At the same time, Veolia found itself struggling with a Shared Service Center (SSC) serving 30 entities of the group, performing inefficient legacy operations as it was to post incoming invoices. It was time for something to change, but its Czech team in charge of invoice processing was too big and inflexible, with the process being fragmented across entities. For this reason, the SSC decided to launch a new vision of unified invoice navigation and centralize its process, increasing digitization with the help of Rossum, an AI-first platform for end-to-end transactional document processing.

Enhancing the process with RPA and AI

The SSC leadership began by convincing all stakeholders that an overhaul of the internal process held great potential, with the company then embarking on its collaboration with transactional document automation company, Rossum.

However, the assignment wasn’t like any other; Veolia’s SSC director Ondrej Beranek, explained to ERP Today that the cohort of accountants working in the SSC consisted of people who have been in the profession for a very long time. “It’s important to say that most of the accountants had been working in that position since the time I was born and that’s over 50 percent of them. So to change their way of thinking was the hardest thing in the beginning.”

Before the proof of concept (POC), the accountants printed all documents they received as standard. But after the POC demonstrated that the new plan was solid, the team was able to cut this down and the team now openly communicates to its vendors that they don’t accept anything else except electronic invoices – no matter the particular file format.

Partnering up with Rossum on a new unified invoice navigation process, the chosen solution involved invoices arriving in a centralized entity-specific email inbox managed by a UiPath robot and built by the robotic process automation (RPA) consultancy InnovationPath.

The company started using RPA to extract information from invoices such as due dates, as well as an AI tool they call ‘Artificial Accountant’, with Rossum helping train other AI additions to facilitate auto accounting.

The solution was a UiPath robot built by RPA consultancy InnovationPath.

“As a result, we cut the necessity to print,” Beranek says. “Previously the rate was above 80 percent; we are now oscillating between 4 and 6 percent of paper invoices that we still accept from new vendors. But we are pushing them hard to send them via email. It’s getting better and better, but it is most difficult when it comes to invoices from manual labor”.

Although not initially sold on the idea of AI as part of their daily work, when the senior accountants got familiar with the new approach and realized its benefits, they openly embraced the changes. At the same time, Veolia’s AI Associates (the most technically savvy group of former data entry clerks) started operating mainly in Rossum’s validation interface to quickly review documents and handle any exceptions from the norm.

Rossum’s final output is a standardized EDI message which is paired with the other email attachments and sent to each entity’s downstream ERP.

The numbers don’t tell the full story

While continuing to enable Veolia’s work with an overwhelming number of vendors – 60,000  in the Czech Republic alone – the new system has also decreased the need for further clarifications and one-to-one phone calls with vendors, further streamlining the process.

As time went by and some of the accountants reached their pension age and retired, the newcomers were also taught the same process with no impediments, continuing on the same strategy.

In another crucial step for the team, Veolia was able to rework its structure and continue to change the way it treats invoices, with the accountants having time to specialize in high-impact accounting tasks. At the same time, partnering with a foundation in the Czech Republic, the team welcomed new employees from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as people with disabilities that impacted their ability to perform traditional labor and therefore empowered to make a stable living.

This new cohort of mostly remote workers was equipped with laptops and specialized desk equipment as needed to became a valuable part of Veolia’s work. At the same time, the group effort and the work of the AI Associates in the Shared Service Center allowed it to speed up invoice processing by eight times, with time-saving efficiency reaching up to 87.5 percent.

Beranek says that the strategy followed goes to show that when implementing a solution, it’s not just the technology and the numbers that make a difference, “It’s actually change management and convincing people to change their ways” to achieve extraordinary results.

Why this matters for ERP insiders?

In its quest to enhance efficiency and streamline operations, multinational utility leader Veolia has redefined its invoice processing practices. By integrating cutting-edge AI and robotic process automation (RPA) tools, the company has modernized its Shared Service Center (SSC) while fostering inclusivity and sustainability. Veolia’s partnership with Rossum exemplifies how digital transformation can deliver remarkable efficiency gains and unlock new potential for employees.

Key Takeaways

1. Leveraging AI and RPA to revolutionize processes

Veolia’s SSC, which previously relied on fragmented and manual invoice processing methods, collaborated with Rossum to centralize and digitize operations. Using AI-driven tools like Rossum’s “Artificial Accountant” and RPA workflows designed by InnovationPath, the team automated tasks such as extracting invoice data and routing EDI messages to downstream ERP systems. These solutions reduced the need for paper invoices from over 80 percent to less than 6 percent, while enabling faster, error-free processing across 30 entities.

2. Change Management: The heart of digital transformation

The transformation process required a cultural shift within the SSC, where many accountants were initially skeptical about adopting AI. Through proof of concept demonstrations and hands-on training, employees came to embrace the new system’s benefits. Veolia also empowered its team by creating the role of AI Associates, which allowed former data entry clerks to oversee AI validation and handle exceptions, further solidifying the solution’s effectiveness.

