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The UK government has announced £6.3bn of foreign investment into UK Data centre infrastructure, as part of a total £63bn in private investment committed at the International Investment Summit.
The new data centre investment will provide the UK with more computing power and data storage, so that Britain has the necessary infrastructure to train and deploy the next generation of AI technologies. The investment came from four companies:
Nearly 38,000 jobs are set to be created across the UK after a total of £63bn of investment was announced so far at this week’s International Investment Summit, as the UK government aims to accelerate growth and innovation across the country. Further committed investment in UK infrastructure included £200m from Associated British Ports (ABP) for a new freight ferry terminal, £1bn from DP World investing in their London Gateway container port operation and £150m from Imperial College London for a new R&D campus to add to its rapidly expanding deep tech ecosystem. There were also numerous investments in UK energy infrastructure, and for health and pharma innovation.
These latest investments follow major deals already announced (included in the £63bn figure) by investment group Blackstone, who committed to £10bn investment in the North East of England last month (See - Blackstone invests £10bn into UK AI Data centre), and AWS who announced plans to invest £8bn into its UK data centre infrastructure over the next five years (See - AWS makes £8bn investment commitment to UK data centres).
All this investment is part of the UK governments Invest 2035: modern industrial strategy and a key part of the UK’s growth mission (See - Labour and Conservative manifestos: tech implications).
For further analysis continue reading this article in UKHotViewsExtra: £6.3bn investment in UK data centres to power AI innovation, available for all TechMarketView clients, including HotViewsPremium subscribers. If you do not have access, but are interested in this or any other of our material, please contact Belinda Tewson for more information.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 10:43
Workday has announced a 7+3 year c.£7.8m deal with Hull City Council for a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system via the CCS RM6194 Back Office Software framework. The overall tender is split into two distinct elements: software provision (awarded to Workday) and a maximum of 1.5 years for services implementation, estimated at £3m (supplier yet to be announced).
This win for Workday comes shortly after it was announced (last week) that the company, along with Cognizant, had been appointed as ERP and systems integration services suppliers for the government’s Matrix programme (which will see a single shared service established to deliver corporate services across finance, HR and payroll for nine departments) – see Workday and Cognizant land Matrix deals worth £144m.
The council originally went out to tender to replace its ageing Oracle E-Business Suite (upon which it had been relying for over 20 years, with links into some 40 internal and external systems) in February 2022, but that tender process was abandoned nine months later. At the time, third-party support for the Oracle system was due to expire this year (after moving from Oracle itself in 2016). The council’s Oracle support arrangements will have needed to have been extended again, putting pressure on this new Workday-based implementation to deliver quickly and effectively (a non-trivial exercise, given the extent to which Oracle had become woven into so many council services).
Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 10:11
Tags: contract Local Government
Lilia Christofi, formerly Microsoft’s Head of Banking in EMEA, has joined advisory specialist, PwC, as a Partner, to lead the firm’s EMEA Financial Services Data and AI Consulting team. Lilia (pictured), who originally has a background as a Solution/Data Architect, was based in Sydney, Australia between 2015 and 2021 where she worked for both PwC and Accenture before returning to the UK.
Lilia’s LinkedIn post highlighting her new leadership role at PwC says “I would like to thank everyone at Microsoft, where I was privileged to be able to pioneer AI-driven solutions that significantly enhanced operational efficiency and customer experience.
I am looking forward to working with colleagues at PwC to accelerate our Consulting capabilities and leading the way in how we help our clients to develop new innovative solutions which integrate AI within financial services.”
As the appetite grows for AI in all its forms, financial services organisations are looking to accelerate their understanding and use of this technology. Coupled with this, there is a sense of urgency around GenAI adoption, as organisations look to secure early mover advantage or seek to avoid falling behind their competitors. Lilia’s move highlights the growing importance of collaboration between advisory firms and large technology in delivering business focused AI solutions (see: AI in Financial Services).
Posted by: Jon C Davies at 10:00
Tags: AI financial+services
As most HotViews readers will already know firstly I, as an individual, and then TechMarketView have been proud supporters of the Prince’s Trust for 23 years now. Indeed, the Technology Leadership Group, that I helped to found back in 2001/2002, has raised c.£75m to help disadvantaged young people since.
When HRH Prince Charles became King, it was announced in Nov 23 that the Prince’s Trust would become the King’s Trust.
