Bent Dalager, Partner | 2 December 2021
It’s important to maintain a clear view of emerging technologies that can impact your industry. In recent years, technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things have scaled up and are reinventing industries around the world.
Many believe that quantum computers are at least a decade away from being useful, but the reality is that technology using quantum principles is already available today and has the potential to make a significant difference for certain industries.
To stay ahead of the curve, KPMG is collaborating with Microsoft — and its Azure Quantum platform —to explore the quantum space, helping organizations tackle their biggest business issues and build industry optimization using this new technology.
Quantum impact today
KPMG professionals are working with Microsoft to explore the near-term applications of quantum and quantum-inspired solutions, using Azure Quantum — the world’s first full-stack, public cloud ecosystem for quantum solutions — to link business needs to technology capabilities. Initial collaboration projects focus on benchmarking solutions for financial services portfolio optimization and telecommunication service fleet optimization.
When it comes to realizing the full business potential of quantum computing, it’s important to understand the complexities of the technology and understand the organization’s business needs. And we’re helping bridge the gap between the two.
Exploring ‘quantum advantage’
The past few years have reminded everyone not to rest on the status quo. Although quantum computers still aren’t broadly applicable for all businesses, some areas of quantum technology have matured a lot in recent years. And while we’re researching the potential use cases for quantum computing, there are real, tangible advantages to be had today. One such application is solving optimization problems, which in many industries are often difficult to solve using traditional methods. With traditional optimization algorithms being reimagined — and accelerated — using principles from quantum computing, value can be realized already in the short term.
Emulating the quantum effects on today’s computers has led to the development of Microsoft’s Quantum-Inspired Optimization (QIO) algorithms. This brings existing machines to a level where they can apply quantum solutions and achieve business-relevant quantum advantage. Financial services, telecommunications, logistics and pharmaceutical sectors could benefit from QIO algorithms because they require highly complex processes with large quantities of data input — and they seek incremental improvements to further optimize these processes.
How do you know if quantum-inspired solutions are right for your business? We work to assess what use cases are suitable for the applications, define a roadmap and benchmark with current solutions.
“We’re excited to work with KPMG’s Quantum Hub and their team of professionals focused on quantum-related technologies in helping to solve clients’ most challenging optimization problems,” says Dr. Krysta Svore, General Manager of Quantum Systems at Microsoft. “The Azure Quantum platform makes powerful optimization tools available to alliance partners like KPMG to help organizations learn, build and deploy impactful quantum solutions at scale.”
For more information, visit our KPMG and Microsoft Azure Quantum webpage.
Throughout this page, “we”, “KPMG”, “us” and “our” refers to the global organization or to one or more of the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”), each of which is a separate legal entity.
