Perspectives

Volunteer of Tomorrow

DHSC’s vision for technology, digital and data in healthcare

Insurance Buyer of Tomorrow

In a world where we are seeing significant shifts in customer expectations across all sectors, Financial Services is undergoing potentially seismic changes to what customers...

Retail - who should be looking for M&A mega deals this Black Friday?

Black Friday has cemented its position in the retail calendar as the time for consumers to pick up exceptional bargains. However, many retailers themselves could...

Cultivating a healthier workplace

We are proud to have been awarded the ‘Achievement’ level award for the London Healthy Workplace Charter 2018, backed by the Mayor of London.

Design thinking 101

How do you design for the future? A product might be lauded by TechRadar as best-in-class today and completely off the radar tomorrow.

New Business Models – How Do Our Clients Seek Revenue Elsewhere?

In our final blog in this series, we will explore how the opportunities presented by wireless mesh networks may bring the dream of a seamlessly...

Commuter of Tomorrow

Flying taxis.  Supersonic Hyperloop tunnels connecting our major cities.  The demise of the rail season ticket.

A clinician working in management: Could healthcare consultancies upskill their clients?

A recent career change from NHS Junior Doctor to management consultant has given me a unique perspective on the challenges facing the NHS, and I...

The Continued Importance of the Art of Customer Service

Last week we explored the impact on telcos in the UK of the race to 5G dominance. As important as winning the 5G race is,...

Improving your response to major incidents through a well-structured operating model

An operating model, with an agreed strategy from the outset, will provide the foundations for a flexible response, capitalising on an effective organisation and team...

Current UK Network Landscape – A Flat Market and Tighter Margins!

The telecommunications industry contributes 4-5% of the UK’s GDP and plays a vital role in the economic and social well-being of the country. 

You don’t need to invest millions to be innovative

Three practical tips for growing innovation in your organisation.

What can we learn about inclusion from Planet of the Apes?

Last week we held our Autumn Escape - a company ‘away day’ held every quarter. These Escapes form an integral part of our culture at...

The key to courageous leadership? Mirrors and windows

“A Leader, first and foremost, is human. Only when we have the Courage to show our vulnerability can we truly lead”

Making Waves: Fibre Fit for the Future

Over the course of its relatively short lifetime, Internet technology has evolved significantly. Once used solely as a network for academics to exchange research, the...

One step forward, two steps right: how to offer an attractive employee experience

Quickly and quietly we have found ourselves in the midst of a workplace revolution. Alongside the general challenges of shortening tenures and the increasing numbers...

Courage - a key characteristic required in today’s workplace

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others." (Aristotle)

How will smaller players survive in a highly competitive Energy sector?

The UK’s Energy sector has undergone unprecedented change over the last five years with the supply market opening up to new competitors.

A new approach to Procurement?

Moorhouse recently worked alongside a UK based organisation on a significant strategic procurement programme. The organisation had a clear customer focus and sought to improve...

The new anatomy of banking

We all could be forgiven for losing a little faith in the banking industry. It is only a decade on from the worst financial crisis...

The importance of not being an imbecile - becoming a disruptive innovator

The French have a saying: “il n'y a que les imbéciles qui ne changent pas d'avis”. Translating loosely as “only fools don’t change their mind”,...

Hiring for good - addressing public sector recruitment challenges

Say what you want about Brexit, but over the last couple of years our economy has been recovering and we’ve seen a relatively buoyant UK...

A forward look to post-Brexit Britain

Brexit has been dominating the public consciousness, Commons’ discussions and newspaper headlines since the Leave vote; and, this week has brought us the Whitepaper which...

Organisational culture: adapting to the new norms of high performance

For many years, we have understood that organisational culture is key to supporting high performing organisations. In the 80’s, Hofstede set out core concepts of...

Should we be giving people a compass or a map?

During a Moorhouse breakfast seminar last week, there was a quote that came out from the discussions that really stuck with me - ‘how do...

Digital – joining the dots towards a connected business

Digital is now often used to describe or define the changing world businesses are adapting to in order to meet customer demands. Most organisations are...

Market Volatility in Telecommunications

The telecom market is a highly dynamic environment, despite being traditionally regarded as mature with high barriers to entry.

