Latest Reports

• Higher Education Digital Services: Accelerating Academic Agility and Institutional Resilience through Digital Innovation

  The higher education industry is responding to financial pressures, enrollment volatility, and rising cyber threats by accelerating digital transformation across academic and administrative functions. AI, advanced analytics, and immersive technologies are being deployed to enhance student recruitment, personalize learning experiences, and improve retention. As hybrid learning becomes the norm, universities are modernizing legacy infrastructure with cloud-native platforms to ensure scalability, interoperability, and seamless data exchange. At the same time, institutions are leveraging digital tools, such as virtual assistants, AI-powered chatbots, and AR/VR applications, to deliver more personalized, data-driven engagement. With increasing exposure to digital systems, cybersecurity has emerged as a strategic imperative, prompting the adoption of zero-trust architectures, AI-driven threat detection, and cross-sector collaboration to strengthen resilience. Finally, sustainability is also becoming central to institutional strategy, with investments in IoT, real-time analytics, and smart campus solutions aimed at reducing emissions, optimizing energy use, and aligning with global climate goals.

  July, 2025

• Charted Territories: Why Vendor Data Strategy is Now a Boardroom Issue

  In today’s AI-powered economy, vendor management is no longer a back-office function—it’s a strategic priority demanding executive oversight. Leaders who master their vendor data unlock cost savings, strengthen supplier partnerships, reduce compliance risk, and prepare their organizations for AI-driven transformation. Yet many companies still treat vendor data as fragmented, tactical, or purely transactional.

  July, 2025

• Cash Generation Through Divestiture: A Strategic Enabler

  Imagine a company shedding its skin not in retreat, but in renewal. From global giants like Procter & Gamble to tech titans like Hewlett-Packard, companies are increasingly turning to divestitures not as a last resort, but as a deliberate strategy to unlock capital, sharpen focus, and fuel transformation. Divestiture is a powerful financial lever—one that generates immediate cash inflows, improves liquidity, and enables reinvestment into high-growth areas. Whether through asset sales, spin-offs, or equity carve-outs, divestitures are helping enterprises streamline operations and strengthen their financial health.

  July, 2025

• Mastering CrowdStrike Negotiations Post-Disruption

  Few names resonate as strongly in the world of cybersecurity as CrowdStrike. Known for its cutting-edge technology and robust security solutions, CrowdStrike has become a go-to provider for many enterprises. However, recent incident service disruptions have cast a shadow over CrowdStrike's reputation. For companies that use CrowdStrike for security services and are about to engage in a renewal cycle, strategic negotiation methodologies can be used to leverage these incident service issues and improve terms.

  July, 2025

• The Essential AI Skills for Procurement Professionals in 2025: Staying Relevant in a Transformative Era

  As AI becomes deeply integrated into procurement processes, the skillset required for success now includes technical competencies that complement traditional procurement expertise. The procurement landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. For decades, procurement professionals relied on sourcing acumen, negotiation skills, and supplier management expertise to navigate their roles. To lead in 2025 and beyond, procurement professionals must master three AI-powered capabilities: data fluency, prompt engineering, and model validation. These aren’t just technical skills — they’re the new core competencies of a modern, AI-augmented procurement leader.

  July, 2025

• Proactive Risk Management in Complex Vendor Networks

  Working with multiple vendors offers key advantages, such as cost savings and quality improvements. More importantly, engaging multiple vendors helps reduce reliance on a single supplier, which protects the organization from potential supply chain disruptions, financial instability, or operational failures on behalf of one vendor. However, this benefit comes with the challenge of managing a more complex network of vendor relationships. To mitigate risks effectively in a multi-vendor environment, businesses need clear contract management, strategic vendor selection, greater transparency, and rigorous performance monitoring. Balancing risk reduction with operational efficiency is key to ensuring successful mitigation without disrupting the organization.

  July, 2025

• From Scale to Intelligence: How the Capgemini-WNS Deal Redefines the M&A Playbook for Business Process Services

  In the rapidly evolving business process outsourcing landscape, July 7, 2025, marked a significant moment that could reshape industry dynamics. Capgemini’s $3.3B acquisition of WNS Holdings represents more than another mega-deal; it signals the start of the end of the and the dawn of intelligence-powered transformation in business process transformation services.

