Post Office Awards Non-Horizon Modernisation Work to Accenture
The Post Office has awarded a £45 million three‑year contract to Accenture to modernise its back‑office IT applications, covering finance, HR, data management and process automation via cloud solutions. The agreement, running from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2029, excludes the controversial Horizon system. Including VAT, the deal totals £54 million and was awarded directly after a standstill period ending 27 February 2026, with signing expected by 20 March 2026. Accenture will handle hosting, operation, maintenance and continuous improvement of the core platforms.
How to Lead When You Can’t See the Way
Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill hosted an Executive Masterclass on March 4, 2026, addressing how senior leaders can navigate persistent uncertainty. The session framed today’s “fog” of geopolitics, rapid technology change, and evolving stakeholder expectations as a structural condition rather...
Why Pay-for-Performance Programs Don’t Always Work
A new McLean & Co. study finds that while 69% of HR leaders view total compensation as critical, only a quarter feel truly effective at designing pay‑for‑performance programs. Employees who are satisfied with their overall pay are 1.8 times more...
When AI Challenges Strategy
Artificial intelligence is reshaping corporate strategy, turning static roadmaps into dynamic, real‑time plans. Executives face heightened volatility as AI accelerates decision cycles and market signals shift faster than traditional forecasts. In a candid HBR interview, chief strategy officers from Penske...
Miners Urged to Improve Balance Between Being a ‘Great’ Company and an Attractive ...
Boston Consulting Group’s new report argues miners must balance being a strong operator with delivering attractive shareholder returns. Over the past decade, mining firms have doubled free‑cash‑flow to $80‑90 billion, cut net‑debt to 9 % and shifted capital from capex to dividends....
Wiss Expands NetSuite Automation Capabilities
Wiss announced its new status as a Certified Netgain Implementation Partner, giving it the authority to deploy Netgain’s native NetSuite add‑ons directly within client ERP environments. The partnership enables Wiss to embed automation across critical accounting workflows such as fixed‑asset...
Nicolas Shamtanis and Stathis Xenos Launch Broker/Prop Firm Advisory Service Conexus IQ
Nicolas Shamtanis and Stathis Xenos have launched Conexus IQ, a boutique advisory firm aimed at CFD brokers, prop firms, and broader fintech platforms. The duo leverages nearly two decades of experience in FX, CFDs, and social‑trading to help clients navigate a...
How CIOs Can Build an Evolving Crisis Strategy
CIOs must treat crisis strategies as living documents, revisiting them at least quarterly as new services, integrations, and threat vectors emerge. Experts from Pynest, Tufin, and Euristiq stress defining clear decision‑making roles, integrating automation, and simplifying language to ensure rapid...
How to Fix Knowledge and Process Communications Gaps
At APQC CONNECT 2026, leaders from health care, cloud services, education, finance and manufacturing exposed persistent gaps between people, processes and knowledge. They cited unclear ownership, siloed tools and treating knowledge management as an after‑thought as primary culprits. Across the...
Why Storytelling Matters When Changing Company Culture
Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast with professor Jay Barney reveals that successful culture change hinges on leaders creating authentic, action‑driven stories rather than issuing top‑down mandates. By deliberately breaking old norms—such as a CEO using the same helpline as front‑line staff—leaders generate...
Are You Using ‘Authenticity’ as an Excuse Not to Grow? Here Are some Signs that You Are
Authenticity is praised as a leadership cornerstone, yet senior executives often weaponize it to sidestep growth. The article shows how leaders like Meg label development requests as inauthentic, using extreme descriptors to reject feedback. By reframing authenticity, leaders can adopt...
5 Ways Leaders Lose the Room without Realizing It
Leaders often mistake a polished slide deck for effective communication, leaving the room disengaged and ideas unabsorbed. The article highlights how the illusion of alignment can cause meetings to feel empty, even when time and resources are invested. It outlines...