3. Inclusive growth and long-term benefits

Veolia’s efforts extended beyond technology. By partnering with a Czech foundation, the SSC welcomed employees from disadvantaged backgrounds, offering remote work opportunities and specialized support. This inclusive approach contributed to the SSC’s remarkable achievements, including an 87.5 percent increase in time efficiency and an eightfold boost in invoice processing speed. The new system also enabled accountants to focus on high-impact tasks, enhancing their roles while ensuring seamless onboarding for new hires.

Veolia’s experience underscores that digital transformation is as much about people as it is about technology. By investing in change management, inclusivity, and innovative tools, the company has set a benchmark for modernizing shared services while fostering a more adaptive and equitable workforce.

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In his CEO role at UiPath, which Enslin stepped down from in June, he led the company to non-GAAP profitability, advanced its AI strategy and helped expand into new markets.

Now bringing his previous experience as a longtime SAP veteran and Google Cloud president, Enslin will lead Workday’s global commercial strategy for the company’s next phase of growth. He will be responsible for driving Workday’s revenue and leading global sales, partnerships and customer experience efforts. 

“Rob is a world-class leader with a track record of building high-performing go-to-market teams, a deep understanding of industry and partner ecosystems and unique global experience – making him the ideal leader to help guide Workday’s next phase of growth,” said Carl Eschenbach, CEO of Workday. “We’re confident that his vision and commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences will unlock even greater potential for Workday and businesses around the world.”

Enslin called the move “incredibly exciting,” while adding: “Workday’s unparalleled dataset, combined with its commitment to innovation, positions the company to become the definitive AI leader in the ERP market. I’m thrilled to be part of this transformation and shape the future of work.”

Enslin’s new tenure will begin on December 2, 2024.

Workday’s fiscal 2025 Q3 financial results

Workday’s Q3 results surpassed analysts’ expectations with total revenues of $2.160bn, an increase of 15.8 percent from the same time last year and subscription revenues of $1.959bn, an increase of 15.8 percent year-on-year (YoY).

The CEO Eschenbach attributed the solid performance to “the trust our customers place in us across industries, the global momentum around our AI-driven innovations and the strength of our partner ecosystem”.

“Organizations are increasingly consolidating on the Workday platform to reduce total cost of ownership, simplify their operations and to unlock the power of our best-in-class AI solutions. Workday gives them the ultimate advantage – and that positions our business for long-term success,” he added.

However, Workday’s guidance for the current quarter is lower than predicted with CFO Zane Rowe, saying: “Looking ahead, we expect fiscal 2025 subscription revenue of $7.703bn, growth of 17 percent, and fiscal 2025 non-GAAP operating margin of 25.5 percent. We are focused on executing in our seasonally strongest quarter, as we lay the foundation for durable, profitable growth at scale.”

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Taking agentic cognition forward into the next era of AI is UiPath – a company that has been working to deliver Robitic Process Automation (RPA) technologies into the automation acceleration market rather longer than most vendors now caught up in the “we need an AI transformation message” hype-cycle that proliferates.

Banco Azteca

The company used its UiPath Forwards + TechEd 2024 convention this week in Las Vegas to announce news of Banco Azteca (your favorite Mexican financial institution, right?) now transforming its operations and achieving efficiency gains with the strategic implementation of AI and automation from UiPath.

Banco Azteca is one of Mexico’s largest financial institutions and a subsidiary of Grupo Salinas, which offers a range of financial services, including savings accounts, loans, credit cards, insurance and investment options. 

With a network across Mexico and Central America, Banco Azteca serves millions of customers, focusing on financial inclusion and empowering individuals and small businesses. The company’s AI and automation initiative is revolutionizing business operations by transitioning from labor intensive, error-prone manual processes to streamlined, automated workflows.

“The transformation that we have achieved using the UiPath Platform fortifies our competitive edge and underscores our commitment to innovation, setting a new standard for excellence in the financial sector,” said Kathia Barrios, director of transformation operations at Banco Azteca. “We have completely overhauled batch processing, which took many hours to complete, created drastic improvements in processing high quantities of claims and realized significant operational efficiencies. Our transformation is enhancing customer experiences and employee satisfaction.”

New automation generation

Banco Azteca incorporated AI and ML to tackle more complex tasks and make smarter decisions. Initially, Banco Azteca built 15 automations to establish the foundation of its digital transformation, but quickly realized the full potential of the UiPath Platform within its Center of Excellence and developed more automations to significantly improve customer service. The company now has 190 automations designed to optimize diverse processes. For example, 56% of banking transaction clarifications are now resolved in under 24 hours and response times decreased from an average of 13 to 1 day. Business outcomes include enhanced service delivery, heightened productivity and increased shareholder value.

“AI and automation are revolutionizing the way we work by empowering businesses to unleash innovation and tackle some of their most time-consuming challenges to help people spend time on more meaningful work,” said Brandon Deer, go-to-market chief operations officer and chief strategy officer at UiPath.

