Professional services stories

Everywhen survey shows cyber threats dominating boardroom concerns for legal, accountancy and consultancy firms, as economic worries lag far behind.

CrowdStrike unveils AI security coalition with Accenture, EY, IBM Cybersecurity Services, Kroll and OpenAI to spot and fix code flaws faster.

Cognizant deepens Google Cloud tie-up with embedded engineers, new Marketplace offers and a North American telecoms AI win.

Deloitte and Payslip say tighter EU pay rules are driving multinationals towards centralised payroll systems, with 1.3 million payslips now automated annually.

UK project-based firms are turning AI from pilot schemes into day-to-day tools, with nearly half reporting productivity or cost gains, Deltek says.

Former EY and Accenture executive Frank O'Dea leads London-based Klarus, which uses senior specialists and outcome-based fees to turn AI pilots into measurable returns.

Quantium joins Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise push with a new AI practice aimed at moving enterprise agents from pilots into production.

KPMG deepens Google Cloud tie-up with AI agents for regulated sectors, including a Cardinal Health finance tool to tackle pricing disputes.

Luminance and LexisNexis have struck a tie-up to embed citation-backed legal research inside contract review, aiming to cut switch-hopping for in-house lawyers.

Cognizant named inaugural OpenAI Codex partner as it embeds the coding tool across engineering work for clients and internal software delivery.

Pluxee UK and Attivo unveil a life-stage financial wellbeing service for employees, as firms seek to ease money worries linked to lost productivity.

Litera brings AI redlining and document comparison to Google Drive and Docs, giving lawyers a new way to review contracts inside Workspace.

Sage and PwC have launched AI-driven tools to speed Sage Intacct deployment and help accounting firms automate advisory work.

Salute appoints Dale Harding as Managing Director for Capital Projects and Professional Services amid global data centre expansion.

TeamSystem says overseas expansion and fresh AI editions drove 2025 revenue to EUR €1.15 billion, with EBITDA up 24% and margins widening.

Ravical says most UK accounting firms would not reinvest AI savings into advisory growth, as skills gaps and weak systems keep revenue from scaling.

Intuit's QuickBooks is under pressure as AI start-ups push automated bookkeeping, forcing accounting software to prove it can do more than digitise ledgers.

Xero unveils AI-native finance platform and JAX assistant to cut admin for small firms, with accountants and bookkeepers also in line for gains.

Only 3% of 18- to 24-year-olds see payroll as strategic, as Cezanne HR warns of a recruitment and succession challenge for employers.

Emergent's Wingman puts autonomous AI agents to work across email, calendars and chats, with human approval for higher-risk actions.