Forecasting stories
Poor data quality is holding back AI projects at UK professional services firms, with 34% of senior leaders calling it the main barrier.
Only 8% of senior finance leaders feel ready to adopt AI, despite widespread belief it can lift productivity if workflows are redesigned.
Accountants face a shift towards advisory work as AI and data tools reshape finance, with trust and judgement remaining vital.
Only 31% of UK finance chiefs are leading long-term investment calls, leaving strategy, AI adoption and investor messaging underpowered.
Supply chain failures could squeeze margins further as the retailer's new Chief Executive Officer makes logistics central to its turnaround plan.
By replacing spreadsheets and manual finance work, the new platform aims to cut months-long implementation times and free staff for higher-value tasks.
Businesses can now query BigQuery in plain English, with Google adding audit trails, access controls and scheduled AI analyses.
Energy retailers could gain faster deployments and simpler AWS Marketplace purchasing as Gorilla deepens ties with Amazon Web Services.
Most finance chiefs still need sharper strategic, people and commercial skills before boards will back them for the top job, a survey found.
Accountancy firms can now send clients password-protected browser reports with drill-down views, reducing reliance on static PDFs and logins.
Utilities could connect data centres and industrial sites sooner as the companies' software aims to ease congestion without major grid upgrades.
Boards are weighing cyber risk in financial terms more often, though many firms still struggle to turn assessments into action.
Warehouse operators facing labour shortages may see Blue Yonder's latest recognition as proof its software is still central to automation plans.
Routine analytics work is being shifted from data scientists as Anthropic says Claude now handles most queries with about 95% accuracy overall.
Firms using integrated cloud systems report fewer finance and budgeting errors, as pressure mounts to cut rework and overtime.
Actual procurement data now points to a broad April slowdown, with all five tracked sectors posting month-on-month spend declines.
Poor data quality is forcing finance teams to seek more traceable inputs for AI and reporting as OneStream adds a Snowflake link.
A difficult June close often exposes hidden costs, manual workarounds and compliance gaps that smaller finance systems can no longer hide.
The multi-year project is meant to cut costs and give IHH Healthcare real-time data as it replaces fragmented systems across three Asian markets.
Stable store links could help grocers curb outages, prioritise tills and gather data across sites as Cellhub rolls out a 5G managed service.