•Scale | GovTech launches this May in partnership with the London borough of Newham
•The programme focuses on transforming the public sector through innovation
•Previous participants in PwC’s Scale programmes have raised over £295 million in equity with companies now valued collectively at over $1bn.

A recent study by Continuity Central showed “the integration of Business Continuity Management (BCM) with other organisational teams” is one of the top change themes for 2018.

P2 Consulting (“P2”), the leading specialist in business transformation, has recently announced the final step in its merger with Certeco. The merged business will operate under the P2 Consulting name and leverage the experience and reputation of both businesses to create a new brand, which underpins the company’s ambitions to become a top ten global consulting firm.

CGI and Lufthansa Group, Germany`s largest airlines, have entered into a five-year strategic partnership for the delivery of infrastructure and digitalization services. As part of Lufthansa`s multi-provider strategy, CGI will manage the company`s traditional infrastructure functions, such as its data center operations and workplace/network services, as well as assist the company in implementing its digitalization strategy.

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is busy prepping a new line of Surface tablets with smaller price tags for the second half of 2018. The goal is to steal some of the market share that Apple has grabbed, thanks to the iPad..

India’s Infosys Ltd has formed a blockchain-based trade finance network with seven private-sector banks, to increase security and efficiency in the banking sector while also broadening its product offering..

Eric Piscini, former Global Blockchain Leader and Partner at one of the “Big Four” consulting firms, Deloitte, has left the company, Forbes reports May 14. Piscini, who helped build a $50 mln global blockchain practice, is joining the startup Citizens Reserve to move supply chain networks to a blockchain..

Microsoft today announced it has acquired Semantic Machines to bolster its conversational AI offerings like Cortana, the Azure Bot Service, and Microsoft Cognitive Services. Semantic Machines works in areas like speech synthesis, deep learning, and natural language processing..

At 6%, growth in the Nordics consulting market in 2016-17 was good by continental European standards—but it’s also a good reminder of how dangerous averages can be, writes Fiona Czerniawska of Source Global Research...

• The largest US corporations invested $23bn in analytics in 2017
• The US analytics consulting market accounts for over half of global analytics consulting revenues

A new report published today reveals that US corporations spent $23bn on analytics work (excluding hardware and software) in 2017—either through their own internal teams or with external management consulting firms. Investment in this area also looks set to continue, with 91 per cent of US senior executives stating that data and analytics work had generated substantial value for their organisations. At the same time, over two thirds (67 per cent) globally said that their expenditure on analytics consulting would increase in 2018-19, compared to 55 per cent across all consulting services. These findings are published by Source Global Research, the leading research and strategy firm for the global management consulting industry. Source reveals that around $10bn was spent by US corporations on building up in-house analytics capabilities, in addition to a further $13bn spent on external analytics consultants. The US analytics consulting market, which grew by 11 per cent in 2016-17, continues to be the largest in the world, and North America accounted for over half (53 per cent) of global analytics consulting revenues. However, much of the growth in analytics consulting work has come from cannibalising components of other consulting services - where traditional ways in which data is gathered for—say—strategy and supply chain projects might have been re-badged as analytics work. The report says the extent of this cannibalisation only serves to reinforce how important analytics work is for all US consulting firms, not just some. Fiona Czerniawska, Director of Source Global Research, said: “There can’t be a consulting firm in the US that hasn’t been exposed to clients’ interest and investment in analytics in the last five years. Many firms have made a significant investment in this space; some would put it at the heart of virtually everything they do. Nobody—we think it’s safe to say—is complacent about the opportunities, perhaps the threats, that analytics represent in the future.” The Source report also found that US executives are investing in data and analytics for a number of very positive reasons, with 90 per cent measuring its impact on new revenue growth, and 84 per cent on cost efficiency. Chris Brahm, Global Practice Leader, Advanced Analytics at Bain & Company, added: “Clients have been investing in this area for years; building teams of data scientists and running experiments. Now they want to know what the benefit is and establish how they take their investment to the next level. In the last few years, we have seen clients start to innovate with analytics pilots and establish centres of excellence. That’s successful to a degree, but they find it challenging to scale things out to the wider organisation. We’re entering a new phase, and it`s one where the scalability of analytical capabilities has become much more important.” The Source report also found that although technology firms such as IBM and Accenture have the edge in the analytics consulting market today, clients see few differences between consulting firms in terms of the quality of their analytics work. Where differentiation does exist, it appears to be expressed in terms of three things: Whether analytics work is approached from a technology or business perspective, the extent to which a firm focuses on change management, and the extent to which importance is placed on sector-specific propositions. The report concludes by highlighting that ecosystems are likely to play an important role in helping a consulting firm to offer a broad range of analytics services, but opportunities are being missed here. Most firms are focused on building relationships with technology partners, overlooking opportunities to do the same with less obvious organisations such as those that concentrate on a particular sector. Source found that the healthcare and financial services sectors may be an especially rich source of opportunity right now. Fiona Czerniawska concluded: “There are thousands of opportunities for consulting firms to create ecosystems with less obvious US based organisations, allowing them to quickly draw on a toolbox of solutions from multiple suppliers and match them to the needs to the client. Embracing the partnership model means that firms can avoid having to develop their own technology. It also partly mitigates the problem around competition from non-traditional players— from the likes of Google, Amazon, and LinkedIn.” For more information on Source reports contact ella-sian.jolley@sourceglobalresearch.com or telephone +44 (0)20 3478 1204 or visit www.sourceglobalresearch.com..