Deer says that the results that Banco Azteca has achieved are inspirational not only within the financial services sector, but to any business that is seeking to modernize for the digital age with AI and automation.

“This kind of success in operations and productivity is immediately beneficial to customers, partners and employees, all while maintaining security and compliance with strict banking regulations,” he added.

UiPath Insights

UiPath Insights, which provides visibility into process performance and outcomes, is a pillar of Banco Azteca’s success. This, coupled with UiPath Automation Hub, enables the company to identify and prioritize high-impact automation opportunities. 

“We are actually very conscious of who we are doing this: for our children, for every Mexican family that places their trust in us and for every member of our team. We love our work and the impact on millions of customers,” said Manuel Delgado, COO of Banco Azteca. “We are helping Mexico by having the mindset that customer service should be exceptional. We empower our customers and we are also developing and training our team members to leave a much better Mexico for our children. That is why we are working so hard!”

Additionally, the UiPath Action Center helps Banco Azteca streamline validation processes, offering a user-friendly interface that accelerates decision-making. The company is also harnessing the power of UiPath Document Understanding to intelligently extract information from structured and unstructured documents, ensuring compliance with stringent banking regulations. For instance, Document Understanding has been instrumental in validating identification documents, a critical requirement for Mexican and international banking standards.

Banco Azteca was also recently honored as a winner of the UiPath AI25 Awards, which recognize companies that are using AI and automation from UiPath to enhance productivity, transform experiences, create substantial ROI and deliver exceptional business results.

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According to the two vendors, this partnership will help users experience “enterprise-wide transformation through a holistic view of automation across heterogeneous environments that span both SAP and non-SAP systems”. 

The announcement promises that with UiPath’s integration into SAP Build Process Automation, SAP customers will be able to accelerate business transformation, migrate critical business systems to the cloud and streamline business processes that traverse enterprise systems and applications. 

Additionally, customers will benefit from the automation of end-to-end processes through iPaaS, process mining and RPA within SAP’s portfolio of enterprise automation solutions, as well as simplified and accelerated migration to SAP S/4HANA cloud and enhanced rapid and sustained innovation with industry-compliant best practices across SAP and other applications.

“Customers are keen on a holistic approach to automating end-to-end processes that accelerate their business. […] As an SAP solution extension, we can provide customers with the critical ability to scale and deploy enterprise automation across their entire organization,” said Michael Ameling, executive vice president and chief product officer of SAP Business Technology Platform at SAP.

Graham Sheldon, chief product officer at UiPath, also commented on the announcement: “UiPath has worked closely with SAP to create one of the most comprehensive, integrated automation offerings in the market. This helps SAP users automate business processes across their entire enterprise and drive the rapid deployment of AI. 

“By offering the UiPath Business Automation Platform within the SAP Build Process Automation solution, customers can achieve more impactful business outcomes, accelerate transformation and gain added trust and compliance within their automation programs.”

Among other news featuring UiPath’s commitment to enhance its automation capabilities, the vendor has this year announced new features, including the release of UiPath Autopilot which infuses GenAI into the UiPath Business Automation Platform to help businesses achieve better automation outcomes. 

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Having specialized in robotic process automation (RPA) for decades, UiPath is now opening doors to AI to enhance user experience within its automation capabilities.

Showcased at UiPath on Tour: AI at Work summit in London, UiPath Autopilot for developers uses the power of GenAI and natural language processing (NLP) in UiPath Studio to create workflows, generate expressions and help build automations. 

So far, the solution received over 70 percent acceptance rate, making operations processes easier for less experienced developers and speeding up scaffolding for them. 

Among the features that Autopilot delivers are text-to-workflow, text-to-expressions, text-to-code and PDF form, text or image-to-UiPath apps. 

On the other hand, UiPath Autopilot for testers accelerates every aspect of software testing by leveraging GenAI to refine and improve requirements, generates step-by-step tests from those requirements and uses those tests to create coded automations. Among its specific features, it provides quality checks, test design, test automation and test insights.

Additionally, UiPath announced a plugin and integration with Copilot for Microsoft 365, now in preview. The integration will enable joint customers to automate end-to-end business processes with co-workers directly within Microsoft Teams. Customers will have access to a prebuilt automation library to run automations that complete common, repetitive tasks, along with specialized automations for function- or industry-specific tasks. Users can also discover and run automations their company has developed.

In collaboration with Microsoft, UiPath will also release the general availability of UiPath Automation Cloud on Microsoft Azure in the UK, driven by high customer demand for local data residency and a growing need for AI and automation from UiPath. 

UiPath emphasized that the expansion will enable public sector organizations, as well as customers in a wide range of industries such as financial services, healthcare and telecommunications, to better comply with regulations linked to handling sensitive customer data.

Among other announcements at UiPath On Tour London, the company released new AI enhancements for intelligent document processing (IDP) capabilities, including UiPath DocPath and CommPath, active learning and Generative validation, as well as AI-powered building blocks, GenAI activities, which is a curated collection of activities that simplify common GenAI use cases for automation developers.

