Many congratulations to Dr Martin Read, who became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (i.e. CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for services to the Public Sector and to Business. Since leaving Logica in 2007, Read has hardly let the grass grow under his feet. He led the UK Government review of back office operations and IT across the public sector and now sits on the board of Francis Maude’s Government Efficiency and Reform Group. Read has a number of NED positions and acts as senior advisor to India-based IT services firm, HCL.

Kudos, too, for Nicholas Robertson, the Woking-born chief executive of hugely successful online fashion retailer (and Prince’s Trust Patron) ASOS.com. He gets an OBE for services to the fashion industry.

Xchanging's CE Ken Lever is continuing his reshaping of the business following his appointment to the top job last week (see Lever gets the top job at Xchanging). He is now acquiring the remaining 24% of Cambridge Solutions' Australian workers' compensation BPO business, Cambridge Integrated Services Victoria (CISV), and its Indian BPO business (CSLBPO) for a total of $71.7m in cash. At the same time, Cambridge’s US business, Cambridge Integrated Services Group (CISG), which it sold to Sedgewick earlier this month (see Xchanging exchanges US business for cash), is paying back a $66m loan and “much of the debt” due to Xchanging. Lever said that the combined transaction will not have an impact on the net cash position of Xchanging.

In a call to investors Lever said this was principally a “tidying up exercise” to put a call on the loan guarantee given to CISG, and to transfer the assets of Cambridge's Australian and Indian BPO businesses into full ownership. He said: “These transactions simplify our business structure and our financing arrangements…and enable Xchanging to consolidate all its insurance operations worldwide."

CISV, the Australian BPO operation being acquired, made a pre-tax loss of £11.2m and revenue of £25.2m in FY10, meanwhile, CLSBPO, the Indian BPO operation made an operating profit of £4.4m and revenue of £17.9m (25% margin). While the Indian operation looks in good health, Lever will clearly be hoping that after writing down charges for an onerous contract during FY10, the Australian business is now out of the woods. Excluding that provision CISV would have broken even in the year.

This leaves Xchanging with a 76% stake in Cambridge’s India-based ITO business, which has operations in the US and South East Asia and accounts for £30m in revenue and £1m in EBIT. Lever said Xchanging now needs to assess whether this business should remain within the group. Also potentially at risk is Kedrios, its loss-making Italian financial services business.

Advanced Computer Software is a good example of a SITS company that is benefiting from government spending cuts. Its FY11 results show its health and care applications and managed services are in demand despite, or in some cases because of, pressure on NHS and local authority budgets.

As a whole, ACS is a company making, in CEO Vin Murria’s words, “good all round solid progress”. Turnover is up 4% organically (216% inorganically) to £95.4m primarily reflecting the acquisition of COA Solutions in February last year. Adjusted EBITDA (before £15.4m in amortisation and other bits) was £24.1m, up from £7.2m the year before, but PBT was down slightly at £3.2m (FY10: £4.2m) as a result of higher financing costs.

The Health & Care division grew 10% organically to £20m thanks to sales of recently launched products and a better performance from its community care products.  But it’s the 365 Managed Services business that is really “motoring”. The division, which offers a full outsourcing solution from desktop to data centre delivery, increased turnover by 15% organically to £11.8m. In particular, Murria reports strong demand for ‘shared services’ from local authorities keen to use technology to reduce their costs. The move to the Cloud is also a focus for the business with 450 of ACS’s 7,000 customers already ‘cloud-enabled’ (either via public cloud, private cloud or what ACS term ‘application cloud’.)

But FY11 did not see growth across the board at ACS. The Business Solutions division - which largely comprises COA’s financial and human capital management systems and competes directly with Unit 4 - saw revenues decline 1% as a result of a 4% drop in private sector revenue. A change of management team at the unit during year has apparently remedied the situation and its performance is said to be back on track. We’ll have to wait for ACS’ interims to judge whether this really is the case.

