Big Four Alumni & Professionals Group (ACN, CAP, D&T, E&Y, KPMG, PwC)

News

• 01 Feb 2010

  KPMG Finds Companies Rethinking Software Asset Management Programs

  According to the latest KPMG report, the rising cost of software licensing and maintenance are making companies rethink about the importance of a software asset management (SAM) program. The report named Software Asset Management - Mitigating Risk and Realising Opportunities stressed how SAM can be helpful in delivering the desired results by the companies.
  
  
  The report, when talking about SAM said it is -"a business practice designed to reduce IT costs, limit risks related to the ownership and use of software, and increase corporate-wide and IT efficiencies. As more companies begin to realize the value of their software assets--and that this value is being compromised by failing to actively manage these assets--undoubtedly, SAM adoption will grow. It will not be long, in fact, before companies with limited SAM capabilities will become the exception."
  
  
  There is immense potential to save millions of dollars through better use of all technology assets, KPMG stressed. They also added that companies can use SAM on hardware as well as their software. This will also enable them to make better purchasing decisions. Tools such as volume purchase agreements or bundled services enable companies to function more effectively in the areas where software requirements are present. SAM also helps companies to ensure that only authorized software is being used. This happens since it has effective license tracking software in it.
  
  
  Network security is also put on high priority as SAM provides better understanding and control over the software installed. With such knowledge, data integrity, and customer privacy, network security is assured. It also helps in improving responsiveness, flexibility, information flow of the organization’s software arrangement.
  
  
  Despite these various benefits, SAM also has a few minor drawbacks. With licensing rules becoming stricter, the providers worry about how their requirements will be fulfilled and that there will be difficulty in monitoring them. The other problem would be that all major groups in an institution such as legal, IT, and finance units may not be having common objectives.
  
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• 01 Feb 2010

  Ernst And Young Survey: 60% Companies Do Not Have a Cost Reduction Strategy

  A recent survey by Ernst & Young stated how in spite of the recent recession, more than 60% of global companies do not have an active cost reduction strategy in place. The more alarming part is that over 25% of these companies do not intend to have such a plan in the near future while only 17% see continuous cost reduction plans as a priority. The Ernst & Young survey is titled ‘Save to Prosper: from cost reduction to cost optimization’.
  
  
  “Our survey highlights that many businesses are dangerously complacent about cost reduction and are as a result not ready for the eventual economic recovery. Although cost-consciousness has become a top priority during the last year, the majority of company efforts so far have been on tactical and temporary measures, delivering no more than 10% cost reduction for most businesses. Sustainable cost reduction and optimization need to become standard practice and be at the heart of any company’s business recovery agenda”, said, Raju Lal, Partner at Ernst & Young.
  
  
  The study revealed how only a third of the companies have planned ahead so that they can save 20% or more in the period of 12-18 months. The fundamental and important steps to cost reduction are yet to take place in full swing. The survey was conducted on a total of 561 senior executives, and covered 11 important business sectors of 11 major economies. Most have these businesses have stated the reason for cost reduction plan implementation as “to ensure survival”. This also means that once the goal of survival has been achieved, cost reduction will no longer be a priority.
  
  
  The survey has highlighted other important factors like how companies give higher priority to expanding their base and market share over profitability. This is in contrast to smart cost optimization which would mean that companies cut down on customer base in order to have healthy margins and more beneficial business partnerships. The telecommunications and consumer goods industry achieved higher scores in the field of cost savings as compared to goods sold. 31% of consumer products companies achieved 11-20% savings target while 32% of telecommunications companies achieved 11-20% cost reduction target.
  
  
  Lal added, “Cost reduction has to be considered as a fundamental business commitment. Companies’ focus now needs to move to beneficial cost optimization. If companies treat it as a temporary and inconvenient phase, they risk losing out to more agile rivals. By recognizing the competitive nature of the new commercial landscape, management can ensure their businesses survive and prosper.”
  
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• 20 Jan 2010

  PricewaterhouseCooopers Gains Top Rating From Gartner

  We see from a recent press release that PricewaterhouseCoopers has received a "Strong Positive" rating in Gartner"s Global Finance Management Consulting Services MarketScope Report, which was published recently on December 21, 2009.
  
  This is the highest possible rating in the Marketscope, a "Strong Positive" shows a provider who can be considered "a strong choice for strategic investments" where customers can continue with planned investments and potential customers can consider this vendor a strong choice for strategic investments.. The research assesses the global capabilities of nine leading finance management consulting service providers on customer experience, market understanding, market responsiveness, product/service, offering strategy, geographical capabilities and vertical-industry strategy.
  
  Congratulations to PwC for this select honor.
  
  Unfortunately, there is a stiff price to see the contents of this report (US$1,995), so we can"t say who the other 8 providers are, but very likely some of the Big Four firms would be on that list, and somewhat curious why PwC should feature this as a big release on their global website, but other firms are quite silent on this point.
  
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