Financial Improvement Programmes - increasing the chances of success

Since the “Nicholson Challenge” to secure £20bn of savings was announced in 2010, NHS Trusts have been familiar with the annual drive to achieve cost...

70 years of our National Health Service

Today we are celebrating the NHS’s monumental 70th birthday.

Moorhouse Annual Escape 2018

Well they say timing is everything! I can’t think of a better way to integrate into a new firm than the Moorhouse Annual Escape.

Employees, the secret consumers in your organisation

Today’s workforce landscape is entering a new era. For the first time, five generations are co-existing in the workplace, all with different needs and wants,...

Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Over the last few years we have started to see some significant changes to the way we travel – in particular within cities. One...

Physical estate – getting the right fit for retail

Another month, another bloodbath on UK high streets. 100 stores to go at M&S, 49 at Mothercare and a 42% decline in profits at Arcadia....

Managing a large volunteer workforce - problems, pitfalls, opportunities

What's over three times the population of Newcastle, and could fill Wembley stadium ten times over? Well, yes - the viewers of this year's Eurovision...

Making Waves: Keeping up with the new content kings

The average adult in the UK now consumes 4 hours and 35 minutes of video content each day. A proliferation of channels, providers, devices and...

Four things to do after GDPR deadline day

GDPR is here. The day we’ve all been working toward (or not) for the last two years. But as we all know, there’s more work...

Developing organisation wide response capability

A recent study by Continuity Central showed “the integration of Business Continuity Management (BCM) with other organisational teams” is one of the top change themes...

What does mental health mean to me?

Mental health has been described as ‘a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being’[1]. For me, mental health is two-fold. ...

After the hype has faded, how will Sainsbury’s deliver the benefits of a new merged entity with Asda?

The Asda and Sainsbury’s merger follows a spate of consolidations in the retail sector as companies grapple to contend with the discounters, changing consumer trends,...

Challenging Orthodoxies

Embracing diversity ensures our people are both happy and fulfilled but also enables us to attract the very best talent. As Moorhouse grows as a...

Making Waves: How to expand in a saturated market

The UK Telecoms market is saturated, making it harder for new players to enter and for established telcos to grow – a pattern replicated in...

What’s next for regulation in the Telecoms industry?

Early last year, we remarked on the new trends in regulation in the Telecoms, Media and Technology industry. 2016/17 was certainly busy, with regulators issuing...

Extraordinary Leaders at Moorhouse

Our quarterly escape. 120 Moorhouse consultants at RADA studios. Cue a day of Jazz hands. Well if you want. If that’s your style, or sometimes...

Change Management: it’s time to stop making excuses

The likelihood of delivering change successfully is recognised as low, with many different sources citing statistics which show a high failure rate for organisational change...

Constant change: managing the ‘new normal’

The current economic landscape represents a constant change.

The UK Smart Meter Programme: time to get smarter

The UK Government has tasked the energy sector to provide the option to consumers to install smart meters by the year 2020. This is a...

Five fundamentals for a successful integration

Time Warner-AOL, Sprint-Nextel, eBay-Skype. What do these have in common? They are all examples of M&A deals gone wrong. They are all integrations that failed...

Insight: setting the expectations of the patient/customer

In July 2018, the National Health Service will mark its 70th birthday. Much has changed since 1948 but it is perhaps remarkable then that the...

How can the NHS adopt more Agile ways of working?

Agile project management is increasingly being used in many business environments and outside of traditional software implementation projects, because of the flexibility it allows and...

Turning the spotlight on Black Friday

Like Halloween and Valentine's Day, Black Friday is no longer just a novelty American event to us Brit's. Amazon introduced it to the UK in...

Is agility your super power?

In the current economic landscape every business needs a super power to keep ahead of the competition.

Innovation in Transport and Infrastructure – it’s not just for Uber

Organisations have long strived for being innovative in delivering products and services. However, the importance they attach to this is significantly increasing* and is particularly...

Taking the ‘general’ out of general practice – moving away from a ‘one size fits all’ model to better meet patient needs

General Practice is under severe and mounting pressure. There is a rising demand for appointments, with a 15% increase in the number of consultations evident...

