Our ambition is to be recognized as client-centric, digitized and innovative – and we have defined our strategic priorities in line with this. We are helping clients to build their digital target operating models, as well as further digitalizing our own services and operations to improve agility, efficiency, reduce costs and deliver a better service to clients.
In Advisory, we continued to adopt and invest in our Global KPMG Connected (new window), Powered (new window), Trusted (new window), ESG programs (new window) and in Managed Services (new window). In our approach, we look to combine the latest technologies – supplied through our Alliance partners – with our functional and sector expertise to provide clients with best practices and solutions, built on our years of Advisory experience. For example, we have combined our understanding of ESG with the advanced technology of our Alliance partner Microsoft to develop the KPMG Circularity Tracker (new window), helping clients to set and track clear targets on circularity.
In Assurance, we invested EUR 20.4 million in new IT tools for audit – a 5% increase on the previous year. Alongside these investments, KPMG Clara (new window) has helped us to develop and deploy new tooling to improve audit quality, including solutions related to the assessment and audit of fraud risks. We have also implemented two new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) products to improve the transfer of data from clients to KPMG N.V., successfully piloted continuous auditing for selected clients, and agreed on a plan to use data in the coming year – moving us closer to our ambition of a digitally enabled and data-driven audit.
To maximize our use of rapidly advancing technologies and ensure seamless collaboration between them, we need a strong digital backbone within KPMG N.V. This is why we fully deployed a new Enterprise Service Management platform in 2022/2023 through our Alliance partner ServiceNow. This enables us to manage IT, portfolio, financial services and HR workflows more efficiently – all on a platform that is easy for our people to engage with.
In terms of Artificial Intelligence, KPMG International secured a new five-year group-wide Alliance partnership with Microsoft, giving everyone at KPMG N.V. access to advanced technology and cutting-edge low-code/no-code and AI solutions that will help us achieve our digital & innovation aims. At KPMG N.V., we are exploring the use of generative AI and Microsoft Copilot – while tailored generative AI guardrails have been introduced to protect KPMG’s proprietary and client data.
During the year, we continued to invest in our cybersecurity enhancement initiative. We successfully hired an experienced Chief Data Officer and have developed a data strategy set to be implemented in the 2024 fiscal year. We have a robust governance structure for our internal innovation process – meaning we can fast-track innovations without compromising oversight or losing sight of value creation.