Category: Analytics and Big Data

  • From People to Tech arbitrage: Can we really survive this Great Services Transition?

    We are in the S-Curve evolution from People to Technology Arbitrage, that the Generative Enterprise demands. This is truly the Great Services Transition, where the entire financial construct of services relationships is being reinvented to capitalize on the complex new ecosystem of AI platform players, hyperscalers, data integration products, automation tools, LLM builders, and so on. Enterprises must address their debts in these four areas which have likely collected over the last 30+ years: People debt, Process debt, Data debt and Technical debt.Read More

  • GBS (Global Business Services) is dead. Long live GBS (Generative Business Services)

    March 16, 2024 | ,

    For more than two decades, Global Business Services (GBS), the centralized service delivery model leveraging a mix of internal shared services and/or 3rd party outsourcing, has been a tried and tested modus operandi for large enterprises to save costs, drive process discipline and improve compliance.However, with the rapid advent of real generative AI capability, the current GBS model is dated, fails to deliver much (if any) value beyond cost and efficiency and has struggled to create viable career opportunities for ambitious talent.  Let’s face it, GBS is still stuck squarely in the back office and fails to provide a career track for the best and brightest to pivot their firms into the generative AI era.Read More

  • We’re entering the Third Phase of AI: Purposeful AI

    Welcome to the Purposeful AI where humans set the goals and the boundaries, and your AI is empowered to deliver on the actions. This 'Third Phase of AI' follows from Foundational AI and Generative AI and is designed to make independent decisions – acting with autonomy within human-defined boundaries. Purposeful AI goes beyond a one-time-only assembly of rules of engagement. It will learn from its interactions and from prompts provided by humans to constantly improve its capabilities to action their desired outcomes in real-timeRead More

  • Are the Big 4 about to get their lunch eaten by GenAI?

    January 29, 2024 | ,

    Up until November 30th, 2022, the Big 4 consultants dined on the ineptitude of large enterprises to move bad processes into the cloud, while the Indian heritage outsourcers fed on the tasty scraps of supplying armies of low-wage talent at scale to keep these hulking institutions somehow functioning. Nothing has disrupted the cozy status quo of big enterprise technology transformations more than GenAI.  It has been a true leveler across the industry where suddenly everyone is operating on a level playing field, trying to convince the world they have a better GenAI story than their competitors. Our industry has been equalized, and a new set of winners are going to emerge...Read More

  • Service providers are investing ahead of the curve in GenAI, but are enterprises truly ready to partner with them?

    Which of today's leading service providers have the real chops to provide GenAI value at scale?  Who's actively backing up their big rhetoric with real know-how and capability?  Well... after an exhausting process of researching the 35 market leaders, their customers and partners, we can provide the industry's first real view of how the GenAI services landscape is shaking out.Read More

  • Accenture, Capgemini, Genpact, IBM, Infosys, TCS—the F&A entourage leading the way to Horizon 3 outcomes

    HFS conducted an exhaustive research exercise into 15 of the key service providers in the latest Horizons report on F&A Service Providers, 2023, by diving deep into the capabilities of each and how they have contributed to the changing F&A landscape over the last year.  Read More

  • Disrupt or be disrupted: The soaring pace of innovation in payments

    September 02, 2023 | , ,

    HFS launches its first-ever cards and payments Horizons report. Payments demonstrate the fastest innovation cycles in BFS and are in a constant state of disruption as digital models decimate the cost and data intelligence capabilities of legacy systems. Payments-industry shifts are forcing incumbents to work harder to capture growth, pick up the pace of digitization, gain economies of scale, and manage risk—all while contributing to innovation. These demands can be overwhelming, but the potential for growth and innovation in the payments space is real. Therefore, attracting new players in great numbers, crowding the market, and raising the competitive stakes.Read More

  • IBM’s acquisition of Apptio can shine if IBM Software and IBM Consulting work together to deliver cost-managed innovation at speed

    July 21, 2023 | ,

    HFS believes this is a good deal for both IBM and Apptio. IBM didn’t have much spend data; therefore, there is little overlap in terms of products. The ambition is bold. But the Holy Grail of operations is having an operational single pane of glass that includes automation and AI. If IBM can integrate all those acquisitions and get all that telemetry data out of its often highly specific domains, it can achieve strong differentiation in the market. Conversely, Apptio had hit a sales plateau as it struggled to scale its sales reach. Getting $4.6bn for hitting a plateau is too good an opportunity to turn down.Read More

  • IBM Watson missed the AI revolution, but Watsonx could become the heartbeat of the Generative Enterprise

    May 10, 2023 | ,

    IBM unveiled its multi-model and multi-cloud Watsonx to drive AI-first enterprises - what we are calling "The Generative Enterprise" at HFS. IBM is describing the platform as a "full technology stack" for training, tuning, and deploying AI models, including foundation and large language models while ensuring tight data governance controls. In our view, Watsonx is the first enterprise-grade offering to address the Generative Enterprise holistically.  Here’s our interpretation of WatsonxRead More

  • 2023 is the year of ‘The Autonomous Enterprise’ as economics trigger change

    January 21, 2023 |

    Inflation-driven pressures will likely culminate in a huge wave of job reductions, sparking the demand for autonomous technologies to fill the voidRead More