Kevin Hepburn

What are going to be the top trends for the Tech Market in 2025... There are countless articles out there if you put that search into Google and most of them seem to be in agreement. JLA Resourcing Ltd have summarised some of the key areas listed in the reports from Capgemini, KPMG, Forbes and Gartner. In the main, they're talking about the focus being on: - Generative AI – Autonomous Intelligent Systems that will lean and adapt to new situations - AI & Gen AI in Cyber – we’ll not only see huge progress in how AI is used for threat detection but also the negative side with AI being used for generating the threats themselves so here’s hoping defence keeps pace with attack - AI Driven Robotics – AI driven robotics to enhance productivity and safety - New Generation Supply Chain – companies looking to improve the efficiency and reliability of their supply chains - Post-Quantum Cryptography – protecting businesses from the security risks that will come from the advent of quantum computing - Energy efficient computing as companies focus on sustainability and reducing carbon emissions - A real focus on Hardware – with AI being integrated in to end user chips, IoT devices and Robotics - Solving the Climate Tech Challenge – the focus on this dropped in 2023 due to the global economic environment but Forbes (amongst others) believe that this will be scaled in to our everyday life What else would you add to the list?

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Very insightful report on 'the critical middle' and how external support can fuel this economy.

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We are so excited to launch purpose built board evaluation software that addresses the challenges inherent in conducting board reviews for multi board entities. Clients at large, complex organisations have told us these challenges include: - Time constraints - Inconsistent methodologies - Unreliable comparisons - Lack of benchmarking - Privacy concerns Multi-board entities can now leverage purpose built software to truly understand what is driving performance across the organisation. With key areas highlighted for optimisation, consideration and deeper discussion. We are delighted to be working across private equity, sovereign wealth and parent/subsidiary board entities. If you would like to explore this new functionality in more detail, please don't hesitate to reach out. #governance #boardperformance #drivingchange

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The UK economy stalled in the third quarter, leading to a resurgence in worries about stagnation. But we expect growth to pick up sharply in 2025. A sugar rush of government spending and investment over the next year will give the economy a significant tailwind. Combined with a revival in consumer spending, as households start to spend rather than save increased income, these dynamics should lead to a jump in growth. But that spending, along with some of the other measures announced in the budget, is likely to mean that inflation hovers between 2.5% and 3% next year. Read more from RSM's Thomas Pugh in the latest issue of The Real Economy: https://rsm.buzz/3Psu2vq

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Thinking of building your own risk orchestration platform? Read this first 💡 In this article we pick out some of the issues relating to cost and timescales - and other pain points the interviewees described from their experiences of trying to build risk orchestration solutions in-house: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eMShqi_R .

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Discover the secrets to successful renewable energy investment with industry experts Richard Nourse and David Boyce from Schroders Greencoat LLP . Tune in to NPM Europe (New Project Media)'s podcast for insights on European and US markets. 🎧   Some fascinating points are discussed! 🌍🌱 Here are the top five takeaways... 1. Renewable Energy Transition - significant progress in renewable energy deployment has been achieved since 2008-09, highlighting the decreasing costs of renewable technologies and the shift towards affordability and necessity in transitioning to renewable energy sources. 2. Market Outlook - US vs. Europe: comparisons are made between the development of renewables in the US and Europe, noting that historically the US lagged behind Europe due to access to cheap fossil fuels, but recent advancements have made renewable energy competitive in the US market as well. 3. Investment Landscape - The discussion covers the challenges in the investment landscape, including permitting issues, grid constraints, and the impact of regulatory changes on project development and investment decisions in both Europe and the US. 4. Secondary Market Dynamics: We delve into the dynamics of the secondary market, highlighting the competition, deals, and partnerships in Europe and the US, along with the impact of changing interest rates on investment decisions and asset pricing. 5. Geopolitical Considerations: We touch on the geopolitical aspects of renewable energy investments, such as the implications of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US, the regional competition for clean energy jobs, manufacturing, and energy security, and the potential for significant changes in the global supply chain for renewable energy technologies. Jonathan McNair #renewables #energytransition

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This article really hit home for me this morning. I often refer to processes and later realise that people may not use the word in the same way I do - not a prescriptive list of things which must be done, but the concept of one foot in front of the other and working through the steps. An interesting read if you’re looking for a break in football analysis and metaphors this morning!