Today the new branding and tagline – Working for Young People – has been announced.
I recommend that you view the video here as it encapsulates everything that is so inspirational about the Trust
Firstly, it was developed by James Somerville OBE. In 1986 James – then a street artist in Huddersfield - wanted to start a studio. Having been turned down by the clearing banks, James got a grant of £2,000 from the Trust to buy an Apple Mac to form ATTIK in his Grandma’s attic bedroom. In the next 25 years they opened studios around the world before being acquired by DENTSU from Japan in 2007. James then went on to become VP of Global Design at Coca Cola. As James says, none of this would have happened without the Trust.
Secondly, if you look at the new logo, although it clearly represents a ‘Royal Crown’, it can also be seen to represent a Young Person at the Centre supported on both sides by the people and volunteers at the Trust. Actually, I think it is rather clever!
It is also very simple, modern and clean. Something with which the young people that the Trust supports can readily associate.
Very pleased that our association with the King’s Trust continues. Both on an individual level and via TechMarketView.
Long Live the King’s Trust!
Posted by: Richard Holway at 09:00
Posted by: HotViews Editor at 09:00
ServiceNow has pledged to invest £1.15bn into its UK business over the next five years.
The firm will use the funds to expand office space and grow its current headcount (c.1,000 people) “significantly”. The firm currently has offices in Staines-upon-Thames and Central London. ServiceNow will also expand its London and Newport data centres with Nvidia GPUs for local processing of LLM data.
The firm is also targeting investment into skills and is developing new programmes to reach “240,000 UK learners” by 2027, helping them to "put AI to work for career growth". Currently, there are nearly 30,000 “UK learners” engaged in ServiceNow skills learning.
Damian Stirrett, Group Vice President and General Manager, UK and Ireland, said: “For British businesses, we need to leverage the opportunity of AI to keep pace and close the productivity gap. With this investment to grow our team, our offices and our ecosystem, we are excited to play an active role in the country’s path to prosperity.”
Today’s announcement was made as part of the International Investment Summit, which has seen Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, bring together 300 industry leaders to catalyse investment in the UK. The investment is not only what Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, describes as “a huge vote of confidence in the UK’s tech and AI sector”, but also a clear statement of the potential the firm sees in the market here. (See what TechMarketView thinks of the UK market here: Tech Confidence Index and View from the Chief Analyst.) ServiceNow has become an increasingly significant player in the UK tech scene in recent years, and we know it is hugely ambitious for its future here.
Current ServiceNow customers in the UK include BT Group, Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, and Public Sector organisations such as the NHS and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Posted by: Kate Hanaghan at 18:30
Tags: investment AI
Former Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson has been appointed as Minister for Investment. The new role, which is split between the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and HM Treasury, will see Gustafsson take responsibility for the Office for Investment.
Gustafsson started her career at Deloitte before working for Amadeus Capital Partners, and then moving to Autonomy in 2009. She co-founded cyber security company Darktrace in 2013, serving as CFO for three years, then COO, and finally as CEO from October 2016.
Under her leadership, Darktrace became a significant player in the global cyber security market (see Darktrace updates on FY as acquisition beckons), listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 (see Darktrace set for £3bn IPO), and agreed the sale of the business to Thoma Bravo (see Darktrace shareholders approve Thoma Bravo offer). Gustafsson stepped down as CEO last month (see Darktrace replaces CEO as takeover looms).
Earlier this month, Gustafsson was announced as a member of the government’s Digital Strategy Panel. She was one of 12 people tasked with creating a 10-year vision for the ‘digital centre’ of government, which is intended to “drive innovation, transform services, improve lives, and unlock the full potential of digital and data” (see Talk or action? The promise and perils of UK's new Digital Strategy Panel).
In her new role, Gustafsson will be tasked with promoting the UK to investors and businesses around the world. As part of this objective, the Office for Investment will be expanded by unifying expertise from HM Treasury, DBT and No 10 into a larger but streamlined government unit. This follows a similar centralisation process to that seen at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (see Digital centre of government starts to take shape). Gustafsson’s background, particularly founding and successfully scaling Darktrace, will provide valuable experience for this role.