A new report titled “Global Connected Car Market Outlook, 2017” by Frost & Sullivan forecasts global connected car shipments will increase from around 25 million to almost 70 million units by 2022..

Compliance is one half of the GDPR story. The other is how you use it to unlock customer loyalty..

If you haven’t taken part in the yanny/laurel controversy over the last couple of days, allow me to sincerely congratulate you. But your time is up. The viral speech synth clip has met the AI hype train and the result is, like everything in this mortal world, disappointing..

Air passengers’ growing desire for a seamless digital experience is putting airports at greater risk of cyber attack, a new study from PA Consulting has found..

India’s Infosys Ltd has formed a blockchain-based trade finance network with seven private-sector banks, to increase security and efficiency in the banking sector while also broadening its product offering..

The collapse of Carillion has been branded a “story of recklessness, hubris and greed” by a group of MPs, who have slammed the company’s “relentless dash for cash, driven by acquisitions, rising debt, expansion into new markets and exploitation of suppliers”..

Consulting around business and digital transformation markets accounts for around a sixth of all consulting in the world today, fuelled by clients’ deep-rooted desire for fundamental change and technology that’s making new things possible. At the same time, we hear senior executives being increasingly concerned about the need to deliver concrete results. “Transformation is all very well in theory,” they tell us, “but we want more proof about what it can deliver in practice", writes Fiona Czerniawska of Source Global Research......

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week (14th- 20th May) Punter Southall Health and Protection, is calling for UK employers to tackle employee stress and better support their mental wellbeing by implementing mental health strategies which are championed by business leaders.

PA Consulting Group (PA) announced today it has acquired Sparkler, a leading digital insight and strategy consultancy. Sparkler’s customer insight, brand strategy and service design expertise complements PA’s existing innovation, digital and strategy expertise.

Earlier this month, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published a report listing ‘cryptojacking’ as one of the biggest cyber threats facing UK businesses. The report warned that up to 55% of businesses globally are already affected by these types of attacks, and that this figure is set to only rise as attackers exploit new techniques to hijack computers..

Technology major IBM said that top Indian telecom service providers are set to deploy blockchain technology-based platforms this year as they look to create new revenue streams by offering new services and bring down operational costs amid falling revenues due to intense competition..

The benefits of data analytics in policing are huge. Today, we’re already seeing the benefits of analysing data from body cameras, sensor networks and smart devices. The insights derived from this data can help police forces become more efficient and effective at predicting and deterring crime. But for big data to reach its full potential within policing, a rethink of how it is gathered, handled and analysed is required..

Fintech, in particular, could learn from the complexity of architecture and the built environment, writes Anthemis Group partner David Galbraith..

In this data dominated era, it has become crucial to employ analysts who can turn all the raw data into actionable insight for a company. From Fortune 500 companies to a startup company, every company have realised that utilising the huge amount of datasets can improve a business’s bottom line. Hence, data science is on the rise, both from a company’s and employee’s perspective. According to an IBM report, data scientists and advanced analysts are the fastest-growing roles, which are projected to see demand spike by 28 percent by 2020.

Marketprognosis.com Publish a New Market Research Report On “Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025” which contains global key player’s survey information and forecast to 2025..

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is well underway and many physical assets and digital technologies are connected and interoperable through analytics, artificial intelligence, cognitive technologies, cloud computing and the internet of things. Automation and decentralised decision making by cyber-physical systems are at the heart of this revolution. But with new opportunities come digital risks that will increase exponentially as Industry 4.0 proliferates..

In the male-dominated world of cryptocurrency, IBM is going against the grain. The company`s 1,500 member blockchain team is led by Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of global industries, platforms and blockchain. Meanwhile, the actual blockchain development was led by IBM Fellow Donna Dillenberger..

Retail transformation specialist, WeDisrupt, has been accepted onto the PwC Scale Up programme after facing stiff competition from a large number of technology start-ups in Manchester..