Fear of Change: warning potentially highly contagious

Aristotle is quoted as saying ‘we are what we repeatedly do’. In today’s world, we know that people are creatures of habit and we...

Net Neutrality – Time To Catch Up?

On 18th May 2017, a pivotal vote was cast by the Federal Communications Committee in America. This vote began the reversal of what is commonly...

Consuming 17,000 calories a year too many. Do we need a fat tax?

The obesity crisis is costly. Sustainable Transformation Partnerships (STPs) are currently in the early phases of system-wide transformation of services. They are focusing, amongst other...

Blockchain and Banking: 2B or not 2B

When you strip back the hype, blockchain is a form of database for recording digital transactions. Once entered, records become both permanent and immutable, creating...

De-risking investment in innovation

In today’s competitive marketplace, firms are facing more short-term pressure than ever to maintain revenue parity, let alone demonstrate growth.

Take 10 for World Mental Health Day

It’s Tuesday morning. Day two of the working week and Friday feels like a lifetime away. By now, many of you will have...

If we had the ability to see round corners...

If you had a superpower what would it be?  The ability to fly? The ability to travel through time?  The ability to turn back the...

How good are you at integrating different cultures?

M&A activity has remained robust in the UK since the Brexit vote in June 2016, with Baker McKenzie forecasting US$125 billion of activity in 2017...

Effective store lifecycle management provides the foundations to succeed in an unforgiving retail market

In the early-2000’s many commentators forecasted the demise of bricks and mortar retail stores, expecting consumers to move to online channels. Nearly 20 years later...

Superfast wireless internet for all? Get ahead of the curve and maximise the benefits of 5G

It is just 10 years since the birth of the smartphone and the pace of change in mobile communications has been nothing short of breath-taking....

Feeling the pinch in investment banking? The drive for cost reduction and the road to shared utilities

The investment banking industry has not traditionally been known for penny-pinching. Yet in recent years as the demands of complying with a wave of regulatory...

How Brexit risks a flourishing aviation sector

In this blog, we explain current EU aviation agreements, and how leaving these agreements will impact UK airlines. As the Brexit negotiations progress and the...

Five key tips for a customer centric IT operating model

Everyone talks about ‘going digital’, but what does this mean to the leadership team of a large company in structuring the IT function? In short,...

Incubation to integration: how can major FS firms successfully integrate the new wave of FinTechs?

London is acknowledged as both a major financial centre and an important hub for technology start-ups. As a result, the City plays host to many...

Delivering 'Sustainability & Transformation Plans' for the NHS

The 'Next Steps for the Five Year Forward View', published at the end of March 2017, has made it absolutely clear that Sustainability & Transformation...

Brexit: a bitter pill to swallow? Part 2

Moorhouse discussed the implications Brexit could have on the UK’s pharmaceutical Research and Development operations. This is part of a series of blogs in which...

Brexit: a bitter pill to swallow? Part 1

June 23rd 2016 marked a new era in UK history as the country decided to leave the EU. The ‘Leave’ vote was unexpected and it...

Technology and the Customer Impact in 2017

From market share battles of telco operators, to the growing influence of Amazon and smart homes, 2017 is shaping up to be a transformative year...

Data and collaboration: turning regulatory challenge into opportunity

The regulatory requirements placed on firms since the 2008 crisis have rarely been out of the financial press and with MiFID II’s implementation date now...

AB Inbev face their biggest integration challenge yet

Now Anheuser-Busch (AB) Inbev has purchased its big rival SAB Miller, one in every three pints pulled throughout the world will be sold by AB...

Supply chains; the modern chains of slavery

“Students…are taught that slavery ended in the 19th Century. But, sadly, nearly 150 years later, the fight to end this global scourge is far from...

Unblocking primary care: time for a self-care revolution

Workload and capacity challenges are on the rise in the NHS. One thing that could make a difference is heavily promoting a self-care agenda, to...

The NHS: balancing control and judgement in a climate of uncertainty

Delivering healthcare involves risk. Doctors, nurses and hospital managers have to make many judgement calls on a daily basis. But these judgements can be unpredictable...

TMT regulation: what frequency are the regulators on?