The appointment follows the approach we saw soon after the general election of bringing expertise into government by appointing people to ministerial roles even though they are not members of either house of parliament. Direct ministerial appointments since Keir Starmer became prime minister include Patrick Vallance (Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation), Jacqui Smith (Minister for Skills), James Timpson (Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending), Catherine Smith (Advocate General for Scotland), David Hanson (Minister of State for the Home Office) and Richard Hermer (Attorney General).
As part of the convention of ensuring ministers can be held accountable, these direct ministerial appointments have also been given life peerages to allow them to sit in the House of Lords. As part of her appointment, it has been confirmed that Gustafsson will also become a life peer.
Posted by: Dale Peters at 10:01
Tags: strategy appointment government innovation
Anam.ai, a London based company building real-time AI personas for businesses, has raised $2.3m in Pre-Seed funding led by Concept Ventures with participation from Torch Capital and angel investors from Elevenlabs, Spotify, Sonantic and Speechly.ai.
The company was founded by CEO Caoimhe Murphy and Co-founder Ben Carr, both of whom spent time working at UK AI startup Synthesia, one of the leaders in AI video generation (See - Synthesia raises $90m for AI video creation).
Anam.ai is building real-time AI personas which aim to feel as natural as interacting with a human. They’re photorealistic, multilingual, respond in real time and are available 24/7. Anam is targeting its AI personas at applications such as customer support, education, or healthcare, integrating with a client’s product through API. Anam's Persona Generation Model, CARA, generates the visual aspect of the persona enabling the personas to convey a full spectrum of emotion through facial expression, lip sync, eye and body movement in response to the context of the conversation — in real time. From a user interaction to a persona responding takes <1.2 seconds according to the company.
The influence (and similarities) to that of Synthesia ‘s human-like AI avatars is clear, yet Anam is aiming to differentiate with its focus on real time interaction, compared to the likes of Synthesia, competitor Collyssan, and numerous other AI avatar startups who are more focused on creating video content for marketing or training use cases. The market for real-time video avatars remains much more nascent, though there are competitors such has Tel-Aviv HQ'ed D-ID.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 09:30
Interim results out this morning from Cambridge-headquartered, AIM-listed geospatial software provider and data integrator 1Spatial, have the business continuing a SaaS-based growth trajectory. Encouraging results for H1 2025 show resilience and strategic execution in a challenging market environment. Highlights from the numbers include a 5% increase in group revenue to £16.2m, 9% growth in recurring revenue to £8.9m (now 55% of all revenue) and an 18% increase in adjusted EBITDA to £2m.
The company's focus on transitioning to a recurring revenue model appears to be paying off, with term license ARR growing by 30%. The US market has been particularly strong, contributing to a 25% increase in ARR (see 1Spatial expands US presence).
Strategically, the business has been pivoting towards recuring revenue for some time via two main SaaS offerings, with the 1Streetworks solution in particular gaining traction (1Spatial working to deliver on SaaS potential). A post-period £1m award (contract pending) with a major County Council would be its second big deal to date (after UK Power Networks) and underscores the product's potential. The US expansion also continues, with 1Spatial now operating in 21 US states and making inroads into the critical NG9-1-1 market.
While the UK market has been slower due to pre-election government spending constraints, strong performances in the US, Europe, and Australia have offset this challenge. The company's geographic diversification strategy is proving effective.
Looking ahead, 1Spatial is well-positioned for H2 2025, with a growing pipeline across all geographies and a focus on accelerating SaaS offerings. Recent strategic hires including a UK MD, sales leadership for 1Streetworks and subject matter expert for NG 9-1-1, should all help capitalise on market opportunities.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 09:25
Tags: results software data geospatial
I caught up recently with Vikas “Vik” Krishan, Chief Digital Business Officer and Head of UK and EMEA, at US-headquartered technology company, Altimetrik. Vik (pictured below) was in London for a few days before flying out to India, for a leadership meeting, and among other things we spoke about Altimetrik’s push into Europe off the back of its recently completed strategic investment from US private equity firm, TPG Capital.
In June this year, Altimetrik struck a deal with TPG which saw the PE firm acquire an estimated stake in the company of around 60% (worth of approximately $900m). The deal was made with accelerating growth and innovation in mind and comes at a time when global spending on digital technology and AI is forecast to surpass $3.4tr by 2026. TPG’s investment (made via its TPG Asia private equity platform) should help to boost Altimetrik’s brand presence and global footprint as the vendor targets $1bn in annual revenue.
