Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design
Lead Research Organisation:
Oxford Brookes University
Department Name: Oxford Brookes Business School
Abstract
Professional service firms are facing increasing challenges from A.I .and machine learning technologies. Whilst these technological innovations are important for growth and productivity, how they are integrated into business practices and business m is of critical concern. This project focuses on the role that collaborative exploration about future uncertainties can play in the design and implementation of new A.I. technologies in accounting and legal services. The project focuses on the ways in which businesses can think about changing the way they work through a collaborative design model that considers current and future pathways for A.I. technologies and the broader, dynamic institutional landscape.
The project addresses the UK Industrial Strategy's Grand Challenge which calls for a consideration of how AI technologies can boost UK national productivity and growth. The project will focus specifically on synthesising insights from business model innovation, operations management, studies of professional service firms, developments in AI, and service design to understand how innovation in PSFs is adopted and assimilated. The project team will connect these multidisciplinary academic insights with the on-the-ground understandings and perspectives of innovators in professional services firms.
To achieve the aims, the project will maintain a focus on people's experiences of new products and services within mid-market firms which are particularly sensitive to technological change due to their size, the threat of competition, and resources. Rather than focusing solely on the technology itself, the research will generate insights into a human-centric role for innovation and the integration of transformative AI technologies. The research will look to undertake exploratory prototyping of solutions designed in collaboration with firms to enable a rapid generation and assessment of potential future applications of AI across the business model. This is critical in the objective of the project to broaden participation of those within firms in exploring challenges and strategies within professional service firms. Finally, the project seeks to translate research insights into multiple formats and media, addressing the different needs and demands of firms working within the challenges of rapid technological transformation.
Key to the project will be the exploration and identification of the main areas of 'threat' and 'opportunity' offered by the adoption of AI in accounting and law as well as analysing the potential barriers to AI-based business model innovation. The findings will be used to offer proposals as to how these might be addressed. Alongside the technological barriers, the research will seek to explore the institutional, regulatory and societal challenges that face PSFs. By integrating these objectives with co-creative practices the project seeks to provide strategies and business solutions for those at the coalface of AI and machine learning.
The project will be delivered through five work packages. These will include an initial phase exploring institutional factors, and opportunities and barriers, before designing strategies through direct collaboration with firms in 'design sprints' informed by the research perspectives of the project team. The final phase will synthesize the evidence and findings to generate important academic and practitioner outputs as well as dissemination through partner stakeholders and organisations. Through our close collaboration with the Managing Partners' Forum, the project will have access to mid-size firms across the 2 sectors identified. This research will deliver important academic insights into the ways in which a design thinking approach can expand our notion of innovation and seek to provide key recommendations that will shape how AI is implemented and how professional service firms can frame their responses to rapid technological change.
The project addresses the UK Industrial Strategy's Grand Challenge which calls for a consideration of how AI technologies can boost UK national productivity and growth. The project will focus specifically on synthesising insights from business model innovation, operations management, studies of professional service firms, developments in AI, and service design to understand how innovation in PSFs is adopted and assimilated. The project team will connect these multidisciplinary academic insights with the on-the-ground understandings and perspectives of innovators in professional services firms.
To achieve the aims, the project will maintain a focus on people's experiences of new products and services within mid-market firms which are particularly sensitive to technological change due to their size, the threat of competition, and resources. Rather than focusing solely on the technology itself, the research will generate insights into a human-centric role for innovation and the integration of transformative AI technologies. The research will look to undertake exploratory prototyping of solutions designed in collaboration with firms to enable a rapid generation and assessment of potential future applications of AI across the business model. This is critical in the objective of the project to broaden participation of those within firms in exploring challenges and strategies within professional service firms. Finally, the project seeks to translate research insights into multiple formats and media, addressing the different needs and demands of firms working within the challenges of rapid technological transformation.
Key to the project will be the exploration and identification of the main areas of 'threat' and 'opportunity' offered by the adoption of AI in accounting and law as well as analysing the potential barriers to AI-based business model innovation. The findings will be used to offer proposals as to how these might be addressed. Alongside the technological barriers, the research will seek to explore the institutional, regulatory and societal challenges that face PSFs. By integrating these objectives with co-creative practices the project seeks to provide strategies and business solutions for those at the coalface of AI and machine learning.
The project will be delivered through five work packages. These will include an initial phase exploring institutional factors, and opportunities and barriers, before designing strategies through direct collaboration with firms in 'design sprints' informed by the research perspectives of the project team. The final phase will synthesize the evidence and findings to generate important academic and practitioner outputs as well as dissemination through partner stakeholders and organisations. Through our close collaboration with the Managing Partners' Forum, the project will have access to mid-size firms across the 2 sectors identified. This research will deliver important academic insights into the ways in which a design thinking approach can expand our notion of innovation and seek to provide key recommendations that will shape how AI is implemented and how professional service firms can frame their responses to rapid technological change.
Planned Impact
The main impacts will be achieved through the active collaboration of investigators with staff at the Managing Partners' Forum, access to its 1000 members in professional services firms, and recruitment of its members and wider stakeholders who are leaders in firms across different sectors in the UK as participants in the project, as well as communication and collaboration to translate insights into action with others working in professional bodies, regulation and policy. We envisage the following impacts:
- Around 30 people who are partners and managers in 11 professional services firms who are directly involved in work package 2 will have opportunities and support from investigators to explore the potential impact of A.I. technologies on their work practices through participation in 'design sprints' through which potential solutions are developed, explored and assesssed. The impact of this is likely to be long-lasting beyond the duration of the project by being exposed to several strands of academic research; training in design thinking methods; and through active participation in the research including through sense-making workshops and participation in interviews before and after the design sprint. The outcomes will include potential strategies these firms can develop further; capacity building in innovation practices across firms enabling them to harness A.I. technologies within value propositions and business models; and knowledge exchange with other professional services firms and with academics from several fields.
- A much larger number of partners and managers in professional services firms using project outputs such as AI Innovation Barometer, Futures Scenarios and Service Innovation Toolkit will be equipped to explore the potential impact of AI technologies on their firm work practices, business models and innovation systems. These outputs and events will be co-produced and co-branded with the Managing Partners' Forum. The impacts will include enhanced capacity across the law and accountancy sectors to understand and respond to the dynamic institutional landscape and technological change.
