8
news PwC takes on a record number of graduates
PwC, the market leading professional services firm, has strengthened its Thames Valley practice in Reading with 30 new graduate joiners.
Among the new joiners are the first graduates of PwC’s inaugural summer business school in 2008, which has coached students on employability during their university study, by offering business skills and paid internships during the first year summer holiday. Of this year’s UK intake, a total of 223 are returning interns meaning that 18% of this autumn’s intake completed an internship scheme with the firm. Some 95% of interns are offered full-time training roles.
Miles Saunders, senior partner, PwC in Reading, said: “The high number conversions from internships into full-time roles represents great return on investment for our firm, and supports our belief that as a business the earlier we work with students, the more successful our recruitment, and their experience will be.”
Many of these graduates are the first of the financial crisis’ generation, who began to study at the height of the recession. Saunders continued: “The recession and financial crisis marked a shift in attitudes towards understanding more about employability with students getting work experience earlier, rather than just relying
Miles Saunders with the new graduate intake
on the degree on their CVs to get their foot in the door for a job. Those who start building their work experience portfolio early on have a much better chance of securing the role of their dreams, and not being left in the frustrating position of post- graduation unemployment. The massive increase in applications we’ve received this year shows that students are back in the game. They are realising that despite many saying otherwise, there are jobs out there with top notch training schemes and excellent prospects.”
In the first week of joining, the graduates
will be involved in welcome activities which are all designed to understand the firm’s culture and give an overview of its brand values. A focus of the graduate induction this year is about sustainability, and the new joiners will participate in over 30 community volunteer projects across the UK, experiencing PwC’s community programme at first hand.
Applications opened for 2012 student and graduate vacancies at the end of September, for at least 1,800 A level, internship and full time roles across the UK.
DediPower: the Lumison silver lining
Reading-based DediPower, the managed hosting and IT services provider, has been acquired by Lumison for an undisclosed sum. The deal is part of a bid by Edinburgh-based Lumison BlueSquare Group to grow its managed cloud in the small-to-mid-sized business (SMB) space.
Lumison said the deal would enable it to expand its SMB capacity and focus. The acquisition brings Lumison’s combined turnover to £27.5 million, and continues its business expansion strategy, which has seen the company’s revenues grow from £6.4m to £27.5m over the past three years.
The acquisition will see the Lumison BlueSquare Group employ 130 staff across the UK and provide managed IT services to several thousand British businesses.
Lumison offers colocation, managed hosting and cloud services to UK ‘mid market’ companies hosting their online operations, business applications and development environments. DediPower
www.businessmag.co.uk
brings Lumison additional strengths in colocation and managed hosting services with 70% of revenue coming from managed services. This complements Lumison’s existing capabilities and the combined business will provide customers with enhanced managed IT services (dedicated and shared), managed network and colocation services across eight UK datacentres.
DediPower has grown successfully since it was formed in 1998 and is one of the fastest growing technology companies in the UK, receiving a number 41 position in the 2010 Sunday Times Tech Track 100.
Lumison Group CEO Mark Howling said: “The addition of DediPower to the business is a strong strategic and cultural fit and will consolidate our position as a leading player in the IT managed services sector. The Group will remain focused on providing practical, cost-effective solutions to customer business IT issues. Customers increasingly demand reliable IT infrastructure-as-a-service as the need for a scalable and flexible way of working grows;
with DediPower’s expertise, Lumison is even better placed to deliver this.”
Lumison is a leading managed IT services provider, supporting mid-market and enterprise customers throughout the UK. Founded in 1995, Lumison is one of the few business-class IT service providers to own and manage its own Tier III datacentre facilities, providing reliable, high-quality IP network, colocation and managed application hosting services. Innovation and investment is key to the Lumison service model. The past five years of investment in the latest technology and service has yielded the 2007 ISPAs Best IP Telephony Provider, Nomination in three ISPA categories for best broadband, email and VoIP, and becoming a finalist at the 2010 BCS IT Excellence Awards for its Private Cloud services. Founded in 1998, DediPower is a managed hosting and co-location provider with three Tier 3 data centres covering 30,000 square foot in Reading. It also has secure data centre capacity in Hong Kong and New York and 70% of its revenue comes from managed services.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – NOVEMBER 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48