Deloitte India, Zoho Partner to Accelerate Digital Transformation for India's Mid-market and Enterprise Firms

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (Deloitte India) has announced a strategic alliance with Zoho, a leading global technology company. This alliance is anticipated to accelerate digital transformation for mid-market and enterprise firms in India.

Currently, enterprises face multiple challenges, from rigid, complex legacy systems to time-intensive digital adoption cycles that hinder innovation and growth. With Deloitte India’s deep industry expertise and Zoho’s cloud-based solutions, the alliance aims to dismantle these barriers by delivering tailored, high-impact solutions that streamline operations, drive productivity and unlock new avenues for growth.

The collaboration will focus on providing a range of specific business solutions for sectors such as healthcare, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), eCommerce and more. This will be enabled by Zoho’s comprehensive suite of 55+ interconnected applications. These include flagship application suites such as Zoho’s finance and operations suite (accounting, travel and expense management, payroll management and inventory management solutions), CX suite (marketing, sales and customer service solutions), Zoho Analytics (business intelligence) and Zoho Creator (low-code platform for custom development and integration).

Vinay Prabhakar, Deloitte South Asia Sales and Alliance leader —

The power of collaboration lies in its ability to drive meaningful transformation. As businesses navigate an increasingly digital landscape, they require agile, scalable and future-ready solutions. Our alliance with Zoho represents a commitment to co-creating tailored solutions that help enterprises modernise operations and drive long-term success. By combining Deloitte’s strategic advisory expertise with Zoho’s cloud-based technologies, we look forward to helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, enhance efficiency and build resilience for the future.

Bishan Singh, Head - Channel Ecosystem, Zoho, said —

Enterprises operate with unique, well-defined processes that are integral to their success. Streamlining such elaborate workflows requires solutions that are flexible and customisable. The platform capabilities of our cloud portfolio—powered by low-code, no-code and pro-code options—along with Deloitte India’s industry expertise, allows for quicker creation of bespoke solutions across sectors. This approach not only ensures operational efficiency but also empowers businesses to achieve speedy ROI and scale effectively. We look forward to this collaboration

Through industry-specific solution development, and joint go-to-market strategies, Deloitte India and Zoho will empower enterprises to embrace digital transformation with confidence—delivering measurable value while augmenting efficiency and long-term resilience in a rapidly evolving business environment.

US Govt Agency Directs Agencies to Terminate Contracts With Top-10 Consulting Firms Including Accenture, Deloitte and IBM

The General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the United States government, has issued a directive to federal agencies to terminate contracts with the top-10 highest-paid consulting firms, reported Nextgov.com.

This move is part of a broader initiative to eliminate non-essential consulting contracts and reduce spending. The targeted firms include Accenture Federal Services, Booz Allen Hamilton, CGI Federal, Deloitte Consulting, General Dynamics IT, Guidehouse, HII Mission Technologies, IBM, Leidos, and SAIC.

Acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian emphasized the need for agencies to review their contracts and terminate those that are not mission-critical. Agencies are required to provide a list of contracts they intend to terminate by March 7, along with justifications for any contracts they plan to maintain.

Those 10 companies “are set to receive over $65 billion in fees in 2025 and future years,” Ehikian wrote in a memo dated Feb. 26 obtained by Nextgov/FCW.

This directive follows previous actions by the GSA to review and eliminate non-essential consulting contracts. The goal is to increase efficiency and reduce wasteful spending within the federal government.

The directive aims to reduce non-essential spending, which could lead to significant cost savings for the federal government. Agencies will need to find more cost-effective solutions to meet their needs.

Agencies may need to reallocate internal resources to fill the gaps left by the terminated contracts. This could involve hiring new staff or retraining existing employees to take on new responsibilities.

Deloitte UK Reportedly Cyberattacked for 1 TB of Sensitive Data by Ransomware Group

The Brain Cipher Ransomware group has reportedly claimed responsibility for a significant cyberattack on Deloitte UK, alleging that they have exfiltrated over 1 terabyte of data. This breach, if confirmed, could have serious implications for Deloitte's clients and its professional reputation.

