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AI and Gen AI in business operations

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As AI moves from pilot projects to production-scale deployments, organizations are beginning to realize measurable returns.

With an average ROI of 1.7x, AI is no longer a future promise – it’s a present-day performance driver. Leading organizations are unlocking ROI and efficiency through AI-driven business operations.

The Capgemini Research Institute’s new report, AI in action: How Gen AI and agentic AI redefine business operations, explores how Gen AI and agentic AI systems are transforming business operations across supply chain, finance, customer service, and people operations. From cost savings to faster decision-making, AI is reshaping the way enterprises operate.

Key findings from the report include:

  • AI is delivering real business value: 40% of organizations expect positive ROI from AI within one to three years, and another 35% within three to five years. AI agents are driving improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.
  • Investment in AI is accelerating: 62% of organizations have increased gen AI spending in 2025, with 36% allocating dedicated capital. Proprietary models are preferred by 77% of executives for their performance and integration capabilities.
  • Agentic AI adoption is surging. The use of AI agents – including multi-agent systems – has more than doubled in one year, with 21% of organizations now using them in operations. Production-scale deployments are expected to grow by 48% in 2025.
  • AI is reshaping core business functions, delivering cost savings of 26–31% across supply chain and procurement, finance and accounting, and customer and people operations.

AI in action: How Gen AI and agentic AI redefine business operations is essential reading for business leaders, technology decision-makers, governance teams, and investors seeking to understand the transformative potential of Gen AI and agentic AI. It provides organizations with the essential steps for developing AI-driven business operations:

  • Build a strong foundation of AI readiness
  • Make the workforce AI-ready through change-management and cultural transformation to enable smarter human – AI collaboration
  • Develop a strong approach to process redesign to unlock agentic AI’s full potential
  • Embrace agentic AI for transformational benefits
  • Maintain a sharp focus on cost containment
  • Devise a clear strategy for scaling AI across the enterprise.

To discover how AI is reshaping enterprise operations, and learn how to scale AI for lasting impact, download the report today.



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Yorkshire Water announces hosepipe ban after driest spring in 132 years | Water industry

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Yorkshire Water has introduced hosepipe restrictions after the region recorded its driest spring in 132 years.

Yorkshire received just 15cm of rainfall between February and June, less than half of what is expected in an average year, pushing the region to an official drought status.

Its reservoirs are 55.8% full, which is 26.1 percentage points lower than what they would normally be at this time of year.

Dave Kaye, the director of water at Yorkshire Water, said action was necessary now to “help conserve water and protect Yorkshire’s environment”.

“From Friday this week, people across Yorkshire will need to stop using their hosepipes to water their gardens, wash their cars or for any other activities. Introducing these restrictions is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’ve been doing everything we can to avoid having to put them in place,” he said.

The restrictions will come into force on 11 July. They will stop people from using a hosepipe to water gardens, wash private vehicles, fill domestic pools or clean outdoor surfaces.

People can still wash their car and water their gardens using tap water from a bucket or watering can. Businesses can use a hosepipe if it is directly related to a commercial purpose.

Mark Lloyd, the chief executive of the charity the Rivers Trust, said further hosepipe restrictions are likely to come in other areas of the country.

“Sadly, the measures will also probably include drought permits that allow the company to take more water from rivers than normal, which will have severe impacts on river wildlife which is already struggling,” he said. “It will be very surprising if other companies don’t have to follow suit unless the weather changes dramatically.”

The supplier, which serves 5 million customers across Yorkshire and parts of north Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, is owned by Kelda Group.

Yorkshire Water paid £37.5m dividends for the six months to 30 September 2024 to its parent, up from £17.7m during the same period in 2023. The company paid £84.1m in dividends within its group structure in its latest full financial year. The dividends were not distributed to external shareholders.

Last year the chief executive and chief financial officers at Yorkshire Water were handed a combined £616,000 in bonuses for a year in which thousands of its customers were affected for weeks by a burst water pipe.

Under new powers in Labour’s Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, the regulator, Ofwat, can ban bonuses for water executives where a company fails to meet key standards on environmental and financial performance, or is convicted of a criminal offence.

Under the rules, six water providers – including Thames Water, Southern Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water – were banned from paying “unfair” bonuses to their executives this year.

The boss of Yorkshire Water said she had decided to turn her bonus down this year, before the legislation was introduced. Nicola Shaw, who accepted a £371,000 bonus last year, said it would “not be appropriate” to accept the payment this year, acknowledging that the supplier needed to “do better” on tackling pollution.

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It comes as customers must pay higher water bills until the end of the decade, to help fund investment in better water and sewage infrastructure. The average annual bill for Yorkshire Water is £430, according to Ofwat, and is expected to rise by 35% by 2030.

Last month Yorkshire officially moved to drought status after a prolonged period of low rainfall. In May, north-west England also entered drought status, as reservoir levels fell to half their capacity. Much of the rest of the country is in prolonged dry status, which is the step before drought.

Consumers across England have been asked to conserve water as summer begins amid low river flows, groundwater levels and reservoir levels.

The regions at most risk of running out of water at the moment are those which rely largely on reservoirs rather than groundwater.

This is because the wet autumn and winter of 2024-25 allowed for the aquifers – the water below ground – to recharge. This means southeastern areas, which have good aquifers, are in a better position now than those in the Midlands and north of the country.

However, more dry weather could cause the aquifer levels to begin to dwindle as well.

When water supplies run dry, companies often apply for river abstraction licences. But rivers across the country, except in parts of the north-west, are at exceptionally low levels, so any further abstraction would pose a risk of great ecological harm.

