The Future of Digital Transformation: Insights from Inetum UK CEO

Last year was a landmark one for Inetum. 2024 saw the European digital services leader appoint Kathy Quashie as INETUM CEO of United Kingdom & Ireland (UKI) and Growing Markets. The company also strengthened its position as a global ServiceNow Elite partner with the acquisition of London’s Unifii, one of ServiceNow’s biggest European partners. And to round it all off, Inetum bagged an award at December’s ERP Today Awards 2024 for its excellence in operational innovation.

2025 then sees Inetum start off in good stead, and Kathy Quashie sat down with ERP Today to lay out the roadmap ahead for the business both in Europe and abroad. Quashie describes Inetum, headquartered in France, as a truly European global business. The company, she explains, is one that is EMEA-focused, but also globally led, which plays into a promising opportunity for Inetum to scale, develop and grow.

In our conversation, the CEO underlines the Unifii acquisition as a sign of UK and Ireland’s importance to Inetum’s European scaling strategy. “When you look at the UK market, the focus is still heavily on transformation and automation,” Quashie explains. “It’s one of the most mature markets if you look at the investments for AI capability and automation within different sectors.”

Drilling further into the deal, Quashie says that any good acquisition is made with a view on long-term potential and value – whilst also recognizing the value being created in the here and now.

“Unifii presented a fantastic offering for what they do with ServiceNow as a platform play, delivering great capabilities to great sets of clients in the UK, Ireland and Europe, from financial services to public sector, energy and utilities, enterprises, supply chain, manufacturing, insurance and retail. It touched most of the critical sectors across the UKI market, so we were very intrigued by the ability of the opportunity to scale within those sectors – but also the relevance of what was already established.”

Inetum Group

With Quashie as a driving force, Inetum wants to scale its UKI presence in the market, becoming more of an agile and transformative partner for businesses. This mission comes as a response to the increasing pressure to innovate, adapt, and scale, that businesses face in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Talking with the CEO, it’s clear Quashie has an enthusiasm for technology matched by a dedication to creating value and real business outcomes for customers. “Clients are looking for better ways of improving themselves year on year,” she explains, and with her Inetum role, she is in a position to combine her passion for technology with the opportunity to create significant impacts for clientele.

The company’s approach optimizes platforms like ServiceNow, SAP, Salesforce, and Microsoft to provide end-to-end value. ServiceNow recently announced that Inetum has been selected as one of the first 10 partners to lead the way for ServiceNow’s Agentic AI. Besides being an Elite partner of ServiceNow, Inetum is also an SAP PE SELL Partner in the UK and Ireland, enhancing its strategic vision and global presence in the tech sector. This way, Inetum operates as a one-stop solution for clients, enabling them to make informed decisions about costs and transformation while prioritizing their unique needs. But the aim is never to just sell a product or hours of work to a client, as Kathy explains.

“We see ourselves as true enablers of digital transformation,” she states, noting Inetum’s ability to foster deep partnerships with clients as a key differentiator.

“We’re able to be agile and responsive. But more importantly, we’re setting up a workforce that is able to react with the skills that the market needs and deserves. In doing that, we’ve established some key enterprise clients – but also clients that are looking for more transformative leaders that can support them on their journey.”

Quashie sees Inetum as being joined in its relationships with customers and creating outcomes relevant for them – rather than just relevant for itself. As she succinctly puts it, “If our customers do well and we build those strong partnerships, then ultimately we do well, too.”

Clients also face a large amount of regulation and consolidation, atop of a political geo-landscape that changes weekly. “This means the macroeconomics around how a business remains successful in that spectrum of change – we too are walking that path with clients to ensure they get there in a good way,” reports the chief exec.

Stepping back for a look at the global picture of Inetum’s growing markets, the company has offshoring sites in India, North Africa, Mexico, Colombia and more. Dedicated SAP services can be found in Portugal, whilst Bulgaria hosts a strong ServiceNow capability. Our Shared Service Centers (SSCs) in Spain, Portugal and LATAM focus on nearshoring with expertise in various technologies and offer a wide range of services, including system integration, delivery management, cybersecurity, and infrastructure management. Additionally, our Remote Services (RS) in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria offer services in DataBI, DevOps, IoT, GenAI and more, along with innovative solutions like agile-lean methodologies and blockchain. With its geo-resourcing model and a worldwide body of over 28,000 of consultants and experts, Quashie believes Inetum provides a “very compelling onshore, nearshore and offshore solution” for clients. In the UK market, offshoring is seen as business value whilst providing affordability for clients to scale and grow. Across EMEA, meanwhile, nearshoring is the preferred model, with the option to go offshoring provided by Inetum.