However, Deloitte has not confirmed the breach, leaving the claim unverified.

The group claims to have accessed and stolen over 1 terabyte of compressed data, including sensitive client information and internal documents.

According to statements posted by Brain Cipher, the attack has exposed critical vulnerabilities in Deloitte UK’s cybersecurity infrastructure. “Soon we will tell you about this incident. We will provide an example of data that has leaked. The volume of compressed data more than 1tb".

The group has criticized Deloitte for not observing basic information security protocols. "Unfortunately, giant companies do not always do their job well,” the hackers claim.

Brain Cipher emerged in June 2024 and has quickly gained notoriety for targeting high-profile organizations.

Brain Cipher has set a deadline of December 15, 2024, for Deloitte to respond, after which they threaten to release the stolen data.

The impact of this breach could be severe when it comes to client data exposure. Potential exposure of sensitive client information, including financial records, could be affected. Reputational Damage of the "big four" firm is also at stake. As one of the world's leading professional services firms, Deloitte's stature is at stake as it is raising serious concerns about data protection practices.

The breach, if confirmed, could disrupt operations for Deloitte and its clients, eroding trust and confidence.

Deloitte has yet to confirm the incident publicly. This situation underscores the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures in today's digital landscape.

Deloitte Opens First Phygital Innovation Center in Bangalore

The largest professional services network, Deloitte, has recently inaugurated a groundbreaking 'phygital' innovation centre in Bengaluru. This innovative center, known as the Deloitte Centre of Innovation and Technology (DCIT), is a fusion of the physical and digital realms, offering domain-specific solutions to help businesses reduce costs and increase efficiency.

The DCIT aims to assist customers in finding new and sustainable ways to grow their businesses while fostering a culture of innovation. It serves as a hub for exploring cutting-edge technologies and envisioning novel business models.

The centre spans across an impressive 12,500 square feet and comprises five distinct zones:

• Retail: Focused on reimagining customer interfaces and experiences within the retail sector.
• Manufacturing: A space for creating diverse prototypes related to supply chains and product development.
• Digital Studio: Where innovative ideas come to life through technology, including 5G connectivity and AI.
• Immersive: Utilizing mixed reality, immersive reality, and augmented reality to provide hands-on, real-time experiences.
• Advanced Connectivity: Bridging visionary concepts with the delivery of high-quality products and services.

Deloitte emphasizes the importance of collaboration. The big-four company aims to bring together the entire ecosystem, including clients and alliance partners, on a co-creation journey. This collective effort ensures that diverse perspectives contribute to the success of the centre.

DCIT boasts over 60 use cases across various sectors, including retail, manufacturing, and healthcare. These use cases will be refreshed every 90 days, ensuring relevance and adaptability.

Through mixed reality and other technologies, DCIT provides hands-on experiences, allowing businesses to test scenarios before deployment. Understanding expected results is crucial for novel business ideas.

Deloitte collaborates with academia, including institutions like IIT Delhi and IIT Madras, to stimulate innovation and drive meaningful change.

Businesses can actively engage with Deloitte's DCIT to explore innovative solutions, reimagine customer experiences, and leverage cutting-edge technology for growth and efficiency. Moreover, the DCIT can act as an accelerator for startups, providing them with the tools, expertise, and ecosystem to turn their innovative ideas into viable, market-ready solutions.

Startups often have innovative ideas but may lack the resources to access advanced technologies. The DCIT provides access to technologies like 5G connectivity and Al, which can help startups bridge visionary ideas with the delivery of high- quality products and services. The DCIT can offer prototyping & product development for startups with facilities to create diverse prototypes, allowing startups to develop and test their products in a supportive environment. This can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with product development.

In essence, the Deloitte 'phygital' innovation centre represents a powerful convergence of physical and digital realms, where visionary ideas meet practical execution, ultimately benefiting both businesses and startups across industries.