The users will also be able to access Intelligent UI form-handling capabilities to accelerate development and reduce maintenance as they will deal with a form as a single entity, rather than a collection of individual fields. 

The news reflects UiPath’s commitment to the development and enhancement of its AI capabilities, as was already presented at its virtual AI Summit this spring to aid enterprises with the full potential of AI with automation – by accessing specialized AI models tailored to their challenges and use cases.

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Campbell and Turlin share UiPath’s implementation journey with Certinia’s professional services cloud. Certainly, the combined pressures of undertaking a technology vendor’s own implementation journey, as well as having UiPath’s IPO process in the middle, made this a really important project to get right.

ERP Today learns why an as-a-service offering was the best route for forwarding UiPath’s goals as the vendor developed from a company focused on huge growth, to one focused on bringing in successful ongoing profits. Watch here to find out how the project went.

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UiPath has announced new generative LLMs, context grounding to augment GenAI models with business-specific data, autopilot for developers and testers and prebuilt GenAI activities for faster time to value.

The new additions grant businesses with LLMs that are suited to specific tasks, document processing and communications. LLMs such as DocPATH and CommPATH provide organizations with the tools to customize AI models to their exact requirements and allow them to understand any document along with various message types.

With businesses needing a safe, reliable, low touch way to use their business data with AI models and to address this need, UiPath is introducing Context Grounding within the UiPath AI Trust Layer that will be entering private preview in April. UiPath Context Grounding can help businesses improve the accuracy of GenAI models by providing a foundation of business context through retrieval augmented generation.

Following from this, the company unveiled UiPath Autopilot, a suite of GenAI-powered experiences across the platform, allowing automation builders and users to be more productive. With general availability in June, Autopilot empowers both professional and citizen automation developers to create automations, code and expressions with natural language, accelerating every aspect of building automations.

Finally, the company has announced new prebuilt GenAI Activities that use the UiPath AI Trust Layer and are easy to access, develop with and leverage high quality AI predictions in automation workflows that deliver quicker time to value.

Speaking of these new announcements, Graham Sheldon, chief product officer at UiPath, said: “Businesses need an assortment of AI models, the best-in-class for every task, to achieve their full potential.

“Our new family of UiPath LLMs, along with Content Grounding to optimize GenAI models with business specific data, provide accuracy, consistency, predictability, time to value and empower customers to transform their business environments with the latest GenAI capabilities on the market. These new features ensure that AI has the integrations, data, context and ability to take action in the enterprise with automation to meet our customers’ unique needs.”

More recently, the company announced that UiPath Automation Cloud Public Sector has achieved authorized status in the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

UiPath enables government employees to deliver improved citizen services, modernize IT and other functions for digital resilience, digitize data, automate processes and deploy in the cloud.

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Likely to be remembered in the technology world as the year when GenAI grew exponentially, 2023 further opened organizations’ eyes to advancing tech-powered means of becoming smarter, more intuitive and predictive. But, ever a balancing act, the year was also filled with companies double-downing on their panic button business strategies once again. Just as the global economy was steadily recovering from pandemic disruptions, in came a whole host of extra turbulence from natural disasters, global conflicts, rampant inflation and more.

Now in 2024, ERP Today talks to KPMG, SAP, ServiceNow, Zoom, Google Cloud, Microsoft and many more, as we find out what’s on the technology experts’ cards for this year and beyond, getting the inside track on their industry predictions.

ESG, more opportunities for CIOs, hybrid cloud, quantum computing and a greater role for the ERP sector get an honorable mention this year.

Looking ahead, businesses are still seeking to derive more for less, using next-generation tech tools for a much-welcomed productivity boost and whole new levels of personalization.

Data will be King and fuel the machine, but data privacy will weigh on the minds of C-suites looking to leap aboard data-driven wins.

C-suites, beyond just the CIO, will also likely feel an underlying urgency to develop greater new-tech literacy, and across businesses, we’ll see reskilling programs becoming increasingly commonplace. Plus, while 2023 saw strings of layoffs, 2024 looks set to continue to reignite the hunt for technology talent throughout workforce ranks.

IT spend will be even more focused on business outcomes

DJ Paoni, CEO of Certinia:

The macroeconomic environment is undergoing a tectonic shift. The era of easily accessible capital is giving way to a time when capital has real costs, necessitating a shift from aggressive revenue growth to a focus on profitability. This shift will transform professional services teams from cost centers into profit drivers, expected to be either profit-neutral or significantly contribute to the bottom line.

Linda Yao, chief operating officer and head of strategy, Lenovo Solutions and Services Group:

Faced with an evolving macroeconomic and competitive landscape, businesses will be focused on deriving more value from their IT spending in a couple of ways. The first is they will demand more flexibility in their operations, in terms of having their investments scale with the value they return. They will want more predictability in their cash flows, whether that means using technology to stabilize revenue growth or achieve expense savings, or implementing that technology in a way that allows for predictable cash flow payments.

