Business services organisations are under pressure from every direction. Rising costs, talent shortages, ageing systems, and increasing regulatory demands are stretching operating models that were built for a different era. Incremental fixes and traditional cost-cutting measures are no longer enough to protect margins or deliver the speed, accuracy, and service quality that clients now expect.

The numbers tell the story. In early 2025, the Confederation of British Industry reported the steepest fall in UK services profitability since 2020, driven in part by higher employer costs, including National Insurance increases and a 6.7% rise in the minimum wage. Deloitte’s 2024 research found that 82% of companies failed to meet their cost-reduction targets, underscoring the limits of traditional efficiency measures.

Talent challenges are compounding the problem. CIPHR’s 2024 survey showed that over half of HR professionals view retention of skilled staff as their biggest concern. The issue is not only about keeping talent but also about fully utilising it. A global workforce report from Kelly Services found that 43% of UK executives admit to missed business opportunities due to talent shortages. High turnover, coupled with underutilised capacity, makes it harder to maintain service quality while managing costs.

Technology constraints make these challenges harder to solve. Legacy systems create integration issues, security vulnerabilities, and data silos. They slow down processes, limit real-time insight, and increase the risk of errors. For many firms, these outdated platforms are one of the biggest barriers to digital transformation.

Regulatory change is adding further complexity, particularly in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting. With new UK Sustainability Reporting Standards on the horizon, compliance requirements are becoming more detailed, data-driven, and time-sensitive. Many organisations are not yet equipped to capture, validate, and report ESG data at the level expected by regulators and clients.

The result is a web of interconnected inefficiencies. Issues in one area, whether onboarding, billing, HR, service delivery, procurement, or compliance, ripple across the business, driving up costs, slowing response times, and undermining the client experience. Siloed process improvements do little to address these cross-functional dependencies.

Intelligent Automation offers a way forward. By combining AI, machine learning, robotic process automation, natural language processing, and advanced analytics, IA replaces fragmented, manual processes with connected, adaptive systems that learn, predict, and act. The impact goes beyond efficiency gains. IA enables a shift from reactive service models to proactive, insight-led operations that anticipate needs, prevent problems, and continuously optimise.

This whitepaper explores how IA can transform the six critical operational domains in business services, delivering not only cost and efficiency benefits but also stronger client relationships, improved employee engagement, and a platform for future growth.

Access the whitepaper here