News & Insights
2023 in review
As the sun sets on 2023, many will be looking back at a challenging year that they are glad to see the back of. Macroeconomic headwinds, cost-of-living crisis, high energy prices, renewed conflict in the Middle East. 2023 has been an incredibly tough year for many. We’ve all been navigating these challenges, one way or
The ‘Musk Effect’: How has Elon impacted the culture at Twitter?
As one of the world’s wealthiest people, Elon Musk is the subject of much public interest. However, his relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation, combined with his live-to-work attitude and puritan stance on freedom of speech, make him a highly divisive character. Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022 before rebranding it to
Founder Story – David Rowe, CTO
In this Founder Story, we delve into the remarkable journey of David Rowe, Chief Technology Officer at Deltabase. From his early fascination with technology to co-founding a cutting-edge tech company, David shares his insights and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. Join us as we explore the pivotal moments that led to the inception
The Future of Consulting: You don’t have a Code of AI responsibility? Use Ours.
Note: This article was written with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence. Deltabase has recently launched its AI Code of Responsibility. You can read it here. In this article I reflect on what has driven Deltabase to put a code of responsibility in place, what are the important things to consider in creating a code,
ESG Series – Unravelling Gender Equality Sentiment in Employee Reviews
This study examines the relationship between negative sentiment regarding gender equality and female representation in senior management positions.
Unleashing Value Creation: Enhancing Strategies with Artificial Intelligence
This article was enhanced by artificial intelligence (ChatGPT) during the editing process. Introduction: In today’s competitive business landscape, value creation stands as a crucial objective for organisations seeking sustainable growth and success. One powerful tool that can aid in identifying and unlocking this value is competitor benchmarking. Deltabase enables deal teams and consultancies to leverage
Deltabase turns 4!
This week, we were super proud to celebrate Deltabase turning 4 with our exceptional team. The last 4 years have flown by and it’s incredible to look back and take stock of what we have achieved so far. The Journey So Far Alastair, David and Phil co-founded Deltabase with a shared passion to make professional services more
Surviving the layoff tsunami: how companies can weather cost-reduction pressures with AI and automation
How quickly things can change In 2019, according to a report by The Conference Board, CEOs across all global regions ranked ‘attracting and retaining top talent’ as their number 1 internal concern. In 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a crushing blow to the global economy. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management
Mind the Culture Gap: Benchmark culture to help clients attract and retain top tech talent
It seems like tech jobs are currently disappearing as quickly as vapour from a pot of boiling water. 2023 started with turmoil in the technology sector and an unprecedented number of layoffs. With over 60,000 employees being cut in January alone, it’s clear that the tech industry is re-adjusting to a new post-pandemic norm at the same time as preparing for a cooldown as economies flat-line, and global growth
The business value of NLP (beyond the buzz of ChatGPT)
Anyone who has started the New Year with a flurry of posts and articles about ChatGPT will have heard a great deal about the “game-changing” powers of “generative AI”, “large language models” and “natural language processing”. The truth is, this is not brand-new tech, and has been many decades in the making, although Artificial Intelligence
Deltabase – 2022 in review
2022 has been an incredible year of growth for Deltabase with some fundamental milestones on our journey to create the world’s most in-depth company intelligence platform. We’ve loved collaborating with our growing list of due diligence and consulting customers to help them deliver better advice to their clients and to win more work. Highlights of
Company Intelligence: What is OSINT and why does it matter?
Intelligence techniques, proven in fields such as defence intelligence, represent a significant missed opportunity for most businesses. There are huge untapped benefits from the types of actionable insight to be gained from OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) techniques. Most lack the expertise, experience, and tools to harness the power of the world’s information. In this blog, we’ll
Fortune favours the brave: Why Boots could be worth more than Morrisons and Asda
Boots has been a familiar name on the British high street since its first herbal medicines store was opened in Nottingham in 1849. Since then, it has gone on to become a household name in health and beauty. Few people realise that it was the Boots R&D team that discovered Ibuprofen in 1961. Today, Boots
Deltabase – 2021 in review
As 2021 draws to a close, it’s a great chance reflect on another year of growth for us. It’s been a bumper year for us and our consulting and deals advisory clients. We’ve loved getting our team back together in the office and delivering great value for our customers. Highlights of 2021 include: Reviewing over
5 steps to using AI ethically in your organisation
Artificial Intelligence is becoming more advanced as people discover the importance of using technology to interact with customers with chat bots, applying intelligence to automate processes, or applying technology to improve the accuracy of financial forecasts. The examples of AI are ever increasing, and becoming more important with every day. As with any new technology,
A data-driven approach to digital maturity
This article was first published by Deltabase independent advisor Prof. David J. Harding on Tech Monitor, 5 April 2021. Link to the original article here. Professor David J Harding is a business management consultant and executive coaching professional at The Harding Method with over 25 years of IT enabled business transformation experience. Monitoring their maturity
How to make Digital Transformation a reality
Recent innovations have forced every company to undergo digital transformation. Research by BCG showed that 70% of digital transformation projects fall short on delivering their expected objectives. Businesses should therefore adopt measures to redress the challenges faced during the transformation. Having assessed over 100 companies against the Deltabase 6-factor assessment model in the last year, we’ve
Digital due diligence is now about future-proofing a company
This article first appeared on PE Newswire 01/02/2021 – 3:11PM By Phil Spratt, co-founder of digital intelligence service Deltabase – With the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic suppressing some sectors, the attention of the private equity industry is now even more acutely focused on assets in the resilient SaaS technology sector and on firms that
The Lockdown bounce – is your business digitally ready to respond to disruption?