IT spending on legacy infrastructure will shift to spending on next-generation technology and grow rapidly in the next five to ten years as customers modernize or revamp their IT stack end to end. This includes moving from legacy IT systems to hybrid cloud, adopting more virtualized and interconnected IT environments and eschewing traditional software licenses for highly personalized tech on demand.

More CIOs could be the next CEO

Every member of the executive team will be expected to have a certain level of digital currency – Linda Yao, Lenovo Solutions and Services Group

Linda Yao:

With technology becoming the focal point of nearly every business, especially those from Industry 4.0 leaders, it’s likely we will see more CIOs attain the CEO role or be set up to lead the company into a new generation.

Every member of the executive team will also be expected to have a certain level of digital currency and AI knowledge and to speak about tech more fluently, whether it’s the CMO or CHRO. Even functions that were never enmeshed with the CIO’s role will find themselves working closely with the IT team in the year ahead.

Greater opportunities for the ERP sector

A tighter regulatory framework means there’s a greater focus on how businesses can learn, prevent, adapt, respond to and recover from disruptions – Maureen Robson-Norman, EY

Maureen Robson-Norman, leader and partner, EY UKI:

Another key focus for 2024 will be how ERP platforms can help enable leadership to understand their level of business resilience. Over the past few years, businesses have experienced an unprecedented period of change characterized by multiple headwinds. A tighter regulatory framework, particularly for the financial services and TMT sector, means there’s a greater focus on how businesses can learn, prevent, adapt, respond to and recover from operational and service disruptions. This offers a real opportunity for ERP platforms to provide leaders with real-time insight, allowing them to make informed investment decisions to increase business resilience.

ERP is going to become more automated and turn into what we call pervasive ERP: light-touch, role-based, with users prompted to hand off activities to digital helpers – Claus Jepsen, Unit4

Claus Jepsen, chief product officer and CTO, Unit4:

ERP is going to become more automated and turn into what we call pervasive ERP: light-touch, role-based, with users prompted to hand off activities to digital helpers. For comparison, look at the example of the database, which was once an almost obsessive topic and where people cared a lot about which database they used, the brand or its associated tools. Now, nobody cares.

The same happened with cloud and it is going to be the same with ERP. It becomes one of those technologies that everybody needs, and everybody uses different parameters based on what they need to do. They go for the best solution to deliver a desired outcome and are less focused on how it goes about reaching a certain outcome. Effectively, an ERP is a database with a predefined structure, so it maybe makes sense that the perceptions and opinions follow that same direction of travel as the database.

Personalized products and business resilience

Omkar Nisal, UK and Ireland MD, Wipro:

Personalization will become the new normal. Enabled by configurable and intelligent processes, deeply personalized products and services are now expected by customers – creating a need for variant management and changes to manufacturing processes. We’ll see efficiency driven by hyper-automation. With customer expectations rising but budgets often remaining fixed, organizations are leveraging technology (such as Gen AI, 5G, IoT, etc.) to do more with less and find flexible, reusable solutions.

Business resilience will remain a top priority. Businesses are prioritizing operational and technology measures to be resilient to cyber-attacks, economic downturn, environmental events and unforeseen challenges.

Sustainability will become more of a business imperative. Being responsible and sustainable is influencing access to capital, driving proactive risk and regulatory management.

Quantum technology projects in 2024

There will be something like a quantum epiphany in 2024 as understanding of quantum and its use cases improves – Ian West, KPMG

Ian West, head of technology, KPMG UK:

Until now, headway in UK quantum projects has been limited, held back primarily by concerns about their regulation and security. Organizations are generally unsure of how to take advantage of this potentially transformative technology, but I anticipate there will be something like a quantum epiphany in 2024 as understanding of quantum and its use cases improves. This will translate into a surge in investments in quantum projects, and organizations that already have resources dedicated to quantum technologies will see a return on their investment.

To compete as a global economy, the UK must be at the forefront of innovation. Therefore, it was promising to see the government publish its quantum strategy in March 2023, including suggestions for how to “prepare our wider economy for the quantum revolution”, and the Chancellor announcing his five “quantum missions” in the Autumn Statement.

However, to make real headway, organizations need clear regulations so they can use quantum technologies with confidence.

What’s ahead for procurement

Etosha Thurman, chief marketing and solutions officer at SAP:

As we enter 2024, procurement organizations will continue to focus on cost containment and supply continuity in order to bring value to their businesses. These have traditionally been the primary value drivers and in today’s economic environment, I see this continuing. The opportunity will be maintaining the expanded voice earned with stakeholders during the volatile, crisis-riddled past few years, given the resurgence of hyper-focus on cost containment.

The challenge facing procurement will be how to tackle all of this successfully. What we’ll see is the use of innovation like GenAI, spend analysis and category management solutions to not only provide relevant, real-time business insights, but importantly, to increase the efficiency and productivity of procurement teams, giving more capacity to focus on the strategic work stakeholders now expect.

