Today’s consumers have become accustomed to the transparency, quality, and service speed of firms such as Amazon and Google and now expect similar flexibility and accessibility from their insurance providers. It is not surprising, therefore, that more and more insurers are leveraging technological advancements such as telematics, robo advisors, artificial intelligence, big data, and analytics, to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer experience..

A chemical compound commonly used to boost crop yields could be the answer to helping the world increase its consumption of renewable energy. In a world first, Siemens is opening a £1.5m pilot project in Oxfordshire employing ammonia as a new form of energy storage..

Corporate wellness programs are becoming a mainstream strategy for enhancing employee productivity and managing employee health and well-being. Every year, more studies show the benefits of focusing on physical and emotional well-being as a means to reduce fatigue and stress, and boost employee performance..

Blockchain has already disrupted business processes in the financial sector, and is poised to impact companies across industries. Because the technology can provide an immutable digital record of contractual interactions and transactions across an ecosystem, we believe that manufacturing is likely next in line..

The business, which help companies in energy and industrial industries optimise spare parts, will become part IBM`s `internet of things` services technology..

Some people have innovation in their blood while others safeguard the status-quo. Let’s call these two groups visionaries and guardians..

In a FirstWord FutureViews report on dark analytics and pharmaceuticals, comments from PA Consulting’s dark data team – represented by Dr Shaibal Roy, Martin Knoebel, and Michael Carver – are included..

While CIOs can talk about lots of technologies, the real focus today is on driving two intangible benefits across the enterprise..

A dexterous multi-fingered robot practiced using virtual objects in a simulated world, showing how machine learning and the cloud could revolutionise manual work..

If the use of artificial intelligence in building top customer experiences has been well documented, its use in developing top employee experiences has, to a large extent, been overlooked. However, with the leadership in many organisation beginning to realise that better employee experiences result in better customer engagement with the organisation, they are now starting to look at their employee experiences and how to improve it..

President Emmanuel Macron together with many Silicon Valley CEOs will kicked off the VivaTech conference in Paris with the aim of showcasing the “good” side of technology. Our research highlights some of those benefits, especially the productivity growth and performance gains that automation and artificial intelligence can bring to the economy — and to society more broadly, if these technologies are used to tackle major issues such as fighting disease and tackling climate change. But we also note some critical challenges that need to be overcome. Foremost among them: a massive shift in the skills that we will need in the workplace in the future..

Copying the features of a neural network in silicon might make machine learning more usable on small devices like smartphones..

In the rollercoaster world of retail, never has a truer word been spoken. Stand still and you won’t just get left behind, you could disappear completely. Look no further than Toys R Us, Maplin and Multiyork: big names that will be best remembered as high street casualties. In the current climate, profitability challenges can be found down every aisle....

For all President Trump’s shortcomings (and I, for one, have been known to go hoarse expounding them), his administration has thus far proven a pretty darn good deal for America’s consultants.

NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud contact centre and inside sales solutions, today announced that the NVM Platform has won a 2018 Product of the Year Award, presented by Cloud Computing Magazine and global, integrated media company TMC.

The Big Four firm has introduced yoga and mindfulness sessions for its staff as part of a three-day training excursion.

Companies are making major investments in data security, in wake of attacks, and in data privacy, in order to meet righter regulations like GDPR, according to a new worldwide survey of business practices..

What AI and deep learning are good for, what they’re not good for, and why accuracy sometimes works against these systems..

New research on the cost of Risk Data Aggregation and Reporting was presented at an exclusive C-level event for financial institutions

