Consultant

SBF launches Future Ready Business Index to help businesses identify gaps and accelerate transformation. The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) today launched the Future Ready Business Index (FRBI), a diagnostic tool that helps Singapore enterprises assess their future readiness, identify capability gaps and prioritise transformation efforts. The FRBI launch was officiated by Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), at the inaugural Future Ready Business in Action 2026. The event brought together over 200 business leaders, ecosystem partners and government stakeholders to discuss how enterprises can strengthen resilience, build future-ready capabilities and remain competitive in an increasingly complex global economy. Businesses today must contend with geoeconomic uncertainty, rising costs, decarbonisation pressures, and rapid technological and workforce changes. SBF's National Business Surveys point to a cautious outlook for the business climate - with some improved sentiments in Q2 - while its latest Manpower and Wages survey highlighted just over half of companies have changed their work processes through automation, digitalisation and AI. On the sustainability front, six in 10 companies pursuing decarbonisation are not yet tracking emissions, citing capability and manpower constraints. These findings reinforce the need for tools that help businesses identify capability gaps, prioritise transformation needs and turn priorities into action. One Front Door for Business Transformation The FRBI sits at the heart of SBF's broader Future Ready Business (FRB) platform, which provides businesses with a single front door to move from diagnoses to action. The platform helps businesses: * Diagnose their readiness and identify priority gaps through the FRBI; * Engage with business leaders, policy makers and peers to gain insights and learn from their real transformation journeys; and * Transform through targeted solutions, programmes and ecosystem partnerships. Its four complementary offerings are: * FRB Dialogue - closed-room conversations between senior business leaders and policymakers on the issues shaping organisational resilience * FRB Spotlight - behind-the-scenes visits to companies that have built genuine future-ready capabilities, offering peer-to-peer access to real strategies and lessons * FRB Solutions - targeted clinics, workshops and thematic tracks designed to close specific capability gaps * FRB Marketplace - a curated platform connecting businesses to innovations, solutions and ecosystem partners Together, these offerings connect businesses with the expertise, programmes and partners needed to move from insight to implementation. Refer to Annex A for details on the FRB ecosystem. From Diagnosis to Action Developed by SBF with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in partnership with DBS Bank, Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and RSM Singapore, the FRBI assesses business readiness across six dimensions: * Success Driven - Business Performance * Scaled Internationally - International Growth * Smart Enabled - Technology * Skills Empowered - Talent * Sustainability Centric - Sustainability * Socially Impactful - Social Impact Businesses receive a personalised assessment highlighting priority capability gaps and recommended areas for action. They are then connected with relevant advisors, programmes and ecosystem partners to address those gaps. Through the wider FRB ecosystem, enterprises can access support in areas including business transformation, finance, internationalisation, enterprise development and professional services. This includes programmes offered through: * Cost and Carbon Reduction Programme (CCRP) * Centre for Enterprise Financing (CEFA) * Centre for Future of Trade & Investment (CFOTI) * Enterprise Workforce Transformation Programme (EWTP) * GlobalConnect * DBS Bridging Business Horizons Programme * DBS ESG Ready Programme * DBS Spark GenAI Programme * DBS SME Skills Booster Programme * SME Sustainability Reporting Programme * Cyber2SME(TM) Programme * Business Adaptation Grant Programme By bringing together complementary capabilities across the ecosystem, the platform helps businesses move more quickly from identifying challenges to implementing practical solutions. Insights From The First 100 Companies BCG also shared early insights from the first 100 companies across different sectors to complete the FRBI. The findings show that transformation outcomes depend not only on ambition, but also how well business strategy, workforce capabilities and financial readiness are aligned. By assessing these interconnected areas, the FRBI helps businesses identify what may be holding them back and focus on the gaps that matter most. Mr Mark Lee, Chairman, SBF, said, "Businesses today need to be both resilient and ready to seize new opportunities. The Future Ready Business ecosystem helps businesses make clearer decisions on where to invest and which capabilities to build across technology, workforce transformation, productivity and growth. Future-readiness is ultimately about having the clarity and capabilities to act decisively, even amid uncertainty." Mr Kok Ping Soon, CEO, SBF, said, "Many companies want to transform but are unsure where to begin. The FRBI cuts through the noise by showing businesses where they stand, what gaps matter cost and what actions to prioritise. It then connects them to the right programmes and partners to turn insight into future-ready capabilities." Mr Lim Him Chuan, Singapore Country Head, DBS Bank, said "From our roots as the Development Bank of Singapore, helping businesses build future-ready capabilities is in our DNA. Over the years, we have worked alongside businesses and ecosystem partners through programmes and partnerships that strengthen resilience and unlock new growth opportunities. We are encouraged to see this ecosystem continue to mature, creating greater breadth and depth of support for businesses. The Future Ready Business Index builds on that