- Policy makers in Government departments (especially BEIS (industrial strategy), DCMS (digital policy) and HMT (financial regulation) as well as policy advisers in regulators and professional bodies will have opportunities to understand, explore and assess the fast-changing landscape and understand the implications for government. This will be achieved through: (a) active participation of about 30 policy advisers including civil servants in a 'policy sprint' workshop to explore the implications of findings for systems innovation, and to co-create policy options together; (b) participation in future scenarios and roadmapping workshops; and (c) access to outputs such as reports and online tools. The impacts will include reframing current perceptions of productivity and thinking systemically and multi-dimensionally about the potential for AI in the law and accoutancy sectors and the institutional landscape.
- Leaders and staff in professional bodies representing, advocating and informing legal and accountancy firms will have opportunities to understand, explore and assess the fast-changing landscape and understand the implications of AI on their sectors. This will be achieved through: (a) active participation in a 'policy sprint' workshop to explore the implications of findings for systems innovation, and to co-create policy options ; (b) iparticipation in future scenarios and roadmapping workshops; and (c) access to outputs such as reports and online tools such as the AI Innovation Barometer. Impacts will include reframing current perceptions of productivity as well as thinking systemically and multi-dimensionally about the potential for AI in their sectors and the institutional landscape; as well as new dialogues and exchanges between and across organisations, firms and sectors.
- Around 30 people who are partners and managers in 11 professional services firms who are directly involved in work package 2 will have opportunities and support from investigators to explore the potential impact of A.I. technologies on their work practices through participation in 'design sprints' through which potential solutions are developed, explored and assesssed. The impact of this is likely to be long-lasting beyond the duration of the project by being exposed to several strands of academic research; training in design thinking methods; and through active participation in the research including through sense-making workshops and participation in interviews before and after the design sprint. The outcomes will include potential strategies these firms can develop further; capacity building in innovation practices across firms enabling them to harness A.I. technologies within value propositions and business models; and knowledge exchange with other professional services firms and with academics from several fields.
- A much larger number of partners and managers in professional services firms using project outputs such as AI Innovation Barometer, Futures Scenarios and Service Innovation Toolkit will be equipped to explore the potential impact of AI technologies on their firm work practices, business models and innovation systems. These outputs and events will be co-produced and co-branded with the Managing Partners' Forum. The impacts will include enhanced capacity across the law and accountancy sectors to understand and respond to the dynamic institutional landscape and technological change.
- Policy makers in Government departments (especially BEIS (industrial strategy), DCMS (digital policy) and HMT (financial regulation) as well as policy advisers in regulators and professional bodies will have opportunities to understand, explore and assess the fast-changing landscape and understand the implications for government. This will be achieved through: (a) active participation of about 30 policy advisers including civil servants in a 'policy sprint' workshop to explore the implications of findings for systems innovation, and to co-create policy options together; (b) participation in future scenarios and roadmapping workshops; and (c) access to outputs such as reports and online tools. The impacts will include reframing current perceptions of productivity and thinking systemically and multi-dimensionally about the potential for AI in the law and accoutancy sectors and the institutional landscape.
- Leaders and staff in professional bodies representing, advocating and informing legal and accountancy firms will have opportunities to understand, explore and assess the fast-changing landscape and understand the implications of AI on their sectors. This will be achieved through: (a) active participation in a 'policy sprint' workshop to explore the implications of findings for systems innovation, and to co-create policy options ; (b) iparticipation in future scenarios and roadmapping workshops; and (c) access to outputs such as reports and online tools such as the AI Innovation Barometer. Impacts will include reframing current perceptions of productivity as well as thinking systemically and multi-dimensionally about the potential for AI in their sectors and the institutional landscape; as well as new dialogues and exchanges between and across organisations, firms and sectors.
Organisations
- Oxford Brookes University (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- Litig (Collaboration)
- LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Lancaster University (Collaboration)
- University of the Arts London (Collaboration)
- TheCityUK (Collaboration)
- Managing Partners Forum (Collaboration)
- NormannPartners (Collaboration)
Publications
Chaplin, R.
(2021)
Fast Track Innovation
Cordasco C
(2021)
An institutional taxonomy of adoption of innovation in the classic professions
in Technovation
Faulconbridge J
(2021)
How professional actions connect and protect
in Journal of Professions and Organization
Francisco Trincado-Munoz
(2021)
AI the Legal, Accountancy and Insurance Industries [Full Report]
Hilary Smyth Allen
(2021)
Understanding Incubation in Next-Generation Services
Kimbell Lucy
(2021)
AI Readiness: A collaborative design toolkit for professional services firms
Kimbell Lucy
(2021)
AI Readiness: A collaborative design toolkit for professional services firms
Kimbell, Lucy
(2021)
Using 2030 Scenarios to Explore Futures for Professional Services Firms
| Description | The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and its 'grand challenge' of artificial intelligence (AI) is predicated on the existence of a substantial yet bridgeable gap between new and emerging AI technologies and their enormous potential for application. Our project approached the AI challenge as a 'design challenge' using mixed methods from social science research. By maintaining a focus on exploring potential futures in the present through design thinking and scenario planning helped uncover the existing and latent needs of PSFs by allowing participants to explore and assess the current state of and potential for AI and the expected trajectories of technological developments over the next few years. • Secondary research and analysis of market intelligence to identify opportunities for innovation in mid-sized law and accounting firms involving specific AI technologies was undertaken. A number of key findings are detailed in the report but are inclusive of the findings that fragmentation in the regulatory framework may impact on speed of adoption of AI or at least make it less clear where change is being driven from for the sector when the challenge will undoubtedly require collective action. • Advancement of academic and practitioner understanding about the factors influencing the update and use of AI technologies, qualitative, interview-based research into AI adoption in accountancy and law firms in England was conducted in 11 accountancy and 18 law firms in the mid-tier range. The report reveals the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and related new technologies in the accountancy and law professions and provides evidence of progress in its adoption. There should be no doubt that developments over the past few years have created opportunities to reimagine how aspects of the work of accountants and lawyers are carried out. However, the report also contains warnings about the challenges and risks professional services firms (PSFs) are likely to encounter. • 'Design sprints' are intense, structured, workshop-based events during which a challenge or issue is explored leading to new insights and potential solutions. Our focus was on the potential and consequences of AI to impact significantly on the sector with a lens in the near future, 2030. Further, we used the lens of business model innovation, rather than product or service