At an exclusive C-level event in London end of May, Chartis Research, the leading provider of research and analysis on the global market for risk technology, and management and technology consultancy BearingPoint published the results of joint research that examines how financial institutions (FIs) in Europe and the USA can allocate, control and ultimately reduce their cost of compliance for Risk Data Aggregation and Regulatory Reporting (RDAR) activities. According to the research report – “Counting and Cutting the Cost of Compliance” – FIs can assess and adjust five key technical ‘levers’ to modify their compliance costs: data centralization, the availability of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), feed handler standards, the number and diversity of supported reports, and the use of utilities. Rob Stubbs, Head of Research at Chartis, explained: “The wave of regulation since the financial crisis 10 years ago has been accompanied by high costs for RDAR solutions, and analysts predict that this development will continue. Yet, until now, there were no studies available in the market that enabled financial institutions to exactly quantify the cost of compliance and identify the most worthwhile areas for investment. We believe our study will add a new and valuable dimension to the ongoing debate around compliance costs, at a time of intense cost pressure on financial institutions. The event underscored the scale of the problem faced by institutions, particularly in the front office. We look forward to collaborating further in this critical area of research to help institutions more effectively address their compliance cost challenges.” Maciej Piechocki, Partner and Chief Sales Officer (CSO) RegTech at BearingPoint, commented: “RDAR has been our business focus for 25 years now. With our RegTech, RiskTech and SupTech solutions we enable regulators and firms to increase the efficiency of their regulatory reporting, risk and data management processes. This report allows institutions to benchmark their cost of compliance, identify the main cost drivers, and assess the impact of key IT architectural and operational decisions. One key issue – in line with our experience – is the impact of the rise of reporting utilities, driven by relentless demand on compliance teams to cut costs.” This new research is based on comprehensive interviews with and analysis of various FIs in Europe and the USA. It focuses on RDAR because RDAR accounts for the biggest proportion of FIs’ compliance costs: according to Chartis, the industry-wide cost of RDAR operations and technology is about $70 billion. The scope for savings in this area is enormous. For more information, please visit: https://reg.tech/en/counting-and-cutting-costs-of-compliance/ About Chartis Research Chartis Research is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global market for risk technology. It is part of Infopro Digital, which owns market-leading brands such as Risk and WatersTechnology. Chartis’ goal is to support enterprises as they drive business performance through improved risk management, corporate governance and compliance, and to help clients make informed technology and business decisions by providing in-depth analysis and actionable advice on virtually all aspects of risk technology. About BearingPoint BearingPoint is an independent management and technology consultancy with European roots and a global reach. The company operates in three units: Consulting, Solutions and Ventures. Consulting covers the advisory business; Solutions provides the tools for successful digital transformation, regulatory technology and advanced analytics; Ventures drives the financing and development of start-ups. BearingPoint’s clients include many of the world’s leading companies and organizations. The firm has a global consulting network with more than 10,000 people and supports clients in over 75 countries, engaging with them to achieve measurable and sustainable success. For more information, please visit: Homepage: www.bearingpoint.com.

Effective September 1, 2018, Kiumars Hamidian will succeed Peter Mockler as Managing Partner of BearingPoint. Until then, Peter Mockler, who has been Managing Partner since 2009, will continue to manage the business.

Another month, another bloodbath on UK high streets. 100 stores to go at M&S, 49 at Mothercare and a 42% decline in profits at Arcadia. The horror show comes with a consistent villain; nimbler online competitors, better serving the changing habits of the British shopper.

UK headquartered consultancy Moorhouse has welcomed five new professionals to its London team. Andy Hemsley joins the firm as Client Director and Leader of Financial Services Sector at Moorhouse, Nikitha Yereddi and Emily Blampied both arrive as Senior Consultants, Tom Clark has been appointed as an Account Development Manager, while Clarke Dodd begins life at Moorhouse as a Management Consultant..

UK IT outsourcing growth to slow as organisations look to innovate more and protect intellectual property.

Look at any number of business plans for companies outside the technology sector and one thing you’re not likely to find is any explanation of how enthusiastic the entrepreneurs are about building, owning, operating or managing their information management infrastructure..

Identity and control of personal identity is top of mind, given recent events as well as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)..

Analysts view this movement to acquire businesses in the digital marketing space as a move by firms to supplement their technology resource pool.

A new report from "Big Four" auditing firm Deloitte argues that blockchain integrations across retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) could "revolutionize" the industries. The report, titled "New tech on the block," examined 50 blockchain use cases within the two sectors – across three general categories of business: consumer, supply chain and payments and contracts – and scoring them for the "added value" they could create, as per Deloitte`s criteria..

The days of multiple Enterprise Data Warehouses, each promising to be the sum of all enterprise knowledge, are over. The modern data architecture forms a centre of gravity of data with purpose driven distillations..

• US consulting market grows 8.1 per cent to $63.2bn in 2017
• Federal spending on consultants rises four times faster under Trump administration
• Consulting arms of accounting firms—mainly Big Four—were well placed to benefit from tax changes

The blockchain revolution includes white hat hackers banding together and the promise of no more passwords..

The inability to change culture or align on key metrics such as customer satisfaction and value delivery are among the key reasons why digital transformations are failing, experts say..

Forging emotional connections with customers typically requires a deeper understanding of their motivations. Thanks to recent technological advances, organisations can now gain these insights by analysing biometric measures and brain activity..

