Recent Posts by Deirdre Houchen

COVID-19 has shown that business stability is an illusion. Change is constant so organisations need the leadership and an infrastructure that can adapt, scale, analyse and respond in real-time. Forecasting has become more difficult and less reliable as models race to catch-up. In the place of old tools, business leaders need to embrace the dashboard as well as new technologies that give them an in-the-moment understanding of their enterprise. Accelerating past the point of no...

COVID-19 won’t be the last of the disruptions businesses must contend with. It’s important for them to re-evaluate and rebuild their business models to be more resilient. Yet resilience is no longer about having the cash reserves and resources to weather disruption right now—it’s about building an infrastructure that is flexible, cloud-based and automated to deal with constant, unrelenting change. The paradox of resilience Enterprise resilience comes in two parts. It’s about...

The Digital Future of Manufacturing is already here. The ability to use data to optimise operations, wirelessly connect production-line machinery, and automate different processes is getting ever closer to a working reality. Agility, it seems, is needed to keep pace. But ROI is needed to stay afloat.  In fact, according to research 75% of large manufacturers are set to incorporate Internet of Things (IoT) and analytics-based situational awareness in their operations by the end...

One crucial factor that often gets overlooked in any discussion about digital technology in manufacturing is ‘people’. It’s easy to see why. The whole idea of using more advanced technology to streamline and automate everything – from production line throughput to cost-effective savings – appears (on the surface) to negate the need for surplus staff.  But robots aren’t taking over quite yet. In fact, they can only be as good as we make them (that’s why it’s called machine learni...

Progress and innovation are always customer-driven. So why is it that in an industry like financial services, digital transformation has been slow in many respects? Part of the issue is, undoubtedly, the regulatory background. The other is the overall air of caution associated with investment and finance generally. Another challenge is the lack of industry-driven innovation.  In Europe, the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) has certainly increased the scope, but it’s...

With the advent of automation, AI, and machine learning, those working on or near the production line can literally see manufacturing changing before their eyes. However, advances in technology also bring with them a growing complexity—particularly for CFOs. For example, CFOs need to understand the cost-effectiveness of new production processes, as well as rethink accounting systems for reporting and reshaping production models. Effectiveness begins with understanding data,...

If the market is a jungle, businesses need to adapt to survive. We’ve seen entire business models upended as organisations transform themselves to keep up. As we enter a new decade, more disruption will follow.  To facilitate this sea change, many businesses are exploring how they can evolve their crucial back office functions - including finance, HR and payroll - to be faster and more efficient. Enterprises today need to make strategic decisions based on accurate,...