innovation, which can be restrictive in our experience. Through participating in the design sprints with firms, and capturing data during them such as making field notes, interviews, recording discussions, and reviewing documents produced, the research team were able to address our project objectives and research questions. This in turn informed future support available for these sectors in building capacity to become resilient next-generation services firms and maintain the UK's competitive advantage in this space. • The design sprint is a widely used innovation method Our toolkit aims to advance the AI readiness of professional services firms. The toolkit explains how to work through a series of tested and proven activities that challenge conventional understanding of the way professional services firms operate as businesses. In doing so, firms will be better able to respond to the challenges of AI readiness by considering plausible future scenarios, identifying opportunities for business model innovation and planning for the necessary changes. The core finding of the project is that our unique multi-disciplinary design sprint journey is a practical and useful way for organisations to address almost any business challenge. ** Additional funding streams ** Dilemmas of AI Development and Adoption: The Client/General Counsel Perspective • A project taking a customer-centric approach in exploring the opportunities and challenges associated with the adoption and use of legal technologies from the perspective of General Counsel (GC). A report draws on interviews with 45 stakeholders who have knowledge and experience of in-house operations and engagement with external law firms. • The findings highlight that the difficulties encountered by GC when adopting legal technologies, mirror many of the challenges that law firms face. However, this client-side perspective illuminates an important issue as law firms and their GC clients are independently adopting and implementing AI and technology-enabled solutions for different aspects of what are shared problems. • Design and implementation of a practitioner workshop. Emergence and evolution of next generation services • Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), we laid out here a pioneering attempt to capture innovation activities in the business service sector, with near-real-time data of knowledge categories at different layers of the economic ecosystem/fabric. This work can inform about sector coalescence across the Next Generation Service sectors. • Our work has significant implications for policy and practice by providing a near real time portrait of these fast moving technologies in two Next Generation Services sectors, namely Real Estate and Advertising. We are also extending this work to include other PSF sectors. The findings allow policy makers to map with finer granularity the technologies and business models that are rapidly changing. Strategic Priorities Review • This project aimed to assist the strategic direction of the NGS fund for the Commercial, HR Profession and Real Estate sectors through better understanding of the landscape into which investments are being made in order to effect the increased use of AI and associated technologies. Three briefing reports have been provided. Understanding the differential impacts of incubation on NextGenPSF start-ups • This project aims to understand how the nature of incubation shapes the ways that start-ups develop AI technologies as a means to augment and transform high-value professional services, and so that they can also engage with, and add value to, larger and established firms as technology solution providers. By analysing the incubation process the project generated insights and provided a report into another part of the ecosystem and aided understanding of the roles that incubation and acceleration can play in advancing the Next-Generation Services agenda for enhancing the application of AI within professional services. |
| Exploitation Route | The outputs of the current research have direct impacts on firms who have been engaging with the project through in-depth interviews, a scenario planning workshop (where practitioners and academics worked on devising and considering the impacts of potential future scenarios for AI on the sector) and a series of design sprints. The findings continue to be communicated through academic papers, academic and practitioner conferences, as well as other events where project members have directly communicated results to firms and stakeholders. The project has produced a White Paper with recommendations about interventions, systemic changes and forms of support that would enhance the uptake and use of AI technologies in professional services firms, particularly for the delivery of high value services. This was the focus of the flagship event, the key outputs from the project include: • Report and papers will provide anonymised analysis of the firms and participants involved in the next phase of NextGenPSF. • An NGS White Paper drawing on academic and applied perspectives from innovation, management, and design research to understand the opportunities and challenges associated with innovation in the professions. • The project team has worked with firms convert insights into action, including the published toolkit (physical and digital) • A design sprint for policymakers with a view to assist in developing policy around the grand challenge of AI. The research funded focused on law and accountancy, although there is a need to address the opportunities associated with AI readiness in a wider range of professional services sectors. This is highlighted by the work undertaken as a part of the project looking at knowledge spaces, which serves to highlight how the intersections of sectors and technologies represent the future frontiers of the professions. Future work exploring the frontiers of the profession represents key area that could be taken forward by other researchers under the banner of the Next Generation Services challenge. |
| Sectors | Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Other |
| URL | http://www.nextgenpsf.co.uk/ |
| Description | The professional services sector is a significant contribution to the UK economy, with an estimated value in excess of £245 billion in 2016. Innovation in the professional services, particularly in relation to new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other data technologies represent a significant opportunity for further growth. The emergent nature of these opportunities are often associated with reducing costs, improving efficiency and delivering higher value, higher quality service. For many professional services firms the challenges associated with the adoption and use of technology are particularly acute, not least because of the unknowns from the perspective of the firm. If professional services firms are to make the most of AI and data technologies there is a need to establish new practices and develop new ways of working. In this instance the innovation is about changing the business model as much as it is the adoption of new technologies. However, changing the business model coupled with the adoption of new technologies can be a daunting prospect, and this challenge is addressed by the Industrial Strategy Next Generation Services Challenge programme. The core project deliverable is an AI Readiness Toolkit. This is available as a free-to-access pdf and/or wiki from a range of platforms. The toolkit translates design thinking into a journey of practical steps that, along the way, inspire insights and ideas over business models, future scenarios and the impact on business operations and performance. Our work has involved: 1) focusing on the needs of firms that may not have the resources to develop their own technologies; 2) combining and integrating research into business model innovation, professional firms, operations management and scenarios; 3) following in the footsteps of others that have applied design thinking to business problems; 4) drawing on academic research that contextualises, analyses and critiques technology adoption, business models, innovation and design; and 5) iterating the approach over multiple workshops involving a range of firms, professional bodies, regulators and other stakeholders. A variety of engagements activities were held to promote the project and have led to firm engagement. Activates which the project team were the host, such as MPFs AI technology Summit in November 2019 and our webinar series in the summer of 2020 were both activities which resulted in firms engaging with sprints and workshops. The project team also participated in events led by others such as Birmingham Tech Week and Accountancy Age events, again resulting in firms approaching the team to explore how they can benefit from working with the project. At the Flagship conference at the end of March 2021 the team showcased the findings and outputs to a range of individuals and organisations in the law and accountancy sectors, as well as engaging with a number of policy makers, sector bodies and intermediaries. The project is now complete but the team are continuing to develop academic papers and promote the dissemination of the toolkit and undertake Design Sprints and Scenarios Workshops on a commercial basis. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Other |