One thing we were particularly pleased to see from today’s results is more cross-selling at ACS. According to Murria, cross-selling was a significant contributor to the Group’s results, particularly between the 365 Managed Services division and the public sector part of Business Solutions. We’d expect to see more of the same in the future as ACS’ public sector customers look to known suppliers to help them cut costs, and more customers move to the Cloud.

We can also expect further acquisitions to drive inorganic growth. Murria seems particularly focused on bolt-on purchases in the Business Solutions space (a CRM or e-procurement system perhaps?). An acquisition along these lines would add both to the customer base and to the functionality that ACS’ systems can provide creating more cross-selling opportunities. Further M&A activity in the health or care space isn’t out of the question of course, but valuations in the sector remain high thanks to private equity interest and Murria isn’t one to pay over the odds.

Some companies lop bits off their name to make the point (e.g. Colt). Others add bits on. Such is the case for ‘born again’ network security solutions business, Corero,which will henceforth rejoice in the name Corero Network Security. This change will also undoubtedly ease the path towards the eventual jettison of Corero’s orphaned education and ‘other’ activities, Corero Business Systems. It is named – so shall it be. (Were it that easy!)

Delving into the detail to find out the underlying growth story at IDOX is easier said than done. Speaking to IDOX’s CEO, Richard Kellett-Clarke, can sometimes feel like getting blood from a stone! The management team is keen to talk about the increase in new orders (up 11% in the core public sector business), about the increase in recurring revenues (up from 62% to 65% compared to H110), and about the diversification of the business (23% outside public sector, compared to 17% in H110), but it’s impossible to pin them down on the organic performance of the business.

At the top line, revenues increased by 21% to £18.1 million. UK revenue growth was 12.5%. However, total revenue growth was impacted by numerous acquisitions – most notably that of McLaren in December 2010 (see McLaren takes on a challenge with McLaren purchase) – and we understand that organically total revenues declined “slightly” (most of McLaren's business was international). The reason Kellett-Clarke is reluctant to dwell on the organic performance appears to be that he believes the positive trends in the business are more important to communicate. He’s also keen to emphasise the impact that the changing mix of revenues has on the top line i.e. revenues from maintenance and managed services/subscription contracts are spread over 3-4 years rather being booked as a one-off license payment under the traditional model. This is a transition that many software companies are dealing with. In H111, 66% of revenues came from this type of contract as opposed to 59% in H110.

The majority (78%) of IDOX revenues continue to be derived from its software business, which focuses on large scale document and information management. We understand that the decline in the core public sector software business has now “arrested” and, based on the new sales pipeline, we can expect modest organic growth from the business for the full year. IDOX talks about local government being in “execution mode”, and we’d agree. However, despite the rhetoric, the numbers indicate that growing the business in the local government sector is not exactly a walk in the park. Nonetheless, IDOX really does “get” the market (it should do!) and it’s taken some really positive steps to benefit from market trends such as the increasing interest in shared services, the desire for small packaged projects defined by quick wins, and the need to speed up core public sector processes. As market conditions improve, IDOX is well positioned to benefit with its growing portfolio of offerings.

IDOX’s diversification strategy also continues. Lateral moves into markets such as health and education are mentioned. Nothing has happened yet, and Kellett-Clarke states that the company would need a “stepping off point” to make it possible to leverage its technology and knowledge in a new sector. We got the distinct impression that an acquisition in the health sector (using its cash pile of £4.1 million) may not be too far off. In the meantime, strong cost control continues alongside the numerous acquisitions, with EBITDA margins up to 29% (up from 23% in H110).

Capita has renewed and extended a major business process services deal with existing client Zurich Financial Services, and with it gets the green light to its international expansion plans (see Capita’s European ambitions!).

The total value of the extension and renewal to Capita is £570m over 15 years. We believe this is made of up a renewal worth c£220m over the 11-year period from 2015 to 2026, and an extension worth c£350m over a 15-year period from 1^st July 2011. As is often the case, the renewal is being signed at a lower price point than the initial £300m-ten year contract that Capita signed with Zurich in 2005 – at c£20m per annum vs. c£30m originally. But where Capita will really grow revenue is on the contract extension, which should be worth an additional c£23m per year.

