Industry news

Jag Lamba, Founder of Certa, & Jennifer Chaplain, Solution Engineering & Customer Engagement Principal at Aera, on the Intelligent Procurement Revolution

As Solution Engineering and Customer Engagement Principal at Aera Technology, Jennifer Chaplain not only implements Aera’s core technologies, she also designs decision intelligence workflows for global companies.

Aera Technology was founded in 2017 with a vision to transform the future of work through decision intelligence. The company’s cloud platform integrates with existing systems to automate business decisions in real time, enabling global enterprises to gain agility and respond to disruption. 

Read more on Procurement Mag here.

Ash Finnegan, Digital Transformation Officer at Conga, reveals that most organisations attempting digital transformations are missing the point entirely

Ash Finnegan is currently digital transformation officer at Conga, which provides end-to-end solutions to help organisations transform their revenue operations (RevOps) and navigate business complexity. In her role, she works directly with customers and partners to execute these programmes in-house.

Drawing upon her 20-year-strong experience as a digital transformation consultant, she has spearheaded the development of a unique framework that empowers organisations to understand the revenue operations’ landscape and successfully tackle their transformation journeys. This assessment ensures organisations implement technology at a pace that they are ready for, only incorporating solutions that drive real business outcomes.

Read more on Procurement Magazine here.

MR estimates that global blue prism technology services accounts around ~20% of global robotic process automation market due to its improved automation and management technology. Consumers in search of hybrid robotic process automation technology are tend to find a right place for blue prism technology in their respective back-office processes.

Blue Prism’s development in a consistent manner over past half decade lead to its ecosystem expansion. This expansion then resulted in continued product differentiation along with new features acquisition that drives its demand among new users on the platform.The global blue prism technology services market is estimated at USD 362 Million in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 7,688 Million by 2032, growing at an exciting CAGR of 35.7% from 2022-2032.

Read more on The Digital Journal here.

Retail executives are worried about higher costs.

That’s according to KPMG’s latest retail executive survey in which the executives ranked inflation as the most significant concern, with the top three challenges being

increased operating costs (80%), increased product input costs (75%) and eroded margins (50%). 

The survey found that retail executives’ response to inflation has changed compared to actions they took in 2022. In 2023, 84% plan to find cost efficiencies in other ways and 67% plan to renegotiate purchasing agreements, 67%. The change was passing on additional costs to consumers via price increases, down 16% from last year to 56%.

Read more on Chain Store Age here.

In an uncertain economy, executives’ first instinct might be to cut costs and shore up established holdings. A better way is to build new businesses.

Many leaders are bracing for a rough economic ride—they’re girding their companies against a series of acute global risks. In addition to geopolitical instability, volatile commodity markets, and rising inflation, they anticipate continued waves of global health crises, more frequent and severe climate hazards, and major shifts in consumer and industrial demand. These developments, they feel, could put long-term pressure on their business models—thus heightening the need for resilience.1

Read more on McKinsey here.

In times of disruption and great uncertainty, most organizations tend to protect what they have and wait for a return to “normal.” That’s a high-risk strategy today because we may be on the cusp of a new era. Structural supply-chain issues, rising interest rates, and sustainability challenges are just a few conditions that have become the new norm and hold critical implications for business models. Amid this much change, merely trying to manage costs and raise productivity is unlikely to overcome the growth challenge that seven out of eight organizations face today. Instead, companies need to find emerging pockets of growth that can help them secure long-term success.

Read more on McKinsey here.

The global supply chain is more stressed than it’s ever been, and with fears of a looming recession looming large, it’s likely to get worse. To weather it and mitigate further damage, buyers and suppliers need to abandon their old ways of operating, and build more collaborative relationships that are rooted in trust. 

The buyer-supplier foundation is shaky and needs to be rebuilt. For decades, contracting models have been adversarial and power based, with the balance shifting toward buyers. Rather than seeing suppliers as partners to help drive innovation, competitive advantage and business growth, buyers have typically viewed them as a source of cost savings.

This model needs to change. The key to securing supply in one of tightest markets the world has ever seen isn’t squeezing suppliers for discounts. As revealed in 3 Ways to Build Trust with Your Suppliers, a study conducted by the Haslem School of Business at the University of Tennessee and sponsored by SAP, it involves building and increasing trust. 

Read more on Supply Chain Brain here.

Staff at the Milton Keynes University Hospital have been working with the Academy of Robotics to trial an automated delivery robot or ‘Helper Bot’ (named 'Milton' by staff) which aims to relieve the significant workload faced by NHS workers.

The trial began with the Helper Bot navigating itself from A to B within the hospital in late November and will continue with trials in 2023 where it will be delivering medicines on specific routes to assist hospital staff. ‘Milton’ can navigate around obstacles such as people, wheelchairs and beds inside a hospital. The trial will initially focus on tackling challenges with delays to care caused by increased demand on logistical activities such as the movement of medicines, specimens, and clinical supplies around the hospital.

Read more on TechMarketView here.

UK-based business process outsourcer (BPO) Parseq has acquired The Tall Group, a secure print, payment, and online solutions provider and merged operations with offshore IT services provider Column Software Solutions as owner Parabellum Investments looks to scale the business.

Parseq is a UK BPO with a 40+ year history that often goes ‘under the radar’ when we look at the sector. The integration of India-based Column provides access to much needed offshore technology capabilities so vital as the sector migrates towards digital business process services. The merger follows hot on the heels of the acquisition of the Tall Group earlier this month, which boosts the firm’s scale to more than 520 staff across 12 locations in the UK, Bulgaria and India. The Tall Group operates from three sites in Runcorn, Hinckley and Lisburn and counts UK banks and other blue chips among its clients.

Read more on TechMarketView here.

UK start-up Peppy has secured a sizeable $45m Series B funding round to support the rapid expansion of its B2B2C gender-based healthcare platform to the US.

Founded in 2018 with a focus on menopause support as an employee benefit, Peppy has grown revenue tenfold since its $10m Series A raise 18 months ago. It now has over 250 enterprise clients, including the likes of Natwest and Accenture, and has expanded into other areas of women’s health, men’s health and early parenthood support. 

Its digital platform connects employees to healthcare professionals via messaging and video calls, offering personalised care and one-to-one support from ‘human health experts’.

Read more on TechMarketView here.