Analyst house Gartner, Inc. has officially released its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine-Learning Platforms. In this report, Gartner adds machine learning as a major component of data science tools, adding that the topic warrants specific attention when evaluating the space..

From cut-throat competition, eyebrow-raising co-opetition, and major advances in cloud-based machine learning, 2017 was a pivotal - and productive - year for the cloud, setting the stage for what looks likely to be the most exciting year yet..

Advances in artificial intelligence demand that data and analytics leaders have a strategy for harnessing its potential..

It`s increasingly important for businesses to update IT infrastructure, in order to stay on top of digital innovation.

Central Banking acknowledged BearingPoint as “Consultancy and Advisory Provider of the Year” for its expertise in data management and regulatory reporting.

- 100 women entrepreneurs from across the UK will be ‘digital role models’ on International Women’s Day
- Research shows increased visibility of role models could help boost number of women-led enterprises by 1.2 million.

WHISHWORKS helps SUEZ recycling and recovery UK bring innovation to its business model and reinvent resource management by unlocking the power of their data.

Get ready! The millennials are coming to the workplace. In fact, over the next decade they will overwhelmingly be the global workforce. OMG, keep reading B4 U G2G! This is major!.

A quantum computer hasn’t yet been built, it is in the process of being prototyped.“Five years from now, we will have a commercial quantum computer,” say Microsoft quantum computing executives.

P2 Consulting (P2), a leading project and change management consultancy and Brexit Partners, a specialist Brexit strategy advisory firm that guides governments, industries and corporates through the transition process as the UK exits the EU, have today announced a partnership.

The MCA take a closer look at what the academics have to say...

Cognizant’s AI, Quality Assurance and Engineering Expertise Will Accelerate Advancements in Robot Functionality and Production...

Over a dozen companies, including PwC, Tesco, JP Morgan and Zoopla, have teamed up to launch a new charter aimed at tackling the factors behind a critical shortfall of women in the UK’s booming tech sector..

Equiteq, the knowledge economy M&A specialist, is pleased to announce that it has advised Axentel Technologies, a leading IT firm specializing in high-level maintenance services in Asia, on its sale to Park Place Technologies, the world`s largest pure-play post-warranty data centre maintenance organization.

You might think architects aren’t needed with Agile delivery. It’s a question we get asked a lot at PA – after all, if you do a lot of design up front or put too much down in documentation, you won’t be acting in an agile way, right? To save you time, we’ve distilled our experience as hands-on developers, architects and Agilists into this set of guiding principle..

2018 promises to be the year we see the culmination of some key technologies — from blockchain and intelligent AI, to design thinking and the cloud. Here are the six biggest trends identified by Synechron in their annual forecast..

Investors throughout the world made 406 investments in large-scale renewables in 2017, collectively valued at roughly €40.1 billion, but solar is set to grow more in terms of capacity than any other clean-energy technology over the next half decade, according to a new report. Battery storage will play a crucial role in this, it found..

The UK renewable energy market continues to develop and adapt in spite of an ever changing regulatory backdrop. From the low we experienced in 2015 with the government’s early closure of the Renewables Obligation, our resilient industry has successfully responded in typical fashion as is evidenced with some notable highs throughout 2017..

Kainos Group plc, a leading provider of digital services and platforms and a Sunday Times Top 100 Company, is seeking applications for the 2018 intake on its ‘Earn As You Learn’ scheme. The tech giant has announced that it will double its intake, with 20 places on its innovative programme now available for anyone who wants to start their career in IT, either straight from school or from a different career path..

When Amazon opened its cashier-less concept grocery store to the public in Seattle on January 22, the company’s stock rose 2.5% – slightly more than the 2.4% increase after Amazon announced that it was buying Whole Foods this past June. Does Amazon Go signal that smartphone apps and virtual carts will replace checkouts in grocery stores?.

With the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect in less than 100 days, chances are you know your business needs to rapidly transform how it manages the personal information and data of EU subjects. What is the best approach to take with such a short deadline for compliance?.

Research from a PwC study found that for more than half of the organisations affected, criminal activity resulted in losses of over $100,000, or around £72,000. That’s higher than the 37 per cent of global firms that said such crime had led to damages of that scale..