In both the richest and poorest countries, banking around the globe is going digital and mobile. Two global studies — a study of 150,000 consumers polled by Gallup for the World Bank for its Global Findex Database, and a survey of 5,200 consumers by the tech giant Oracle — found complementary trends in the use and adoption of digital banking..

It`s been almost a decade since ThoughtWorker Darren Smith came up with the idea of using a radar metaphor to track our thoughts on emerging and evolving trends in tech. Since then, it`s become the go-to report for anyone interested in what`s new and exciting in tech. We asked Darren to give us an insight into how the Tech Radar was born..

For consulting firms marketing is a tricky business, writes Alison Huntington of Source Global Research...

Look, a lot of us who work in corporate environments dread meetings. Most of the time, they are unproductive or boring and keep us away from doing real work. Fortunately, Microsoft is trying to make meetings suck less with some very cool technology..

Professional services firm PwC has become an ‘affiliate firm’ to Aspiring Solicitors – the first venture by the pro bono volunteering unit at PwC’s legal arm. Thirty volunteers from PwC’s legal network will act ‘professional ambassadors’ to Aspiring Solicitors, providing mentoring and support to young people looking to progress..

Startup Market Connect enabled startups to showcase their solutions in financial services and boost Vizag as the hub for fintech players....

Frost & Sullivan‘s latest analysis, Latin American Big Data and Analytics (BDA) market, finds that the industry generated revenues of $2.9 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $8.5 billion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2%..

Early last year, we remarked on the new trends in regulation in the Telecoms, Media and Technology industry. 2016/17 was certainly busy, with regulators issuing record fines, blocking the proposed merger of O2 and Three, and enforcing the legal separation of Openreach from BT. It looks like this was just the start. Fines, probes, and new legislation followed and look set to continue. So what`s next, and how do providers keep up?.

Every year KPMG identifies the top 10 risk areas for technology companies. Typically we see some carry-over on topics from the previous year, which tend to be persistent and pervasive issues, such as cybersecurity. However, some newer, emerging risks also rise to the top each year as technologies and the business environment evolves..

The education industry faces a security crisis, one that goes beyond protecting the classrooms and hallways. IT professionals in the education sector see cybersecurity as their top priority, consistently ranking it as their No. 1 concern..

In a new report, Frost & Sullivan projects that EV sales growth potential could reach 25 million units by 2025 and account for 22.4% of total passenger vehicle sales. By 2020, EVs will no longer require government support to regulate pricing, and they will cost the same as conventional cars, said Prajyot Sathe, Industry Manager Mobility, Frost & Sullivan..

Navigating the digital economy often means that a succeeding generation of leaders needs to be equipped with the right skills to survive.

Ford, General Motors, BMW and IBM are among the companies that have joined a consortium that wants to use blockchain to make the auto industry more connected and secure — potentially changing the way automakers and customers track data and pay for vehicles, ride-sharing and insurance..

John Hancock announced the launch of a four-year project to implement a single, integrated platform to provide its life and annuity customers with a holistic and digital experience as part of its broader ambitions to digitise operations. The company has selected Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, to accomplish this..

Mott MacDonald has appointed Edward Forrester as a future mobility planner in the UAE. He will be responsible for developing the consultancy’s advisory services across the Middle East, particularly its interaction with transport policy and economic and social impacts..

- Sweden’s consulting market grows the strongest to almost €1billion (€944million)
- Nordic region viewed as a global digital leader by consultants – as revenues from digital transformation work approaches €1billion...

"AI promises to be the most disruptive class of technologies during the next 10 years due to advances in computational power, volume, velocity and variety of data, as well as advances in deep neural networks (DNNs)," says John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner..

There are seemingly a million security threats and exposures everywhere today. There’s ransomware, malware, phishing, and DDoS attacks, just to name a few — and it’s getting worse. 2017 was the worst year ever for data loss and breaches, and reports reveal that data breaches are happening at a record pace. Given that it’s your responsibility to secure these environments, how do you tackle all these threats? Where do you even start?.

Blockchain is the technology that sits behind a new kind of database called a distributed ledger. It gives us a much more secure way to store and manage data. It has the potential to save the music industry billions by revolutionising the rights and royalties process, ensuring artists, writers, publishers and everyone in the music industry value chain is paid appropriately..

Our workforces are now more mobile than ever. Due to advancements in technology, the prevalence of startup culture and a workforce which can now work remotely, we have seen a dramatic rise of companies encouraging “bring your own device” (BYOD) environments in workplaces across the world..

Improvements in the health of the Spanish economy has helped its consulting market accelerate growth to 7.6 per cent – taking the total market value to €1.42billion in 2017. This is the fastest growth rate the market has experienced for five years.

Awards demonstrate breadth of talent in consulting, and the significance of industry’s achievement.