It has become even more evident from the COVID-19 lockdowns that it is the businesses that have embraced digital that will be those that have the resilience to survive and thrive through a disruptive event such as this. A case in point has been the businesses that have seen demand for their products increase exponentially.
Battle of the FAANGS – who is winning the digital crown?
2020 is the year that has brought digital to the front and centre of business strategy. With the COVID-19 pandemic those that have survived and thrived are the ones who have managed to embrace digital, adapt, and find a way to win whilst the world’s population has been locked indoors. Our leading Digital Transformation benchmark
Admiral sets a high-water mark for digital maturity of insurers
As the UK’s leading car insurer and a global insurance group, Admiral has long invested in technology and digitalisation as a foundation for long-term growth. In 1995 it was the first UK insurer to launch a website. In 2002 it launched confused.com as the first online insurance aggregator. Since then, Admiral has been a leader
Webinar – The digital edge
As part of the XPX Exit Planning Exchange ‘Expert Insight Discussion’ in September 2020, Deltabase CEO Phil Spratt, and Deltabase CTO David Rowe presented a webinar on ‘How to Increase PE and M&A investment potential during uncertain times’. Phil and David set the scene of why digital transformation is important now in a post-COVID-19 pandemic
Be Curious…Challenge…Collaborate.
One of the unexpected joys of working from home during lockdown is seeing your talented family members working from home and hearing conversations that would never normally be heard in the domestic setting. Whether it is your 11-year-old learning physics, your 8-year-old ‘educating their teacher’ about the 12 tasks of Hercules or your partner being
Case Study – Rolls Royce Plc
Client Sector: Consulting Client: Confidential Commission Date: April 2020 Deltabase contact: Phil Spratt Context: Rolls-Royce has been through a turbulent time following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting drop in commercial air travel. It’s business it dependent on its ‘engine-as-a-service’ business model that means it earns on its maintenance contracts based on the flying hours
Case study – Admiral Group Plc
Client Sector: Consulting Client: Confidential Commission Date: April 2020 Deltabase contact: Jonathan Every Context: Admiral has been an exemplar of digital in the insurance market, having been the first to launch its website in 1995, and embrace digital channels of engagement with customers. It has taken a pioneering approach, with some mixed success over the
Case Study – AA Plc
Deal Type: Take-private Scoring Date: August 2020 Deltabase contact: Alastair Whiteley Deal context: AA plc were looking to secure investment from an investor to re-align the companies debt overheads and accelerate their journey to becoming a leading insurance and roadside rescue brand. What we did: Deltabase assessed the digital transformation capabilities of AA Plc to
Case Study – Gymshark
Deal Type: Growth equity (minority stake) Advisor: PwC (sell-side) Commission Date: April 2020 Deltabase contact: Alastair Whiteley Deal context: Gymshark were looking to secure investment from a growth equity investor to drive further international expansion and accelerate their journey to becoming a leading global fitness brand. What we did: Deltabase were commissioned to perform a
Watch out Adidas, Nike – there’s a shark in the water
Britain’s newest unicorn start-up is poised to take the fight for workout apparel supremacy to global giants Adidas and Nike after investment from US-based private equity firm General Atlantic (GA) valued the firm at $1.45B. Started in a midlands garage in 2012 by then teenage fitness enthusiast Ben Francis, the D2C (direct to consumer) eCommerce brand has enjoyed dramatic growth – partly owing to a successful and sustained digital marketing campaign which involved community-building, influencers and video content creation
Six factors of digital transformation that will unlock your full potential
‘Digital’ is clearly going to be a key theme as businesses start to emerge from COVID-19. Business has been upended. Successful business models that have worked for decades have been put on pause or irreparably damaged overnight, while customer habits are changing rapidly to cope with a new environment. EY report “COVID-19: Which critical choices