Altimetrik, which was owned and founded by Indian-American entrepreneur, Raj Vattikuti, is a pure-play digital business services company focused on delivering business outcomes with an agile, product-oriented approach. The company has an engineering culture and a current workforce of more than 6,500 employees, equipped with a variety of Data/AI, Digital Technology and Engineering skills. Altimetrik has established its digital business methodology (DBM) as a tool for organisations seeking a holistic approach to platform modernisation, cloud, data, and AI.
TechMarketView clients, including HotViewsPremium subscribers, can find out more by accessing Is AI the fuel that will power Altimetrik's market push? This latest HotViewsExtra explores Altimetrik's market priorities and Krishan's views on the prospects and opportunities around AI in the Financial Services sector.
If you do not have access, but are interested in this or any other of our material, please contact Deb Seth for more information.
Posted by: Jon C Davies at 07:00
Tags: financial+services
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, has announced the formation of a new body, to be operational by spring 2025, bringing infrastructure strategy and delivery together under one roof.
Previously these responsibilities fell under the separate remits of the National infrastructure Commission (NIC) and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), but the government is keen to “bridge the gap between what we build and how we build it” in an effort to “get a grip” on the delays that have plagued the delivery of national projects in recent years.
The new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) will support the development and implementation of the government’s ten-year infrastructure strategy (announced in Labour’s manifesto), requiring coordination across Whitehall to align with multiple departments’ plans and spending frameworks – as well as establishing keen investment and delivery relationships with the private sector.
The Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), hitherto overseen by the IPA includes projects across four categories: infrastructure and construction, transformation and service delivery, military capability, and information and communication technology (ICT). In its report to HM Treasury last year, the IPA noted that its current crop of 244 projects, delivered through 21 departments and their arm’s-length bodies, came with a total whole life cost of £805bn and delivered £758bn of monetised benefits (though less than half of the projects – 115 – contributed to the benefits total).
Whilst the vast majority of GMPP projects were categorised as Government Transformation and Service Delivery or Infrastructure and Construction (91 and 76 projects respectively), the roster does include 32 ICT projects (totalling £39bn whole life cost, bringing in a reported £59bn in monetised benefits) – plus the IPA noted in its report that “many projects in other categories have significant digital components” too.
On average, the GMPP’s ICT projects take eight years to deliver and are not without their challenges. For example, in 2021, the NAO published a damning assessment of the Home Office’s delivery of the National Law Enforcement Data Programme (NLEDP) – established in 2016 to replace both the Police National Database and the Police National Computer (PNC), though re-framed four years later to focus entirely on the latter. The project is currently rated as Amber, though described as being “on track” to complete by March 2026, when the PNC is retired. The government will no doubt be looking to NISTA to help it avoid future NAO embarrassments.
Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 11:07
Tags: infrastructure NAO IPA NIC
Matt Brittin, President of Google EMEA, has said he will be stepping down from his role in the new year.
Brittin has been in the position for a decade and at Google for 18 years in total. Immediately prior to being President, Brittin was VP Europe (Northern and Central), and before that, Managing Director, UK&I.
He said in his LinkedIn post: “When I joined Google in January 2007, Larry Page advised me to “put the best people you can on important work, and get out of the way”. It’s been the privilege of my life to try to honour this – working with brilliant teams to help build tech that makes the world better.”
Google is currently claiming many ‘column inches’, with the firm in the news for various reasons. The Department of Justice in the US has been examining the firm’s competitive position – particularly in Search, but also how its AI capability could amplify that. On a more positive note, this week one of Google DeepMind's founders, Demis Hassabis, was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry, alongside John Jumoper and David Baker. Meanwhile, former Google researcher, Geoffrey Hinton, was awarded the Nobel prize for physics. See Simon Baxter’s piece here.
There is no doubt that Google continues to be able to attract some of the world’s brightest minds – exactly the types of people Brittin refers to in the quote above. Brittin will continue to lead the EMEA business while a successor is put in place, and we wish him well as he enters his new chapter.
Posted by: Kate Hanaghan at 10:00
Tags: people leadership
UK fintech, Pockit, is set to buy fellow multi-currency operator, Monese, in a deal that will ultimately create a combined entity processing around £5bn worth of transactions annually. The enlarged Pockit will serve around three million customers across Europe and generate approximately £30m in annualised revenue. Despite the acquisition, Monese’ customer base is expected to be largely unaffected, with the two fintechs initially continuing as separate brands.
