Feature: Business & Professional Services


Why professional services must be at the forefront of the technological revolution


As the business world evolves, especially in the wake of relentless technological advancement, the professional services sector finds itself in an interesting position. In some respects, such technological advancements


create a whole host of opportunities for the sector. As processes change and become less paper based, as new regulations are adopted in line with changes and as businesses fight to take full advantage of the so-call fourth industrial revolution, the professional services industry are increasingly being engaged by individual customers and business clients. An example of the clamour to take advantage of new


technology – and how the professional services sector can look to play a significant role – can be found in Chamber member PwC’s assessment of last year’s new regulations in relation to Open Banking technology. In a subsequent press release PwC, a multinational professional services network and the second-largest professional services firm in the world, commented that: “New regulation aimed at opening up the UK’s current account market could lead to an influx of new players and services for 32.7 million consumers and 4.8 million small businesses by 2022, according to new PwC research on Open Banking. “PwC forecasts the market could be catering for 8.1 million consumers and 2.4 million small businesses and worth £2.3bn by the end of 2018. By 2022, the Open Banking sector could quadruple its worth to generate £7.2bn of revenues, PwC’s research indicates.” Of the developments, Carl Sizer, PwC Financial Services Leader in the Midlands, said: “We are seeing companies starting to treat Open Banking regulation as a critical topic that cannot be ignored due to the size of the opportunity, but also because of the potential influx of competitors and the potential overhaul it could deal the financial services landscape.


‘Open Banking goes some way to levelling the playing field between the traditional financial services providers and new disruptors’


18 East Midlands Chamber Directory 2019 “By providing access to this data to third parties,


Open Banking goes some way to levelling the playing field between the traditional financial services providers and new disruptors. Incumbents are at risk of falling behind more technology enabled peers as well as the new market entrants such as FinTechs. “However, incumbent payment providers are already reacting by boosting innovation, emphasising the valuable features and building on the trust that they have established and invested in over many years.” So the expertise, skillsets and resources of many professional service-based businesses – be that an accountancy firm, lawyers, management and IT consultants, the list goes on - can be ideally placed to be on hand to clients looking to them to both minimise disruption as well as take advantage of opportunities. Yet the key point is that, while this is a potentially fertile environment, those in the business services sector are themselves not immune to current and future changes in the markets they operate in; especially when it comes to technology.


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