In 2016 we saw Ofcom and the wider regulatory bodies continuing to ‘step it up’ in terms of putting out some clear signals to the...

Riding the Regulatory Wave with RegTech

Financial regulation isn’t new. In the UK, the banking act in 1979 was the first UK Act to put banking regulation on a statutory footing....

Innovation: your response to a changing world

Consumer goods companies are experiencing a trading environment that is more challenging and complex than ever before. Consumers are more demanding, digital disruption is increasing,...

Power to the People - Product Development & Launch Excellence in a Digital World

Social media and the growing role of the ‘internet of things’ is increasingly blurring the separation between physical products, services and digital offerings. Take pedometers...

Finding the truth from data in Financial Services: Change Management is the Key

“We’ll call 2015 the year of the pancake” was how Mike Mayo (analyst at CLSA) described a year that saw the six biggest banks in...

NHS in the future: we need more transparency and clarity

Delivering change is difficult, and the NHS has a lot to deliver. One thing that could make the difference would be to help staff understand...

Could M&A be on the rise in oil & gas?

Oil prices began to decline in 2014 as increased US shale production reduced the American dependency on foreign imports. As global production levels continued...

Our NHS is in trouble: only strategic thinking will plot a route to recovery

The pressures currently facing the NHS are widely known: constraints on resources; staffing shortages; declining performance; ever-increasing demands on services. These perennial problems no longer...

The NHS Partnership: can the NHS work for its staff?

Founded in 1864, John Lewis is one of the UK’s greatest retail success stories. Like the NHS, it is founded on clear, strong principles that...

Don’t go chasing waterfalls, be Agile

Telcos are often large, complex organisations where change doesn’t happen easily. However, the landscape is shifting; customer needs are rapidly evolving, driven by new technologies...

The people vs technology part two: the prosecutor’s half truth

So, the verdict is out – as a result of cyber security attacks against your bank’s digital assets your archaic IT is to blame for...

The NHS Workforce – why recruitment can’t be the only answer

The EU referendum brought intense spotlight on the future of the NHS. Both sides spoke of increasing demand for services, high staff vacancy rates, and...

The Evolution of Customer Expectations

The modern customer is a demanding and fickle buyer. They expect well-priced products, knowledgeable, tailored customer service, and an easy and beneficial relationship with a...

Personalisation: Why are we waiting…?

For years there has been talk of big data, personalisation and the big revolution we would see both in the world of advertising and in...

Back seat driver: Commercialising autonomous cars

Google, Apple, Tesla, Nissan, NVIDIA, Uber and Jaguar Land Rover. Not names you would necessarily group together, but what do they have in common? They...

Know your customer: Get consistent to get ahead

Top of the table for customer service is an enviable place to be for telecoms providers. In a sector plagued with low customer trust, being...

Boris’ Billions: How could the NHS spend an additional £350m per week…?

In the wake of the EU Referendum result that shook us to the core on Friday 24th June 2016, the Brexiteers’ key headline incentives quickly...

Regulation and Brexit - how telecom firms can get ahead

With the prospect of Brexit and Ofcom’s increasing regulation, the UK telecoms industry is going through a period of intense change and disruption. Although, this...

Top tips for successful carve out programmes

The recent news from RBS about the complexity of separating Williams & Glyn as a ‘complex process’ is an understatement; carve out programmes are complex...

Blockchain: the next big thing?

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything” – Steve Jobs. Apple stopped us going into shops to buy music....

The people vs technology part one: your greatest form of defence

There’s no denying it. Cyber security has long since firmly taken its place as a C-suite priority across businesses and Governments worldwide with global spending...

Is it all hot air? Global warming and the transport industry

Climate change is a critical subject and has been yet again in the forefront of the public eye recently at the COP21 summit held at...

Shaping the Digital Transformation Programme

In our last Perspective, we looked at how organisations can realise the potential of Digital and the 5 principles of embedding Digital into an organisation....

Regulation and Innovation - friend or foe?

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has had a busy first 12 months undergoing market reviews, mobilising the payment strategy forum and setting guidance for how...

Five principles of the Digital enterprise

We looked at how the new global Digital platform has and will continue to disrupt markets and competition in our last Perspective. This is driven...