Perhaps the most seminal event in the recent past years which catapulted Artificial Intelligence to its recent fame and glory has been the win of AlphaGo over the then reigning world champion.The transition to super human levels of maturity for an AI gaming application may definitely be symbolic from an optics perspective but it doesn’t quite even begin to address the wider set of technological, societal and economic implications that take AI beyond the realm of complex gaming into the messy real world..

Siemens AG again topped out the latest update of the Carbon Clean 200 list of the 200 largest publicly traded companies in the world making significant revenue from clean energy, and China continues to have far and away the most companies on the list, as clean energy stocks generated returns almost double that of fossil fuel stocks..

New analysis has shown that the evolving nature of public healthcare has caused the consulting industry in the UK to adapt its offering to the sector. While tightened regulations have seen the National Health Service reduce its spending on consulting firms in some areas, a number of consultancies continue to gain lucrative business from the NHS via Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships..

The world’s first AI-based analysis of the top 3,500 publicly traded companies in Europe and the US reveals how firms can accelerate growth

Digital disruption has left Europe’s leading companies struggling to sustain growth and competitive advantage. Groundbreaking new research reveals how European companies can learn from US digital superpowers to speed up adoption of business model innovation, drive new revenues and get greater value from their core business.
Today, firms that adopt a portfolio of business models which are asset light and include network effects are perceived by investors and the market as most likely to generate future growth. They therefore have a much higher market value in comparison to companies with traditional business models. Companies who diversified their business models improved their valuation in 2016 by 65% in comparison to those who maintained a mono-business model. Furthermore, between 2011 - 2016 they managed to generate a growth of 8% versus 4%.
These findings are at the heart of a new digital competitiveness report developed by the BearingPoint Institute, the research arm of management and technology consultancy BearingPoint. In partnership with OpenMatters, an AI firm specializing in business models and machine learning, the report is the world’s first AI-based analysis of the top 3,500 publicly traded companies in Europe and the US from 2010-2017.
European organizations looking to compete in today’s fast moving digital economy need to understand the different business models, the fundamental role that network effect plays in the digital economy, and the overarching potential of building on open digital platforms.
Eric Falque, Partner and Global Leader of the Go Digital initiative at BearingPoint, commented:
“European leaders need to think seriously about their future in the digital economy. Optimization strategies have been the story of the past decade, but to be competitive, our research shows that new ‘business models’ generate growth by benefiting from today’s network based, ecosystem and data driven models.”
Angus Ward, Partner and CEO Digital Ecosystem Management at BearingPoint, said:
“Organizations looking to maximize value in the digital economy must think like investors – reallocating their capital to change their business model portfolio and looking to include assets that are light, data centered and involve partner ecosystem innovation. Business model change doesn’t need to be radical or high risk, there are many ways in which it can be an evolution that increases value and changes the relationship with customers.”
The study ends with a five-step approach on how businesses can adopt digital platforms with network effects and reconceive its business model. The approach can be adapted to fit any existing business model and work within any transformation program.
To learn more about the research findings, please read the paper on the BearingPoint Institute website: https://www.bearingpoint.com/en/our-success/thought-leadership/re-thinking-the-european-business-model-portfolio-for-the-digital-age/
About OpenMatters
OpenMatters is an AI company that focused on using today’s machine learning tools to analyze the performance of companies around the world.

The Asia-Pacific Fintech ecosystem grew significantly in 2017. New innovations are expected to radically transform the way consumers shop, pay perform banking transactions and purchase insurance. The wave of new Fintech technologies is also changing customer behaviour and interactions today..

Think of a time when you’ve been confronted with change at work. How did you respond? If you resisted, you won’t be alone. People’s reluctance to engage with and support change is one of the most common challenges change leaders face. And if change has been imposed from outside, the resistance they must deal with can be even stronger..

Led by financial services, industries are ramping up spending on blockchain distributed ledger technology at unprecedented rates; 2018 will mark the move from pilot programs to real-world rollouts..

KPMG completed 337 transactions with price tags of $1 billion or less in 2017, making it the most active investment bank in the global middle market, as measured by deal volume, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters and analysed by Mergers & Acquisitions..