| Impact Types | Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Impacting AI Readiness of Firms |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Firms participating used the training to implement better strategies to support the adoption of AI technologies |
| Description | Scenarios workshop: Development of futures literacy in UK Civil Service |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
| Description | Powering an open age of professional services using Engine B |
| Amount | £1,778,862 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 106158 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2020 |
| End | 11/2021 |
| Title | A Collaborative AI Readiness: Design Toolkit for Professional Services Firms |
| Description | Artificial intelligence (AI) is already exerting an influence on almost every aspect of human affairs. In this context, managing AI-driven innovation is a significant challenge for the economy in general, particularly in the services sector which makes up some 80% of the UK economy. Amongst services sector firms, professional and business services provide a globally renowned UK export as well as a vital domestic function. However, professional services firms have been slow to take up the kinds of innovation associated with AI, not least because of a perceived potential for such technologies to change traditional business practices fundamentally. In order for professional services firms to countenance procuring and implementing AI and other advanced digital solutions, they must examine the implications for their day-to-day working reality. AI is not a technology that can be plugged into existing systems and utilised without changes to organisational practices. Professional services firms must therefore think through the consequences of AI for their business models, consider the differential impact it may have on employees at various levels in the organisation and review how they function in relation to clients, partners, competitors and regulators. Overall, this process is known as 'AI readiness', and a central aim of the AI Readiness toolkit is to advance the capability of professional services firms to prepare for AI-driven innovation. The toolkit explains how to work through a series of tested and proven activities that challenge conventional understanding of the way professional services firms operate as businesses. In doing so, firms will be better able to respond to the challenges of AI readiness by considering plausible future scenarios, identifying opportunities for business model innovation and planning for the necessary changes. The toolkit provides an authoritative review of the current landscape, a powerful lens through which to view the future of professional services firms and a unique set of collaborative design tools founded on robust design practice and tested with representative firms from around the UK. At the heart of the toolkit is a series of activities designed to identify areas where AI can add value to the professional services firm. It helps those in leadership roles, and their colleagues responsible for innovation and business development, build their knowledge of the barriers to AI readiness and how they might be overcome, and to understand what needs to change within the firm to realise the potential that AI represents. The toolkit's collaborative design section consists of 17 methods, some of which include specially designed tools and templates, a guided design journey process and a set of reports that explore the AI readiness ecosystem for professional services firms, as it exists now and in three detailed future scenarios. It is presented in the form of a journey of discovery divided into four phases - examine, explore, develop and reflect - and 11 steps. Each step offers a series of questions to consider, directs users to the related method or methods in the toolkit and identifies optimal points at which to engage with the detailed reports provided. This represents a logical sequence derived from the toolkit production team's knowledge and expertise, enhanced by the insights of professional services firms who have taken part in test workshops. While there are technical challenges to be addressed in the adoption of AI and related technologies, issues of human attitudes and behaviours are equally - if not more - important. In light of these issues the toolkit was produced with a multi-disciplinary approach covering the technical and organisational challenges, business implications and demands for innovation that confront professional services firms today. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | It is apparent from the workshops carried out in the testing phase of the AI Readiness Toolkit that participating firms experience immediate positive impacts, and expect to secure further benefits in subsequent in-house implementation of ideas generated through its use. Participants reported gaining insight into the role of intangible factors such as firm culture, and were able to identify the beginnings of a robust approach to future skills needs. The time and space created by the collaborative design methodology was highly valued, as was the input from the mixed user/participant nature of the groups specified in the methodology. Participants reported a positive impact from the democratising nature of the format, including building better channels for involving client voice in future discussions. Individual firms also described range of specific impacts such as identifying opportunities to reduce costs, get to know their client base better and target new markets. Proposed innovations included better data use to improve efficiency and client experience, enhanced relationships with external technology providers and routes to possible collaboration with non-competitors who are seeking to develop the same capabilities. Moreover, all participants reported improving their understanding of internal changes needed to implement specific innovations, along with greater clarity on the risks such innovation carries. |
| URL | http://www.aireadiness.co.uk |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and Lancaster University |
| Organisation | Lancaster University |
| Department | Lancaster University Management School |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | As the PI for Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design project, Professor Tim Vorley has supported the project through management of the design, conduct, and reporting of the research project. The project is a Collaborative Design Challenge with three intersecting phases drawing on the individual expertise of 6 distinct partners. Tim, in his role as PI has, and continues to manage, monitor and ensure the integrity of the relationship. The Sheffield partner provides cross-cutting expertise across the project, focusing on business model and maintains a focus on people's experiences to unlock understanding of the potential use of AI in Professional Service Firms (PSFs). The team further supports the administrative planning, firm recruitment, interviewing and delivery of the 'design sprint'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Lancaster team plays an integral role in the research for Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design. To conduct this ambitious and fast-paced programme of work, the team of investigators combine the necessary multi-disciplinary expertise, interdisciplinary aptitude, experience of running and participating in relevant and significant projects using collaborative design and futures approaches, and predisposition toward co-production. Lancaster have taken a primary lead in conducting interviews and focus groups with PSFs already innovating with AI. In particular, this Work Package (WP) aims to understand the practices of innovating firms using AI in the two sectors and co-create understandings of the opportunities and barriers with input from the sector. |