Deloitte Acquires Israel-based OpTeamizer That Specializes in NVIDIA-powered AI Solutions

Deloitte Acquires OpTeamizer to Enhance Generative AI Capabilities for NVIDIA AI Solutions

With acquisition of OpTeamizer, Deloitte expands analytics practice to help clients transform their business with deep learning models and next-generation AI solutions

Deloitte, on Monday, announced it has acquired the operations of OpTeamizer, an AI, Generative AI and accelerated computing company specializing in the development and implementation of AI solutions running on NVIDIA accelerated computing. With the acquisition, Deloitte expands its high-performance computing engineering capabilities, helping clients harness the power of Generative AI, supercomputers, and Edge AI to increase automation, optimize business processes and realize greater business value.

"As Generative AI transforms the way we work, Deloitte has continued to invest intentionally and strategically to help our clients innovate at speed. OpTeamizer broadens that value further by bringing deep high-performance computing experience to Deloitte's full stack AI capabilities and alliance ecosystem. We look forward to continuing to unlock new opportunities with AI and scaling our capabilities to help solve our clients' most complex business and AI challenges with the addition of the OpTeamizer team to our business," said Jim Rowan, AI Market Activation Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

“The addition of OpTeamizer’s business to Deloitte’s analytics practice serves as a natural next step in Deloitte’s ever-expanding Generative AI and data portfolio and solutions suite. Combining OpTeamizer’s deep experience with NVIDIA technology and Deloitte’s existing AI talent will help our clients access market-leading accelerated computing power and create deep learning models that can deliver new capabilities, value, and a competitive advantage,” said Deborshi Dutt, principal and AI leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

A member of the NVIDIA Partner Network, OpTeamizer brings extensive experience in NVIDIA training workshops, NVIDIA-accelerated high-performance computing (HPC) technology, the NVIDIA Jetson platform and development on NVIDIA CUDA to Deloitte. The OpTeamizer team of AI engineers and data scientists will join Deloitte to focus on expanding NVIDIA technology applications and areas of device-based AI and sensing for client applications across several industries, including life science and health care, security, aerial systems and autonomous vehicles. Building on Deloitte’s recent acquisitions of SFL Scientific, National TeleConsultants LLC, Giant Machines, HashedIn Technologies, Dextra Technologies, and Optimal Design, OpTeamizer enhances the entire AI stack for Deloitte clients, helping them to maximize the impact of their compute and infrastructure investments at scale.

“We are excited to join the world’s largest consulting organization, and together we will leverage OpTeamizer’s research and development capabilities to seize opportunities and enter new sectors. We are in a pivotal moment for AI and accelerated computing — a time when NVIDIA accelerated computing is an engine that drives a wide range of AI-based applications. Together, we will expand and deepen the value we provide to clients,” said Tomer Gal, founder, OpTeamizer.

Acquiring OpTeamizer’s business underscores Deloitte’s commitment to investing in the capabilities clients need to transform their businesses and builds on Deloitte and NVIDIA’s alliance relationship. The acquisition follows Deloitte’s recent expansion of its strategic alliance with NVIDIA to unlock the value of Generative AI across enterprise software platforms and the launch of Quartz Atlas AI, a life sciences and healthcare Generative AI solution built on NVIDIA technology. Deloitte is also working with NVIDIA to establish an Ambassador AI program to help clients advance their AI journeys using NVIDIA AI Foundation Models and the NVIDIA NeMo framework for building and customizing Generative AI models, which is part of NVIDIA AI Enterprise software.

Deloitte continues to scale its AI capabilities, alliances and offerings following the introduction of its Generative AI practice in 2023. With a full spectrum of tailored AI services and its deep industry and domain knowledge, Deloitte supports clients at every stage of their transformational journey, from developing AI strategies to building and implementing GenAI solutions that enhance productivity and deliver greater client impact. Deloitte is infusing Generative AI capabilities across its own enterprise rolling out purpose-specific Large Language Models (LLMs) and chatbots to support specialized teams across its business. These tools are applied with Deloitte’s Trustworthy AI™ framework to manage AI risks and improve user confidence and trust. Additionally, Deloitte is increasing AI fluency, training more than 120,000 professionals via the Deloitte AI Academy™ and investing more than $2 billion in global technology learning and development initiatives to boost skills in AI and other areas.

