Industry news

Replit's Ghostwriter tool to be beefed up by Google's LLM tech

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has formed a partnership with Replit, an AI start-up, to assist developers in creating and modifying code through generative AI, a move that will help the search company compete with a similar product from Microsoft's GitHub and OpenAI.

Read more on Computing here.

Further consolidation in the outsourced customer management space with US headquartered Concentrix Corporation agreeing to acquire French-headquartered rival Webhelp.

The combined business is expected to have $9.8bn in revenue for FY 2023 on a pro forma basis and will be headed by Concentrix CEO Chris Caldwell.

Read more on TechMarketView here.

Three years since knowledge workers had to make an almost overnight pivot to remote working and their firms support the concept of hybrid work by implementing the essential technology to make it possible, research from Virgin Media O2 Business (VMO2B) has revealed that while UK companies have tolerated hybrid working, in many cases the tech has not allowed them to drive efficiency within their organisations.

One of the key findings was that three years after lockdowns began, organisations are still limited by old tech and poor digital skills, with almost a fifth (18%) feeling held back by limited digital skills or resistance to new tech

Read more on Computer Weekly here.

UK technology scaleups have generated $583bn in value since 2014, and could further quadruple in value by 2032 under the right conditions, according to final Tech Nation report.

It said that the value since 2014 was achieved through exits of some form – whether an acquisition, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) or public listing – and that to return the same rate of value to the ecosystem, UK tech firms should be targeting exists of $2tn over the next decade.

Read more on Computer Weekly here.

Teleperformance, a global leader in outsourced digital integrated business services, today announced that it has already met its 2026 goal to reduce its carbon emissions per full-time employee1 by 49%. As result, the Company will set new aggressive carbon emissions targets later this year.

The Company reduced its carbon emissions 49% per full-time employee since 2019, including its most recent reductions of a 15% in 2021 and 9% in 2022

Read more on Businesswire here.

Google has started rolling out Bard, its answer to ChatGPT, to a limited number of users in the US and the UK.

In a blog post on Tuesday the company invited people to sign up to test out its generative AI chatbot, which for the moment is only available in the English language and to over 18s, in order to provide feedback to aid its development.

Read more on Computing here.

Recent research from Said Business School at the University of Oxford shows that the accounting Big Four are fast increasing their collective share of the global legal services sector.

Key findings from the research show that Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG are expanding their legal businesses rapidly and continuously globally. This is having the intended impact of increasing their sales revenue substantially and, of course, taking this income away from traditional law firms.

Read more on Bytestart here.

Generative AI is starting gain traction with professional service firms with PwC announcing a global alliance with AI startup Harvey, as its looks innovate in the Tax and Legal space. This comes a month on from the announcement that law firm Allen & Overy is starting to integrate Harvey’s latest models within its legal practice globally.

Harvey, which is backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, is built on OpenAI and ChatGPT and uses natural language processing, machine learning and data analytics to enhance various aspects of legal work. PwC will also focus on developing new use cases specific to tax. 

Read more on Tech Market View here

Cognizant has announced that it has signed Volkswagen Group (VWG) Ireland as a client to transform its digital customer experience (CX) into an omni-channel platform designed to enhance and increase the personalisation of agent and customer experience.

VWG Ireland is faced with a siloed contact centre platform and customer experience model that has necessitated the manual aggregation of customer data. Cognizant will implement a new CX platform, based on Salesforce service cloud voice, and Amazon connect with the aim of improving VWG Ireland’s use of data and, in turn, optimise service levels for customers.

Read more on Tech Market View here.

Aviva has teamed up with property developer Stories to invest £100m (€112m) in UK real estate and infrastructure projects that will benefit local communities and promote social and environmental sustainability.

The joint venture is the first funding commitment from Aviva Capital Partners (ACP), which originates infrastructure assets using Aviva group capital.

Aviva and Stories will work with landowners and institutions such as universities, the NHS, local authorities and charities to provide the funding needed to deliver major projects from inception to completion.

Read more on IPE Real Assets here.