| Impact | Book of cases The book of cases provides a summary of key insights from research into current uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in accountancy and law firms in England. It is designed to act as a stimulus for firms as they consider how AI may be used as they develop their future business plans and consider the role of technology in changing both internal business processes and client offerings. The cases can also be used to inform bespoke design sprints for a firm if one or more approaches seems relevant to future business plans. Each case is relatively brief and provides an overview of the key features of the approach. They are anonymous and synthetic - drawing from multiple examples in order to illustrate the range of approaches and issues associated with different uses of AI. Book of approaches The book of approaches provides a summary of key insights from our research into approaches taken when deploying artificial intelligence (AI) in accounting and law firms in England. The approaches are anonymous examples of how the firms we have studied have gone about developing their AI readiness. We present six exemplary approaches. Each approach deals with one or more of the challenges of deploying AI in accounting and law firms. Firms often use more than one of the approaches documented, but the book is not intended to be a list of approaches that must be followed. Instead, the book is a stimulus for firms as they consider ways of responding to the challenges they face in becoming AI ready. As such, firms might choose the approach(es) that is/are most closely related to the challenge(s) they face. The book of approaches is being written and edited through a collective process led by Lancaster University Management School. The team is able to offer more detailed discussion of each of the cases. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and Litig - Uplift project 4 Dilemmas of AI Development and Adoption. |
| Organisation | Litig |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Litig is a membership group for the Legal IT community established circa 15 years. The Sheffield team have presented about the project to the membership which has resulted in a number of scoping interviews, 3 participants at the scenarios workshop and a firm specific design sprint. We are also partnering with them on the uplift project to anchor research in the perspective of the legal IT leader and use their insight to both shape the research and provide connections across the industry. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The perspective of the legal IT community within professional services firms is a key part of the research, both in terms of subject matter and also guidance. Whereas on the other main project, Litig is a stakeholder group to be consulted, the opportunity is more embedded as a named partner group. This means that there will be some resources within the bid that can be used specifically to support better integration, recognizing that Litig is largely a self-organising, volunteer led group, but in this way collective voice and influence can be brought to bear on the research - and in turn future interventions. Similarly, Litig's involvement will help to ensure greater impact from the research findings by being so close to the target audience. Critically, where members have previously supported existing research activities, every effort will be made to reduce duplication and extend the existing evidence base, as intended by the uplift funding mechanism. |
| Impact | The project gained funding in October 2019 and started in Q2 2020. Initial steps were taken to commence and further establish the relationship with The CityUK, although the programme of work and the collaboration were disrupted throughout the pandemic. Following interviews in February 2020 an RA joined the project team, led by Fraser McLeay at the University of Sheffield. The collaboration has not been extended in the wake of the pandemic, although the research has progressed. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and Loughborough University Uplift Project 2 |
| Organisation | Loughborough University |
| Department | School of Business and Economics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | As the PI for the emergence and evolution of next generation services project, Professor Tim Vorley has supported Loughborough through management of the design, conduct, and reporting of the research uplift project and for managing, monitoring and ensuring the integrity of the relationship. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project is built on relational analyses of quantitative datasets of start-ups and incumbents that allows longitudinally probing of the technology confluence driving digital transformation through related variety amongst service firms. Using the Dealroom and Crunchbase datasets permits a deeper level of analysis compared with more traditional economic-geographical analysis of clusters and entrepreneurial ecosystems in relevant cases worldwide. The project is situated at the intersection between evolutionary economic geography and innovation systems research. The research partnership forged builds on work undertaken within the Next Generation Services challenge. |
| Impact | The project gained funding in October 2019. The relationship with Loughborough has build developed a new programme of work under the ISCFs Next Generation Services research programme to explore and synthesize collaborative working across the ISCFs programme. Following interviews in March 2020 an RA was appointed and led on the data curation and analysis supported by the wider team (i.e. Vorley, Van Meeteren, and Rubin). The project has produced a number of reports, and has several articles under revision and review - current versions are on the project webpages as reports and working papers. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and Managing Partners' Forum |
| Organisation | Managing Partners Forum |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | As the PI for Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design project, Professor Tim Vorley has supported the project through management of the design, conduct, and reporting of the research project. The project is a Collaborative Design Challenge with three intersecting phases drawing on the individual expertise of 6 distinct partners. Tim, in his role as PI has, and continues to manage, monitor and ensure the integrity of the relationship. The Sheffield partner provides cross-cutting expertise across the project, focusing on business model and maintains a focus on people's experiences to unlock understanding of the potential use of AI in PSFs. The team further supports the administrative planning, firm recruitment, interviewing and delivery of the 'design sprint'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Managing Partners' Forum (hereafter, "the Forum") brings together professional firm leaders to share ideas on strategic leadership and management excellence. Our goal is to support the growth, productivity and prosperity of the UK's largest business sector. This involves connecting and creating value in our own community, and also acting as an independent voice of professional services to Government, and providing direct access to policymakers. As formal co-investigators on the project, a key strength of this collaboration is the Forum's high level of engagement with over a thousand leaders of PSFs of all sizes active across the UK. The Forum provides expert guidance on the strategies and priorities of firms; give the research team access to sector leaders; encourage participation in the project through surveys, interviews and action research projects; share emerging project insights to obtain real time feedback; and support the pathways to impact. Through this multi-level, dynamic engagement with professionals from the sector, the project will co-produce insights grounded in the realities of PSFs, driving the potential for transformation across law and accounting and for impact. The project team continues to work with Managing Partners' Forum, with 2 members sitting on the advisory board. |