Is Digital just another trend?

Digital is far more than just another wave of new technologies that will affect one part of the organisation or another. The aggregate effect of...

Opening up Openreach: Ofcom Digital Communication Strategic Review

Following the recent Ofcom review, more is to be done with the networks and infrastructure of BT Openreach to ‘open them up’. The review was...

Keeping up with the kids

The next generation of customers are different to any that technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) firms have known before, for one key reason; these customers...

Walking the tightrope – balancing immediate change and long-term improvement in the NHS

Leaders of NHS Trusts face huge pressures to provide sustainable, high quality care for their local populations. They must manage growing demand, an ageing population...

Innovation in payments: there's strength in numbers

In recent years, the payments industry has transitioned into a consumer centric and topical industry, led by many well-known global brands. This has introduced...

The Junior Doctors Dispute

The critical balance of delivering essential transformational change whilst maintaining patient safety

Digital developments to distribution in retail banking

Emerging digital distribution channels are fundamentally changing the way that customers interact with retail banks. Tech-savvy customers are using mobile and online to meet their...

The rise of digital and how it can help to transform the NHS

With the rapid growth of digital technology, and a range of unexploited opportunities resulting from legacy IT programme failures, the NHS should embrace digital technology...

M&A deals are reaching crunch point for UK telecoms

The UK telecoms market is likely to see a major shake-up in 2016 with two prominent M&A deals coming to head shortly. The Competition and...

Patients don't get sick on Sundays...

The first wave of the Prime Minister’s ‘Challenge Fund’ pilots across England have tested seven day access to GP practices, with some surprising results. Seven...

Quad play: Will telecoms providers make it work?

At a strategic level, quad play – where telecommunications companies provide mobile, TV, broadband and fixed line services – sounds like quite a simple idea....

These are the Challengers - pretenders to the retail banking crown - and they're here to stay

In a true David and Goliath story, does Goliath have what it takes to keep up with the pace of change, or will the more...

The Brexit Decision: Uncertainty is the enemy of investment

Impacts from uncertainty over Britain’s future ahead of the EU referendum are already being felt based on comments from Ross Walker, the RBS chief economist.

Government spending review – what it means, and why portfolio decisions are more important than ever

Government departments are set to lose £4 trillion in funding over the current period of parliament – how can those savings be found?

Tackling the obesity crisis - Are we ready for a sugar tax?

Lessons from the smoking ban suggest that the public may not be ready for a sugar tax. Instead, a broad range of targeted initiatives on...

The unnecessary divide between policy and implementation

For government to successfully deliver, implementation must have a greater role in the policy making process

Financial service institutions need a revolution, not an evolution

This year’s Barometer (avoid the zombies, innovate for growth) reflects that many financial service institutions (FSIs) are no longer cutting costs just to protect the...

Mind the gap: transport firms want new skills

The 2015/16 Barometer on Change reflects some key trends emerging across the transport sector, with the three key themes resonating across the sector:

Modernising traditions from a legal services perspective

The themes emerging from the Barometer on Change 2015/16 resonate throughout the legal sector. A focus on cost reduction, coupled with a desire to re-invest...

It's game on: Financial Services Institutions (FSIs) v. Tech Giants

Traditional institutions have dominated the Payments industry for yonks. But will this status quo – in which payment systems continue to be run by...

Change is constant for the health sector

The overwhelming conclusion from this year’s Barometer on Change - change is the ‘new constant’ - is acutely felt across the health sector.

Do mergers and acquisitions benefit consumers?

The Barometer on Change 2015/16 findings resonate strongly with the challenges our clients face across the technology, media and telecoms sector.

A change in pace for pharmaceuticals and consumer business

The themes coming out of our fourth Barometer on Change are reflected emphatically across the pharmaceutical and consumer business sectors, where the pace of change...

The house that Big Banks built

The structure is sound, but the decoration is old.

DELIVER!

We launched the Barometer on Change 2015/16 this week and 'DELIVER' provides a really helpful mnemonic that captures a number of the key messages:

What’s stopping quad play and do consumers really care?

The concept of converged services is nothing new. For the past decade, providers have bundled together broadband and fixed telephone services and take up of...