The extension itself is a real turning point for Capita, taking the UK BPS market leader into the EMEA market in a big way. Capita will take on some 400 Zurich staff in service centres in the Isle of Man, Ireland and Dubai, no less, and then ‘support the development of Zurich Global Life's European and international administration hubs’. It will become responsible for providing customer service, policy administration and claims activity to Zurich’s customers in Europe, the Middle East and international markets. This is of course in addition to the renewal’s on going UK service delivery component. Capita will initially manage the steady state of services for Zurich and then in time consider migrating on to a new platform. Meanwhile rival CSC, Zurich's global ITO provider, will no doubt be wishing it had a more coherent BPS strategy.

While Capita does already deliver a small amount of work outside of the UK in countries such as Belgium and Ireland, this is a big step forward in the group’s internationalisation that CE Paul Pindar outlined at the FY results in February (see Capita in slowdown). It also validates the decision made to set up a new service centre in Krakow, Poland where Capita could eventually employ 500 people. From here there may even be future opportunities for Capita to take on more services for Zurich in other European markets.

While the deal itself is unlikely to push Capita back to organic growth (in FY it was -5%), there are real upsides to this strategy. If Capita gets the model right and delivers for Zurich the kind of service it has come to expect in the UK, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be able replicate this model for other international clients. Then this international expansion could become an important way for Capita to drive future organic growth.

We don’t usually go much on marketplace rumours, but when the excellent Paul Kunert (now at Channel Register) gets a scoop, experience tells us he’s usually very close to the mark. In this case, it’s about Cable & Wireless being in talks to buy PE-backed IT services firm, 2e2.

We have written extensively about 2e2 (start here), more so after it acquired Morse a little over a year ago. You can understand C&W's logic for the deal if you read what we wrote about Colt recently (see Colt to stand and deliver!). Colt partners with main market-listed Phoenix (actually, more the other way round), rather closer to a pure infrastructure services play than 2e2. So whether 2e2 is the ‘right answer’ for C&W is moot, at least in its current form.

And should the deal go ahead, one wonders how that might affect 2e2’s “contractual joint venture” with O2, to resell 2e2’s data centre services (see O2 dials in 2e2).

But let’s see what transpires …

Having ‘listened and learnt’, the Government confirmed today that it will make changes to its controversial plans for the modernisation of health and social care. From what we’ve seen, the government’s response to yesterday’s findings by the NHS Future Forum doesn’t contain any real surprises. It accepts the proposals put forward by the NHS Future Forum, toning down the government’s ambitions in areas such as competition and the timetable for reform.

Nevertheless, the detail in the reports has implications for SITS providers – including opportunities in areas such as the closer integration of health and social care and evidence based commissioning. We take a closer look in our UKHotViewsExtra article, What does the NHS reform relaunch mean for SITS?, which is available for subscribers to our PublicSectorViews research stream to access now. (If you’re not yet a subscriber and you'd like more information please contact Deborah Seth.)

You take massive write downs and close businesses! Two more indicators of the parlous state of the consumer electronics market hit the wires this morning. Reuters reported that Acer has slashed its full-year shipment target for tablets by almost 60% and expects lower notebook shipments. This comes just two weeks after it announced a $150m write-off of dead kit in the channel. Meanwhile, the FT reports that US mega-electronics retailer Best Buy is considering closing its 11 UK stores, opened in a JV with Carphone Warehouse, after losses trebled to £62m. Meanwhile, I have done my bit to further boost Apple’s profits and succumbed to buying an iPad. It was sad enough that my wife used to be a snooker widow. Even sadder now she’s an 'apps' widow too!

The inevitable denouement of CEO Leo Apotheker’s unshackling of HP’s services business from under erstwhile Enterprise Business head, Ann Livermore (see One thing Leo got right) played out the other day, with the news that Livermore has ‘stepped down’ from her day-to-day executive role and has been elevated to the HP board. The announcement was full of glowing tributes, ostensibly to soften the blow. Livermore will continue to mind the services shop until a new EVP is appointed. She becomes the only other ‘insider’ (for now) besides Leo on the HP board, chaired by one-time Oracle president & COO, Ray Lane. Now, you can argue, Leo reports to her!