| Impact | Design Sprint - The Forum's engagement with the sector is a channel for dissemination of the project objectives and its intended outputs. Through its communication channels, the Forum has secured attendance of firms at the first 'design sprint'. Roundtable roadshow - Managing Partners Forum commenced organised an invitation-only roadshow from October 2019 for the leadership teams of local firms, their clients, and local intermediaries to hear from and inform the project researchers and other experts. The content of each roundtable was based on the latest project insights, with cities in each UK region hosting at distinct stages of the project. Technology Summit 11th November 2019; In addition to the roundtables, the Forum's annual member-only Technology Summit in London explored wider technology and adoption issues. This member-only annual event was attended by over 50 mid-tier PSFs and heard Professor Tim Vorley and James Faulconbrudge present the goals and deliverables of the AI adoption research project, the findings from the deep dives and the findings from the design sprints. NextGenPSF Final Flagship Conference (March 2021) The NextGenPSF project held its final Flagship Conference associated with the core project to share and disseminate insights from the project. The event brought together leading practitioners and professionals from across legal and accounting firms and other stakeholders engaged with the professions. The event was hosted by Richard Chaplin, Founder & Chief Executive Managing Partners' Forum and Co-Investigator of NextGenPSF, and showcased the outputs of the project. The research 'deep dives' have provided insight into the sector, and working with firms the project team has co-created a series of design sprints and futures workshops to support professional services firms on the journey to enable firms to explore current and future business challenges in a very practical way. The journey combines business model innovation, futures and scenarios, story boards and model-making, with an innovation roadmap as the primary output. Hence Fast-track Innovation™ is the Conference and Campaign theme. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and Normann Partners |
| Organisation | NormannPartners |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | As the PI for Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design project, Professor Tim Vorley has supported the project through management of the design, conduct, and reporting of the research project. The project is a Collaborative Design Challenge with three intersecting phases drawing on the individual expertise of 6 distinct partners. Tim, in his role as PI has, and continues to manage, monitor and ensure the integrity of the relationship. The Sheffield partner provides cross-cutting expertise across the project, focusing on business model and maintains a focus on people's experiences to unlock understanding of the potential use of AI in PSFs. The team further supports the administrative planning, firm recruitment, interviewing and delivery of the 'design sprint'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Gerard Drenth, partner at NormannPartners is an expert in scenario-planning and systems thinking to better anticipate change in the world of business. Gerard has provided his expertise to facilitate the development of both the design sprints and scenarios for the project. |
| Impact | Futures workshop about AI in professional services firms 15th July 2019. Scenarios are plausible stories about how futures might unfold. We created scenarios for mid-sized firms in the law and accountancy sectors to have strategic conversations in the present and develop strategies to identify or respond to opportunities relating to AI developments. Together in the workshop we explored the key uncertainties identified, and combined these with participants' perspectives to craft scenarios. The result of the workshop is three draft scenarios which we are planning to take forward and eventually publish and share in workshops with firms, regulators and broader stakeholders with the Managing Partners Forum. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and The University of Manchester |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | As the PI for Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design project, Professor Tim Vorley has supported the project through management of the design, conduct, and reporting of the research project. The project is a Collaborative Design Challenge with three intersecting phases drawing on the individual expertise of 6 distinct partners. Tim, in his role as PI has, and continues to manage, monitor and ensure the integrity of the relationship. The Sheffield partner provides cross-cutting expertise across the project, focusing on business model and maintains a focus on people's experiences to unlock understanding of the potential use of AI in PSFs. The team further supports the administrative planning, firm recruitment, interviewing and delivery of the 'design sprint'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | CI Bruce Tether is Professor of Innovation Management and Strategy at Alliance Manchester Business School (MBS) within the University of Manchester. Bruce is an expert on innovation in services, as well as innovation using design (design methods / design thinking). His research foci also include professional service firms. Bruce is contributing to the project through his understanding of professional services, how innovation in services and service happen, and how design methods can be used to identify and enact opportunities for innovation, particularly in "tasks" in the context of professional services. |
| Impact | The collaboration between the two institutions and more widely, the project team, has contributed to the progress of the project through expertise and experience in both the development and the dissemination of the design sprints. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and TheCItyUK - Uplift project 1 Understanding the differential impacts of incubation on NextGenPSF start- ups |
| Organisation | TheCItyUK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The City UK is the national representative body for financial services and associated professional services (meaning accountancy and legal services). Presently the research team is working through their COO to leverage relationships within their membership base to inform the scoping interviews and existing knowledge base in the market on the core subjects of AI in professional services and incubators. |
| Collaborator Contribution | In respect of the uplift project - Understanding the differential impacts of incubation on NextGenPSF start- ups, having firm connections and industry support for the research is critical, and the The CityUK's endorsement of the project is providing access. This is quite targeted in nature with the partner advising us on market activity such that we can target research activities effectively; whilst the outputs will be of interest to the whole sector, only a handful are currently active in the incubation space for developing next-gen services and hence we need to be efficient with our industry engagement. |
| Impact | The project gained funding in October 2019. Initial steps were taken to commence and further establish the relationship with The CityUK, although the programme of work and the collaboration were disrupted throughout the pandemic. Following interviews in February 2020 an RA joined the project team, although the project encountered major staffing issues during the pandemic with the local project lead leaving the University. A report was produced and is available on the project website, and in late 2021 a new RA was appointed to support further analysis and now an article is under review. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Oxford Brookes University and University of the Arts London |
| Organisation | University of the Arts London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | As the PI for Innovating Next Generation Services through Collaborative Design project, Professor Tim Vorley has supported the project through management of the design, conduct, and reporting of the research project. The project is a Collaborative Design Challenge with three intersecting phases drawing on the individual expertise of 6 distinct partners. Tim, in his role as PI has, and continues to manage, monitor and ensure the integrity of the relationship. The Sheffield partner provides cross-cutting expertise across the project, focusing on business model and maintains a focus on people's experiences to unlock understanding of the potential use of AI in PSFs. The team further supports the administrative planning, firm recruitment, interviewing and delivery of the 'design sprint'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our project approaches the AI challenge as a 'design challenge' using mixed methods from social science research. By maintaining a focus on exploring potential futures in the present through design thinking and scenario planning this helps uncover the existing and latent needs of PSFs by allowing participants to explore and assess the current state of and potential for AI and the expected trajectories of technological developments over the next few years. Scenario planning involves the creation of a set of plausible, challenging, useful and relevant future contexts that an intended strategy or value creating systems design might find itself in. Very simply, scenario planning is a powerful methodology for navigating under uncertainty and adapting to unknown futures. Run Design Sprints with Firms to Develop Strategies. Led by CI Professor Lucy Kimbell. Define, agree and plan 4-6 'design sprints' ie action research projects with mid-sized firms recruited via the Forum. These will use different methodologies but will share the characteristics of a 'design sprint': a time-limited project in which the research team, led by one RA, works closely with a group of people from one or more firms enabling them to be active co-researchers developing strategies to seize the potential of AI. |