Equiteq, the knowledge economy M&A specialist, is pleased to announce that it has acted as exclusive financial advisor to Ducker Worldwide, a premier market research and strategy consulting firm, in its sale to Frontier Strategy Group (FSG), a portfolio company of Boathouse Capital. The transaction closed on February 5, 2018.

The global pricing strategy consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners has appointed David Smith as a partner in its London office.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc and Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, have reached a non-exclusive collaboration agreement to provide predictive, condition-based maintenance and field services optimization solutions to clients across industry sectors including water, energy, transport, aviation, nuclear and the built environment.

Microsoft plans to make passwords obsolete. When the Windows 10 S becomes official, there will be no default requirement for passwords during installation setup of the operating system. The plan is in accordance with Microsoft`s long-term goal of eventually bumping off the use of the traditional security codes in favour of fresher measures..

Every organisation wants to be a digital company, but becoming a digital organisation is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it requires an understanding of why going digital is right for your organisation and building a strategy from there..

Regardless of cyber security budgets, we can always optimise what we currently have, to better secure our organisations. The “basics” apply to every organisation, of any size – if you don’t have all the boxes for compliance checked, you don’t have the cyber security basics covered..

2017 was a year of innovation in healthcare, and that innovation has meant one thing: more data. In fact, some have suggested that more data has been created in the past year than in all previous years combined. So while last year was focused on capturing as much data as possible, the focus going forward should be on drawing insights from that data – not just within your own health information system, but from across the entire care continuum..

There are few other industries outside of banking with a more drastic need to transform to ensure their long-term survival. The report, IDC MaturityScape Benchmark: Digital Transformation in Banking Worldwide, 2018* divides banks into five maturity stages: ad hoc, opportunistic, repeatable, managed and optimised..

Cognizant Ranked #16 in Inaugural Ranking of U.S. Companies Based on Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria

Cognizant today announced it has been named to the first-ever Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list. Cognizant ranks number 16 on the leading financial publication’s analysis of the environmental, social and governance practices of large U.S. publicly traded companies.
Barron’s worked with sustainable-investing firm Calvert Research and Management, a unit of Eaton Vance, to create the rankings. Calvert analyzed the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies based in the U.S. on more than 300 performance indicators from a variety of independent sources. The companies were rated in five categories covering shareholders, employees, customers, planet, and community. Calvert produced a sustainability score for the companies and ranked the top 100 from highest to lowest, with Cognizant positioned at number 16. Full details of the rankings and methodology can be found here.
Sustainability is an integral part of Cognizant’s business with a focus on initiatives to improve education in communities; reduce the impact of its operations; provide a safe workplace and professional development opportunities for its employees; maintain high standards of business conduct; and to deliver superior service and tangible business advantages to clients.
“At Cognizant, we believe it is not just our responsibility to apply our technology expertise, passion for innovation and energy to the evolving needs of our clients, but also to our communities, our environment and our colleagues,” said Francisco D’Souza, Cognizant’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud to be recognized on the inaugural Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list. We believe that in addition to positive financial performance, hallmarks of a well-managed company include strong governance, a high standard of ethics, and development of our communities and associates.”
As part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, Cognizant recently announced the formation of a new non-profit foundation to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and digital education and skills initiatives for U.S. workers and students. The new foundation, being established with an initial grant of $100 million, will fund STEM education and skills programs, public-private partnerships and other initiatives to help prepare American workers and students for roles in the digital economy. The new foundation will build on Cognizant’s global commitment to training technology professionals, reskilling and upskilling workers, and giving back to local communities..