Mouchel has appointed Rod Harris, the former FD of Carillion Business Services, as its new group FD. Harris replaces outgoing FD David Tilston, who appointed Harris in autumn 2010 as Mouchel’s group financial controller. Tilston himself joined the board last September to renegotiate Mouchel's banking facilities (see Mouchel secures new funding, appoints M&A advisor). Of course during Tilston’s tenure Mouchel has been fighting on all fronts to remain an independent company with various bids from support services rivals Costain and Interserve – and finally getting its reprieve in April (see Mouchel free at last!).

Mouchel said it remains in line with market expectations for FY11, even though the business is still struggling with the short-term outlook “very challenging”. Local government in particular, which makes up more than two-thirds of Mouchel’s client base, “has been particularly hard hit by the unexpected speed and depth of these cuts.” Mouchel's pipeline of opportunities has dropped 21% from the same point last year to £1.5b. There’s no doubt that the distractions it faced earlier this year have also played their part. However the escalating debt is a real concern. It now stands at £109m at the end of May vs. £97m at the end of H1. Investors continue to see the risks, and cut 10% off Mouchel’s share price.

While the rest of the business continues to be up against it, there are some pockets of real opportunity. As we expect, opportunities in local government BPO seem to be benefitting from the public sector cut backs. Mouchel is now expecting its BPO deals at Bournemouth, Lincolnshire, Rochdale and Oldham to expand in 2011/12, and its pipeline of BPO opportunities is also “increasing significantly” with half a dozen live prospects and the same number at the early stages of procurement.

Mouchel has been successful in winning £200m of new business and extensions YTD, including its win at Bournemouth Council last November (see Mouchel secures Bournemouth BPO deal). Its biggest new win in the second half, was the seven-year £57m National Traffic Information Service (NTIS) deal for the Highways Agency, in joint venture with Thales UK. It also secured a five-year extension to its BPO partnership with Middlesbrough Council, worth c£70m.

Beyond that, it is working closely with Carillion on the really big opportunity – the Sheffield PFI highways maintenance tender where it is one of two remaining bidders. If successful, this contract will be worth £2bn over 25 years - although it isn't clear how much of that will come Mouchel's way. It is also bidding for highway maintenance contracts in Scotland. Mouchel will be hoping that with Harris now in place as group FD, it will help drive this partnership forwards, and who knows where that might lead.

In a pre-AGM update Sopheon, the provider of software and services to support the product innovation processes, revealed that license sales have continued to climb. In its trading update on May 5 (Sopheon: revenue visibility up, cash down) it had concluded 11 new and extension license orders since the end of financial year 2010 – this has now risen to 15.

There is another indicator that shows Sopheon is hooked into a positive trend - revenue visibility has also gone up since the last trading update, from £6.1m to £6.6m. The company also says it expects to close “ a very substantial” amount of business by the end of June. However, it also notes that customers are still cautious which is making it difficult to predict sales.

Unfortunately, the update did not provide UK-specific information, or which regions the new sales were coming from, which would have been insightful indicators given that during FY10 UK revenues declined by 39% (see Sopheon: strong results but dismal UK performance) while the rest of the business rose substantially.

Richard Holway writes:

Although IBM has been around for 100 years, for me the IT industry started in 1964 with the launch of the IBM S/360 – the first computer designed for business. It happened to coincide, soon after, with my entry into IT as a humble Basic Assembly Language programmer.

There is no other company in the whole IT sector which has dominated the sector ever since. It has done this by reinventing itself several times. For example, the IBM PC in 1981 and IBM’s change in business model from ‘Big Iron’ to ‘Big Software and Services’ over the last 15 years.

I recently read an article which ended ‘To be reborn, first you have to die’. IBM has fully realised that it is just as important to get out of old market sectors as it is to enter new ones. For example, how brave, but sensible, it was to sell its PC division to Lenovo. Most other companies in our sector have failed to do that and have paid the price.

