Latest news with #Big4
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Singaporean asks if fresh tech grads are ‘cooked' in terms of salary expectations
SINGAPORE: A local Reddit user expressed concern over the salary expectations of fresh tech graduates this year, saying that they seem to be somewhat low. In a post on r/askSingapore over the weekend, u/Grand-Net3191 asked if tech fresh grads are 'cooked,' adding that they've been searching for tech market salary posts but haven't seen any in a while. 'Since the 2025 batch has recently graduated, I was wondering about the job market across the grad cohort. I heard that the tech market has been oversaturated and that companies are not hiring junior roles,' the post author wrote. They added that the people who've graduated from a computer science course have been getting offers with salaries in the S$4000 to S$4,500 range 'even for cybersec roles @ Big 4 accounting,' which they called 'considerably below median for CS.' In December 2024, the global job search platform Indeed reported that the average base salary of a computer scientist in Singapore is S $8,786. Meanwhile, the personal finance blog Dollars & Sense reported on Jun 25 that the median starting salary of a computer science graduate from Nanyang Technological University is S$5,500. Those who graduate from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) may expect to earn S$4,900 a month, while the median starting salary for those from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) is between S$4,900 and S$5,000. A number of commenters on u/Grand-Net3191's post wrote that the year that a person graduates can affect their salary. 'Sometimes it just comes down to being born at the right year, graduating at the right time,' was the top comment. 'Those who graduated during 2008 lagged behind their peers who graduated a year before or after them by a significant margin,' chimed in another. 'Yup. People who graduated about five years ago are the sweetest spot around. They started with a high pay, had a good number of jobs available, and could gather enough experience to beat out these huge waves of people now,' wrote one. Another argued that 2022 was the best year since that was when TikTok took off. 'As much as I would like to say it comes down to one's ability and merit, I'm afraid this is very true, the graduating year absolutely plays a part,' a Reddit user weighed in. As to whether tech grads are 'cooked,' this is what commenters had to say: 'I work in a local bank here. All of our dev and testing have already been offshored to PH/IND liao… Standard Chartered also recently moved 80 SG jobs to IND. Cooked!' 'VERY cooked. I work in a Fin MNC, and our junior roles are cut to the bone. My peers in other firms see the same issue. Every new opening we have for junior roles is flooded with apps from both freshers and experienced professionals. There are openings, but more towards experienced professionals (staff eng and up). Doesn't help that GENAI and India/China/Vietnam offshoring is removing the need to hire so many junior engineers in SG now,' another wrote. One gave this bit of advice: 'Pure tech is cooked. Find a role that lies between technology and business. That way, you get exposed to aspects of both ends of the spectrum.' /TISG Read also: NUS Computer Science grad yet to land job despite sending hundreds of applications
Entrepreneur
13-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur UK's London 100: EmpowerEd
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Industry: FinTech EmpowerRD is a high-growth London-based fintech that is transforming the R&D tax credit industry by making innovation funding more accessible, transparent, and efficient for UK businesses. Founded by Hari Sandhu, the company is redefining how startups and scale-ups claim tax relief. After more than seven years at PwC, he saw how outdated, inefficient, and expensive it was for young businesses to work with 'Big 4' consultancies on R&D claims. In 2017, he launched EmpowerRD to reduce risk, increase accuracy, and make R&D claims faster and more cost-effective. Since then:
Entrepreneur
11-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Consulting Firms Ramp Up Tech Capabilities to Bridge Strategy and Execution
By bridging the gap between high-level strategy and technical delivery, consulting firms are winning larger, more influential projects and forging stronger, long-term partnerships with clients. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Top consulting firms are looking to strengthen their technology capabilities as clients are opting for a tech-first mandate demanding to bridge the gap between strategy and technical execution. This would also help them win deals against traditional IT services players. Lines are increasingly blurring between IT services providers and consulting players, especially the Big 4 – EY, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG. While IT services companies are trying to build strong consulting capabilities, consulting firms are scaling up their tech capabilities. Most recently, Deloitte has launched the Asia Pacific Agentic AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) located in India, Malaysia and Singapore, marking a significant investment to help organisations across the region harness agentic AI at scale. The CoE brings together over 6,000 practitioners across the Asia Pacific region, supporting a pipeline of AI implementations valued at more than USD 1 billion. "The launch of the Asia Pacific Agentic AI CoE represents a significant step forward in how we approach human-AI collaboration in India. This centre positions us to help clients reimagine the very nature of work, going beyond automation and efficiency to unlock entirely new sources of value. We are already witnessing a shift from AI being used for incremental enhancements to AI serving as a catalyst for fundamental transformation, enabling businesses to redesign workflows, implement autonomous processes and build more adaptive and responsive operating models. Our focus is to help clients navigate this shift responsibly, building an AI-powered future that is innovative and resilient," said Sathish Gopalaiah, President – Technology & Transformation, Deloitte South Asia. Deloitte said its CoE offers organisations a powerful combination of deep industry insight and cutting-edge technology to drive meaningful AI transformation. The centre will also enable rapid development and validation of Proof of Concepts (POCs) by providing centralised expertise, reusable