Industry news

It is against the backdrop of these uncertainties that UK businesses are nonetheless pressing forward with AI initiatives, and, according to new research from BearingPoint, they’re bringing greater gusto to the task than elsewhere.

The consulting firm, which surveyed more than 700 C-suite executives around the world, found that 15% of UK companies are embracing AI enthusiastically, the highest proportion among the countries included in the research.

Furthermore, while only 12% of companies globally class themselves as active adopters with mature implementation of AI technologies across their organisation, this proportion is nearly double (21%) for UK businesses

Read the full article on Management Today here.

IBM Consulting Advantage is an AI-powered services platform aiming to enables IBM’s consultants to embed best in class technology and AI assets in solutions. To further expand this new capability, IBM has announced the Granite 3.0 large language models has become the default platform for IBM Consulting Advantage.

The third-generation Granite flagship language model can outperform or match similarly sized models from leading model providers on many academic and industry benchmarks, according to IBM. This means IBM’s 160,000 consultants around the world can now easily access Granite to assist in client use cases from customer service to IT modernization, helping maximise clients’ return-on-investment for AI.

Read the full article on Consultancy.uk here.

Five months on from revealing the intent to sell its Worldgrid business to ALTEN , Atos has signed the binding €270m Share & Asset Purchase Agreement with the French Engineering and IT services specialist. The finalisation of the deal, which will close before the end of the year, follows Atos’s recent announcement that all of its planned financial restructuring transactions are expected to be completed between November 2024 and December 2024/January 2025 

Worldgrid, which is focused on the energy and utilities sector, provides specialist consulting and engineering services. The business, which currently employs around 1,100 people, generates annual revenue of approximately €170m. ALTEN is itself an established player in the energy and utilities sector and is also the company that acquired UK-based Methods Group in 2022 (see: ALTEN acquires Methods).

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

Hitachi Digital Services continues to progress in the UK announcing a new two-year digital partnership with Mitchells & Butlers to manage digital engagement across its 17 High Street Brands.

Mitchells & Butlers is undergoing its own transformation looking to grow its digital business and develop an agile culture to support innovation and growth. Hitachi Digital Services has partnered on the deal with “Global digital services agency” Valtech, to support customer interaction across mobile, web, order and pay at table and home delivery. The new partnership is designed to drive efficiencies as well as enable new revenue streams via an ability to launch new digital features/business opportunities quickly.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

ABB reinforces its commitments to sustainable sourcing through a new partnership with ArcelorMittal, using XCarb steel to reduce its carbon footprint

ABB, a technology leader in electrification and automation, is partnering with ArcelorMittal to introduce XCarb steel, which is made with high levels of recycled steel, as well as 100% renewable energy for its trusted Kabeldon power distribution system.

The sustainable sourcing agreement helps reduce the carbon footprint of key electrification equipment by 29%.

Read the full article on Procurement Magazine here.

Aggreko, based in Glasgow and known for its energy solutions expertise, has released a fresh report detailing how CEOs are approaching their net zero targets amidst complex market conditions.

This report, built on a survey of 400 business leaders from across Europe, reveals shifting priorities and new challenges as executives face the energy transition.

Aggreko’s findings reveal a trend toward decentralised energy systems, with 87% of surveyed leaders now deploying energy solutions like on-site power generation or energy storage to align sustainability with financial stability.

Read the full article on Procurement Magazine here.

An overwhelming majority of finance leaders are concerned about the integrity and reliability of their organisation’s non-financial data, according to EY’s latest Global Corporate Reporting Survey, but there’s hope that AI could provide some much-needed answers.

The survey collected responses from more than 2,000 finance leaders and 815 institutional investors around the world regarding the state of corporate reporting.

Among the key findings is an “almost universal” concern among finance leaders that the non-financial data produced by their organisations is not fit for purpose to support decision-making.

Genie AI, a London based startup developing an agentic AI legal editor has raised £13.3m in Series A funding led by GV (Google Ventures) and joined by Khosla Ventures.

The company was founded by CEO Rafie Faruq and CTO Nitish Mutha back in 2017, with the aim of creating an AI legal editor that enables everyone to draft, review, edit, and negotiate legal documents more efficiently.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

TCS is planning to bring more tailored offerings to its customers through an expansion of its existing relationship with NVIDIA.

The pair have been partnering for five years and this deepening of their relationship is to support TCS as it helps more customers to scale their use of AI. TCS vertical experts have worked with NVIDIA (notably around the NVIDIA AI Stack, including AI Foundry, AI Enterprise and NIM Agent Blueprints) to create industry-specific solutions. For example, in Manufacturing using LLMs to turn raw data into actionable insights

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

Transformation programmes offer golden opportunities to bring new ways of working to an organisation. Done well, they can subtly or profoundly change the culture of “how we do things around here”.

Step one is to know what the words “diversity”, “equity” and “inclusion” mean in an organisational context.

“Diversity” is not just demographics. True diversity is where people who bring difference do not have to assimilate into the prevailing organisational culture to succeed, thus giving leaders the opportunity to tap into different ways of thinking. “Equity” recognises that some people face more barriers and therefore need different support and resources to reach the same place as those with fewer barriers. The most powerful barriers are often intangible. “Inclusion” involves bringing differences into decision making, problem solving, and the development of ideas and strategies.

Read the full article on Management Today here.