| Impact | Futures workshop about AI in professional services firms 15th July 2019. Scenarios are plausible stories about how futures might unfold. We created scenarios for mid-sized firms in the law and accountancy sectors to have strategic conversations in the present and develop strategies to identify or respond to opportunities relating to AI developments. Together in the workshop we explored the key uncertainties identified, and combined these with participants' perspectives to craft scenarios. The result of the workshop is three draft scenarios which we are planning to take forward and eventually publish and share in workshops with firms, regulators and broader stakeholders with the Managing Partners Forum. Our project has developed an approach to involving participants in the research which combines aspects of social science approaches and traditions, concepts and approaches from design research. We have developed a format we call a 'design sprint' through which we involve participants from firms in the two sectors we are studying. The design sprint involves engagement with firms (either an individual firm, or several at once). It takes the form of pre-meetings/briefing, followed by a one day workshop attended by people from the firms and run by academics from the research team, followed by sharing an output with participants and a follow-up conversation. The approach we are taking integrates concepts and insights from several fields of research, specifically studies of business models, studies of professional firms, operations management, service design, and futures/foresight. During the course of the one-day workshop, participants from the firms engage in discussions (some of which we record) and produce outputs through which they anticipate future professional services, interactions with clients, and ways of organising their firm, enabled or enhanced by AI. These outputs include annotated frameworks about future business models and change, models of future client interactions and firms, storyboards and drawings. This is data we analyse alongside the discussion about them in the workshop setting. Analysing these discussions and outputs gives us insights into the possibilities and barriers to adoption of AI in professional services firms. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Birmingham Tech Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Birmingham Tech is a not-for-profit community initiative (CIC) which aims to raise the profile of the Birmingham and West Midlands tech scene. We do this by helping tech and digital businesses successfully scale by providing them with valuable knowledge, insight and support. We do this through a number of carefully crafted scale-up initiatives, showcase events and original content. Yiannis Maos, Founder of Birmingham Tech Week, said: "The week was founded on encouraging collaboration, celebrating regional success stories and inspiring organisations to get involved in all aspects of technology. Given the year we've had, it has never been so important for us to showcase Birmingham Tech. Hopefully the week will give people and businesses a sense of optimism, arm them with the knowledge to navigate these uncertain times and help them create the foundations that will allow them to thrive." The week is free-to-attend and gives unparalleled access to experts and thought-leaders who will be sharing knowledge on subjects such as business culture, customer experience and how to start and scale up a tech business. NextGenPSF ran a large scenarios workshop in both 2020 and 2021 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://birmingham.tech/about/ |
| Description | Blogs written for project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Two blogs were produced for the NextGenPSF website and publicised via Twitter. The blogs were written by the NextGenPSF team. Future of the PS Firm by Martin Spring was written and posted June 2020. The role of incubator and accelerator programmes in developing next generation professional services. Written by Professor Tim Vorley, Dr Jorge Martins, Dr Paul Taylor, or Dr Chay Brooks and posted in August 2020. The intended purpose of these was to disseminate information relating to the activities and research of members of NextGenPSF, via the website, and to a wider audience via Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/nextgenpsf/newsblog |
| Description | ICAEW training programme |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The training video will be open to all of the ICAEW membership body. Additional video material was develop in late 2021 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | ICAEW webinars |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | AI is not the future, it is happening now, and it can significantly improve the quality of business and investment decisions. At the ICAEW webinars held in July 1st 2021 the speakers explored the opportunities and the limitations that AI brings, the practicalities and how and where investment in AI could benefit accountants and auditors. The expert panel explained them in practical terms how people are utilising AI today by sharing real case studies. [example video attached] |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/aBG8bvR3DUU |
| Description | NextGenPSF Design Sprints |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | To understand the future potential of AI in the law and accountancy firms services sectors, the project uses the lens of business models, which provides a 'blueprint' for how a business operates and captures value. A design thinking approach to business model innovation provides a distinctive perspective and ultimately competitive advantage for firms. Our proposed project approaches the AI challenge as a 'design challenge' using mixed methods from social science research. During the initial stages of the NextGenPSF project we are collaborating with Professional Service Firms through design sprints. These highly interactive and collaborative workshops allow professionals working in law and accountancy firms to rethink their value propositions and improve their AI readiness. The sprints encouraged the participants to consider three scenarios that could reshape the legal services and accounting landscape by 2030 and to map out potential tools to embrace technological innovation. The aim of the sprints is to consider the barriers and opportunities to the adoption of AI in the respective sectors and to encourage proactive strategic thinking towards future horizons |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMBxeGon0xo |