  July, 2025

• Avasant Quantum Series: From Hype to Strategy — A Quantum Readiness Guide for CIOs and CTOs

  Quantum technology—rooted in the principles of quantum mechanics—is poised to tackle problems far beyond the capabilities of today’s most powerful classical computers. Its potential spans computing, cybersecurity, advanced sensing, and next-generation materials. Yet, many enterprises remain on the sidelines, assuming quantum computing is still years from real-world impact. Drawing on client interactions and insights into enterprise aspirations across AI and quantum, we have developed a comprehensive framework for service providers to assess and build quantum readiness, spanning technology readiness, talent and capability, ecosystem partnerships, and investments and innovation. It also incorporates key decision-making principles that enterprises can use to evaluate and select providers for their quantum journey.

  June, 2025

• Avasant Quantum Series: The Provider Imperative — Preparing Enterprises for the Quantum Era

  While many Tier 1 and Tier 2 service providers have started laying the foundation for quantum computing and adjacent technologies, progress remains inconsistent, and most are still in the early stages of true readiness. At Avasant, we recognize that service providers often require strategic guidance in navigating this complex and rapidly evolving space, particularly in understanding enterprise expectations and aligning capabilities accordingly. Drawing on deep client interactions and insights into enterprise aspirations across AI and quantum, we have developed a comprehensive framework for service providers to assess and build quantum readiness. This framework spans four critical dimensions: practice capabilities, talent development, ecosystem partnerships, and investment priorities. It also incorporates key decision-making principles that enterprises are using to evaluate and select providers for their quantum journey.

  June, 2025

• Avasant Quantum Series: Decrypting the Quantum Threat – What Every CISO Must Know

  While quantum computing could supercharge scientific discovery, materials design, and AI, it simultaneously threatens to break the foundation of today’s cybersecurity. Current encryption standards, such as RSA and ECC, which protect everything from online banking to classified government communications, rely on the near impossibility of solving certain mathematical problems with classical computers. But with quantum algorithms such as Shor’s algorithm, these problems can be solved exponentially faster, rendering today’s public-key encryption useless almost overnight. This looming threat has led to a new urgency in cybersecurity circles. Experts are calling it the Quantum Apocalypse—a scenario where powerful quantum computers could decrypt vast troves of previously secure data. Experts fear this scenario to be only decades away. The threat is not just in the future: data harvested today can be decrypted tomorrow once quantum machines are operational. The only way forward is to upgrade our cryptographic infrastructure before it is too late.

  July, 2025

• Aligning Talent and Technology by Embedding Generative AI in SAP SuccessFactors

  Enterprises are making HR more effective by combining SAP SuccessFactors with core ERP systems and introducing generative AI through SAP Joule. This integration creates a single source of truth across HR, finance, and operations, improving the accuracy of AI-driven insights. Today, over 60% of SAP SuccessFactors clients are piloting Joule to automate tasks such as resume screening, interview scheduling, and performance reviews. At the same time, many organizations are adopting industry-specific extensions to address practical needs such as managing seasonal staff in retail, tracking safety in manufacturing, and ensuring compliance in healthcare and utilities.

  July, 2025

• Avasant Quantum Series: Quantum Sensing in Business – What Every Enterprise Leader Needs to Know

  Quantum sensing is a breakthrough technology that leverages the principles of quantum mechanics to measure physical phenomena with exceptional precision. Unlike traditional sensors, quantum sensors can detect minute changes in gravity, magnetic fields, motion, and time, often in environments where classical systems fail. With advantages such as ultrahigh sensitivity and resilience in harsh or GPS-denied conditions, quantum sensing is moving rapidly from research labs into real-world pilots, particularly in sectors such as defense, aerospace, and healthcare. As the technology matures, enterprises are encouraged to focus on high-value, high-complexity use cases where traditional sensing falls short. To fully capitalize on its potential, organizations should partner with specialized innovators, explore codevelopment opportunities, and begin building internal readiness through targeted talent development and infrastructure planning.

  July, 2025