Founded in 2012, by CEO Virraj Jatania, Pockit provides customers with prepaid multicurrency payment cards for travel and everyday use alongside a variety of ancillary finance tools. To date the company has secured investment totalling $50m, with its last raise coming in August 2023 (see: Pockit trousers growth funding worth $10m). Jatania will lead the enlarged business with Monese CEO, Norris Koppel temporarily remaining in post to ensure a smooth transition. Meanwhile, one hundred employees of Monese will join Pockit.
Monese, which launched in 2015, began life targeting expats and immigrants struggling to obtain a traditional bank account. The fintech provides personal and business accounts equipped with a multi-currency debit card for overseas travel alongside international money transfers. Monese also has a separate b2b arm, XYB, which was spun off earlier this year. XYB provides a "core-less" banking platform, designed to help banks and other financial services institutions to accelerate new product development.
Since 2013, Monese has received funding worth a total of $201m, with its latest cash injection coming in 2022 via a round led by HSBC Ventures (see: Monese and HSBC strike $35m deal). Earlier in 2024 it was revealed that HSBC had effectively written off its investment in Monese. Terms of the acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approval, were not disclosed, however, Pockit and its shareholders are contributing up to £15m to fund the integration and future growth of the business, supported by Puma Growth Partners.
Despite this effectively being a “rescue” deal, it appears to have some very clear merit. The aligned target market but complementary nature of the two companies should mean that the combined entity is able to offer a broader proposition with reduced overheads. By acquiring Monese, Pockit is creating a leading fintech for the financially underserved and lower/middle customers. In many ways this is typical of fintech evolution, with many starting life targeting a particular niche market. As these startups look to grow by broadening their services, organic transactions provide an obvious path to offering a more rounded proposition.
Posted by: Jon C Davies at 09:52
Tags: payments M&A FinTech acquisitions
The Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry are two of the most coveted accomplishments for academics. Some are likely to be a bit miffed that this year’s awards are really pushing the definitions of both fields, with the announcement that pioneers in the field of Artificial intelligence (with strong ties to Google) have been awarded both prestigious prizes.
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists, Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield, for their work on machine learning. British-Canadian Professor Hinton is sometimes referred to as the "Godfather of AI". Prof Hinton's pioneering research on neural networks paved the way for current AI systems like ChatGPT. He resigned from Google in 2023 and has regularly warned about the dangers of machines that could outsmart humans. Prof Hopfield invented a network that can save and recreate patterns. It uses physics that describes a material’s characteristics due to atomic spin. The Nobel Prize committee said the two scientists' work has become part of our daily lives, including in facial recognition and language translation.
On Wednesday, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Demis Hassabis – co-founder of Google's AI unit DeepMind – and colleague John Jumper, alongside U.S. biochemist David Baker, for their work decoding the structures of microscopic proteins, yielding advances in areas such as drug development. Half the prize was awarded to Baker "for computational protein design" while the other half was shared by Hassabis and Jumper "for protein structure prediction". Hassabis and Jumper utilised artificial intelligence to predict the structure of almost all known proteins, while Baker learned how to master life's building blocks and create entirely new proteins.
The Nobel prize was created back in 1902, and whilst the field of economics was added in 1968 there remains no award for mathematics or computer science, which has likely distorted the outcomes of this year results. However, I don’t think anyone could deny the accomplishments of any of the winners, and if anything highlights the increasing importance technology is playing in scientific advancement.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 09:41
Loughborough-headquartered The Access Group has announced that it’s created 654 new roles (spanning customer success & employee success, customer experience, sales & marketing, products & engineering, support, and finance) in its Global Operations Centre in Timişoara, Romania – doubling the size of the centre during its first 18 months of operation.
The company has also engaged in numerous local social value and sustainability efforts in and around the area too. Since the centre opened in May 2023, Access has forged relationships with the Polytechnic University of Timişoara and West University of Timişoara to help their students with digital skills and career development. It’s also established a Digital Academy in Timişoara to support graduate engineers in the area.