Capgemini Joins OpenAI's Frontier Alliance to Scale Enterprise AI
Capgemini has joined OpenAI’s newly launched Frontier Alliance as a founding partner, creating a dedicated delivery function to scale AI agents for enterprises. The firm will deploy OpenAI‑certified professionals to tackle data readiness, integration, operating‑model design and governance challenges. Capgemini...
Accenture Down to Buy Downdetector as Part of $1.2 Billion Deal
Accenture announced a $1.2 billion acquisition of Ookla, the parent of Downdetector, from Ziff Davis, bringing Speedtest, Ekahau and RootMetrics into its portfolio. The deal expands Accenture’s intelligence and analytics capabilities for telecom operators, hyperscalers and enterprise networks. Ziff Davis will apply the...
Shorter Commodity Cycles Reshaping Trading, Value: McKinsey
McKinsey’s latest commodity trading report warns that volatility cycles are shortening, diminishing the relevance of traditional super‑cycle models. Trading revenues slipped to $69 billion in 2025, yet remain about twice pre‑pandemic levels, establishing a higher baseline. The firm highlights AI and...
Our Guide to the Spring 2026 Issue
The MIT Sloan Management Review's Spring 2026 issue compiles ten research‑driven articles that map the evolving landscape of corporate innovation and transformation. Highlights include a framework for strategic innovation in mature firms, guidance on building effective venture studios, and evidence...
How “Deep Industry Research Agents” Can Change Your Organization
Corporate AI investments often chase new products, but immediate gains lie in service‑productivity. Deep Industry Research Agents (DIRAs) are domain‑specific, end‑to‑end AI analysts that diagnose and resolve exception cases, as demonstrated with asset manager PIMCO. Over eight months the agents...
Peer Influence Can Make or Break Your AI Rollout
Microsoft researchers surveyed 557 U.S. information workers on AI usage. They found that peer influence is the strongest driver of heavy generative AI adoption, increasing the likelihood of daily use by 8.9 percentage points, surpassing formal training and leader messaging....
Will 2026 Be the Year of Data Center Restructuring?
Edge computing is accelerating, prompting a shift from centralized data centers to distributed micro data centers at the edge. Grand View Research forecasts the U.S. edge‑computing market to hit $327.79 billion by 2033, growing at a 33 % CAGR. This restructuring creates...
Architecting for AI-Driven Growth
New York Life Group Benefit Solutions (GBS) frames AI as a strategic lever rather than a quick fix, emphasizing that sustainable growth stems from modernizing data, applications, and infrastructure first. A decade‑long investment in these foundations now enables the insurer...
InformationWeek Podcast: Reengineering Your Supply Chain to Be Resilient
InformationWeek’s March 3 2026 podcast examined how companies can reengineer supply chains for resilience using AI and emerging technologies. CTO Lee Rossey of SimSpace and Zimana Analytics CEO Pierre DeBois discussed predictive analytics, digital twins, and strategic automation as key tools. They highlighted...
AND Digital Fuels US Expansion with New Leadership Appointment
AND Digital announced Catherine Rousseau as Technical Solutions Director to accelerate its U.S. expansion and strengthen AI‑enabled digital transformation services. Rousseau joins from Valsoft, where she led an AI business unit, and will define technical strategy, solution design, and architectural...
How Leaders Can Make Ethical Choices when the Rules Fall Short
Leaders face a shifting ethical landscape as regulations and ESG standards fluctuate worldwide. Relying solely on legal compliance can create blind spots, allowing lawful but ethically questionable actions. The World Economic Forum highlights three signals of such flawed practices, urging...
AI Won’t Replace Strategy: It Will Expose It
AI hype has driven boardroom roadmaps and “AI‑first” mandates, yet the technology does not generate strategy; it merely uncovers whether a firm already possesses one. The real competitive advantage will come from internal models that map a company’s unique business...
Who Should Own What? Revisiting the ‘Natural Owner’ Principle
In 1989 McKinsey consultants John Stuckey and Rob McLean introduced the “natural owner” principle, arguing firms should retain only businesses they can uniquely maximize NPV for. The concept, originally a defensive tool for divestiture, has evolved into a strategic lens for...