The Big-4 Accounting Firms Admitted to Violating Rules on Audit Independence Hundreds of Times

The so called "Big Four" accounting firms —Deloitte, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), EY (Ernst & Young), and KPMG — have admitted hundreds of violations of regulations designed to protect the independence of their audit work, reported the Financial Times (FT).

This information comes after the introduction of new disclosure rules in the US by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), an audit inspector of the US established by Congress to oversee the audits of public companies.

The FT report said that confessions by the Big-4s come as the PCAOB urges companies and investors to pay greater attention to the findings of its annual inspections of audit firms, the latest round of which are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

US regulators require audit firm staff and their immediate family to make thorough financial disclosures, for example of their investments, and they ban employment and financial relationships with audit clients that could impair the firm's independence.

Under the disclosure, PwC said that it had identified 129 breaches of independence rules affecting 74 clients and PCAOB inspectors had found a further one themselves while inspecting audit work in 2022. The figures were included in an update to PwC's audit quality report, published on its website.

Citing a person familiar with the situation at PwC, the FT report said, "one example was the spouse of a staffer (PwC) holding a cash balance on payments app Venmo while PwC was auditing Venmo's parent company PayPal.

Notably, PwC affiliates served as independent auditors of Satyam Computer Services when the report of scandal in the account books of Satyam Computer Services broke. Satyam was an IT services company that once had Fortune-500 clientele, which later merged with Tech Mahindra.

Deloitte had told PCAOB inspectors of 129 breaches across 78 clients in 2022 affecting approximately 3% of its US audits and 107 across 53 clients in the 2023 inspection cycle.

According to the Deloitte, the most common instances of non-compliance were "related to financial relationships and employment relationships of approximately 145,000 professionals monitored".

"I would characterise them as technical violations," said Dennis McGowan, vice-president of the Center for Audit Quality, Deloitte.

In June 2023, Deloitte resigned from India's Byju's statutory auditor midway saying that the financial statement of the edtech company for FY22 was long delayed.

EY disclosed that it had found independence violations affecting 3% of its audits in 2022.

KPMG is the only Big-Four firm not to have disclosed its figures, which will become public in the PCAOB's forthcoming inspection reports for 2022. The PCAOB decided last year to begin routinely including data on independence violations.

Big Four audit clients are what arguably make the largest audit companies in the world worth working for. A staggering 100% of the Fortune 500 are audited by one of the Big Four accounting firms.

Early this month, India's National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has also started investigating audit and non-audit services provided by the Big Four and other firms to clients. NFRA had raised concerns about conflict of interest and independence issues, leading to disciplinary actions. Violations include exceeding the revenue limit for non-audit services and breaching the cap on revenue from a single client.

Deloitte Acquires Software Development Firm Giant Machines

Deloitte, on Monday, announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Giant Machines, a digital product company based in New York City. The Giant Machines business is focused on strategizing, designing and engineering innovative digital products, and will help bolster Deloitte Digital and Deloitte Engineering capabilities to offer clients a robust suite of services to deliver strategic and scaled engineering solutions.

Founded in 2015, by Roy Yang, Giant Machines is a full-stack software design & development consultancy specialized in many aspects of product design and development, including market and user research, product strategy, prototyping, engineering and design, and product management. The team has developed large-scale, custom solutions for Fortune 500 companies across a wide array of industries, including climate tech, health care, public utilities and more. Giant Machines is also focused on shaping the future of engineering talent through inclusive and custom learning experiences — which will become part of Deloitte’s existing, award-winning training programs.

“Today’s organizations need to deliver on innovation and technology to keep pace with customer expectations and competitors. The Giant Machines product incubation and solutions services will scale our Deloitte Engineering and Deloitte Digital capabilities to help our clients accelerate product delivery and shape the next generation of innovation,” said Tim Juravich, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

“We built Giant Machines into what it is today with a relentless focus on outcomes and by helping our clients to see a bigger picture,” said Roy Yang, Giant Machines CEO. “It’s that same philosophy that drew us to Deloitte. In joining Deloitte, I believe we can take our vision of creating tech that matters and advance it even further, providing greater opportunities for clients.”

