SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

MHP Consulting UK has marked its 10th anniversary as parent company MHP approaches its 30th year.

The Reading-based consultancy has built its UK business in the automotive sector since launching in 2016, working with carmakers and suppliers including Aston Martin, Bentley, McLaren and INEOS.

MHP Consulting UK is owned by MHP, the German management and IT consultancy that is part of Porsche. In the UK, it has focused on digital transformation projects for automotive clients, spanning strategy, process design and implementation.

Chief Executive Officer Bodo Philipp said the business had grown by combining domestic market knowledge with support from the wider group.

He said: “For ten years, we have combined local market knowledge with international expertise to successfully deliver complex projects. Our focus is not on concepts, but on measurable implementation – directly within our clients’ organizations and infrastructures.”

One of the firm’s best-known UK assignments has been its work with Aston Martin on an online vehicle configurator. The system allows customers and dealers to customise vehicles through real-time 3D visualisation and virtual reality.

The configurator has been available globally since 2021 and was upgraded last year using Unreal Engine. MHP described the platform as a central part of the carmaker’s vehicle personalisation offering, linking digital tools with the purchasing experience.

Automotive Focus

The consultancy’s client list reflects its focus on premium and specialist vehicle manufacturers, an area where Britain retains a strong industrial base despite wider pressure on automotive production and supply chains.

Alongside projects such as the Aston Martin configurator, MHP Consulting UK provides services in business process outsourcing, data analytics, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning and cyber security.

That mix of services reflects how consulting firms tied to industrial groups are seeking long-term roles within manufacturers’ operations, particularly as software, customer systems and factory processes increasingly overlap.

According to the company, MHP has around 4,500 employees worldwide and serves about 300 clients. Beyond automotive, it also works across manufacturing, aerospace, the public sector and defence.

Expansion Plans

The UK unit is also broadening its focus beyond automotive into aerospace and defence. The move would apply its experience in digital transformation, manufacturing operations and supply chain projects to industries facing similar operational demands.

That expansion comes as consultancy groups with manufacturing roots seek positions in sectors with long procurement cycles, complex compliance requirements and pressure to modernise ageing systems.

MHP’s finance leadership said the UK business had grown from a small initial idea into a more established operation over the past decade.

Zimmermann said: “Watching our UK subsidiary grow over the past ten years has been especially rewarding for me. What began as a simple idea has evolved into a successful and sustainable business, built together with our partners. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this success.”

The parent company is headquartered in Ludwigsburg, Germany, and provides management and IT consulting across the value chain, including factory planning, supply chain management, cyber security, artificial intelligence, programme management and platforms.

In the UK, the anniversary highlights how specialist consulting firms linked to major industrial brands are seeking a larger share of technology and operations work as manufacturers reshape sales systems, supply networks and production processes.

From Reading, MHP Consulting UK has spent the past decade building relationships with British automotive groups while positioning itself for work in adjacent industrial sectors.

Apatura has appointed Tony Wright as Chief Financial Officer and Benny Benford as Chief Technology Officer, expanding the leadership team at the UK energy and digital infrastructure developer.

Wright brings more than 30 years of executive experience across infrastructure, energy and engineering. Benford will oversee technology as Apatura expands its energy and data centre portfolio.

Apatura, which has offices in Edinburgh and York, has secured more than 5GW of grid connections across the UK, most of it in Scotland. Its digital infrastructure portfolio includes nine data centre sites across Scotland’s Central Belt with Gate 2-compliant grid connections totalling 2.4GW.

Six of those sites are designed for large-scale data centre development. Once completed, the projects are expected to support about £12 billion of development expenditure and a further £30 billion of compute investment.

Finance role

In his new role, Wright will work with the board and executive team on the financial structure supporting Apatura’s growth plans across energy and digital infrastructure.

His previous roles include senior leadership positions at ASCO Group, Lamprell, Leighton International and Global Process Systems. His background also includes working with investors, banks and executive teams on funding, governance, joint ventures and transformation programmes across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Technology brief

Benford will lead the development and implementation of Apatura’s AI strategy. His remit includes identifying where AI and data analytics can improve decision-making and operations across the business.