Reskilling to build a more adaptable workforce

With skilled tech workers in short supply, businesses will need to amplify investments in upskilling and reskilling to build capabilities internally, especially around AI – Cathy Mauzaize, ServiceNow

Cathy Mauzaize, president of EMEA, ServiceNow:

Where many started 2023 with a string of workforce reductions and layoffs, the fading threat of a recession means that the demand for digitally skilled talent has rapidly risen again. Reskilling employees will become a critical strategy, as companies face an increasingly competitive race – and demand – for talent.

With skilled tech workers in short supply, businesses will need to amplify investments in upskilling and reskilling to build capabilities internally, especially around AI. Offering robust training programs and learning opportunities will also be key to attracting and retaining top talent. Companies that invest in their people’s growth will gain a long-term competitive advantage. Closing the global skills gap could add $11.5tn to global GDP by 2028, according to the World Economic Forum, so reskilling should become a strategic business priority, not just an HR initiative. With the right vision and tools, companies can build workforces with adaptable skill sets ready for whatever the future may hold.

Cybersecurity transformation

Organizations will increase scrutiny of suppliers’ cybersecurity practices, with some larger shops requesting fourth-party security evaluations – Robert Graham, Zoom

Robert Graham, customer security assurance lead EMEA, Zoom:

Going into 2024, the cybersecurity landscape will continue to see a profound transformation. Here are key trends I foresee that will shape the industry next year:

Emerging AI technologies in cybersecurity will aid cyber attackers before they help cyber defenders, and small and medium businesses will become more important targets as larger organizations with the funding will strengthen their cyber defenses.

Organizations will increase their scrutiny of suppliers’ cybersecurity posture and practices, with some larger shops requesting fourth-party security evaluations – that is, demanding third-party risk management from their suppliers.

Plus, organizations will demand that their cybersecurity teams achieve enhanced effectiveness at either equal or even reduced budget levels. Many cybersecurity teams will work to squeeze more results out of current investments or demonstrate operational efficiencies. Human resources departments will be increasingly open to hiring additional junior cybersecurity staff, while line managers will be expected to do more to upskill the talent they have.

Geopolitical concerns will spill over into more cybercrime as isolated nation-states and splinter groups look to cyberattacks as a latent source of funding for politically unpalatable activities. Cyberattacks will still not be felt as physical damage just yet. They will continue to act as digital disruptions, but significant ones.

ESG a key driver to businesses achieving circularity

Maggie Slowik, global industry director for manufacturing, IFS:

With increasing global scrutiny on sustainability, consumers and businesses alike are after more transparency when it comes to ESG and sustainability, while also wanting to retain their products and equipment for longer.

Some companies are pursuing new business models to drive sustainability, such as circular operations, for example. By using materials over and over again, they not only create resilience through a decreased dependence on virgin materials but also yield more profitability out of the same product.

Accelerating this direction is the speed at which the regulatory landscape and circular economy policies are evolving. These already are, or shortly will, have a profound impact on the ways organizations can operate, both in the near and long term.

All eyes set on GenAI

Helen Kelisky, managing director, Google Cloud UKI:

2023 has been a monumental year. In particular, we saw the emergence of groundbreaking new technologies and generative AI-powered tools that will transform the way we work, create and interact – and this is just the beginning! The technology isn’t just changing the game – it’s creating a whole new one. Expect to witness even more UK businesses across all industries using GenAI to unlock everything from predicting issues before they even happen, to deeply intelligent customer services.

Get ready for a paradigm shift: GenAI will revolutionize how businesses understand and leverage their data, breaking free from the limitations of traditional data analysis. GenAI’s natural language prowess will unlock a new era of human-data interaction for businesses, elevating how they extract insights, make decisions and personalize experiences. Databases that deeply integrate GenAI functionality with real-time operational data will begin to work alongside knowledgeable colleagues, sparking and informing conversations about what may help, aid and boost sales. The businesses that don’t bring GenAI closer to their analytical systems will struggle to compete against those who do.

Rob Smithson, business applications lead, Microsoft UK:

In 2024, we’ll continue to see the adoption of AI, with empowering workforce productivity at the forefront.

With AI copilots, business applications are undergoing a fundamental change for the first time in over 20 years, from data entry and retrieval platforms to becoming fully assistive experiences, informed by business data. AI will allow businesses to automate tasks with unparalleled speed and efficiency, providing employees with more time for creative and strategic endeavors. Organizations must now commit to empowering their employees and cultivating an environment that maximizes productivity through AI.

Prince Kohli, CTO of Automation Anywhere:

Amid geopolitical uncertainty, organizations are racing toward digital transformation. This new reality is ushering in a paradigm shift in how we engage with technology. With this context in mind, I’m predicting several new trends will emerge in 2024.

Automation and AI will drive billions of dollars in enterprise value – enterprises are poised to realize substantial benefits from the adoption of AI and automation. However, this will only apply to organizations that see the combination as an integral pillar of enterprise architecture rather than just a cost-cutting tool.