As an analyst, I find it difficult to give any cast iron forecasts on the future of any of the leading players – except one. I have absolutely no doubt that IBM has both the resources – both financial and managerial – to rise and adapt to any of the new challenges that the IT market throws at it.

Anthony Miller writes:

It was Monday 3rd September 1973 when I stepped over the threshold at (then) IBM Croydon to start my very first job after leaving university. I was 21 and IBM was 62. I only wish that I will look as good at 100 as IBM does today!

IBM is a very different company now, even from the one I left back in the early 90’s (jn Sydney, by then). Client-server computing was all the rage, to which IBM really only paid lip-service; there was, after all, still good money to be made from those gargantuan water-cooled mainframes. Unix was acknowledged – even tolerated under IBM’s own brand (AIX) – but otherwise, it was proprietary software all the way. Services (over and above break-fix) were still mostly seen as ‘value add’, to help cement customers to IBM hardware from mainframe, through storage, to printers, and from ‘dumb’ terminals through PCs into communications controllers seeking safe sanctuary in the hallowed halls of the data centre.

Indeed, much of IBM's transformation happened in the past 20 years. Today, IBM’s hardware business only represents about 18% of the total. No more PCs. No more printers. Mainly servers and storage. In 1991 IBM was a $65b company of which less than $6b came from non-maintenance services. Last year, IBM turned over a little short of $100b of which almost half was non-maintenance services. Its main competitors in the 90’s were the likes of DEC, Amdahl and Unisys. Today, it's perhaps first and foremost Accenture and HP, along with a host of India-based players like TCS and Infosys in hot pursuit. How times change!

From us both we say, “Happy Birthday IBM!”. Here’s to the next 100 years (and why not?).

We are absolutely delighted to welcome to the team Angela Eager, who joins TechMarketView as Research Director for Enterprise Software & Application Services (ESAS).

Many readers will know Angela by reputation if not personally from her time at Ovum/Butler Group covering the enterprise applications space. Angela cut her teeth in the IT media – she was Principal Analyst at Computerwire and has had Editor and Executive Editor roles at various other UK IT publications.

Angela introduces herself here.  You can look forward to a much greater coverage of the ESAS space both here on UKHotViews and especially in our subscription research programmes. It’s where so much of the ‘action’ is happening in today’s software and IT services market!

There are few certainties in life but change is one of them and if you’re in the software and IT services (SITS) space, that change will be frequent and dramatic. In the enterprise software and application services (ESAS) space there is an additional complicating dimension – disruptive technologies that are impacting every aspect of supply and buy side operations, of vendor, application service supplier, and enterprise client strategies and practices.

Determining what that means for the UK SITS market, identifying the opportunities and how to capitalize on them, and warning of the pitfalls, is why I am excited to be joining TechMarketView at this time to head up Enterprise Software & Application Services research.

Tumbling edifices

When viewed from a distance the sector appears mature to the point of stultification, saturated at the high end and dominated by a small number of “mega vendors” (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft), who command around 80% of the market and seek to hold onto to it via “tied ecosystems” - partner networks dependent on a single mega vendor’s technology stack. But this rigid and top-heavy edifice is starting to break down, undermined by a wave of disruptive technologies

Regeneration through disruption

Cloud computing and SaaS applications, mobile communications, collaboration and social networks, are changing everything from the definition and development of applications, the mode of supply, access mechanisms, integration, payment models, and value-add service provision. 

They are providing a new lease of life to traditional applications such as ERP, CRM and SCM. They are widening access and stimulating new ways of using analytics – a poorly understood and therefore shockingly underused business tool.

Stimulus for change is also coming from small and medium enterprises (SME’s) who are demonstrating a healthy appetite for disruptive technologies, while the consumer market continues to inspire technology and usage innovation in the business world.