Before Starting a Virtualization Migration Assessment: A Readiness Framework for a Successful Outcome
A Virtualization Migration Assessment (VMA) provides a data‑driven blueprint for moving workloads to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, beginning with a Day‑Zero readiness check. The framework evaluates infrastructure complexity, OS compatibility, storage footprint, workload criticality, and internal expectations to create a realistic...
CSX Modernizes Data Management System
Infosys announced the completion of a large‑scale data modernization program for CSX Corporation, deploying its AI‑first Topaz platform built on Microsoft Fabric and Purview. The effort consolidated CSX’s fragmented data landscape into a unified cloud‑native environment, creating over 170 data...
TG Jones Owner Calls in Advisers to Develop Restructuring Plan
Modella Capital, the owner of TG Jones, has engaged consulting firm Teneo to craft a restructuring plan for its high‑street portfolio. The plan follows Modella's 2025 acquisition of WH Smith’s 480‑store network, which it has been rebranding as TG Jones. Roughly 80 of...
Three Things to Know About Learning by Hiring
Leaders increasingly turn to external hires to inject fresh knowledge, but the effectiveness of that knowledge depends on the organization’s existing knowledge architecture. Tight, highly integrated practices create resistance and can dilute the impact of new hires, especially when multiple...
MoJ Signs £5m ‘Innovation Bench’ Deal to Support Digital Ambitions
The Ministry of Justice has signed a £5 million two‑year "innovation bench" contract with UBDS Digital to provide on‑demand agile teams for early‑stage digital projects. The agreement, extendable by six months to August 2028, supplements the department’s 1,700 internal digital staff and...
Kill Your ITIL: Why CIOs Are Abandoning Traditional Service Management
CIOs are moving away from the traditional ITIL framework as its ticket‑centric processes hinder rapid software delivery. Leaders cite the need to eliminate decision‑making latency, replacing legacy service desks with AI‑driven orchestration layers that automatically resolve routine issues. The shift...
Altis Consulting Expands to Tap Into South Australia’s AI Demand
Altis Consulting announced a strategic expansion into South Australia, appointing former BHP data leader Luke Best to spearhead growth and partnerships. The move targets rising demand for modern data and AI capabilities in the state’s copper and energy sectors. Altis...
Lánluas Boosts Senior Leadership with Dual Appointments
Consultancy Lánluas has bolstered its senior leadership by promoting Lorraine Sinnott to head of enterprise and commercial and hiring Susan Furber as head of public sector. Sinnott, a six‑year Lánluas veteran, brings enterprise transformation experience across Australia, New Zealand and the UK, while...
AI Literacy and Change Management Among Most-Needed HR Skills
LinkedIn’s February 2026 Skills on the Rise report shows AI literacy has become the second‑fastest‑growing skill among HR professionals, trailing only employment law and compliance. The metric combines skill acquisition on LinkedIn profiles with hiring success, indicating both training demand...
How Boston Is Transforming Its Outdated 311 System
Boston is overhauling its legacy 311 non‑emergency service platform, replacing the 2008 CRM with a cloud‑based, low‑code solution from Creatio and implementation partner Keen360. The new system already tracks informational calls, which represent over half of request volume, and aims...
Using Percentages to Manage Raises May Perpetuate Gender Pay Gaps
New research from the University of Texas shows that framing raise budgets as dollar amounts, rather than percentages, can narrow the gender pay gap. In an experiment, dollar‑based raises reduced the gap by $91, while percentage‑based raises widened it by...
FEATURE*: Augustin Friedel on How OEMs Can Succeed in SDV/AV Transformation
Augustin Friedel, a software‑defined vehicle specialist at MHP, outlines how legacy OEMs can overcome cultural inertia and restructure around product‑based P&L ownership to accelerate SDV and autonomous‑vehicle development. He argues that consolidating hardware into versatile compute domains and leveraging software...