tools, and structured methodologies. It will streamline innovation by reducing development time and offering a dedicated environment for experimentation. Few years ago, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) formally launched its new BCG X division, which focuses on technology design, build and implementation services, bringing together nearly 3,000 professionals worldwide under one roof. In April this year, BCG X launched a new AI Science Institute leveraging BCG X's expertise and talent, supported by a team of 3,000 experts, to accelerate scientific discovery in collaboration with top R&D teams across leading industries and governments. Last year, PwC India launched a GenAI Experience Lab in Gurugram marking a significant step in exploring GenAI's transformative capabilities. The facility aims to give users a first-hand look at how GenAI is reshaping industries. The facility offers an immersive environment where visitors can explore the technology's ability to improve decision-making, streamline operations, and boost productivity. Equipped with advanced hardware, the lab is designed to encourage experimentation, creativity, and collaboration around AI-driven solutions. Analysts believe IT consulting firms are ramping up their technology capabilities to address rising client demands for comprehensive solutions that go beyond traditional advice. "By investing in advanced areas such as AI, cloud, and cybersecurity, these firms can now offer seamless support from strategy development through to implementation. This shift not only enhances their value proposition but also enables them to deliver innovative solutions at a faster pace, keeping up with the rapid evolution of the digital landscape," said DD Mishra, VP Analyst at Gartner. "This strategic expansion sets consulting firms apart from conventional IT services providers, who typically focus on execution rather than holistic transformation. By bridging the gap between high-level strategy and technical delivery, consulting firms are winning larger, more influential projects and forging stronger, long-term partnerships with clients. Ultimately, this positions them as indispensable partners in driving digital transformation and business success. Besides, Consulting firms can provide strategic insights and domain knowledge, build a client roadmap, and engage effectively with businesses to address their key business challenges," Mishra added. The boundaries between consulting and IT services are no longer rigid, concurs Nitika Goel, Managing Partner and CMO, Zinnov. "They are converging at the intersection of technology, strategy, and execution. Consulting firms are scaling up their technology capabilities not to compete head-on with IT services players, but because technology is now core to all businesses. Most clients today are either technology companies or deeply tech-enabled and expect their consulting partners to speak the same language, with the same depth." This shift is most visible in high-impact areas like automation, GenAI, and digital twin implementations - domains where contextual advisory must pair with deep implementation to unlock real outcomes, said Goyal. "It's also about driving internal efficiencies, faster value realization, and building execution muscle. This capability stacking mirrors a broader industry trend — forward and backward integration across the value chain to create resilience. While services firms like Accenture and Cognizant have strengthened their consulting arms, consulting firms like Deloitte are now investing in tech COEs to deliver transformation at scale. Ultimately, this is not a story of competition, but convergence," she said.
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Data-Driven Approaches To Health Equity: AI And Analytics
FNU ANUPAMA | Senior Manager | Big 4 Global Consulting firm. Health equity—the concept that every person has a fair and just opportunity to attain their maximum level of health—has never rung more true in today's highly driven healthcare world. Yet despite decades of initiatives to make health access, care and positive outcomes more equitable across the distinctions of race, socioeconomics and geography, many inequities still exist—and in some cases, worsen. Where we stand, however, is that transformation is just around the corner. With data-driven solutions available through AI and analytics, agencies can determine inequities stemming from gaps in care and access and strive toward better solutions. With companies digitizing their efforts across the healthcare continuum, understanding the proper application of data to achieve equity solutions is no longer theoretical; it's practical. Inequities have existed for years, but no one knew how to effectively find them. Now, with accessible data in cloud-based formats and a higher reliance on AI to provide analytics, companies can sift through historical data in the clinical, demographic and socio-economic arenas to find inequities where they're invisible. For example, by analyzing patterns over time with electronic health records (EHRs), claims data and regional health, professionals can discover why certain demographics are more susceptible to certain chronic conditions or, alternatively, lack access to preventative services. Even better, it gives leaders the power to formulate solutions for populations instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Clinical information is one piece of the puzzle, but factors are increasingly attributing health outcomes to life experience. For instance, social determinants of health (SDoH) include housing, food insecurity, educational attainment, employment and more. While just collecting this data is a start, applying AI to make it actionable is a game changer. Integrating SDoH into clinical workflows allows healthcare organizations to anticipate and prevent adverse health outcomes by addressing non-medical risk factors. For example, when AI models analyze clinical and social data, they can identify patients who may face future health issues. By alerting care teams, providers can intervene early—connecting patients with housing programs, transportation assistance or food banks—leading to better health outcomes and fewer avoidable ER visits. Furthermore, AI is assisting in what some call precision public health—the capability to direct resources, outreach and interventions where it needs to go. Organizations no longer have to estimate on broad awareness efforts. By assessing population data, demographics and neighborhoods can be identified as lacking certain