Besides Giant Machines, Deloitte had acquired other software engineering and product design companies in the past years, including the businesses of Optimal Design, Dextra Technologies, HashedIn Technologies and NTC.

Deloitte was recognized in the recent 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Custom Software Development Services, Worldwide, wherein the organization was positioned as a Leader. Additionally, Deloitte was recognized in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Software Engineering Services 2023 Vendor Assessment (doc #US51330523, November 2023), which also positioned Deloitte as a Leader.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Giant Machines refers to Giant Machines Software LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.

Deloitte Launches Global Generative-AI Incubator in India

Deloitte, on Tuesday, announced the launch of its Global Generative AI Market Incubator in India.

The Global Generative AI Market Incubator launched in India serves as a global centre of excellence for innovation in the field of Generative AI to serve businesses in India and across the globe.

The Incubator will work with Deloitte’s member firms globally to solve client problems with Generative AI, ensuring rapid and repeatable delivery of Gen AI capabilities via POCs (Proof of Concepts).

Currently, Deloitte has active global engagements in areas of drug discovery, customer experience, content generation, and personal avatars, with over 100 corporations demonstrating the growing relevance of Generative AI in democratising artificial intelligence. This is also a significant step towards nurturing tech innovation and talent in India, ultimately enabling enterprises to achieve their business objectives.

The AI Incubator will use deep industry sector and AI/ML expertise to create multi-disciplinary models built on design thinking for speed, faster time-to-market, and immediate value generation in critical projects.

Earlier in June, Deloitte India collaborated with the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) to launch Startup Governance Playbook. 

The launch of the Global Generative AI Market Incubator by Deloitte also aligns with the Indian government’s overall agenda of nurturing tech talent and AI-driven opportunities.

Commemorating the launch, Nitin Mittal, Deloitte Global Consulting Emerging Markets Leader, said, "Our focus is to harness generative AI's disruptive potential in partnership with our key alliances by leveraging our targeted industry solutions that help clients realise sustainable business outcomes and achieve real transformations."

He added, “To catalyse the market, we are collaborating with premier academic institutions and industry bodies and rapidly scaling trained generative AI talent pool across skills. This will nurture local tech talent and provide them more opportunities to serve global clients from India on these fast-evolving technologies.”

Sathish Gopalaiah, President, Consulting at Deloitte India, said, "As pioneers, we are creating industry-leading capabilities while helping customers navigate emerging challenges and disruptions.

Through this initiative, we aim to resolve unique industry cases by providing the right strategy and drawing on the strengths of our collaboration with alliance partners.

We officially launched the Gen AI practice in June this year. This launch shall further accelerate Gen AI deployments and bring global best practices.”

The Global Generative AI Market Incubator initiative propels Deloitte India onto the global stage, ushering in new growth opportunities and cross-functional learning for professionals. It reinforces the organisation’s focus and commitment towards investment in India to shape the future of technology.

IVCA and Deloitte Launch Start-Up Governance Playbook, A Corporate Governance Guide for India’s Start-Up Ecosystem

The Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA), in collaboration with London-based professional services firm Deloitte, has unveiled a framework for corporate governance practices in start-ups.

Launched at Startup Corporate Governance National Conclave, Start-up Governance Playbook is a corporate governance guide for India’s start-up ecosystem developed with insights from founders, investors, and industry experts.

India is now the world’s third-largest hub for start-up and the ecosystem continues to mature at a rapid pace. While founders tend to focus primarily on finding product market fit and winning their first customers during the very early days of their start-up journey, it soon becomes imperative to zero in on another fundamental aspect of company building; corporate governance.

The ‘Start-Up Governance Playbook’ offers a framework of different corporate governance recommendations for new-age companies. The playbook consists of a broad guidance on the governance journey for start-ups from early stage to pre-IPO, a reference guide to help start-ups gauge where they stand on governance, a starter kit with an elementary introduction of governance building blocks, and inputs from those who have already taken their companies to IPO.

"The IVCA has prepared this governance playbook in partnership with Deloitte India to serve as a resource for start-up founders, management teams, investor and board members of start-ups across different stages. We hope this helps serve as a starting point in your journey to craft your corporate governance strategy and policies", said Debasish Mishra, Chief Growth Officer, Deloitte South Asia.