How AI Can Build Organizational Agility
Enterprise leaders facing 2026 economic uncertainty are turning to AI to boost organizational agility. Personiv’s 2025 Executive Outlook Pulse Survey shows 76% of public firms and 45% of private firms already use AI, especially in finance functions like payroll and...
Science Shows Well-Being Drives Performance. It’s No Longer Even a Debate
Recent research confirms that employee well‑being is a measurable driver of performance, echoing Gallup’s 2015 warning that CEOs often ignore HR culture. Only about one‑in‑four American workers feel their employer genuinely cares, a figure unchanged since pre‑pandemic lows. The author’s...
The Real Reason Your Team Is Frustrated by Feedback (and How to Fix It)
Team frustration often stems from vague expectations rather than lack of effort. When leaders fail to articulate what success looks like, employees invest energy in the wrong direction, eroding trust and collaboration. This misalignment becomes more common as roles shift...
Mott MacDonald Strengthens MAG Ties
Engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald has secured a five‑year appointment on Manchester Airports Group’s Capital Investment Consultancy Services Framework. The firm will deliver advisory, design and fire‑engineering services for major projects at Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports. The partnership aligns...
Czechia’s SŽ Launches Savings Drive with Layoffs and Major Restructuring
The Czech Railway Administration (SŽ) will begin a sweeping organisational overhaul in April, eliminating more than 120 positions—mostly administrative—and centralising dispatch functions under two control centres in Prague and Přerov. The restructuring, driven by new Director General Tomáš Tóth, targets...
Podcast: Be Ready, Take Stock, and Keep Talking
The UKA Live Podcast explores how councils should prepare for local government reorganisation and vesting day, emphasizing the need to map the technology estate and address day‑one requirements. Guests Kate Hurr and Dave Lee discuss the complexities of splitting counties,...
City of London Hunts for Partner to Help Transform While ‘Honouring 1,000 Years of History’
The City of London Corporation has issued a £2.4 million preliminary market engagement to secure a strategic partner that will advise on its long‑term transformation. The programme aims to make the Square Mile authority “digitally enabled by design”, financially sustainable and...
Helping Airports Leaders Navigate the Digital Transformation
Ookla has formed a strategic partnership with Imagine Wireless to help airport leaders steer digital transformation. The alliance merges Ookla’s network measurement suite—including Speedtest Insights, Speedtest Certified and Ekahau—with Imagine Wireless’s advisory services, delivering independent validation for private 5G, Wi‑Fi...
AI’s Big Payoff Is Coordination, Not Automation
AI’s most powerful economic effect is lowering the cost of translating disparate data and workflows, not merely automating prediction or creation. By extracting structure from unstructured sources, AI creates a shared, real‑time view that lets teams coordinate without agreeing on...
State of AI: Widely Used for Planning -- Drives the Business at Just 25% of Firms
AI adoption remains uneven, with only a quarter of surveyed firms naming AI as a primary driver of business strategy by the end of 2025, though that share more than doubled from early 2025. Fifty‑five percent say AI influences strategic...
Consultancy of the Year Winners Advantage Utilities Delivers £500,000+ in Energy Savings for UK Leading Hotel Portfolio
Advantage Utilities has been crowned Consultancy of the Year for Large Customers at the 2025 TELCA Awards, recognizing its rapid rise in the UK hotel sector. The firm delivered more than £500,000 in energy savings within two years for a...
Close Your Workforce’s AI Skills Gap by Designing an Adaptive Organization - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM SLALOM
The 2026 Slalom AI Research Report shows a paradox: 68 % of leaders feel they can keep pace with AI, yet 93 % cite underdeveloped skills and inadequate training as major barriers. Deploying AI tools alone isn’t delivering results; the capability gap...
Agility | Job Architecture Transformation: Why This Should Happen in Weeks, Not Years
Job architecture redesign has long been a multi‑year, document‑heavy effort that leaves organizations lagging behind fast‑moving business needs. The article argues that the bottleneck is the outdated, sequential method rather than resistance to change. By swapping manual workshops for AI‑driven...