1. Amazon 2. IBM Services, Technology and Consulting
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May 2019 Services, Technology and Welcome to the May 2019 edition of Latitude Executive Consulting’s newsletter. The newsletter rounds up an eclectic mix of recent news across Consulting - the globe within the Services, Technology and Consulting sectors...which we Newsletter hope you enjoy! The material has been sourced from a range of publicly available media and business contacts/partners. 1. Amazon The organisations covered in this issue are: Amazon has announced that it’s working to offer free one-day shipping as the default for Amazon Prime customers, instead of the free two-day Prime shipping primarily offered today. “We’re currently working on evolving Prime two-day to Prime one-day,” says Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky during 1. Amazon the company’s first quarter 2019 earnings call. 2. IBM The new free one-day shipping method should be different from today’s free 3. Wipro same-day and free one-day shipping, which usually require you (in the US) to order at least $35 worth of items. The free one-day shipping also won’t come 4. Slalom at an additional cost to consumers, besides the required Prime membership 5. Microsoft subscription. 6. Accenture Olavsky elaborated, “We’re already starting down this path… We’ve expanded 7. Atos the number of zip codes eligible for one-day shipping.” He did acknowledge that “it will take us a significant amount of time to achieve.” He says Amazon 8. EY was working on improving its shipping logistics over the past quarter, and will use the US Postal Service and all its other transportation partners to help make free one-day shipping the standard for Prime customers. Amazon says it’ll tell us more about the expansion of free one-day shipping in the second quarter of the year. Development is beginning in North America for now, but it will eventually expand globally. Olsavsky adds, “The vast majority of items are available in two days. If we cut that in half...we think it will open upE a lot of potential purchases and a lot of convenience.” x a 2.m IBM p IBMl has announced the expansion of the IBM Q Network to include a number ofe global universities with the intent to partner with IBM to accelerate joint research in quantum computing, and develop curricula to help prepare students for careers that will be influenced by this next era of computing, o across science and business. The IBM Q Network™ is the world's first f community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs working to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications.a b u l l Latitude Executive Consulting: Global Search Leadershipe t Email: [email protected] www.latitudeexec.come Page 1 of 9 d l i For example, IBM is announcing Florida State University, the University of Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Stony Brook University, and the University of Tokyo will have direct access to IBM Q's most-advanced commercially available quantum computing systems for teaching, and faculty and student research projects that advance quantum information science and explore early applications, as academic partners. Examples of this collaboration includes: The University of Notre Dame: As part of the IBM Q Network, the university will grow an interdisciplinary quantum-programming community, and prepare a workforce at the undergraduate and graduate levels for the development of novel quantum computing applications in chemistry, physics and engineering and the creation of tools for increasing the efficiency of quantum computers. Virginia Tech: As a member of the IBM Q Hub at Oak Ridge National Lab, Virginia Tech will work in conjunction with the Department of Energy, and chemistry experts at the IBM Almaden Research Center on the development of new quantum algorithms specifically in the field of quantum chemistry. Duke University: The Brown Lab, led by Dr. Kenneth Brown, which focuses on "quantum systems to build quantum information devices and sensors" will work with IBM in the area of quantum error correction, an algorithmic method for removing errors in quantum computers, which is expected to be important for future quantum computers regardless of the hardware platform. Harvard University: Through its recent investment in a Harvard Quantum Initiative, Harvard has committed to developing a broad community of researchers and educators in quantum science and engineering, including this collaboration with IBM's Q Network. Harvard students and researchers aim to transform sensing, communications, and computation — while developing the educational platform for quantum engineering and science for the long term. The University of Colorado Boulder: As part of the IBM Q Network, CU Boulder will seek collaborations with IBM Q scientists and engineers through its CUbit Quantum Initiative, where university, industry and government scientists conduct joint R&D, train students to contribute to the expanding quantum workforce, and engage with a range of industry partners. The University of Waterloo: Working with IBM, the University of Waterloo