Industry news

KPMG UK has appointed Hilary Eastman as a partner in its accountancy advisory services wing. She joins the firm to lead the support it provides clients as they look to comply with new ESG reporting requirements.

As environmental, social and governance (ESG) becomes more important to consumers, who are increasingly inclined to shun companies with poor ESG track-records, companies are struggling to adapt while still performing well as a business. This is seeing a growing demand in the $9 billion market of sustainability consultants, who can help proactively improve upon ESG issues without diminishing business outcomes.

Read the full article on Consultancy.uk here.

EY has joined the growing stampede of IT and business services companies making big bets on Artificial Intelligence. The Big Four firm has announced the launch of EY.ai, which it describes as a unifying platform designed to accelerate enterprise adoption of AI. The product of a $1.4bn investment, the platform brings together the firm’s internal capabilities with an extensive AI ecosystem.

The latter includes include Microsoft (which provided EY with early access to Azure OpenAI capabilities), Dell Technologies, IBM, SAP, ServiceNow, Thomson Reuters and UiPath.

Read the full article on TechMarketView here.

KPMG announced Netzero as the winner of the third annual KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator competition on 6 September 2023, recognizing the most impactful and promising start-up in Saudi Arabia.

Netzero, provides solutions for companies in Saudi Arabia to offset their carbon emissions by streamlining nature-based solution deployment and afforestation in a cost effective and transparent manner.

According to Mohammad Alkhalid, Founder of Netzero, this solution would ensure developing sustainable communities, promote good health and well-beings by improving air quality and finally would support climate action by promoting a greener ecosystem in harsh environments.

The research shows that companies across sectors and around the globe are committed to net-zero and are already pushing ahead with the delivery of transition plans in the short-term. However, they are facing challenges on that journey. The most important barrier to developing a net-zero plan – named by 50% of companies overall – is costs and scale of capital expenditure. This is closely followed by three related roadblocks: lack of feasible technological solutions; regulatory challenges; and difficulties in measuring and monitoring impact.

Read the full article on Zurich here.

Insurance-focused global law firm DLA Piper has released a report outlining the challenges to artificial intelligence (AI) deployment.

The report analysed the connections between AI, governance, and risk and explored how organisations deploy AI programs and the challenges they face.

“While the transformative potential of AI seems boundless, it also presents risks. This report emphasises the pivotal role of good governance in unlocking AI's transformative potential in a fragmented regulatory landscape,” said Nicholas Boyle, partner – intellectual property and technology, at DLA Piper.

Read the full article on Insurance Business here.

CBRE has expanded its inclusive supply chain by becoming a Founding Corporate Partner to OutBritain, the UK’s first LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. Connecting with certified diverse suppliers is integral to CBRE’s Supplier Diversity Program and to achieving its goal of spending at least $3 billion with diverse suppliers by 2025.

The first LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, and independent certification body, OutBritain is the only existing UK organisation that verifies eligible businesses are majority owned (51 per cent or more) by LGBTQ individuals and can grant certified LGBT Business Enterprise status. As such, this partnership will play a critical role in connecting CBRE with the UK’s vast community of LGBTQ-owned businesses.

Teleperformance, a global leader in digital business services, announced it has launched an AI Maturity Assessment Toolkit to help companies understand the capabilities necessary to successfully implement AI to help transform their organization for employees, customers and other key stakeholders.

The free Teleperformance AI Maturity Survey is designed to help organizations understand not only the capabilities required for success, but the right combinations of capabilities across data readiness, operational strategies, infrastructure, talent and more.

Read the full article on Directors Club here.

KPMG US on Friday announced the establishment of an AI and digital innovation group led by newly named vice chair Steve Chase, effective October 1.

Chase’s promotion to vice chair will give emerging technology leadership a seat at KPMG’s management committee, the Big Four accountancy said in a press release.

“To support our leadership ambitions and unlock the next phase of growth for KPMG and our clients, the new AI and Digital Innovation group will set a firmwide innovation agenda that will enhance how we serve our clients, transform our operations...," said CEO Paul Knopp.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a complex business requiring sophisticated and stable technology that integrates seamlessly and securely into clients’ operational systems.

CCI is taking the challenge seriously and is now turning to impact sourcing to grow its own skills.

With the experience of sister organisation CareerBox showing the effectiveness of impact sourcing, and his own life experience, Pretorius is confident that the approach of growing skills from scratch is a winning formula.

Read the full article on IT online here.

In the latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 40 percent of respondents said their organizations plan to increase their overall AI investment because of advancements in gen AI.
Nevertheless, few companies seem fully prepared for the widespread use of gen AI—or the business risks these tools may bring: 53 of organizations acknowledge cybersecurity as a gen AI-related risk, but only 38 percent are working to mitigate that risk.

Read the full article on Mckinsey & Company here.