momentum by helping businesses bridge the gap between diagnosis and execution, drawing on expertise across the ecosystem to turn future-ready ambitions into tangible outcomes." Mr Terence Ang, Head of Advisory, RSM Singapore, said, "Successful transformation requires businesses to look beyond technology and consider how people, processes and governance work together to support change. The FRBI offers a structured approach that helps businesses gain a more holistic view of their capabilities and identify where they can strengthen their readiness for the future." Ms Mariam Jaafar, Managing Director and Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group, said, "The FRBI looks at the capabilities that enable businesses to perform today and be future ready and adapt as their markets, customers and operating environments change. Its six dimensions were developed from research, industry insights and our experience working with businesses on transformation. Together, they provide a practical way for businesses across industries and stages of development to assess their current capabilities, identify gaps and focus their transformation efforts where they can have the greatest impact." Voices from Businesses - Future-Readiness in Practice The event featured a Keynote Address by Mr Hanno Kirner, Chief Executive Officer, Dyson, who shared how their organisation approached transformation in practice - from the strategic choices made in response to shifting market and operational conditions, to the capabilities they had to prioritise to sustain growth over the longer term. A closing panel moderated by Musa Fazal, Chief Policy and Operating Officer of SBF, brought together Ms Mariam Jaafar, Managing Director and Partner of BCG, Ms Chin Wei Jia, Executive Director and Group CEO of HMI Medical, and Mr Jerald Tew, Founder of SPIN Fans. The discussion examined how businesses can balance immediate pressures with longer-term investments in technology, talent, resilience and new growth opportunities. Monday, 21 September 2026

What surprises are hiding in the latest retail AI numbers? September 15, 2026 News, tactics, career guidance, and technological developments for retail loss prevention professionals. The retail industry is not immune to all the hype surrounding artificial intelligence. Buzzwords abound: agentic AI, autonomous agents, agentic commerce, autonomous stores, self-driving supply chains, and even machines that shop on our behalf. The adoption numbers support the enthusiasm. NVIDIA's third annual "State of AI in Retail and CPG" survey found 91% of retail and CPG organizations now engaged with AI and 58% actively deploying, up from 42% in 2024. The IBM Institute for Business Value reports that 86% of retail and consumer products executives say AI already delivers a clear, measurable competitive advantage. Digging deeper into the latest research and acknowledging that retailers are adopting AI at different speeds, there is one key question that I want to answer in this article: What surprises are surfacing to date in the embrace of this disruptive technology? - Digital Partner - Here are my top five current surprises in the adoption of AI in the retail industry. Consumers trust the agent but still will not hand over the wallet. Accenture's 2026 Consumer Pulse research, covering 25,590 consumers across 16 countries, found that 74% would trust a personal AI agent more than their best friend to make a purchase. The same study's delegation dial tells a different story about behavior: 74% are ready for task execution, 32% for delegated decision-making, and 9% for fully autonomous purchasing. Ipsos, surveying 8,500 adults in 15 markets, arrives at nearly an identical number. Among AI-aware consumers, 27% already use AI for product research, and only 9% allow AI to make an autonomous purchase. Willingness collapses as price rises. In the US, 22% would let AI buy something under $10, and 8% would let it buy something over $250. My favorite statistic in the Ipsos research is this one: 62% of US consumers want AI brand-constrained, executing on brands and preferences they have already set, against 39% who want AI choosing on its own. Today AI is a preference executor. The preference creator role is still open. Most of the industry is standing in the shallow end. BCG, working with the Consumer Goods Forum, surveyed 39 senior CPG and retail executives in April 2026. 76% of CPG respondents remain in pilot or exploration mode, against only 18% scaling impact. Retail splits into two speeds, with 45% scaling and 40% barely started. LP Solutions The transfer of keys between departing and incoming employees might seem like a straightforward process, but it's riddled with potential risks. The autonomy picture is starker. 67% of respondents operate in what BCG calls copilot mode, where AI generates the insight and a human decides. Only 9% have reached autopilot, where AI executes inside guardrails. Closing that gap is worth 180 to 360 basis points of cumulative EBIT for retailers. Note that more than half of the companies surveyed do not formally measure ROI on their consumer AI investments at all. AI creates Work before it removes Work. Buried in the same BCG research is a number few boards have on a slide. Employees at AI-forward companies spend 52% more time reviewing and correcting AI output, drawn from BCG's AI at Work 2026 study of 11,749 workers. That review burden is a real cost, and it lands on the same teams already being asked to move faster. The bottleneck is data, and the failure mode is worse than being wrong. IBM quantifies the gap precisely. 