Alongside job creation initiatives, Access has engaged in other sustainability-related ventures – such as planting “The Access Forest” of 1,000 trees, taken part in a clean-up operation along the Bega River (in the Friedorf neighbourhood of Timişoara), and supported a Romanian charity dedicated to helping children at a high risk of dropping out of school.
Whilst such social value / CSR measures are easier to accomplish in a local region when a company has its own boots on the ground in that area, there are other ways (through targeted partnerships and via ‘social value marketplaces’, for instance) where suppliers can demonstrate social value impact from afar – as we’ll explore further in our upcoming report on Social Value in the UK Public Sector, next month.
Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 09:28
Tags: social value expansion
TCS published its second quarter results yesterday with CEO and Managing Director K Krithivasan marking the passing of Tata Group and Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata, who passed away on Wednesday, commenting “With deep sorrow, we mourn the passing of Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, an extraordinary individual whose life and legacy will always be a guiding light for Tata Consultancy Services. His wisdom, compassion, and commitment to uplifting the lives of millions, made him revered across the world.”
Ratan Tata was instrumental to the Tata Group’s international expansion, particularly within the UK, and his approach to a long term vision has certainly served the company and its subsidiaries extremely well. During his tenure, the Tata Group acquired Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus, to turn Tata from a largely India-focused group into a global business. “His remarkable leadership, marked by a unique blend of humility and confidence, guided TCS through transformative global expansions, with a deep sense of service to the communities we operate in and the values we cherish” Krithivasan added.
Headlines from Q2 saw revenue grow 5.5% YoY in constant currency, led by its performance in the Energy, Resources and Utilities (+7%) and Manufacturing (+5.3%) sectors. TCS achieved an Operating Margin of 24.1%, down slightly on the 24.3% for the same quarter a year ago. Closer to home the UK business continued to grow up 4.6% YoY in constant currency, and now accounts for 17% of all Group revenue. The North American business continued to act as a drag on Group performance, down -2.1% YoY.
Operationally, TCS announced some significant UK-centric deals including an extended partnership with Rolls Royce supporting its engineering activities such as system and component design, supply chain support and program management, and a new partnership with ASDA to streamline its IT infrastructure service landscape. Deals with fashion retailer Primark, to support the globalisation of the brand, the digital transformation of Mansfield Building Society and with Openreach, the UK’s largest telecom infrastructure company as strategic partner for the transformation of their national roll-out of next-gen fibre networks, were also announced.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 09:15
Tags: results
Cognizant has announced an expanded partnership with cybersecurity supplier Palo Alto Networks, the two tech suppliers will jointly deliver AI-driven cybersecurity capabilities and services for enterprises across industries.
Under the agreement Cognizant will deepen its expertise and broaden services across Palo Alto Networks Precision AI-powered Network Security, Code-to-Cloud and Security Operations Platforms. Cognizant will also be leaning in on Palo Alto Network’s focus on platformisation and security product consolidation. The cybersecurity supplier has been pushing heavily to move customers solely onto its multiple security platforms, and away from the ‘best of breed’ product approach many organisations have implemented (See - Platformisation and AI main drivers for Palo Alto Networks growth). AI also continues to be significant driver, with the acquisition of IBM’s QRadar SaaS assets also including plans to incorporate IBM's watsonx large language models (LLMs) into its Cortex XSIAM platform, enhancing its Precision AI solution.
Cognizant will initially focus on promoting four key managed platform offerings, with Palo Alto Networks products serving as the foundation. These include; SecureNXT Access, Zero trust network security powered by Prisma Access; SecureNXT Cloud, Cloud security solution powered by Prisma Cloud; SecureNXT EDR/MDR, Digital workplace threat protection powered by Cortex XDR and SecureNXT SOC, Real-time threat protection powered by Cortex XSIAM.
Cognizant has regularly featured in our Top 20 rankings of UK cybersecurity suppliers (See - UK Cybersecurity: Suppliers, Trends and Forecasts 2024), though is one of the quieter suppliers when it comes to promoting its security capabilities. The company has a particular strength in life sciences, for example with Gilead Sciences, where it has played a key role for more than five years in supporting its cyber risk mitigation efforts.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 08:58
The accountancy industry is at a critical juncture, facing a perfect storm of challenges that threaten to undermine its traditional business model. Productivity challenges, talent shortages, and increasing work demands are forcing firms to reassess their operations and seek innovative solutions. I spoke recently with Andrew Guy (pictured), CEO and founder of niche Accountancy Automation specialist FD Intelligence, to understand how and why intelligent automation is being adopted in the accounting sector.