will focus on accelerating collaborative research in quantum algorithms and quantum complexity theory. "Developing practical quantum applications that drive business and scientific breakthroughs requires a diverse ecosystem," said Dr. Anthony Annunziata, IBM Q Network Global Lead, IBM Research. "Partnering with these world- leading academic and research institutions is key as we work to educate, empower, and get the next generation of students 'quantum ready' to advance the field." Beginning this summer, IBM will host developer boot camps and hackathons for hands-on training of the open source IBM Q Experience cloud services Latitude Executive Consulting: Global Search Leadership Email: [email protected] www.latitudeexec.com Page 2 of 9 platform, and the full-stack open source Qiskit quantum software platform on campus at participating universities. The IBM Q Network provides its organizations with quantum expertise and resources, quantum software and developer tools, as well as cloud-based access to IBM's most advanced, commercially available and scalable universal quantum computing systems. In addition, the no-cost and publicly available IBM Q Experience now supports more than 100,000 users, who have run more than 10 million experiments and published more than 180 third- party research papers. Developers have also downloaded Qiskit more than 160,000 times to create and run quantum computing programs. Big numbers! 3. Wipro The Ang-Hortaleza Corporation (AHC) and Wipro Consumer Care (WCC) have signed a Share Purchase Agreement for the sale of 100% of AHC’s stake in the Personal Care Business of Splash Corporation (SC). Splash is among the largest personal care players in the Philippine market which recorded revenues of USD 80 Mn. It has built iconic brands like SkinWhite – the number one scientific whitening lotion in the country; Flawlessly U – a fast-growing herbal beauty brand; Maxi-Peel - the leading and dominant brand in the exfoliants category; Vitress – the number one brand in hair styling aids; and, Hygienix – one of the fastest growing germicidal brands today. These brands cover a wide spectrum of personal care categories and are in leading positions in respective segments. Wipro Consumer Care forms part of Wipro Group of Companies, a US$8.4 billion company based in India and is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. It also has operations in consumer care and lighting, infrastructure engineering and medical systems. The transaction strengthens Wipro’s Consumer Care portfolio in personal care and completes its South East Asian footprint. Mr. Nagender Arya, Regional Director, Wipro Consumer Care says: “This is an exciting milestone for us, given our Vision of being amongst the top 3 players in Personal Care in Asia. This transaction gives us a market leading position in the Philippine market, which is one of the strong economies in the region and a formidable personal care market. This is our 11th acquisition and reinforces our commitment to continue to invest in emerging markets and build a strong portfolio of local jewels in terms of brands catering to strong niches in each of the markets Brands of Splash overlap with our portfolio in the region and I see tremendous opportunity to further leverage the strengths of our manufacturing, R&D, and sourcing for Splash brands.” Dr. Rolando B. Hortaleza, CEO and Founder of Splash Corporation says: “I am very glad that Splash is becoming part of the Wipro group. This gives us immediate access to resources that will help us fuel faster growth in our business, and enable us to unlock the true potential of our brands. Furthermore, Wipro shares our focus of building strategy with local consumer insights as well as in driving operational efficiency." Dr. Hortaleza will stay on as an advisor in the areas of marketing, innovation, and the overall transition of the business. Latitude Executive Consulting: Global Search Leadership Email: [email protected] www.latitudeexec.com Page 3 of 9 Additionally, Mr. Neeraj Khatri, Incoming CEO (Splash Corporation) states: “This acquisition enables us to grow in Philippines market by leveraging Splash’s distribution strength across market segments. Splash’s brands can be expanded further to other international markets where Wipro has strong footprint and brands have latent equity. These brands are not only strong in the Philippines, but also have strong equity in multiple international markets like Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Middle East, and Nigeria.” 4. Slalom Consulting Slalom Consulting, a large management and technology consultancy in North America with some 4,000 consultants and revenues of more than $550 million, is opening an office in Manchester, UK. Founded in Seattle in 2001, the advisory firm spent its initial 13 years of business focusing on domestic expansion. While many fast-growing firms in Europe seek to expand across borders to open up new markets, Slalom’s positioning in the world’s largest and most mature consulting market meant that by the start of 2014, the firm had grown its revenues to around $480 million with offices solely in the US.