A single data platform will give small UK companies the same access to corporate data that open banking gave to financial services. Most professional services—audit, legal, accounting—are still delivered by people, making them too expensive for smaller firms. This creates a two-tier market where large companies benefit from digital innovation while smaller ones cannot afford it. Engine B’s Secure Data Exchange Platform solves this by standardising how client data is accessed, then using that standardised data to power AI-driven services. If successful, the platform could reshape the professional services market. Small companies would gain affordable access to automated audit, legal compliance, and financial analysis tools. The audit market itself would become more competitive, with AI improving quality and reducing cost. UK legal tech could become a global hub, broadening the international use of English law. The project also aims to accelerate AI adoption across professional services more broadly, creating an ecosystem of startups built on the open data model. This is a narrow technical fix—a data standard and a platform—but its economic impact could be wide, unlocking innovation in a sector that has been slow to digitise.
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This project led by Engine B will transform the future of the professional service market by ensuring that all companies and firms, large and small, have access to competitive and innovative next generation digital services. To realise this vision, the platform developed by Engine B will open up what is, an under-served market place of smaller companies who cannot afford people based services to stimulate innovation and competition. Engine B will deliver a data access platform which will provide the equivalent open access to corporate data on a scale equivalent to open banking. The standardisation of client data access is a complex but narrow technological solution, that will unlock competition through the next generation of digital professional services with manifest economic impact. While the dawn of digital services are imminent, few firms are currently able to invest the time and resources required to offer next generation services. Engine B will leverage the audit firms to install its Secure Data Exchange Platform and will establish a key market to accelerate the development and adoption of new digital services. Engine B has a cross sector project consortium working with leading firms and academics. Through the project this team will address a market need and opportunity around curating accessible data for audit by: Making data accessible across the UK business landscape to drive innovation, growth and productivity Enabling UK business to retain and regain control over their data Opening up competition in the audit market place and accelerating the use of AI to improve quality Facilitating the UK to become the global legal tech services hub, broadening the international use of the law of England & Wales Accelerate the diffusion and adoption of AI in audit that are linked more widely across professional services The approach of Engine B during the project is to develop and scale an innovative approach based on a narrow data access solution that will leverage a new open data model and build knowledge graphs. Through the technology and the platform that Engine B is establishing it will mobilise an ecosystem of startups and be a catalyst to the diffusion of professionals services technology - Prof-Tech.
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