U.K. Home Office selects consortium of Accenture and Certus Solutions to transform back-office services

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Certus Solutions have been selected by the United Kingdom Home Office to deliver a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system designed to transform the way the Home Office delivers back-office services across finance, procurement, human resources (HR), customer service and payroll-related functions. The two-year contract, valued at approximately £20 million, was awarded after a competitive tendering process and under the U.K. government’s G-Cloud (G8) supplier framework.

The goal of the project is to help the Home Office reduce operational costs, increase operational efficiencies and improve service levels through adoption of new technology applications and processes across its HR, finance, procurement, payroll and customer service functions.

Nordic Markets 3rd party data centre and hyperscale investments tops $3 billion

New research by BroadGroup suggests that investment in the data centre sector in the Nordic market has reached around USD 3 billion over the last twelve to eighteen months alone.

In the third annual edition of its report Data Centers Nordic, BroadGroup finds that combined available power for third party facilities and hyperscales is already approaching 800MW for the region.

The Guardian uses animated illustrations to bring its latest virtual reality project to life

The Guardian's latest immersive project is the first narrative animated virtual reality (VR) film created using Tilt Brush, a tool for painting in a 3D space. Sea Prayer, which commemorates the second anniversary of the death of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned whilst attempting to reach Greece, brings to life an imagined letter from a Syrian father to his son.

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and author Khaled Hosseini wrote the piece, imagining the refugees were on the eve of their sea crossing to Europe, seeking refuge and safety. Francesca Panetta, executive editor of virtual reality at the Guardian, explained that the publisher chose to use illustrations to highlight the child-like nature of the film.

Source Marketing Direct’s Hector Montalvo reveals key marketing lessons from the McGregor vs. Mayweather fight

Source Marketing Direct believe McGregor’s MMA industry will look back on the event as the real winners – all thanks to marketing.

McGregor, an MMA fighter by trade, went out of his comfort zone to fight Floyd Mayweather, one of the most successful boxers of all time on his home turf. The Irishman was written off before the fight, but he surprised many of his critics with a largely professional display, taking the fight to 10 rounds. Source Marketing Direct believes that in doing so, McGregor has taken UFC and MMA to the mainstream.

Entrepreneur wins prestigious beauty award for her new salon

Hazelwood Beauty Salon, based in the beautiful county of Wiltshire, has won a prestigious national award for Best Small Salon 2017.

Founder and creative director Sam Francome recently accepted the BABTAC (British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology) Award for 2017’s best salon in the small salon category.

She said: ‘It’s a huge compliment to receive this award. BABTAC is firmly focused on upholding standards within the beauty industry. It’s a genuine honour for my team and I to receive such a prestigious award and to be recognised as being leaders in our sector.’

Small business owner takes on UK government over 'unfair' loophole

Mini-bus company boss Martin Allen appears to have won the first round in a battle against a legal loophole which he claims is destroying his business and many others.

His persistence to get justice means many thousands of school buses – and buses funded by local authorities - across the country could be driven by drivers who do not meet the necessary legal standards.