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Edinburgh-based Computer Application Services Ltd (CAS) has secured an additional £500,000 equity investment to boost growth.   The company is increasingly referred to by its product name, Workpro, a software system for managing customer complaints and HR casework. Organic growth is providing a 20% uplift this year but, with the market quickly opening up to the benefits of using this software, it’s time to pick up the pace.  Managing workload is just part of the solution - Workpro ensures compliance with procedures which, if not observed, too easily lead to pain and penalties.  Insightful reports let users see where they are “attracting trouble” so that prevention of future issues becomes part of the package.   Maintaining a digital presence – being easily found when people come searching is an obvious must for the marketing team, a never ending task in a busy online world. The new investment will fuel more proactive activities to reach out to target audiences, some of whom don’t yet realise how readily the task of juggling cases and causes can be streamlined and supported by UK developed software. Workpro has all the right data security credentials to pass muster with government and corporate governance.       CAS employees own around half of the company through a combination of direct shareholdings, the Employee Benefit Trust and a monthly share-save scheme. External investors hold the other half – Capital for Colleagues who specifically support employee-ownership, and, more recently, two additional private investors.    CAS CEO Ken Naismith comments, “While CAS and Workpro are obviously good horses for investors to back, we do not take for granted what terrific support has been made available to us when so many businesses are worried about the future. Consumer complaints and employee relations issues are only going to rise as organisations meet 2025’s challenges. Workpro makes light work of heavy caseload and provides essential insights into issues arising from customers and colleagues.”

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Based on my own experience with Gitte, I strongly recommend her as an agile coach. At Avira, she helped my teams to get the real truth behind agile working models in software development and how it creates value for the teams, for the company, and for the customers. Gitte did not only focus on the product teams but on the surrounding setup as well. It was a tough ride. But by focusing especially on the agile mindset and not on blindly following ceremonies and using artefacts, she broke the ice and made the difference. Even after so many years, thanks Gitte! #consulting #leadership #coaching #mentoring #agilemindset

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📢 Just hearing from Mary Cleary Dip IoD at the CEPIS council meeting about the interim results from the ITPE survey - what's important to professionals (many things!), how important ethics is to IT professionals (very!). 🗣 If you haven't already had your say then click the link and make your voice heard. 🌟 And if you want to explore Ethics in AI more, then take a look at this great article from John Maskrey MBCS - https://lnkd.in/epp5Kfad https://lnkd.in/eWrwnbtS

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1) I don't understand technology 2) Suppliers let us down 3) There should have been more governance Standard playbook of the CEO class that runs many of our public and pseudo private sector organisations. Speaking in that calm, uber intelligent sounding way that seems to be taught as part of everyone's degree at Oxbridge. One of the reasons the questions are so hard to answer in plain English is that to do so would be to reveal the MO of these CEOs - stay distant, distract with meaningless words, avoid accountability until, in most cases, you move onto your next 6 figure gig and a CBE. In recent years its helpful to add in more talk about social value and D&I, its another great distraction from the toxic culture that is probably happening on your watch. Paraphrase Benioff - we don't have a technology crisis we have a leadership crisis Richard Godfrey Honor Paddock David Doherty David Newell

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It was around 1996 that I first built a business case to support the acquisition of information technology. It was tough... but it was not the spreadsheets, discounted cashflows and calculations of IRR that were challenging. Imagine this: I had to convince a FTSE CEO and a sceptical ExCo that they should "invest" in personal computers and an internet connection for some of the company's research scientists. I was put through the mill - how could I justify the costs of this technology when I could not convincingly demonstrate the quantitative value of such tools? I was persistent and eventually succeeded - after some personal coaching from the CEO and a further visit to the ExCo. You might think that times have changed but those who hold the corporate purse strings still need to be convinced before they sanction costly IT investments. Those charged with doing that justification should learn from my experience and, yes, get the numbers right but also start the work early, and proactively engage the sceptical stakeholder base in the process. Technology vendors have a critical role to play here. They could help their customers if they became a lot better at demonstrating the value of their products. In doing so, they could also close deals more effectively. So, a win-win proposition! Some of the top B2B tech providers have "value-engineering" and "business value" teams to do just this. However, these are costly resources focused on big (>$1m) deals and, in smaller companies, they are simply not affordable. A more scaleable solution is required. What sales people need is a tool that helps them build a business case for a deal - a tool that guides them through the process, provides access to proven product metrics and gives access to the customer's staff to allow them to check, verify and reinforce the business case. Starting on the business case early and involving the customer in its development early is key. Pavilion, in their "2024 B2B Sales Benchmarks" report, found that if business cases are ... "presented early, deals progress quickly. But if the ‘economic buyer’ raises ‘ROI’ after ‘solution presented’, the likelihood of closing drops by 79%. So such a tool can help you win deals whilst also helping your customers understand the business value they can expect from their purchase. So - B2B sales leaders - whether you're in software or hardware - you should take a look at Symbe, the AI Powered Business Case Platform that is easy to use and fast to adopt. A demo is a good use of 30 minutes of your time. Ping me if you want to know more!

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A shout out to my fellow Advisory Lead Scott Gardner for invertedly delivering a masterclass on "how to be the a valuable consultant". He didn't realise at the time but he dropped some absolute gems. So I thought it would be good to share: 1. Understand the intricacies of your customer's business - the cyber and tech stuff can wait. 2. Add value as soon as you land - look for the quick wins and deliver value as soon as possible (within days!) 3. and I quote... "Get Sticky Quickly". Be relentless in delighting your customer so much so that you become an invaluable asset to the organisation. Great points which will be the focus of next week's mentoring session on CyberXP.