64% of companies have data accessible to AI; 49% of it is usable, and just 26% is actually used by AI models. IHL Group's 2026 Inventory Distortion Study translates that into operating consequences. Fewer than 25% of retailers have deployed AI and machine learning in the applications most tied to distortion, yet those who have have seen 2.3x the sales growth and 2.5x the profit growth of non-deployers. IHL's warning about everyone else is the sharpest line in this year's research. Algorithms trained on bad inventory data produce confidently wrong forecasts, acted upon at scale. As agentic systems begin placing replenishment orders inside defined parameters, a data-quality problem stops being a reporting problem and becomes an execution problem running at machine speed. - Digital Partner - The differentiator is the executive, not the algorithm. A Dell session at NRF 2026, with panelists from Accenture, NVIDIA, and Everseen, quantified leadership engagement. Executives who invest in understanding AI see 2.5x the ROI of those who delegate the vision entirely. IBM's 2026 CEO Study of 2,000 CEOs across 33 geographies found chief AI officer adoption nearly tripled in a single year, from 26% to 76% of organizations. The same study found that only 25% of the workforce uses AI regularly on the job, even though 86% of CEOs believe employees have the skills. IBM calls that an organizational design failure rather than a skills gap. Two field examples land the point. Dollar Tree's directive to do something with AI produced a chatbot nobody used when it mattered. The fix came from leadership narrowing the problem to a custom model that tells district managers which stores need attention each day. And Amazon closed its remaining 15 Just Walk Out stores and pivoted to portable RFID lanes, a reminder that industrialized execution of proven technology beats the most impressive demonstration. The retail AI story of 2026 is a governance story wearing a technology costume. The winners are separating on data foundations, measurement discipline, and how deeply their own leadership teams understand what they are buying. Boards that ask about model capability are asking the second question. The first one is whether the data underneath is worth acting on. Happy AI building everyone, and here is to a smarter retail year ahead. News, tactics, career guidance, and technological developments for retail loss prevention professionals.

Global fintech sector revenues grow more than traditional banking. Link to Leaders August 19, 2026 The Global Fintech report concludes that the sector is recovering, with $504 billion in revenues and growth of 22%. The study "Global Fintech Report 2026: From Recovery to Resurgence" developed by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in partnership with FT Partners, assesses the current state of the fintech sector and identifies the trends that will shape the next phase of fintech development. And one of its first conclusions is that, globally, the sector has entered a new phase of consolidation and growth, marked by greater profitability, operational discipline, and an increasingly relevant role in the transformation of financial services. It notes that in 2025, global fintech revenues exceeded $504 billion, a 22% increase year-over-year and an expansion rate more than four times higher than that of traditional financial institutions. According to the study, fintechs currently account for about 4% of global financial services revenues, a figure that confirms their evolution from an emerging segment to a sector with its own scale, still with ample growth potential. Several indicators confirm this maturity: 74% of the largest listed fintechs are already profitable, compared with 68% in the previous year, and the average operating margin (EBITDA) rose from 16% to 20%. Simultaneously, equity financing increased by 53% to $58 billion, following the return of investment to companies with more solid models, greater operational discipline, and sustained growth prospects. Last year, exit markets regained traction. The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the fintech sector grew 50% to 42 deals, while the global volume of mergers and acquisitions increased from $105 billion in 2023 to $184 billion in 2024 and $251 billion in 2025. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also changing the way the sector competes. According to the report, fintechs that effectively apply this technology are achieving development productivity gains up to five times higher, with the most evident impact in areas such as engineering, risk assessment, compliance, and customer support. The true differentiator of AI lies in its ability to redesign workflows and operating models to generate concrete gains in efficiency, scale, and performance. Among the most relevant changes identified in the report is the progressive narrowing of the regulatory gap between banks and fintechs. For example, in the US, the UK, and the European Union (EU), licensing processes and obtaining banking status are becoming more accessible, albeit accompanied by requirements in terms of governance, risk, compliance, and supervision. In the past year, several large-scale fintechs have moved forward with applications for federal banking licenses in the US, seeking to reduce funding costs, gain greater control over product offerings, and strengthen the direct relationship with customers. The study also highlights that the number of federal banking license applications and new deposit institutions increased more than fivefold between 2024 and 2025, signaling a growing approach of fintechs to the traditional regulatory perimeter. The report by Boston Consulting Group and FT Partners also highlights the evolution of neobanks as one of the most structuring dynamics of the next phase of the sector. The main operators are expanding their value proposition to areas such as credit, investment, insurance, international transfers, and savings solutions for clients with greater financial capacity - moving from single-product models to more complete financial platforms, with greater ability to deepen customer relationships. Consumer credit, in particular, emerges as one of the most relevant expansion fronts. As Pedro Pereira, Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG Lisbon, points out, "the fintech sector is no longer a promise of disruption but has become a structural pillar of the financial system, registering growth 4x higher than incumbents."