The chief AI officer will disappear – rather than the chief AI officer, the chief technology officer will be the natural choice for steering AI strategy. The CTO will educate and guide the rest of the C-suite on the value of AI, a strategic shift that places AI at the heart of more business decisions.

Bad actions will use AI to influence critical events. Bad actors, disgruntled employees and outright criminals can use AI to impact businesses, amplifying the potential for widespread misinformation and challenges in safeguarding the integrity of simple business practices.

AI technology governance in 2024

Dr Edward Challis, head of AI strategy and general manager for communications mining, UiPath:

Enterprise leaders certainly recognize AI’s potential value, with more than 80 percent of businesses set to use GenAI by 2026. However, the ability to deploy the technology responsibly is still largely immature, with concerns from executives around risk and governance. 2024 will be the year that this perception changes and organizations see AI progress from aspiration to implementation.

The next year will also be one where companies recognize the critical importance of putting people at the center of their AI strategy. A key part of realizing AI’s value is creating processes for employees to review the output of machines. As a result, we’ll see greater adoption of human-in-the-loop validation and control measures on AI systems. This will further enable enterprises to take big strides in AI deployment to automate and optimize their processes while ensuring that they make their staff an important part of the journey.

Barriers to harnessing advances in AI

Maynard Williams, managing director and CTO UKI, Accenture:

Data silos and a lack of connectivity between data sources, for example, remain one of the biggest limiting factors in a company’s ability to harness advances in AI. “Aimless innovation” is also a core challenge to realizing value, with many organizations running multiple AI proofs-of-concept without an overarching strategy in place to tie them together.

Moving into next year, leaders will reach a crunch point where they will no longer be able to delay the kind of “open heart surgery” required to overhaul their legacy systems – meaning foundational work on their cloud infrastructures and interconnected platforms with a clear vision in mind. The reassessments they make to their tech stack are crucial as the investments made over the next year will define their enterprise for the next decade. Those who fail to recognize this early risk falling into the trap of aimless innovation and spending on proof of concepts that fail to scale in the long term.

GenAI’s negative impacts will be hard to manage early on

Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO Snowflake:

Although GenAI is reimagining how we interact with machines, there are some immediate concerns that will be particularly challenging in the early years of widespread AI and language model adoption. For a lot of people involved in what we loosely call “knowledge work,” quite a few of their jobs are going to vaporize. Rapid change makes it hard to quickly absorb displaced workers elsewhere in the workforce, and as a result, both the private sector and governments will need to step up.

Finally, advances in AI will exacerbate the digital divide that has been happening over the past 20-30 years between the haves and have-nots, and will further increase inequality across the globe. I can only hope that by making information more accessible, this emerging technology leads to a new generation of young adults who better understand the issues and potential, and can counter that risk.

The rise of hybrid cloud in AI

Enterprises will prioritize platforms that facilitate the integration of commonly available data and private data, positioning the hybrid cloud as a cornerstone for AI success in the coming year – Erica Langhi, Red Hat

Erica Langhi, senior solution architect, EMEA, Red Hat:

As we move further into 2024, the strategic integration of hybrid cloud solutions into AI initiatives is set to become a defining trend. Organizations will recognize the imperative of leveraging both on-premises and cloud resources to derive maximum value from their AI endeavors. This trend is driven by the need to balance data security and sovereignty with the computational power required for sophisticated AI models. Decision-makers will increasingly opt for hybrid cloud approaches that enable seamless collaboration, agility and lifecycle management, thereby overcoming the pitfalls that have historically hindered AI projects. Successful enterprises will prioritize platforms that facilitate the integration of commonly available data and private data, positioning the hybrid cloud as a cornerstone for AI success and innovation in the coming year.

Demand for increased productivity drives all

Paul O’Sullivan, senior vice president of engineering, Salesforce UKI:

The evolution of technological revolutions, from the second era of electric, to now the fourth era of AI, is marked by a relentless quest for increased productivity. While organizations seek to develop AI strategies to enhance business performance and cost efficiency, the cautionary balance between speed and trust will remain critical for the foreseeable future.

I anticipate significant advancements in digital transformation in 2024, with the emergence of new business models, converging technologies such as robotics, AI, automation, IoT, A/VR and increased demand for data-driven experiences.

Fortune will favor the brave in the AI revolution. Accelerated impacts on businesses will see rapid wins and losses, whilst change management and adoption will pose challenges, emphasizing the need for a flexible approach. Organizations need to operate in an environment that both encourages innovation and has the necessary guardrails in place.

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AWS has announced its plans to launch an AWS infrastructure Region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2026. 

The new AWS Region will target to give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, enterprises, along with healthcare, education, gaming and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications. This can help serve end users from data centers located in the country, ensuring that customers who want to keep their content in-country can do so. 

As part of this long-term commitment, AWS is planning to invest more than $5.3bn in Saudi Arabia.