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A client told me they were quoted a year (!) to migrate to server-side data collection. So we AUTOMATED it. Last week we did a roll out in 1h28mins. Complete copy of a data collection strategy that had been in place since the company began. Nothing lost - all retained, no human error or input. Server-side isn't easy, and it's a complete reversal away from what our digital industry has done for the last 10-15 years. "Slap a tag through the TMS", "Pop a pixel". There are TMS containers with over 1000 tags/pixels in them. This would take days/weeks (or even a year according to that quote I mentioned!) to transition to server-side manually. Our solution helps with some core business outcomes: - Page load speed can come down by up to 15% - Conversion rate can go up by the same amount - Data retained and collected can boost by up to 30% But there are other, better, benefits: - Vendors like FB and Google don't harvest brand users data - Advertisers regain data control - The power swings back to brands This is a big change in our industry right now - and we're happy to work with brands directly or agencies/freelancers/consultants who want to get their clients on to server-side ASAP. Also, a HUGE thank you for the conversation (inspiration!) to my client - it was worth so much to have a chat about challenges. // I've run international digital marketing teams in-house and agency side for over a decade. In 2022, I took the plunge and formed Duga Digital with the aim to help more people / companies. We work across digital data strategy, implementation for web and app analytics, cloud infrastructure, detailed analysis and insights that power business objectives and all sorts of other digital marketing phenomenon. If you'd like to chat or need to find the right person - even if it isn't me, I will know someone who can.

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Digital Transformation is an all encompassing term and can mean totally different things to different people and organisations. Sam's post here focuses on one aspect of our service offering, which can often be the starting point for our interactions with businesses. We strongly believe that successful IT strategies should be architecture led.

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I didn't win, but am incredibly pleased to have been shortlisted for CTO of the year! Some great DLG teams were also shortlisted for other awards. ...So now I am going for the longest I didn't win speech in history 🙂 ... maybe there is an award for that :) https://lnkd.in/e4kN5Q6R To win or lose anything is a learning experience, as is every decision, challenge or context; practical outcomes can only be generated with great leadership Direct Line Group and a willing team centered around a solid purpose. Customers matter, both the external market that choose us to help smooth out the waves of life; and our internal customers who rely on technology to support those efforts. In that way we win every day, we MUST so that we can serve the people to the right and left of us and support those who buy our products. Technology, year by year, plays a bigger role in helping to deliver business outcomes. AI, XR, and Quantum buzzword technologies are all unfolding before us; some further ahead than others. AI will play a pivital role in the future but require a "digital scalpel' to obtain value and not noise. We have yet to truly understand the changes technology will make to our lives; both our ability to achieve even more than is possible today but also how to protect ourselves from a negative use of the technology by others. I have been fortunate to be alive for a number of technology shifts; there is much noise, and then an understanding of the real value over time as we find more appropriate solutions for real world problems faced by us as humans in our day to day lives. One thing that is clear to me is that Equity is important and we must actually solve problems and bring people on the journey whatever their skill, background, gender or race. Thankfully my leadership team Nic Whittakerer Julius Hackett David Sutton Chris Rose David McIntyre along with the whole architecture team are dedicated to delivering the right solutions for both today's issues and the futures potential. Thanks also to Rachael Holt as without support I would never get to the right meetings :) Obviously thanks also to my suffering wife Helen Speck AFHEA who still puts up with me... I think that made a reasonable effort toward the longest I didn't win speech.. Well done to the other teams as well BIJITH NARIKKUNI swathi penumudi Sridevika Mariappan Suganthavalli Jessica Bouchier Bryony Dickson Lorraine Hall Andrew Morrell

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It has been amazing to see the response to the first episode of Beyond Borders, both through social media interactions and how it has resonated with our clients. The number of Global Workforce Audits that have commenced on the back of this shows me how the Global Workforce and its value to businesses is being embraced now more so than ever, and importantly people want to do it compliantly. #globalworkforce #icvetting #Internationalexpansion #globalexpansion #ir35 #compliance

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What did I learn in this session with Khyati Sundaram? Certainly that Gen AI has a tendency to hallucinate! And certainly that leveraging the Applied platform is all about removing data that doesn’t signal whether you are right for the job or not e.g. name, gender, school. And then inputting data which signals whether you are a good fit or not: skills, mission alignment, passion/interests. Perhaps we need to let go of the CV which is an inconvenient comfort blanket.. Removing the opportunity for bias Ava ensuring that you get a fair chance at getting the job will require a mindset shift for employers and their hiring processes Inspiring to hear he the unwavering commitment to fairness from CEO Khyati Sundaram! Building a better world with more diverse voices in tech. #LTW2024

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