurance to meet a range of needs.

How the Hole in the Wall

The ATM is evolving into a rich, personalised point of service, as banks increasingly integrate the transaction hub with other customer interaction channels.

From Ideas to Added Value

At Fujitsu, we believe in creating a culture that draws new ideas from the entire organisation. In our experience, once you give people encouragement to contribute creatively, they soon start to respond positively and productively.

Enterprise Strategies

In this opinion article, Fujitsu Strategy Consultant Mark Wilson argues that while tablets aren't new, next-generation devices like the iPad, as well as competing products running on Android, Windows and other operating systems, offer compelling new capabilities for consumers and enterprises alike, coupled with convenience and cost advantages. But organisations must rethink their desktop service and access strategies if they're going to take full advantage of the new form factor, he says.

Setting The Pace in -

With the mobile web poised to become the channel for ecommerce, mainstream retail banks must now act now to ensure they don't get left behind. With the transition to m-banking, they won't just be competing with each other: high-tech start-ups and mobile network providers have already proved they can disintermediate banks in markets such as South Africa and Japan.

The paybacks of adding a Lean dimension

Fujitsu's Andy Taylor argues the merits of a flexible, lean approach to tech support often refered to as “break-fix”. He shows how proactive monitoring and predictive maintenance can drastically reduce costs and improve service levels, often through the implementation of simple, commonsense measures. But he cautions CIOs must work with service providers like Fujitsu who have a specific, proven commitment to continual service improvement.

Overcoming Separation Anxiety

Fujitsu's Graeme Wright argues business leaders must plan more effectively when engaging in divestment activity. Critically, he says, they must involve their CIOs from the very outset of discussions if they are to navigate the IT, cultural and strategic challenges of any separation successfully. He illustrates the benefits and opportunities this could bring, as well as warning of the potentially ruinous consequence of neglecting IT and people issues.

Agility in the Retail Sector

Fujitsu managing consultant Jeremy Worrell argues that if retail organisations are to thrive in future, they must improve time-to-market by rethinking their processes, governance and management. Only then can they hope to eliminate major causes of delay and successfully introduce systems that give them the necessary speed and flexibility when launching or making changes to products.

Creating a Winning Formula

A huge opportunity exists for European banks to re-engineer payments processing for efficiency – but they need to construct “payment factory” ventures judiciously.

Letting Go

All organisations have applications that their users cherish. But to reap the full benefits of application outsourcing and cloud computing, they have to let them go.

Collaboration and Pragmatism:

The UK Government’s cloud computing initiative will reduce cost and boost efficiency, but the public sector and its service partners must work hand-in-hand for it to succeed

Better Counsel for Councils:

The UK’s local authorities face the daunting challenge of having to dramatically cut expenditure while simultaneously improving services. Fujitsu's Mark Nicholls argues that a fresh approach to "citizen insight" is urgently needed to streamline the take-up, accessibility and user experience of council services.

Opening the Door

It is now widely accepted in our industry that open source software (OSS) has a central role to play in reducing the cost and boosting the flexibility of mainstream IT. Echoing the broad and growing support from business, all the major political parties now believe that OSS needs to be on the agenda for public sector IT deployments as well.

The Net Kids Are Coming

The tech-savvy, socially-networked members of Generation Y are the future of our businesses, and they're pointing us in a new direction. But if companies are to to tap their power, they must accept fundamental changes to corporate IT and the wider business culture. The article argues CIOs are best placed to ensure firms can open up sufficiently without losing control.

Intelligent Investment Cycles -

Retailers have a reputation of running their IT systems into the ground – no matter the cost in terms of reliability, usability and lost competitive edge. But their businesses will be much better served by the adoption a rolling strategy of renewal,

Outcome-based agreements

In a fast-changing economic climate, organisations need a new style of supplier engagement targeted at successful outcomes and shared benefit.

Green IT

Besides helping to halt climate change, the effective use of green IT can boost your  bottom line, enhance the brand – and ensure compliance with emerging legislation

IT Service Desk management

Everyone wants answers - and the quicker the better. Enhancing the management of knowledge at the Service Desk is helping to achieve this goal.

Wholesale mobile

The conventional view of the mobile virtual network operator is out of date. Service providers that buy wholesale minutes at a discount price and sell no-frills telephony and text messaging to price-sensitive customers are finding it hard to survive.

Share and share alike

Motivated by a need to drive efficiencies and reduce costs, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Councils in the UK have taken the lead when it comes to reaping the rewards of shared services.

A smarter way to consume energy?

With energy costs soaring and the political landscape taking on a distinctly green hue, smart meters have been touted as an effective way to kill two birds with one stone.

Lean Management –

Every organisation is trying to get lean – but most are only borrowing practices from the lean pioneers, and failing to get the results they wanted. However, lean is not a solution, or a goal, but a way of seeing, thinking and doing. Grow your own organisation-specific adaption of the lean essence and you’ll be making the last change every business must make: into being a business that lives and breathes improvement.

Satisfaction Centre - not cost centre

As corporate shared services initiatives become operational across UK central and local government, customers are starting to raise questions about ‘lowest common denominator’ services that reduce performance. It’s our opinion that these are

IT outsourcing for retailers

Despite the continuing stream of signifi cant contract awards, IT outsourcing has not been able to shake off a reputation tarnished in the retail sector by some high-profile early terminations and moves to bring components back in-house. It’s our opinion that, provided four simple rules are followed, outsourcing will generate real value and strengthen the core of any retail business.

Global Service Desk

For many global organisations the service desk is the place to call when problems arise with IT.

What’s In Store?

With e-commerce growing at an annual rate of around 20%, you could perhaps be forgiven for assuming the physical store is on the wane. Think again. The in store experience is being rejuvenated with state-of-the-art technology.

Self-Service Revolution

The evolution of retail is marked by increasing customer empowerment. But in a multi-channel world, retailers are in danger of losing their grip on what customers want – and how they want to get it. It’s our opinion that retailers must make self-service about customers rather than technology.

Rail, Retail and Reality

The rail industry has seen a steep rise in demand is gearing up to absorb further changes: passenger and journey numbers will climb, while aggressive revenue growth targets will concentrate decision-makers’ minds.As it morphs into a modern, massmarket consumer proposition and leaves behind an era of undifferentiated utility service, what can rail learn from the retail sector?

Buying, selling or sitting it out

As major corporate shared services programmes become operational across UK central and local government, clear divisions will appear in the market.It’s our opinion that there will be two such divisions; one between buyers and sellers and the other between them and the smaller organisations left adrift after the first wave of implementations.

Three fallacies

Misheld beliefs about shared services in the public sector are often given as reasons for holding back on shared service adoption. It’s our opinion that not only are these beliefs fallacies, but that shared services actually enable the very things that people believe they inhibit.