Adrian Bradley, Partner & Head of Cloud Transformation, KPMG UK
November marks the return of the UK IT Industry Awards.
These awards are the largest and most well-known event in the technology industry calendar. Owned and operated by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and Computing, the awards enjoy a level of professionalism and industry knowledge not seen at other shows.
This year's winners will be announced at a live awards ceremony on Wednesday 8th November in London.
One of those finalists is KPMG, which has reached the shortlist for six categories: Cloud Innovation of the Year; Apprentice of the Year; Business Analyst of the Year; Mentor of the Year; Development Team of the Year; and Security Innovation of the Year.
We talked to Adrian Bradley, partner and head of cloud transformation, to find out what sets KPMG apart.
Adrian helps clients to transform and manage the technology platforms (especially cloud) that enable them to succeed in their markets. He leads KPMG's Cloud Transformation practice and is lead Partner for a FTSE100 consumer goods firm.
Together with KPMG UK's 700-strong team of cloud specialists, Adrian develops and executes technology strategies which pivot enterprises towards platforms which enable them to grasp the opportunities of cloud, analytics, AI and automation, and to manage the cyber security implications.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers.
Adrian Bradley: KPMG has been supporting the UK for over 150 years, our professionals across our capabilities in Audit, Consulting, Deal Advisory, Tax & Law and Technology & Engineering strive to make a meaningful and positive difference for clients, people and the communities we serve.
We work with clients ranging from start-ups and individuals to major multinationals, in virtually every industry imaginable. Our work is often complex, yet our mission is simple: to support the UK in a connected world.
What makes you different from other companies?
It's a great time to work with cloud. At KPMG, we're excited at how the foundational digital capabilities enabled by cloud - AI, analytics and much more - have moved out of the data centre and into the core of our clients' businesses.
By focussing on how clients deliver transformational value from cloud, KPMG has grown our cloud team serving the UK to over 700 people. We are a significant consumer of cloud ourselves, running scaled managed services and products in public cloud. Here's our takeaways on the state of the cloud market:
- Value is key - just going to cloud doesn't lead to value, enterprises need to plan how cloud will have an impact on their business and build their strategy, architectures, and capabilities around those areas.
- The sources of value are maturing quickly - as the wave of generative AI use cases demonstrates. At KPMG, our cloud teams work increasingly closely with our supply chain, customer, and back office functional experts - those of us who started in data centres have come a long way.
- Hybrid is here to stay - and there's potential with market events such as the CMA investigation to disrupt the market and make us think carefully about where to deploy non-cloud, where public cloud makes a real difference, and how to integrate the two.
What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
Where we see this in action at KPMG, what stands out is not just the technical excellence but the impact on the enterprise - whether it be the cloud strategy for billions of pounds of spend in a major UK government department; the transformation of one of the UK's most used online shopping sites; or the transformation of back-office productivity with AI at a major CPG. For many clients the most eye-catching outcomes are built on the steady build of a cloud architecture & capability through sustained, cost-effective execution of cloud migration and builds.
What are you working on this year?
We're proud to have reduced the carbon footprint of our own compute through our own move to the cloud, just one of the ways in which cloud is driving value for our own business. Our landmark agreement with Microsoft to partner on AI has already given us the ability to rapidly develop and customise these solutions to unlock value where it was not previously possible, and to help clients disrupt their business model to your profitability and strengthen their competitive advantage.
Why are events like the UK IT Awards important to the IT industry?
We would like to congratulate our cloud teams shortlisted in this year's Awards. Events like this are important as they bring together talented professionals from across our industry and provide an opportunity for us to celebrate innovation, network with likeminded individuals and provide external recognition for all the great work our industry does to help drive value across organisations in every sector within the UK.
The UK IT Industry Awards will take place on 8th November in London. Click here to view the shortlist and here to book your table.