"Through this playbook, we intend to create a space for founders to self assess themselves and know that they are not alone in this journey. With the right intent, business ethics and efficient decision making of an aligned board, Indian start-ups will definitely cross the chasm and create immense value to all stakeholders-investors, customers, government, employees, et al including themselves", said Rajat Tandon, President, IVCA.

The Playbook document offers:

• Broad guidance on the governance journey of a start-up from the earliest stage to pre-IPO
• Insightful and relevant inputs from those who have undertaken the same journey
• A starter kit with an elementary introduction of governance building blocks
• A reference guide to help you gauge where your company stands and relevant governance recommendations

Deloitte Consulting Completes Acquisition of HashedIn Technologies

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte Consulting has completed its acquisition of HashedIn Technologies Private Limited, a leading cloud native software engineering and product development firm. Together, the two organizations will help clients to imagine, deliver and run their futures with cloud technologies. 

Deloitte entities have made 14 acquisitions of cloud-technology firms or their businesses since 2017, including software-modernization company innoWake, cloud-management platform startup ATADATA, and technology consultancy Keytree, demonstrating a commitment to strategic investments that advance business disruption. Today, Deloitte has over 50,000 professionals worldwide supporting organizations throughout their cloud journeys.

"Deloitte is continually looking for opportunities to invest in innovation and disruptive technologies," said Sam Balaji, Global Consulting Leader, Deloitte Global. "Cloud continues to be a top priority for us and with this acquisition, we are uniquely poised to support digital transformation at a global scale."

"Deloitte shares our commitment to delivering world-class value to organizations and creating the best talent experience for our professionals," said Himanshu Varshney, HashedIn CEO and Co-Founder. "Together, we look forward to delivering leading-edge technology solutions to organizations."

Himanshu Varshney, Sripathi Krishnan, and Anshuman Singh have each joined Deloitte Consulting as managing directors—along with approximately 750 members of the HashedIn organization around the world who also became Deloitte professionals.

"We are excited to welcome our HashedIn teammates as we continue to scale our cloud native development and high-end software engineering services to solve our clients' toughest problems effectively," said Ranjit Bawa, Principal and Cloud Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP. "This acquisition further strengthens our capabilities in working with the major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud."

Deloitte has been recognized as a leader in cloud consulting services and for its commitment to investing in cloud, AI, cyber, workforce digitization, and analytics services by the top industry analyst firms, including Gartner, Forrester and IDC. Please visit our analyst relations page for more information.

About Deloitte
Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace — delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Now celebrating 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's more than 330,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.

About HashedIn

HashedIn Technologies Private Limited is one of India's leading technology firms that is specialized in offering software modernization and product innovation solutions. HashedIn Technologies has successfully served more than 100 customers since its inception across industries and continents and has helped them launch new products faster, disrupt industries, and streamline and scale operations. To learn more about HashedIn Technologies Pvt Ltd, please visit www.hashedin.com.

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Deloitte Launches < "The Next Wave" Emerging Digital Life in South and Southeast Asia > Report At Ant Group’s INCLUSION Fintech Conference

Deloitte launched <"The Next Wave" Emerging Digital Life in South and Southeast Asia > Report today at the INCLUSION Fintech Conference, organized by Ant Group and Alipay to foster a global dialogue on building a more inclusive, green, and sustainable world through digital technology.

  
 

(Graphic: Business Wire)

Through an extensive survey conducted across age groups in eight countries in South and Southeast Asia, specifically Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the report showed that consumers aged between 21 and 40 years old are the leading force enabling the rapid adoption of a digital life in the region in the post Covid-19 world. 

Speaking at one of the media forums on Day 2 of INCLUSION, Taylor Lam, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Leader at Deloitte China, said: “Young and vibrant economies in South and Southeast Asia are rapidly becoming the ‘next wave’ of future leaders in digital economy. The combination of a relatively large, young, unbanked and underbanked population, high mobile penetration and supportive local governments has helped the region leapfrog in its digital infrastructure and innovations, which has accelerated the adoption of digital payment and the expansion of daily digital life scenarios in the region.” 