“Today’s announcement supports the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation with the highest levels of security and resilience available on AWS cloud infrastructure, helping serve fast-growing demand for cloud services across the Middle East,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of infrastructure services at AWS. 

“The new AWS Region will enable organizations to unlock the full potential of the cloud build with AWS technologies like compute, storage, databases, analytics and artificial intelligence, transforming the way businesses and institutions serve their customers.”

Upon its launch, the new AWS Region will consist of three Availability Zones, adding to the 105 existing Availability Zones across 33 geographic regions globally.

AWS is also planning to launch 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS Regions in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.

To support the growth in cloud adoption across Saudi Arabia, AWS will continue to scale its training programs and help accelerate Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goal of empowering women to increase participation in the workforce. 

To support this goal, AWS is launching a new upskilling program, “AWS Saudi Arabia Women’s Skills Initiative,” in partnership with Skillsoft Global Knowledge, which will train up to 4,000 women helping them jumpstart a career in cloud computing.

UiPath announces new office location in Riyadh and first Saudi School of Automation

UiPath has announced its commitment to support digital transformation and workforce upskilling via AI and automation technologies in Saudi Arabia, with new investments in the Kingdom.

Announced at the LEAP 2024 event in the Saudi capital Riyadh, UiPath shared the news about opening a Saudi Arabia office and launching a Saudi School of Automation.

The new office location in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh is part of a strategic investment in the country, including technology and workforce. As part of these efforts, UiPath is committing that 90 percent of hires at the office will be Saudi Arabian nationals.

Launching its first Saudi School of Automation, in partnership with the Saudi Digital Academy, UiPath also announced its new program designed to accelerate the advancement of the Kingdom’s future workforce with training on AI and automation.

The three-month customized, intensive curriculum, created and facilitated by UiPath, will build automation developer skills for an initial cohort of young Saudi professionals. 

Rob Enslin, CEO of UiPath, said: “AI and automation can help unlock our nearly limitless potential as humans. UiPath strives to accelerate human achievement by creating the tools that allow people to see new possibilities, think bigger and achieve more – for better workplaces and a better world.

“Automation isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about opening resources to tackle head on some of society’s biggest challenges like climate change, healthcare access and sustainability.” 

Ibrahem AlNasser, deputy minister for future jobs and capabilities at the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said: “We are proud to partner with UiPath to develop the next generation of Saudi talent. This academy will provide us with a pipeline of highly skilled individuals who are ready to contribute to our success.”

Expanding its partnership with Google Cloud, UiPath recently announced its availability on Google Cloud Marketplace, making it easier for users to purchase the UiPath Business Automation Platform and reliably deploy and scale their automation initiatives on Google Cloud infrastructure.

These recent announcements follow the company’s third quarter fiscal 2024 financial results which demonstrated the strategic role enterprise automation plays in digital transformation as Q3 saw “ARR growing 24 percent year-on-year to $1.378bn, driven by the team’s execution and transformational results,” Rob Enslin, UiPath CEO, said.

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For the quarter that ended October 31, 2023, the RPA firm’s revenue grew 24 percent to $326m, while ARR was also up 24 percent to $1.378bn, spurred by third-quarter net new ARR of $70m.

Rob Enslin, UiPath’s co-CEO said that the third quarter results were another proof point of its commitment to delivering strong top-line growth with expanding profitability and non-GAAP adjusted free cash flow.

“I am pleased with our strong third quarter results with ARR growing 24 percent year-over-year (YoY) to $1.378bn, driven by the team’s execution and the transformational results we deliver,” said Enslin. “My conversations with customers and partners validate the strategic role enterprise automation plays in digital transformation and I am excited about the investments we continue to make in AI to further extend our market leadership.”

At the beginning of this fiscal year, the company pivoted its go-to-market resources towards organizations that have a meaningful runway to invest in enterprise automation over the long-term. Enslin explained that this investment has significantly increased the company’s presence in the C-suite and has helped raise its profile with partners of all sizes.

FX-adjusted dollar-based net retention for the quarter was 123 percent and UiPath closed a record number of third-quarter deals over $1m in ARR. Customers with $1m or more in ARR grew 31 percent to 264, while customers with $100,000 or more in ARR increased to 1,974.

Daniel Dines, co-founder and co-CEO of UiPath, also said during the earnings call: “The automation market is at an inflection point, and as the market leading tool that enables organizations to derive actionable value from AI, we believe this is a huge opportunity for UiPath.”

The company ended the quarter with 10,865 customers with some highlights including Veterans Affairs, Coast Guard, the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as new logos like New Relic, Smile Doctors, Beacon Health System and MidWestOne Financial Group.

The team also shared observations that momentum continues in financial services and healthcare where automation delivers considerable value, including one of the top 25 customers, a large non-profit health system in the US. 

Looking ahead into the fiscal fourth quarter 2024, UiPath expects revenue in the range of $381m-$386m, ARR in the range of $1.450bn-$1.455bn and, finally, fiscal year 2024 non-GAAP adjusted free cash flow of more than $250m.

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