Collision 2018 was touted as “North America’s fastest growing tech conference” and with more than 20,000 attendees and over 5000 companies represented from across the globe, that much was clear. While I was eager to descend on this colossal event, I was not expecting to be genuinely surprised – the most valuable lesson I took away from my experience in New Orleans had little to do with tech and everything to do with time..

For many years the global chemicals industry has been fighting declining margins, product commoditization, rapidly expanding competition in developing countries, and customers demanding more at lower prices. The story of how specialty chemicals and the fruits of innovation, which once commanded a premium, have slowly lost their luster over recent decades is well told; indeed, in many of Strategy&’s annual analyses in the past decade, we’ve bemoaned these troubling circumstances and the frustrations that the industry faces in figuring out a way to deal with them.

From advanced data analytics and machine learning to increasing workforce productivity through enterprise mobility, more and more businesses are seeing the value of moving to the cloud. But not all know how to start. Today, we`re announcing our partnership with KPMG to address these needs. KPMG`s expertise in vertical markets, digital transformation, change management and business process consulting can help Google Cloud customers understand how to take advantage of the cloud and put plans into action. Our partnership with KPMG will include solutions that will help enterprises in many different industriesincluding financial services, insurance, and healthcaretackle issues like business transformation, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. The first two solutions that KPMG built on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), KPMG Intelligent Interactions and GDPR Assessment and Compliance Service, are already available now..

This report studies the Global PA 12 Market status and outlook of Global Market 2018. The report begins with the overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Paint Protection Film. The global key-word Exploring the market record explore on defining and evolving the key elements for the development of the key-word market and forecasts till 2023..

There are five trends that all industries are facing, but I’d argue no industry is feeling them more acutely than financial services:.

Wipro Infrastructure Engineering`s additive manufacturing unit Wipro 3D signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay racing team to fabricate parts for Formula Student electric race car, the company said on Monday..

The USA`s market for environmental consultancy services (ECSs) accounts for 44% of the global total, a new report from The Business Research Company shows.

The opening of its new office in Cairo establishes the consultancy`s presence on the African continent. “We’ll be one of the few international strategy consultancies in Egypt. The market offers enormous potential.

After recording a growth rate of 5 per cent for several years, Eastern Europe’s consulting market saw stronger growth in 2017—up 6.7 per cent to reach a value of €1.36bn. Poland—the region’s largest market—once again saw the strongest growth rate, followed by the other mature markets of Slovakia and Czech Republic.

Drones could give a £42 billion boost to Britain`s economy by 2030 as the airborne devices are increasingly used for commercial activity, a report by accountancy giant PwC says. There will be more than 76,000 in the UK skies by the end of the next decade..

This past week, Gartner shook the technology space by claiming that “only 1% of CIOs indicated any kind of blockchain adoption within their organizations”. The insight is derived from Gartner’s 2018 CIO Survey, an exercise that gathers data from over 3,000 CIO respondents in 98 countries and all major industries.

Not only does Starbucks go through mounds of coffee beans to satiate its raving fans, but they also have mounds of data that they leverage in many ways to improve the customer experience and their business. With 90 million transactions a week in 25,000 stores worldwide the coffee giant is in many ways on the cutting edge of using big data and artificial intelligence to help direct marketing, sales and business decisions..

For anyone who`s followed the tech industry over the past couple of decades, Windows sitting on the sidelines at the developer conference of the company that made billions off of it speaks to the fact that we -- you, me, the tech industry at large -- just don`t care about computers like we used to. Or tablets. Or most smartphones, even. What we do care about is AI and the web..

When Satya Nadella took charge of Microsoft four years ago, the company was hardly on its knees. But the software giant, responsible for Windows, Office and Internet Explorer, had undoubtedly lost its way....

Google Inc.’s public cloud platform has finally entered into the big time, if Gartner Inc. is to be believed. The analyst firm has just named Google Cloud Platform as a leader in its latest Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, joining rivals Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp..

Speaking at the Bridge Group’s conference at KPMG, Justine Greening MP stated that improving social mobility was “probably the most important challenge facing our country today” and that it was “untenable” in the 21st Century to have a country where young people do not have the same opportunities..

The ambiguities of the English language present hurdles for initiatives to utilise conversational AI in the corporate world. Natural language processing made a huge leap forward earlier this year when an AI application beat a human in a reading comprehension test for the first time ever..

Our world today is undeniably digital. New technologies – from social media and GPS systems to artificial intelligence and digital twins – make the planet we inhabit unrecognisable from even 20 years ago. If you’re feeling queasy at the speed of change, hold tight. It’s only going to get faster....