The Insight: on what the General Election means for business leaders

It’s just over a week until we go to the polls. All the parties have now shared their manifestos and set out their plans for the UK. But what can business leaders expect post-election?

Will the election impact business growth plans?

On our latest ‘Insights for leaders ’ event, we discussed what the business landscape could look like after the election. Two-thirds of our audience weren’t expecting that the election taking place would accelerate growth in their business. But that left a third who were more optimistic. And our guest speakers, including techUK’s Antony Walker and TheCityUK’s Miles Celic, could see room for optimism from greater stability.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the event:

• Business and government need to work together more closely.
• We need more of a focus on how regulation can drive growth.
• We need to focus on learning and upskilling so that we can take a lead on ESG and tech – and that can also help us address social mobility.
• Greater tax stability could help improve prospects for inward investment.
• Businesses should build in resilience – the government will have less fiscal headroom to provide support during any future shocks to the economy.

Watch our General Election event on demand

Tax after the election: prepare for a tech-enabled HMRC

There’s been a lot of talk about tax during this election campaign. But what should you have an eye on as a business leader?

When it comes to corporation tax, both Labour and the Conservatives say they’ll maintain the rate at 25% – Labour say it’s a cap for the lifetime of the next Parliament. And both the main parties say they’ll maintain full expensing. You can also expect a greater focus on closing the tax gap from a better armed and tech-enabled HMRC whoever wins next week.

There are differences too of course. Our experts got together last week to unpick the tax implications of the manifestos. If you missed it, you can watch on demand.

Watch ‘General Election 2024: The economic and tax implications of the manifestos’

Three ways you can make AI work

Whoever forms the next Government, they’ll want to be on top of developments in gen AI – from a safety and growth perspective. If you’re trying to figure out how you can grasp the full value from gen AI, a great place to start is by getting familiar with the three dominant models driving AI change:

1. Agent augmentation: using AI to improve employee productivity.
2. Enterprise augmentation: using AI to solve specific issues, like automating customer service.
3. Cognitive agents: this one’s where we get a little more sci-fi and the AI starts to become an expert and ‘speak’ a particular topic.

We go into more detail on all that in our new report, ‘Three ways to make AI work’. Take a look and then build your AI strategy around the three models.

Discover ‘Three ways to make AI work’

How to improve patient experience of healthcare

The next Government will also face the challenge of improve patient experience in the NHS. Our research on Citizen Experience Excellence identifies three interventions healthcare organisations can take to drive substantial improvements:

• Equip staff with the skills to deliver citizen-centric care.
• Use data analytics to identify areas for improvement – especially in first contact resolution.
• Develop a patient portal that enables patients to track their journey and better manages their expectations.

We’ve also released a new Forrester study with KPMG, which finds fewer than one in five healthcare executives believe their organisations’ attempts at digital transformation have been completely successful.

Read our digital maturity and patient experience in healthcare reports

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What with all the excitement around the General Election, we’re starting to think about summer holidays and refreshing the batteries. And following news that KPMG Switzerland and KPMG UK have voted in favour of merging, we think a trip to the Alps could be the way to go.

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