“Through our research, we have seen great potential for these digital economies to continue maturing and become more inclusive, more convenient and secure, and more sustainable, which will benefit their recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

 

Key regional insights:

 

1. Digital payment as a key enabler is creating and connecting the digital life for consumers, making a fundamental shift in how people live, work and play.

 

• Since the outbreak of Covid-19, about 78% of the research participants indicated that they have experienced some increases in the usage of digital services, in which 41% indicated a surge.
  • Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia are the top three countries seeing the highest increase in usage.
• Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia are the top three most active countries in using digital payment.
• Top three most common daily life scenarios where consumers choose to use digital payment are:
  • e-commerce/m-commerce (70%)
  • peer-to-peer transfer (69%)
  • in-store purchase (62%)
• Majority of digital payment transactions are small in value, 67% of research participants indicated that the average value per transaction is less than USD30 per person. This indicates that digital payment has penetrated consumers' daily life and has become the mainstream to meet their everyday needs.
• Top three reasons why consumers opt to use e-wallet include:
  • Convenience (77%)
  • Contactless (69%)
  • Value-added benefits and promotions (9%)

2. Consumers in South and Southeast Asia enjoy the breadth and depth of daily life scenarios supported by digital services.

 

• Top five most popular mobile apps among consumers in the region are:

• Entertainment
  • Social media (79%)
  • Music/video streaming (50%)
• E-commerce/m-commerce (74%)
  • Convenience, Product variety and Low price are the top three reasons for consumers to choose to shop online
• Daily life services (59%)
  • Ride-hailing, News and Books and Workplace Collaboration are the top three most often used mobile apps in the category
• Financial services (45%)
  • Mobile banking and digital payment are the most used mobile apps in the category

3. Driven by the rising digital payment adoption and richness in daily digital life scenarios, South and Southeast Asia region is presenting an exciting digital future.

 

Regional Digital Life Index is developed based on the research and on a series of parameters including mobile penetration, internet maturity and penetration, digital payment maturity, e-commerce maturity, social media activeness and local government support.

 

• Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are the “Digital Life Leaders”, leading the race across all parameters
• Thailand and the Philippines stood out as the "Digital Life follower"
  • Thailand shows a high level of mobile penetration, social media activeness, digital payment and e-commerce maturity
  • The Philippines is leading in digital payment adoption, especially peer-to-peer transfers and gaming industry
• India is classified as the "Digital Life Potential", leading in the space of cybersecurity
• Bangladesh and Pakistan are considered "Digital Life Catcher "

This report is produced by Deloitte in partnership with the INCLUSION Fintech Conference. Assembled at the event are the leading enterprises, experts and scholars of the financial and technology communities, to discuss global cooperation and innovations in the fields of finance, economy, commerce and environment.

 

About Deloitte 

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About Inclusion Fintech Conference

 

The INCLUSION Fintech Conference was officially announced in January 2020 to bring together the global financial and technology communities, to envision a world that is more inclusive, green, and sustainable through digital technology. The inaugural three-day conference in Shanghai, to be held September 24-26, 2020, will feature over 40 forums, with keynotes and panels covering major themes such as the global digital economy, digital finance, innovative technology, and sustainability.

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005941/en/

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Retailers Need to Invest in Technologies like Blockchain, Robotics and Automation: Deloitte

Retailers need to invest in advanced technologies such as cloud computing, blockchain, robotics and automation to enhance their competitiveness, according to a report by Deloitte.

It said that embracing modern technologies would help in addressing the last-mile delivery challenge of the new-age tech-savvy consumer.

Retailers are striving to offer a seamless shopping experience through data-driven insights and analysis, it added.

Technology has led to a paradigm shift in the way retailers operate and transformed the entire shopping journey of consumers, the report said.

"Advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, IoT (internet of things), blockchain, robotics, automation, 3D printing, predictive analysis, and AI, are expected to automate various backend and front-end processes. Thus, retailers need to invest in these technologies to remain competent and thrive in the rapidly evolving and disruptive consumer environment," it said.