Water companies have been criticised in past droughts for not implementing hosepipe bans quickly enough, and accused of not doing so because bosses were too concerned about affecting customer satisfaction scores, which influence their rating with the regulator. As of this year, this rating now dictates whether chief executives can get a bonus.



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Stock markets shrug off tariff letters after Trump says August 1 tariff deadline ‘not 100% firm’ – business live | Business

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Introduction: Asia-Pacific markets shrug off new Trump tariff threats

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

The TACO trade is back! Many Asia-Pacific stock markets are rising today, despite Donald Trump’s decision to ramp up his trade war by announcing new tariffs on 14 US trading partners.

There’s relief that Trump has announced a new pause before these new levies kick in – a new three-week reprieve kicks the can down the road to 1 August, rather than tomorrow.

This delay will give countries to negotiate trade deals with the US.

Asked if 1 August deadline was firm, Trump indicated it wasn’t exactly concrete, saying last night:

“I would say firm, but not 100% firm. If they call up and they say we’d like to do something a different way, we’re going to be open to that.”

That has encouraged traders to conclude that Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO).

So while there were losses on Wall Street last night after the first tariff letters were released, markets across Asia are taking the news in their stride.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 2225 has risen by 0.3%, up 118 points to 39,705 points, even though Japan has been threatened with a new 25% tariff from 1 August (slightly higher than the 24% rate announced back in April, before Trump’s 90-day pause which expires tomorrow).

South Korea’s KOSPI has gained nearly 2%, even though Seoul has also received a letter announcing a new 25% tariff.

China’s CSI300 index has climbed by 0.8%. European markets are expected to open flat.

More letters are expected to be sent later this week.

Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, says traders are pricing in “delay, maybe even dysfunction”, rather than a resolution of the trade war. But that’s enough to keep them bidding.

Innes writes:

Markets didn’t lurch because they’ve seen this show before. Tariff hike, rhetoric spikes, and then—like clockwork—comes the sudden pivot: “We’re still open to talks.” This is policy by poker tell. And by now, investors are familiar enough with the bluff to call it and fade the fear.

However…Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, fears there is too much “unexplained optimism”, adding:

The deadline extension is not good news, per se. It simply adds to the uncertainty. It’s yet another sign that the deadline won’t be a line in the sand, and that tariffs set in the coming days and weeks won’t be carved in stone, either.

They will be constantly changed — raised, lowered — and used as a go-to threat in every situation.

The agenda

  • 9.30am BST: UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility to release its latest Fiscal risks and sustainability report

  • 10am BST: Marks & Spencer chair Archie Norman to face business and trade committee to discuss M&S’s cyber attack

  • 11am BST: Office for Budget Responsibility press conference

  • 12pm BST: Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry to release Volume 1 of its Final Report

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European stock markets have also opened higher, led by Germany.

The German DAX index rose by 50 points, or 0.2%, to 24,125, in early trading, amid some relief that European negotiators have another three weeks to reach a trade deal with Washington.

France’s CAC has inched up by 0.1%, with Spain’s IBEX gaining 0.14%.

Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, says:

Donald Trump has once again retreated from imposing tariffs, allowing the DAX to rise above the 24,000-point mark. It appears that investors are eager to test the previous week’s highs once more, but the success of this endeavor will depend on the daily news regarding trade policy, which is expected to remain volatile. The trade issue continues to be a source of uncertainty for the stock market, and without a trade agreement with the U.S., a sustainable continuation of the rally could prove challenging.

This morning, the European Union faces both positive and negative news. On the positive side, the pause on tariffs has been extended until August. Trump seems to be sticking to his pattern of initially making threats before showing a willingness to negotiate. He likely understands that implementing reciprocal tariffs would be more harmful than beneficial to the ongoing discussions.

However, the negative aspect is that sector-specific tariffs on cars, auto parts, aluminum, and steel will remain in effect until August 1. This latest development is not cause for great celebration, as the EU has struggled to effectively counter the already high tariffs that are currently in place during the negotiations.”





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CS TECH Ai Marks 27 Years, Expands Global Presence with Focus on AI and Digital Infrastructure

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CS TECH Ai (BSE: Ceinsys) has completed 27 years in business, marking its growth from a core engineering firm to a digital technology company with a global footprint.

The company, which operates in India, the US, the UK, and Germany, provides solutions in geospatial intelligence, mobility engineering, digital twins, and AI-powered platforms.

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With over 1,250 engineers and technologists, CS TECH Ai supports key infrastructure projects in water, energy, transport, and urban development.

Its solutions have been deployed in national programmes such as Jal Jeevan Mission, AMRUT, and Smart Cities, helping improve planning, execution, and governance.

The company has designed more than 35,000 miles of water networks, processed over 650,000 miles of high-resolution imagery, and contributed to the planning of over 100,000 miles of electrical networks.

Its engineers have logged more than 7 million hours on infrastructure and mobility projects.

In recent years, CS TECH Ai has strengthened its global delivery capabilities through acquisitions, including AllyGrow Technologies and US-based VTS. The company is now integrating artificial intelligence into sector-specific workflows to offer real-time insights and support decision-making in infrastructure systems.

“Our journey from core engineering to AI-driven platforms continues to be rooted in solving sectoral challenges through scalable and adaptive technology,” said Prashant Kamat, Vice Chairman and CEO of CS TECH Ai.

The company aims to drive automation, resilience, and sustainability through intelligent infrastructure solutions.



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