IT Brief UK

OnBoard, the board governance software provider, has warned that boardroom adoption of artificial intelligence is significantly outpacing formal policy, with the majority of boards still operating without dedicated AI guidelines. The company's sixth annual Board Effectiveness Survey, which gathered responses from more than 500 board directors and executives, found that 92 per cent of board directors now use AI for board-related work, up from around 69 per cent a year ago.

SNP Group has formed a strategic partnership with Palantir focused on SAP transformations. The companies will develop AI-based software for customers moving or restructuring SAP systems. The first product, Test Data Proposal, will be added to SNP's Kyano platform. The partnership combines SNP's long-standing focus on SAP data migration with Palantir's artificial intelligence and data analysis software.

Teradata and Wakefield Research have published a study on barriers to scaling agentic AI in large organisations. It found that only 7% of enterprises have reached a stage where the technology is delivering measurable business outcomes. The survey of 1,000 senior technology and data leaders across six markets, including the UK, identifies enterprise data infrastructure as the main obstacle to wider deployment.

Exabeam has published survey findings showing that cybersecurity professionals see AI agents and autonomous systems as a leading security concern. The poll also found that most respondents believe AI has improved security team productivity. Among 134 cybersecurity professionals surveyed, 87% said AI had improved their team's productivity, while one in four identified AI agents and autonomous systems as the single greatest cybersecurity threat facing their organisation.

Earthmark has launched an environmental ratings directory covering more than 25,000 brands, assigning each a score from zero to five. The platform uses publicly available information and third-party sources, including SBTi and B Corp, to rate UK and international businesses on environmental performance. The launch is intended to turn corporate climate disclosures into a format shoppers can use when comparing brands.

Martin 'Howie' Atkin has launched Howie AI and its Footsteps2Freedom recovery support platform. The business grew out of work he developed while studying artificial intelligence with West Midlands training provider iMeta Training. Previously a co-founder of a virtual and augmented reality business, Atkin said the new platform is aimed at people leaving rehabilitation and the organisations that support them.

NAVEX has launched Nira within its NAVEX One platform, describing it as an artificial intelligence agent for risk and compliance work. The launch adds an AI-based response tool to software used by organisations to manage ethics, whistleblowing, investigations and broader compliance processes. Nira is designed to work within existing workflows rather than as a general-purpose assistant.

BuildwellAI has launched a compliance intelligence platform for the UK construction industry, aimed at contractors, inspectors and asset owners. The launch addresses a longstanding problem in construction record-keeping and quality control. The platform is designed to capture, connect and validate information across documentation, inspection and verification, creating a single record of what was built and how it was checked.

A new class of employee, the "AI manager", will emerge within the next two to three years as businesses restructure their workforces around artificial intelligence, according to John Margerison, CEO and founder of communication intelligence firm XFactorAI. This new class of employee will make the cut in the AI adoption overhaul: those who can prove their worth and those who can manage AI systems.

Robbyant has open-sourced LingBot-VLA 2.0, a vision-language-action model for robots designed to work across a range of robot types without retraining. The release expands the company's embodied AI software portfolio, following separate launches in its LingBot 2.0 series focused on robotic perception and vision.