Before joining Apatura, he founded Datent, a consultancy focused on AI and data transformation. He also served as Chief Data Officer at Jaguar Land Rover, where he established the carmaker’s first Data Office and led work on governance and analytics.

The appointments come as data centre developers and energy infrastructure groups seek senior executives with experience in finance, grid access and data-led operations. In Scotland, developers have increasingly tied data centre plans to the availability of power connections as demand for computing infrastructure rises.

Chief Executive Officer Giles Hanglin said the appointments reflect the company’s next phase of growth.

“As we enter the next era of growth and opportunity, it is essential that we continue to strengthen the leadership capability needed to support our ambitions across energy and digital infrastructure. Tony brings exceptional experience in financial leadership, governance and strategic growth. Throughout his career, he has advised boards, secured investment, supported major infrastructure projects and helped organisations navigate periods of significant growth and transformation. His experience will be invaluable as we continue to expand our portfolio and create long-term value. Meanwhile, Benny will help us unlock the opportunities presented by AI, data and digital innovation. His expertise will play an important role in strengthening decision-making, enhancing performance and ensuring we remain well-positioned for the future. Together, these appointments strengthen the foundations for our next phase of growth and reinforce our commitment to building a business that combines financial discipline, innovation and long-term value creation,” Hanglin said.

Intruder has launched a free plan for its exposure management suite aimed at mid-market security teams.

The plan provides permanent access to vulnerability management, cloud security posture checks and attack surface monitoring at no charge. It includes weekly scans for up to five external targets, weekly checks across one cloud environment, weekly scans for two container images, continuous monitoring on ports 80 and 443, unlimited remediation scans, a cyber hygiene score, one automated investigation credit each month and support for up to three users.

The London-based cyber security company said the offer is designed for businesses with small attack surfaces or practitioners responsible for a limited part of a larger environment. Users can connect a target, integrate a cloud environment and identify exposures on the same day, it added.

The move targets a part of the market that often falls between products built for large enterprises and those designed for smaller companies. Research cited by Intruder found that 46% of mid-market security teams believe enterprise platforms assume more staff, budget or complexity than they can support, while 29% said tools built for smaller businesses no longer meet their needs.

Market gap

As a result, many teams rely on manual processes or a patchwork of separate tools. Lengthy procurement cycles and six-figure price tags can also slow adoption of security software among smaller and growing businesses, according to Intruder.

Founded in 2015, the company sells software intended to help organisations identify weaknesses across internet-facing systems, cloud environments and container images. It says it now serves more than 3,000 companies worldwide.

Competition in cyber security has intensified as vendors try to reach customers beyond large corporates. Many suppliers have focused either on complex enterprise platforms or entry-level products, leaving medium-sized organisations to assemble their own mix of tools.

Intruder is positioning the free plan as a way for security, IT and DevOps teams to test its software over time rather than through a short trial. Customers can use the service indefinitely and move to a paid tier only if they want broader coverage, it said.

Chris Wallis, chief executive officer and founder of Intruder, outlined the rationale for the launch.

“Security and IT teams at small and medium-sized businesses face the same risks as their enterprise counterparts, but they’ve been priced out of the tools that would actually help them avoid breaches,” Wallis said.

“We built Intruder to enable security for the 99%, and our free plan is the logical extension of that commitment. Intruder benefits from using open-source software as part of our offering. Offering a free plan allows us to give back to the security community, which shouldn’t need a six-figure security budget and 10-person team to stay secure.”

Feature set

The free tier centres on regular checks rather than unrestricted use. External vulnerability scans are limited to five targets, cloud posture checks to one environment across AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, and container image scans to two images. Monitoring is limited to web ports 80 and 443, while access is capped at three users.

Even with those limits, the package reflects a broader shift in cyber security buying as vendors try to reduce friction in procurement and evaluation. For smaller organisations, proving operational value early can matter as much as the software itself, especially when security teams must justify spending against other technology priorities.

Intruder said the free offer is intended to help practitioners improve risk visibility and reduce remediation times before extending coverage. The plan is now available on a permanent basis.