Inetum and AI

Inetum began developing AI capabilities 6-7 years ago and has integrated them throughout the organization, now accelerating with GenAI market trends. The company faces the dual challenge of deploying AI and GenAI internally and providing top-notch GenAI services to customers with strategic partners. With 7 “Fablab” laboratories for public co-creation and a team of 150 researchers, Inetum integrates and disseminates innovation. The GenAI Factory, a center of excellence, collaborates to deliver end-to-end GenAI solutions, train, identify use cases, conduct PoCs, and scale projects for business and IT enhancement.

We have also initiated a European ThinkTank on GenAI, bringing together approximately 50 customers from France, Spain, and Belgium to collectively explore the opportunities, risks, and scalability of GenAI within companies, fostering a shared vision for AI-driven transformation. Aligned with Inetum’s AI vision, ServiceNow has just announced that Inetum have been selected as one of the first 10 partners to lead the way for ServiceNow’s Agentic AI.

When discussing the Nordics, one of the growing markets of Inetum, Quashie notes a “compelling geography” placing a strong importance on sustainability. But discussing the region further, the CEO notes the Nordics’ importance when it comes to AI development in Europe, with Sweden and Finland having been chosen by the European Commission for its ambitious AI Factory project.

Kathy puts the importance of the Nordics down to a combined offering of innovation, entrepreneurs and agility coming together to define and transform not just generative AI (Gen AI) but AI as a whole.

“When you think about the infrastructures in those markets, the environment for change and the embrace for change is already happening. The opportunity for investment in those countries is already materializing, so it presents the perfect opportunity for any organization to be part of. And they are on the growing edge of technology and growth overall – so why not be a part of it?”

All Inetum’s growing markets share a common focus on Gen AI, similar to the UK and Ireland. The CEO describes the tech theme as “not a new thing, but a now thing,” highlighting the importance of AI readiness for businesses. Companies are increasingly focused on achieving such readiness, a critical step toward embracing Gen AI. But despite its transformative potential, challenges such as cost, complexity, digital skills and adaptability remain consistent for many organizations. To lead in this evolving landscape, Quashie believes businesses must prioritize trust, collaboration, and innovation, ensuring that upfront investments yield long-term value.

“We’ve never lived before in a world with Gen AI. It’s about embracing and creating what is a continuous learning academy for people to get comfortable with what Gen AI is, and that brings an element of how ethical Gen AI is – how safe is it?”

The Inetum goal is to help clients not only adopt generative AI but also scale and optimize its use. Quashie emphasizes that Inetum plays a crucial role in helping tech leaders drive innovation and achieve higher ROI through AI adoption, preparing clients for AI readiness. The CEO outlines three critical steps for ERP Insiders looking to integrate AI into their operations:

1. Data Strategy: Data is the bedrock of successful AI implementation. Organizations need to understand where their data resides, its value, and how it’s managed – meaning a clear data strategy is essential to unlocking AI’s potential.
2. Affordability and Tooling: With tools such as Microsoft’s Copilot and Salesforce’s Agentforce, ServiceNow’s Agentic AI, there is a wide spectrum of AI capabilities available. Businesses must therefore align their data strategy with the right tools to achieve immediate and cost-effective results.
3. Cultural Shift: Kathy believes AI adoption requires a mindset shift. Building an academy of continuous learning within the organization helps employees adapt to and embrace AI-driven change. This includes understanding ethical considerations and fostering a culture of trust and collaboration.

Inetum treats AI like all other transformative technologies: Ensuring the end goal helps clients make optimal use of tech, and leverage tailored strategies and consultative approaches to drive growth and transformation across markets.

The only real hurdle is caution, especially from an ERP standpoint. As Quashie says, ERP always bears a risk management and GRC component, touching as it does on regulated sectors and industries. This further demonstrates the importance of case studies and pilot programs to demonstrate the safety and value when it comes to deploying AI in ERP systems. But the CEO reminds ERP Today that in business, who dares wins, as they say.

“There are risks in being the first, but there’s a real opportunity in being early, too. Nobody wants to be the last person in, everyone wants to be in the middle – the ‘Safe Middle’. But for the customers that are willing to go out there early, there’s a lot of reward and a lot of potential for their organizations.”

And to navigate this potentially perilous path, Inetum stands out as a reliable guardian and partner in digital system transformation and integration. After all, the company’s name comes from the Latin word for growth, incrementum. Inetum believes in delivering digital impact, but faster and easier for the good of all.

When it comes to AI, incremental experimentation may seem wise for ERP Insiders – but for gaining incremental business growth, one might have to go all ‘in’ with a partner like Inetum.