| Description | NextGenPSF Futures Workshop about AI in professional services firms |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | 30 friendly stakeholders from across accountancy and law firms, including clients; regulators; technology providers and others, with different stakes in, and perspectives on, topics relating to AI technologies in professional services attended the workshop. Key uncertainties identified in the NextGenPSF teams research, were combined with the participants perspectives to craft scenarios. Through bringing together a diverse mix we unlocked different assumptions about technological change, business models and professional services. The workshop generated 3 scenarios which the team have taken forward and will publish and share in future workshops with firms, regulators and broader stakeholders. Scenarios are plausible stories about how futures might unfold.The scenarios we have created for mid-sized firms in the two sectors will support strategic conversations in the present and enable development of strategies to identify or respond to opportunities relating to AI developments. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | NextGenPSF Futures Workshop about AI in professional services firms for POLICYMAKERS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | One work strand aimed to explore the potential futures facing mid-sized legal and accounting services firms, using 'scenario planning' as an approach. The main activities included: identifying important uncertainties facing these firms in the future, through an analytical and deliberative process; developing scenarios of 2030 in written and illustrated form; and developing and testing ways for people in legal services and accounting firms to explore the strategic implications of the scenarios through workshops held in 2019-21. The scenarios are presented in written and illustrated form. Each 2030 scenario has a narrative describing a plausible future world in 2030 in which professional services firms might find themselves operating, and a person-centred story written from the perspective of a professional in 2030, looking backwards. Each is accompanied by an original illustration, and a poster summarising the characteristics of that future world. Additionally, a table enables comparing across the three scenarios. Two methods aimed at scenario users in legal and accounting services firms are offered. The first supports professionals in a firm to explore the strategic implications of the three scenarios, or test an existing (AI or technology) strategy against them. The second enables professionals in a firm to bring the future into view by asking participants to create and discuss future news (digital) media artefacts, enabling meaningful discussion about uncertainties and revealing hidden assumptions. This event for 20 policy makers in Cabinet Office highlighted to those civil servants participating how they could use the scenarios in a safe environment to identify the role of future policy in support professional services firms and accelerate the digitalisation of law and accountancy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| Description | NextGenPSF Scenario workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One work strand aimed to explore the potential futures facing mid-sized legal and accounting services firms, using 'scenario planning' as an approach. The main activities included: identifying important uncertainties facing these firms in the future, through an analytical and deliberative process; developing scenarios of 2030 in written and illustrated form; and developing and testing ways for people in legal services and accounting firms to explore the strategic implications of the scenarios through workshops held in 2019-21. The scenarios are presented in written and illustrated form. Each 2030 scenario has a narrative describing a plausible future world in 2030 in which professional services firms might find themselves operating, and a person-centred story written from the perspective of a professional in 2030, looking backwards. Each is accompanied by an original illustration, and a poster summarising the characteristics of that future world. Additionally, a table enables comparing across the three scenarios. Two methods aimed at scenario users in legal and accounting services firms are offered. The first supports professionals in a firm to explore the strategic implications of the three scenarios, or test an existing (AI or technology) strategy against them. The second enables professionals in a firm to bring the future into view by asking participants to create and discuss future news (digital) media artefacts, enabling meaningful discussion about uncertainties and revealing hidden assumptions. Most users found the biggest benefit of scenarios is that they allow for difficult conversations to take place in a safe environment, namely in imagined futures. In respect to our 2030 scenarios, we propose these outcomes: ? For leaders: Using scenarios can help focus thinking, sharpen strategies and make better decisions. ? For policymakers and regulators: Using scenarios can help gain a better understanding of potential futures for a key group of firms in the UK's largest business sector. ? For professional bodies: Using scenarios can help identify how best to support members. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021,2022 |
| Description | NextGenPSF Twitter account |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A project twitter account was set up in December 2018. The account reaches a large number of people quickly through tweets, retweets and enables easy promotion of our research activities. Posts on Twitter are public and as such the reach of the conversation is much greater than other social media accounts such as Facebook or LinkedIn. Tweets are short but the twitter community is large: the platform has 320 million monthly active users. The NextGenPSF account currently has 163 followers with a wider variety of professionals from the legal and accounting sector, including legal tech, tech providers, education practitioners. Tweets from the NextGenPSF page cover a range of activities the project is involved in. These include directing traffic to our website through a recent blog entry, highlighting papers from the project and raising the profile of the projects activities such the design sprints and webinars. Examples May 10th 2019 tweet informing of the Advisory Board meeting had 2,507 impressions, 62 Engagements and 2.5% engagement rate. July 15th 2019 tweet regarding the scenario planning workshop had 1,239 impressions, 36 engagements and 2.9% engagement rate. July 19th 2020 tweet sharing a podcast had 158 impressions, 2 engagements and 1.3% engagement rate. June 21st 2020 tweet promoting the Webinar saw 1,171 impressions, 77 engagements and 6.6% engagement rate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/NextGenPSF |
| Description | Participation in NextGenPSF Partner, Managing Partners Forum, webinar series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | NextGenPSF team participated in a number of the MPFs engagements. Over 750 people from 400+ firms in 18 countries have registered for these free one-hour panel-based live webinars with polls each Friday at 9am UK time, designed for the leadership team at professional services firms worldwide to help them re-tune every aspect of their operations. Scenario planning 06.04.2020 - Gerard Drenth Gerard Drenth introduces scenario planning, a methodology for decision-making under uncertainty, in particular how scenarios relate to forecasting, how scenarios can change mindset and perspectives, and how scenarios are used in strategy and policy making. Adapting new technologies 29.04.2010 - Professor James Faulconbridge Professor James Faulconbridge provides an update on an ongoing Government-funded research project to help mid-sized law and accountancy firms prepare for an AI tsunami. Aftershocks & Opportunities 29.05.2020 - The poll explored the extent that participants were in agreement with ten trends from 'Aftershocks and Opportunities - Scenarios for a Post Pandemic Future', a new publication from Fast Future. Episode 4, 24.07.2020 - Carlo Cordasco, Research Associate, Sheffield University Management School The panel on 24 July comprised: Carlo Cordasco, Research Associate, Sheffield University Management School; Matthew Streets, Senior Executive Partner - Managing Partner, Foster + Partners; Francesca Lagerberg, Global Leader - Network Capabilities, Grant Thornton International; and Ed Turner, Managing Partner, Taylor Vinters Episode 5, 31.07.2020 - Professor Tim Vorley The panel on 31 July comprised: Daniel Harrison, Deputy Director, Small and Medium Enterprise Policy Team, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; Professor Tim Vorley, Dean & Pro Vice-Chancellor, Oxford Brookes Business School; Emma Jones MBE, Founder & Chief Executive, Enterprise Nation; Jeremy Beard, Managing Partner, Haysmacintyre; Francesca Lagerberg, Global Leader - Network Capabilities, Grant Thornton International |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://managementlibrary.pmint.co.uk/mgmtlib/dashboard/dashboard |
| Description | Podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Next Gen PSF project has come a long way, uncovering a range of challenges and opportunities for AI adoption in legal and accounting services and supporting numerous firms in their technology adoption journey. In this podcast, Cristian Gheres Co-I shares insights from the projects and talks about the future of AI in professional services. To hear more about the pressures and challenges of digital transformation and the implications of AI for the business models of PSFs, listen to the podcast below. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/nextgenpsf/newsblog |