Almost half of senior business people pinpoint poor management and lack of leadership skills for high business failure rate

Freshminds, an award-winning recruitment consultancy that provides UK and European businesses with senior and executive talent, has released the results of a new survey which reveal what people consider to be the biggest reasons why 54%[1] of start-ups in the UK eventually fail within three years.
The survey found that 47% of respondents believe the main reason for the high failure rate is ‘poor management and leadership’. This is followed by ‘insufficient funds or investment’ (35%), ‘lack of planning’ (24%), ‘inability of the business to differentiate itself from competitors’ (19%) and a ‘lack of innovation’ (19%).
James Callander, Managing Director at Freshminds, said: “There is no one reason behind business failure, it is a combination of different factors. Despite this, entrepreneurs remain confident they can defy the odds and still grow a business that is profitable.”
Indeed, recent figures show that 660,000[2] new businesses were established in 2016 – up from 608,000 in 2015, making the UK one of the fastest-growing locations for start-ups in the world second only to the US.
“The introduction of government-sponsored initiatives, the rise of the alternative finance market, and global economic growth continuing at its highest rate since 2011 have encouraged many would-be entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses,” said James Callander. “But as the results of our survey show, not everyone is cut out to be a business leader.
“We found that the ability to be an effective leader and manage people in the right way are the most critical factors that determine the success or failure of a business. We also find the best start-ups that we work with look to solve a genuine problem – and develop a product or service that solves that problem.
“Those start-ups that fail do so because the leadership team have failed to engage their teams, are often guilty of micromanaging employees, set unrealistic goals for the business, and demonstrate an over-enthusiasm. This more often than not leads to over-expansion which in turn results in poor execution of great ideas to the detriment of the business itself.”
He added that “the UK’s entrepreneurship culture should continue to be encouraged.” Entrepreneurs, he said, “play a critical role in creating new jobs and driving the economy forward.” “However, the biggest investment new business owners must make - and the one that will deliver the greatest return – is the investment they make in themselves by learning and developing the leadership and management skills needed to run a successful business.
“It’s all very well having a great idea and the funds to bring your new product or service to market, but if you lack the ability to listen, learn and leverage your own skills and those of your teams, then the business will ultimately fail.” “It is not exactly rocket science, but to start a business in a growing market and broader market where you can sell and a deliver a product or service profitably, will support your growth’.
Freshminds recruits high calibre management and strategy consultant talent for many of the world’s leading strategy consultancies, advisory and private equity business, and some of the biggest retail and technology companies, with a client portfolio that includes the likes of Amazon, Tesco and the Big Four consultancy firms.
For more information about Freshminds, please go to https://www.freshminds.co.uk/
[1] Source: Enterprise Research Centre, October 2017
[2] Source: Centre for Entrepreneurs, October 2017.

The management and technology consultancy helps some of the world`s most innovative brands enhance their customer experience and run their business in the cloud...

It sounds like heresy. With digital transformation consulting work growing by almost 20%, technology services companies—and here I’m talking about firms that develop, implement and integrate software systems, as well as those that provide outsourced IT services—would surely be mad to ignore the opportunity that’s sitting on their doorstep, writes Fiona Czerniawska of Source Global Research...

Digital marketing never stays static so Tim Butler of Innovation Visual has pulled together the four changes you need to know about this year...

Shops without employees, car dealers without cars, luxury cars from vending machines. These digital innovations are surpassing the traditional automotive retail business, at an unstoppable speed. Manufacturers and dealers must reinvent themselves and set the pace for the future, with key fundamental changes..

Data has become one of the world’s most valuable commodities. The alternative investment industry is far from exempt from the trend – with both quality and quantity of information becoming core components of success..

Google, Amazon and Facebook (GAF), to name a few, could become significant in the retail banking space; where decreasing consumer loyalty is driving firms to become more customer-centric, in a bid to improve retention. Whereas Fintechs don’t have the size or capital endowment to seriously threaten the big banks, Tech-fins certainly do. In this case, size very much matters....

Automation is set to impact UK jobs in three waves, with the biggest impact expected in the late 2020s to mid 2030s, according to new research by PwC. Up to 30% of UK jobs could be potentially impacted by automation by the early 2030s, but this will affect different types of workers and industries at different times..

People are working on much-needed initiatives – here are the most promising....

The growth course continues – digitalisation was the key driver of growth. For 2018, the management consultancy has plans for further international expansion with new offices opening in Chicago, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Cairo.

A team comprising members of IBM Research’s Computational Psychiatry and Neuroimaging groups and universities around the globe have together developed an artificial intelligence capable of predicting with relative precision the onset of psychosis in a patient. Research on their psychosis-predicting AI has been published in the journal World Psychiatry..