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Capgemini and Microsoft strengthen alliance     Capgemini and Microsoft, collaborators since 1997, are to extend their alliance with a new agreement and enlist the services of the Sogeti Group, an IT services provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of Capgemini.    Under the alliance agreement, Capgemini and Microsoft will invest in joint marketing, demand generation and partner     solutions to improve their ability to meet the needs of clients in a wide range of industries worldwide. The investment is also focused on accelerating the development of differentiated offers through professional services from Capgemini and Sogeti.    "As the marketplace includes more and more customers focused on     service-oriented architecture, it is important for Capgemini to meet the demands of emerging enterprise clients," said Don Jones, vice president and global alliance executive at Capgemini. "Our clients will see a number of new innovations coming from this relationship that will clearly demonstrate the benefit of engaging     with Capgemini, Sogeti and Microsoft together."    In addition, the alliance will focus on expanding its portfolio of cross- industry solutions in the areas of security, compliance, mobility, server consolidation, migration of infrastructure and applications to the Windows platform, .NET Web services, enterprise application integration     and outsourcing. Capgemini will build outsourcing solution offerings that will leverage Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Systems Management Server, Microsoft Operations Manager and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server.

EDS and IBM win Vodafone outsourcing deals     The UK's Vodafone Group is to outsource application development and maintenance services to EDS and IBM, as part of cost cutting measures prompted by slowing sales growth.    Vodafone said it had spent around £560m on application development and maintenance last year. It has previously stated that there was     working for the group.    Vodafone said a majority of affected staff would become employees of its new outsourcing partners and work from similar locations under similar terms and conditions where possible. The remainder will remain with Vodafone.    The firm, which has ownership interests in     27 countries and partner networks in a further 33 countries, said software code writing and maintenance of billing and customer relationship management systems will remain in-house.    In a separate move, health insurer Cigna has selected IBM to maintain and operate the computing infrastructure     for its Connecticut General Life subsidiary.    The deal is worth $724m over seven years and calls for IBM to manage voice and data networks, contact centre applications, and enterprise content management software, as well as help chart IT strategy.        potential to reduce unit costs by 25% to 30% within three to five years.    Some 6,300 employees are expected to be affected globally, around 3,700 of them external contractors

UK salaries are rising at fastest pace for six years, says KPMG study     The latest Report on Jobs survey by KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation shows that inflation of permanent staff salaries has hit a 67-month high, driven by robust demand for employees.    The report also highlighted further expansions of permanent and temporary staff appointments in September, albeit at the weakest rates for five months.    Michael Carter, people services partner at KPMG, said: “September’s figures show continued robust     demand for staff, although the increase in both permanent and temporary placements was at its lowest for five months. The strongest growth in demand was for engineering and construction workers, but demand was also robust for office-based employees. Alongside this growth in demand, the availability of staff to fill permanent vacancies has fallen once again. As a result, retention is of increasing importance to employers. Share-based remuneration can be a particularly effective     retention tool for many companies, and can be structured to offer tax benefits to both employees and the employer.”    He added: “Pay inflation has reached its highest level since February 2001. Employers therefore increasingly have to offer improved salary and benefits packages in order to attract the best quality candidates. Clearly it is important for employers to try and contain the cost of any improvements in package and therefore it is worthwhile exploring the     components of any package, to ensure that the most cost effective balance is achieved.”    Marcia Roberts, chief executive officer of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, said: “There is a growing split in the labour market with huge demand for skilled workers driving wage inflation in strong sectors such as construction, masking a paucity of jobs in the lower end of the market. The number of job centre vacancies fell for the fourteenth consecutive month, as did the number of job advertisements in     the national press. “    Roberts continued: “It will be interesting to see if this gulf persists, and with another interest rate rise on the horizon, consumer and business confidence levels will be put to the test as we approach the end of the year.”    The Report draws on original survey data provided by recruitment consultancies and employers, as well as data on national newspaper recruitment advertising.

Deloitte makes third high-profile senior hire     Deloitte has appointed the current director of the Finance Strategy & Risk division of the Financial Services Authority as partner, responsible for developing strategic solutions for financial services clients.    Kari Hale, who was a partner at the firm     the partnership in June 2007.    His appointment comes after Deloitte announced that it has secured the services of Sir Digby Jones and well-known civil servant Dame Sue Street.    John Connolly, Deloitte’s senior partner and chief     executive in the UK, said: “I am delighted to welcome Kari back to Deloitte. Financial services is our largest industry sector and Kari’s expertise will be highly valued by our clients. This is one of a series of high-calibre appointments to our financial services     practice and we plan further expansion to reinforce our market leading position.”    Hale was a partner with Deloitte in the UK from July 2002 until May 2004. Between 1986 and 2002 he was with Arthur Andersen in the UK.        before joining the FSA, will also assume responsibility for Deloitte’s relationship with some of its key financial services clients when he re-joins

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