CEO Harry Goddard. Image: Deloitte
CEO Harry Goddard said that the past 12 months have been ‘unique’ for the firm’s clients because of the emergence of ‘transformational’ generative AI.
Deloitte Ireland has reported a revenue growth of 12pc over the past year spurred by increased demand for its digitisation and sustainability services.
Published today (29 September), the annual report shows that the growth has brought the professional services firm’s revenue to €479m.
Some of the key drivers of growth trends at Deloitte Ireland were around digital transformation and increased support for ESG (environmental, social and governance) metrics, as well as financing, debt and capital management.
Harry Goddard, CEO of Deloitte Ireland, said that the Big Four firm’s clients have been operating their businesses in a challenging environment.
“Over the last 12 months we’ve supported clients with complex ESG regulation, embedding climate action into business operations, readied businesses to protect themselves against rising cyber threats and financial crime, driven operational transformation and embedded digital in every layer of their organisation,” Goddard said.
He added that the year was “unique” because of the emergence of the “transformational technology” that is generative AI and that clients of all sizes are “increasingly looking for teams that have multidisciplinary capabilities”.
Deloitte announced in June plans to create 300 new jobs in Cork over the next three years, which will help it mark its 150th anniversary in the city. The majority of these roles will be based in a new technology and analytics hub in Cork.
Speaking today, Goddard said that innovations such as the Cork hub “will be at the heart of how we will serve our clients into the future. The core competency of our teams is being able to guide clients to respond to the ever more complex challenges they face”.
AI and analytics have played a major role in professional service firms’ investment plans in the last couple of years. Last year, Deloitte acquired Belfast-based data and digital transformation specialist Etain to increase its AI and data presence in the region.
More recently, multinational firm Accenture announced plans to spend $3bn in AI over the next three years to help its clients make the most of the proliferating technology.
“As we enter a period of unique technology disruption where AI will transform businesses, we believe Deloitte has the ability to assist clients to deploy the technology rapidly and in a manner that will comply with existing and future regulation. This will be a key focus of our business over the coming years,” Goddard said.
In terms of the outlook for the next while, Goddard said that he remains cautiously optimistic because most economic risks, such as the impact of interest rates, performance of the economies of trading partners and geopolitical tensions, are “on the downside”.
“The Irish economy remains resilient and is continuing to grow this year. Over the medium term, we would be cautiously optimistic and we will be planning for continued growth,” he said.
“While there are stubborn sticky challenges on infrastructure and key skills, the resilience demonstrated over the last few years gives cause for cautious optimism.”
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