Anand Ramanathan, partner, Deloitte India, said brands are focusing on blurring boundaries between offline and online channels.

Anil Talreja, partner, Deloitte India, said India continues to hold a strong position as far as its market potential for retail is concerned and is on its way to touch USD 1,200 billion by 2021.

"Currently, shopper and shopping experiences are technologically enabled and digital has taken a centre stage redefining the meaning of convenience. However, this also adds a new mandate for timely delivery and customer experience that are key attributes for India Inc to focus on as the rules of the retail business game evolves," Talreja added. PTI RR

Connected Cars Poised to Become Common Phenomenon in India: Report

Connected cars are set to become a common phenomenon in the Indian market in the near future with rapid adoption of electric vehicles, according to a Deloitte report.

As per the 2020 Global Automotive Consumer Study by Deloitte, an annual report which comes up with insights on the automotive industry globally, the Indian market is expected to witness enhanced interest and demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and connected vehicles going forward.

"Connected cars are poised to become a common phenomenon in India in the near future. And their relevance in the next few years is only bound to increase with the expected wide-scale adoption of EVs where connectivity features will help owners locate nearby charging stations and access telematics data among several other things," the study outlined.

The consumers' willingness to pay for advanced and connected technologies has improved over the last two years which is evident in the rising sales of cars that are internet connected, despite the slowdown in sale of passenger vehicles, it added.

"A substantial number of people are talking about their willingness to pay about Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh extra for connected services in their cars," Deloitte India Partner Rajeev Singh said while elaborating on the findings regarding the Indian market.

Besides, the study reveals that people are looking keenly at entry of affordable products in the electric vehicle segment, Singh added.

"Moreover, in the time to come OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), are expected to struggle to get consumers to pay for advanced connectivity features, even when it means increasing road safety. The perception of Indian with respect to safety while driving connected vehicles is also very low," the study noted.

The study also stated that in India automobile OEMs are not the top choice in terms of trust for sharing of data by consumers.

Indians make up the top demographic region that is concerned about security of biometric data shared with connected vehicles, it noted.

"With the introduction of Personal Data Protection Act, the automotive industry would need to add another layer of regulation to balance benefits of connectivity with protection of consumer data," the report said.

The report also said the number of people reporting at least occasional use of ride-hailing services has increased in the last few years as consumers see multiple benefits in it. PTI MSS

India's 'Internet of Things' Market Will Grow To $9 billion By 2020

The Indian government's Digital India initiative has lead to the country becoming more and more digital by each passing day. And now it seems, the country's smart home industry is all ready to reap in the benefits of its government's futuristic programme.

According to recent findings made by consultancy firm Deloitte in its TMT Predictions 2017, the number of units under Internet of Things (IoT) in India is expected to exponentially increase to 1.9 billion units by 2020 or about $9 billion. The Indian subcontinent, which has come to acquire the status of a growing IoT hub, is expected to see a 7 times increase, from just $1.3 billion in 2016 to $9 billion by 2020. The report estimates the current number of such devices in the country to be around 60 million.

For the uninitiated, IoT devices refers to the devices, other than smartphones and computers, that are connected to the World Wide Web.

The report also stated that going forward IoT solution deployment for digital utilities or smart cities and in the transport, manufacturing, logistics and automotive industries would drive in the demand for industrial IoT applications.

According to predictions made by Machina Research, even though the Indian smart home industry trails much behind the US and Chinese, it still represents a very promising internet-related growth area for the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian Prime Minister has been an aggressive campaigner of the Digital India initiative. Last year on 8th October, he took the entire country by storm when he announced that the country's 500 and 1,000 rupee notes would seize to being legal tender. His move ended up encouraging the citizens to turn to digital wallet apps in order to deal with the cash crunch.

According to the report, by the year 2020, industries such as manufacturing, transportation, logistics and automotive are most likely to witness the highest adoption levels of IoT in India. The Indian government has allocated about $1 billion for 100 smart cities, over the period of next five years, which is expected to serve as a key enabler for IoT adoption across the aforementioned industries. The government is currently also working on bringing affordable, high-speed internet to 150,000 Indian villages.