Industry Landscape and Challenges
The UK accountancy market is a multi-billion-pound market for tax preparation services alone and is grappling with significant challenges. Firms are struggling to meet client demands, expand services, and manage workload pressures on their existing staff. The ongoing consolidation of smaller practices into larger firms is further exacerbating these challenges, creating a tension between efficiency and growth.
Traditional technologies and approaches are proving inadequate in addressing these issues. Legacy IT environments and inefficient processes are hindering productivity and service quality, making it clear that a significant shift in approach is very much needed.
Intelligent Automation
FD Intelligence, was founded by former accounting firm CIO Andrew Guy back in 2020, and is looking to capitalise on this transformation. Their approach blends intelligent automation and AI capabilities with deep finance and accounting expertise to create AI-enriched software robot assistants. Robots are used to read screens, understand documents, classify and extract data, analyse complex information, make smart decisions, and perform repetitive tasks without error.
The impact of automation is already reshaping aspects of accountancy work. For example, in….
Revolutionising Tax Returns
A good example of FD Intelligence's impact is their collaboration with a leading accountancy firm to develop a personal tax robot. This solution automates the tax return process, using optical character recognition (OCR) and AI to understand documents and emails, extract relevant data, and populate tax returns.
The results are impressive: in its first year, the robot completed 5,000 tax returns on time with high accuracy, saving up to 3 hours per return. When fully rolled out, the firm expects to save 45,000 hours of work annually.
TechMarketView subscribers, including UKHotViews Premium subscribers, can read more about FD Intelligence and automation in accountancy in an expanded UKHotViewsExtra article here.
If you aren't a subscriber – or aren't sure if your organisation has a corporate subscription – please contact Belinda Tewson to find out more.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 14:09
Tags: automation hospitality accounting
The government has launched the new Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO), with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and speeding up public access to new technologies.
Establishing RIO was a key election manifesto pledge for Labour, featuring in its strategy to drive innovation (see Labour and Conservative manifestos: tech implications). The plan was to bring together existing functions across government to help regulators better coordinate issues that cut across traditional industries and sectors.
Its initial focus will be on engineering biology; space; AI and digital in healthcare; and connected and autonomous technology. These are technology areas the government believes are currently hampered by their crosscutting nature and poor fit with existing regulatory frameworks. RIO will work with the Department for Transport, Department for Health and Social Care, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to remove obstacles and outdated regulations in these initial growth areas.
RIO sits within DSIT under the remit of Lord Patrick Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (see Digital centre of government starts to take shape). It will incorporate the existing functions of the Regulatory Horizons Council and the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund. The task of appointing RIO’s first chair is currently underway.
The new organisation is a welcome step in addressing the some of the challenges in scaling innovation in the UK. Too often, the complex regulatory landscape has slowed the process of getting promising new technologies to market. Regulatory red tape is just one factor standing in the way of progress; the government needs to address the barriers to innovation more broadly and do more to ensure promising technologies can scale once proof-of-concept funding runs out.
Posted by: Dale Peters at 09:15
Tags: policy government regulation innovation
Microsoft partner Advania, a portfolio company of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has announced the acquisition of UK-based, IT solution specialist CCS Media. Founded in Iceland in 1939, Advania provides IT Services in the UK, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Finland and has grown significantly here via a series of targeted acquisitions. In 2021 we covered the firm’s acquisition of Content+Cloud, whilst earlier this summer we saw the acquisition of Servium,a UK-based IT services provider
Advania targets the mid-market, one of the most dynamic and competitive components of UK SITS, and with the acquisitions of CCS Media and Servium can now offer scaled UK operations and procurement benefits more often found in larger IT service providers. The acquisition will see Advania UK now employ over 1,500 staff at 20 UK locations.
CCS Media brings with it more than 2,000 manufacturer partners and some 8,000 customers who should benefit from Advania’s extensive portfolio of Microsoft centric technology and digital transformation services including Public and Hybrid Cloud, Data, Analytics & AI, Security, Modern Work, Unified Communications, and Business Applications.
The closing of the transaction is expected during the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. No financials on the deal have been released.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 08:44
Tags: acquisition mid-market
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