PwC appoints leaders for Analytics, AI, Cybersecurity and FinTech arms

09 May 2017 Consultancy.uk

In a bid to expand its footprint in the rapidly growing digital and technology-led innovation space, PwC, one of the major players in the field, has in recent weeks appointed a number of new senior technology positions in the UK wing of their group.

The news comes only months after the global accounting and consulting firm announced it was recruiting 1,000 technology specialists to its Risk Assurance division, to aid businesses in dealing with rising cybercrime threats, while PwC’s Irish network member launched a Cyber Centre to similarly do battle with digital intruders. The latest announcement further marks the professional services firm out as one serious about engaging with future technological challenges head-on.

Euan Cameron, a partner at the firm of some 16 years with over 20 years’ consulting experience, will be focusing on the development of corporate strategy and top line growth, in his newly created UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Leader role. The marquee role amongst the new appointments, the function will involve working closely with PwC’s 800 plus data and analytics specialists, collaborating with teams across PwC – from consulting to tax and deals to assurance – helping PwC and their clients alike to innovate using AI. Cameron’s core team will consist of more than 30 AI, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and machine learning specialists already in place at PwC around the UK, with an ambition to increase this to more than 200 by 2020.

PwC appointments in UK. PwC office

Cameron commented: “This year we expect to see more and more artificial intelligence initiatives move from theory to practice. We are exploring a wide range of opportunities to deploy this technology internally, but also to help our clients with many of their critical business issues. Different industries are adopting RPA and AI at varying rates but with the field developing so rapidly, those who wait could miss out on the myriad positive opportunities it will bring.”

In another appointment aimed at driving growth in technology and financial technology (FinTech), Zubin Randeria, a PwC partner for 23 years non-consecutively, was unveiled as the new lead for around 200 cyber security experts in the UK, as the firm continue to focus on advising companies how to resist digital threats; a key concern of modern business.

Randeria will be joined by former PwC cyber security practice leader, Neil Hampson, in his latest of seven roles for the company, who will hence forth lead the data and analytics team, as market demands continue to grow rapidly.

Mark Leaver, PwC’s head of Financial Services Consulting since 2015, will meanwhile expand his existing role to include the multi-billion pound FinTech market in his scope. The FinTech space is growing fast, with interest in services particularly high among younger tech savvy users, and on the back of the spike global investments in FinTech companies grew to $25 billion last year, according to data from KPMG.

Euan Cameron, Zubin Randeria, Neil Hampson, Mark Leaver, Madeleine Thomson

Finally, Madeleine Thomson, a former Change Design Manager for the BBC, has been granted the role of Technology Consulting Leader. Thomson previously worked as the lead for PwC’s Retail and Consumer wing, and will move to the firm’s technological department as the consultancy aims to grow business in this area.

Along with the announcement of the new appointments, Jon Andrews, head of technology and investments at PwC, reiterated the importance of emerging technologies for the future, stating: “Artificial intelligence and automation form a key part of our targeted investment in technology, responding to high demand for expertise in these areas from our clients.”

He added, “We now employ over 1,500 technology specialists in the UK alone. Our ambition is that we’ll continue to grow our revenues from technology-related areas – including AI, cybersecurity, data analytics and FinTech.”

More on: PwC
United Kingdom
Company profile
PwC
PwC is not a United Kingdom partner of Consultancy.org
Partnership information »
Partnership information

Consultancy.org works with three partnership levels: Local, Regional and Global.

PwC is a Local partner of Consultancy.org in Middle East, Netherlands.

Upgrade or more information? Get in touch with our team for details.