Survive and thrive

As an established vendor or application service provider you need to adjust or completely revamp your business models and offerings in order to thrive – or even just plain survive - in this new environment. You need to understand yourself in the context of this rapidly evolving market, competitors, and potentially dangerous emergent players. It doesn’t pay to underestimate new players – just look at the impact salesforce.com has had on CRM, SaaS and the wider cloud environment. So, where are the opportunities and the traps, who will be the winners and losers? These are some of the issues I will be exploring over the coming months.

We are not going to see the mega vendors fall out of the market but we can expect new entrants because the barriers to entry have been lowered and the rules of engagement are changing. These types of changes will cause a reshuffle across the sector as business models and targets change and money flows to different places, giving some players a boost and inevitably destabilizing others. Spotting the changes in spending patterns, market size and growth that determine how you fare will be core to TechMarketView ESAS research. There will also be opportunities for new players and particularly for new alliances and this is where I expect a lot activity.

By exploring these types of issues I aim to help guide you through the evolving enterprise applications and application services landscape. I am keen to hear your views so please feel free to make contact (aeager@techmarketview.com).

CSC’s UK revenues were essentially flat in FY11 at c£1.2b ($1,869m), despite mounting problems with its NHS IT contracts. The full extent of the issues with CSC’s £2.9b NHS contracts is revealed in its 10k, which it finally filed with the SEC yesterday. Delays to the rollout of Lorenzo and resultant missed milestones clearly had an impact this year including a $46m revenue decline in FY11 (following a similar $49m decline the previous year) and a near $370m reduction in cash flows from advance contract payments. As at the first of April, CSC has a net investment in the contract/s of just over $1b.

Even in the best case scenario, the ongoing contract negotiations with the NHS will also affect the future value of the contracts. According to the filing, CSC’s discussions with the NHS in its fiscal Q4 set out plans to modify the scope of its contracts (again) and reduce the total contract value by £764m to c£2.1b, although also extending it by a year to June 2017. The expected modifications will hit the profitability of the contract, but CSC is quick to point out it will “nonetheless remain profitable” and it expects to recover its investment.

However, as we’ve said before, the real risk for CSC is what would happen if the government decides to cut its losses and terminate the contract. CSC warns in its 10k: “Future events could result in a charge to reduce the contract profitability recognized to date and impair the Company’s net investment in the contract, a reduction in future profitability or a material adverse impact on the Company’s cash flows.”  And this is not a vague hypothesis but a real possibility. The 10k confirms that in February the NHS formally notified CSC that it believed the company was in breach of contract when it missed the Pennine deployment milestone (see CSC’s NHS IT future in doubt as key Trust says No to Lorenzo). At the time the NHS said it was considering termination of all or part of the contract although it has since clarified that this is only one option available. CSC has disputed the alleged breach and both parties are still working to find a replacement for the Pennine Trust and on finalising the terms of their long-awaited MOU. We await the next instalment of the sorry saga with bated breath…

Unit4, the Netherlands-based ERP provider, has acquired a new customer, nuclear power specialist Magnox, who will pay £2.5 million to put Unit4’s Agresso Business World ERP suite in place. What is notable about the deal is that Magnox is replacing SAP with Unit4. 

According to Andrew Taylor, Head of Project Delivery for Magnox, “We were feeling increasingly limited by our existing system as we could not make the changes required at the speed of change we were experiencing.”  It’s no surprise that Magnox’s statement chimes with the key feature of the Agresso ERP suite and Unit4’s core marketing message - and if this was the only indicator that Unit4 was achieving something of note it would not be significant.

However, it is the latest in a steady stream of positive news (Unit4: positive performance all round). The company is also confident enough to successfully tackle tier one vendors head on, particularly in the public sector (Unit4 to challenge SAP in larger local authorities). Note also that during financial year 2010 the UK division alone added 75 new customers to its ranks (the UK is the largest single contributor to the overall Unit4 group business).