elements. For instance, AI might reveal where vaccination rates are low or where diabetes is rising in specific communities. Public health can then deploy mobile vans, educational campaigns or telehealth to those areas to ensure that the right action is taken at the right time. However, where AI and data can be leveraged to make great advances in health equity, they can also create negative outcomes. Without careful consideration, the impacts can be devastating. Algorithms operate only as well as the data provided to them; if the historical data points are biased, AI can unintentionally intensify the inequities. Bias-aware AI is essential in healthcare to prevent the amplification of existing health disparities, especially as AI increasingly influences medical decision-making. Ethical development practices are crucial—health-related AI should be rigorously tested for bias, trained on diverse datasets and guided by equity-focused goals. Ultimately, trusting the communities impacted by health disparity is essential, regardless of the technological achievement created. Many vulnerable populations should be wary of the use of their data, thanks to historical discrepancies against specific populations. Therefore, for data-based health equity solutions to succeed, organizations must involve and continuously interact with communities from the beginning, provide decision-making for community leaders and be transparent about how data will enable better care. Trust occurs when communities get to see results that weren't expected. Ultimately, data-driven health equity solutions—equity in healthcare, treatment, drug dispensing and beyond—are a collaborative, multi-industry endeavor. Healthcare providers, insurance payers, community organizations, public health organizations and technology must come together to access and share information in a compliant, secure and responsible fashion. The challenge of integrating information from medical databases and socio-relational databases is twofold. First, it's essential to learn the social determinants of health leading to certain diagnoses. At the same time, the ability to do so requires sensitive data-sharing protocols that champion privacy and security safeguards while rendering real-time information that can help at that given time. This is an important next step for implementation. Making moves after learning is just as critical as learning from the onset. From restructuring how and where care can be delivered best, realigning service resources and creating services to address root causes of inequities discovered, the true power lies in new actions. The powers of data-driven solutions empower healthcare executives to achieve health equity—but technology is only part of the answer. The avenue for success relies on community engagement, ethical stewardship and cross-disciplinary collaboration. As the future of AI and analytics unfolds, this is a pivotal moment for technology to be applied in a fashion that not just contains and curtails disease but transforms health systems to operate correctly for all human beings—equitable and equal. Those creators and organizations who seize this moment will not only succeed in the technological arena but also create a sustainable socio-economic impact. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
News18
26-05-2025
- Business
- News18
'Stop the Lies': Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha Fires Back At Rival CFO's Smear Campaign
Last Updated: Palicha candidly criticized the competitor's CFO, stating that these actions were beneath the expected standards of a high-quality company. Zepto CEO: Aadit Palicha, the Co-Founder and CEO of Zepto, recently addressed a smear campaign initiated by the CFO of a competing company on LinkedIn. The campaign involved, he said, 'includes calling our investors to make wild allegations about us with no empirical evidence, giving out false numbers/Excel sheets on Zepto through sources known to journalists, and paying bots on social media to spread a negative narrative." Palicha candidly criticized the competitor's CFO, stating that these actions were beneath the expected standards of a high-quality company. He suggested that the competitor's nervousness stemmed from Zepto's rapid improvement in EBITDA. To counteract any misinformation, Palicha provided transparent updates on Zepto's performance. Performance Metrics Zepto's Gross Order Value (GOV) has significantly increased from approximately 750 crores per month in May 2024 to 2,400 crores per month in May 2025. The definition of GOV includes the selling price of fruits and vegetables and ad revenue. advetisement Financial Improvements Zepto's EBITDA has improved by 20 absolute percentage points (2,000 basis points) from January 2025 to May 2025, approaching single-digit territory. The company's cash burn has reduced by around 65% over the same period. Despite the EBITDA improvements, Zepto's GOV has grown by roughly 20% during this time, representing an average monthly growth of 4% to 5%. Future Projections Zepto anticipates that most of its dark stores will be fully EBITDA positive by the next quarter, including all backend supply chain costs, customer support, last-mile, and fixed/variable store costs. The company also expects its overall EBITDA and Operating Cash Flow to be near breakeven within a few hundred basis points in the same period. Financial Stability Starting this quarter, Zepto has about 7,445 crores of Net Cash in the bank, fully reconciled with bank statements, ensuring many years of operational runway given the current cash burn rate. Zepto boasts a top-tier finance and controllership team with best-in-class payment practices, vendor reconciliations, asset verification, internal audit systems, and a rigorous Big 4 statutory audit record without material qualifications or variations. Contrary to rumors of large-scale store rationalization, Zepto is actually ramping up store launches. Palicha hopes the competitor's CFO ceases these deceitful activities, emphasizing that while healthy competition is acceptable, lies are not. He believes these actions only underscore Zepto's strength and advises focusing on execution for the collective benefit. Watch India Pakistan Breaking News on CNN News18. Stay updated with all the latest business news, including market trends, stock updates, tax, IPO, banking finance, real estate, savings and investments. Get in-depth analysis, expert opinions, and real-time updates—only on News18. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: May 26, 2025, 06:53 IST