So, what is the secret of Unit4’s growing success? In my view, a key factor is an application architecture that does indeed allow for rapid and thus cost effective change. This brings down the long-term cost of ownership and is a counterpoint to systems that are infamous for difficult and costly management. Unit4’s assertion that at the end of an implementation project it aims to leave customers self-sufficient with no need for on-going work, and attendant costs, with either Unit4 or service providers is also an enticing proposition and contrasts with the traditional ERP dependency model. Of course, post implementation assistance is unlikely to be completely ruled out but anything that reduces the requirement will be received positively. Outcome based value assessments are also good news.

It has a long way to go and is not in a position to seriously challenge larger competitors, but Unit4 has demonstrated it can successfully chip away at their customer bases. We’ll continue to monitor its progress with great interest.

Those of you who watch The Apprentice on Wednesday night will have heard Alan Sugar suggest that he had ‘never met one engineer who was good at business’. See Daily Telegraph . Although the Apprentice is sometimes good ‘trash’ entertainment, it often makes my blood boil as its depiction of business is the exact opposite of what happens in our company – and, I would suggest, most of our readers’ too.

But this ‘gaffe’ really does take the biscuit. Indeed, I would contend that practically all the world’s great businesses were both founded AND RUN by engineers; from the Ford Motor Company onwards. In our own sector, the list is endless from Larry Ellison at Oracle, Andy Grove at Intel, Steve Jobs at Apple all the way to Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. All engineers who have done rather well at running businesses! Indeed, I would suggest Sugar’s argument is ‘stood on its head’. Whatever you may think of the ‘software engineer’ Bill Gates at Microsoft, it did rather better under his leadership than under that of ‘salesman’ Steve Ballmer.

In my role I meet many CEOs. An increasing number of them don’t understand the technologies used in their own products. They lack the passion that I, personally, think is the key to success. I’m not saying I have never met a passionate accountant but…

What we need is more programmes in the media extolling the twin virtues of engineers and entrepreneurs. (For goodness sake, I’d like to class myself as both!) The combination is electric. Sugar should hang his head in shame. Indeed about time he was fired!

Shares in RIM, the Blackberry maker ‘crashed’ by 16% last night as it issued a profits warning as well as reporting profits 10% lower in the quarter ending end May 11. RIM’s woes are well documented  and in many ways mirror those faced by Nokia. Both were once the smartphone market leaders. Now both face twin pressures from new ‘upstarts’ Apple and Android.

I’ve been a Blackberry user for many years. Indeed more people in TechMarketView carry Blackberries than the iPhone. The Blackberry is just very good at email – particularly when you are abroad as I am at the moment. The problem is that it is ‘only’ good at email. In every other department – particularly web surfing and Apps – it is so far behind that it is embarrassing. Indeed this is becoming such a great issue that even I am contemplating a change. The iCloud will probably make it so much easier for me to go ‘all-Apple’. Indeed, Apple’s iMessage is a major threat to the all important BBM system which saw so many teenage consumers going down the Blackberry route.

It’s official! If you are in IT – or can even spell it – you are a Cloud company. Or so it seems, judging by recent media headlines, bestowing that rather questionable ‘badge of honour’ on two rather unlikely candidates.

Yesterday’s news that AIM-listed hosting and domain name registration minnow, Iomart, had been listed as the world’s 22nd top ‘cloud provider’ – and No. 1 in the UK – by a US-based cloud blog frankly says more about the credibility of the blog than it does about Iomart. Fine company, sure, (see Iomart sweats more revenue and profit), but let’s get real.

And I still can’t believe today’s FT headline “C&W Worldwide in talks to buy cloud expert”. I thought they meant TechMarketView and was about to book my world cruise. But, no, this was the next instalment of the short-running saga of the mooted acquisition by Cable & Wireless of private equity-owned infrastructure and application services firm, 2e2 (see Will 2e2 get ‘cabled up’?). Again, we hold Terry Burt and his team in the highest esteem, but I’m not sure even he would class 2e2 as a ‘cloud expert’.

Anyway, it appears that merely writing this post qualifies us to be rebranded ‘TechMarketView – The Cloud Research Company’. So, offers over £100m only, please, to PO Box 183, Farnham. Now, where did I put my boat shoes?