For the latest installment of The Weekly Briefing, we took a look at four different segments of the IT consulting sector with four executives who know each market closely. The managing director of an embedded software consultancy briefed us on what’s new in vehicle chip programming. We also heard from Azul Systems’ channel head about its recently launched managed service provider program. Plus, corporate updates from the SuccessFactors and Qualtrics consulting ecosystems.

Putting more Rust in cars. The Rust programming language offers what’s known as memory safety, which means it avoids numerous cybersecurity issues that can crop up in software projects. That and other features have made it a popular choice for developers. Now, embedded software consultancy Ferrous Systems is making the case that Rust should find broader use in vehicles. Automobile subsystems are usually programmed in C++ and C, two languages that don’t provide memory safety.

Last week, Ferrous Systems joined an industry consortium called SOAFFEE to encourage broader adoption of Rust in the auto sector. SOAFFEE was set up in 2021 by chip designer Arm. The consortium is developing standardized software components for cars based on Arm’s ubiquitous processor architecture.

“Ferrous Systems always had a tight relationship with Arm, collaborating strongly with them on their Rust story,” Ferrous Systems managing director Florian Gilcher told Boardroom Insight exclusively. “Employees of Ferrous Systems collaborated with Arm to make Arm architectures a so-called Tier 1 target in Rust, which is the highest level of commitment and support. We’ve always been adjacent to initiatives like SOAFEE. That was back in 2018, for reference.”

According to Gilcher, the reason Ferrous Systems didn’t join SOAFEE earlier is that there were technical obstacles to using Rust in vehicles. Those challenges, which stemmed from gaps in the programming language, have grown smaller over the past few years. “We’ve been collaborating with automotive customers in filling those gaps,” Gilcher explained. 

“Now, in 2025, we are confident there’s no serious low-level technical roadblocks anymore for Rust to be a strong component of automotive architectures,” the executive said. “We see that in the questions our customers pose us. ‘Does it support my hardware?’ is out, ‘how do I integrate it into new or existing systems?’ is in. ‘How can I get started?’, ‘What’s a good reference system?’. SOAFEE wants to answer precisely those questions, so now we feel confident to join and engage.”

Azul Systems will provide more partner resources for managed service providers. The company, which received a $340 million private equity investment in 2020, makes tools that help enterprises build and run Java applications. Java is one of the most widely used programming languages in the enterprise and consequently shows often in IT consulting projects. Last week, Azul launched a partner program designed to support managed services providers that use its Java tools in client engagements.

The new program is called Azul Intelligence Cloud. It provides resources not available in the company’s standard partner program.

“The Azul Intelligence Cloud (IC) MSP program goes far beyond the traditional Azul Partner Program,” Simon Taylor, the senior vice president of worldwide partners and alliances at Azul, told Boardroom Insight. “While the standard partner program focuses on reselling or referring Azul JDK runtimes, the MSP offering empowers partners to deliver fully managed, white-label services that simplify and scale Java operations for their clients.”

“A major differentiator is the inclusion of runtime-based intelligence, including deep Java inventory across all vendors and distributions, real-time vulnerability detection down to the class level, and automated compliance analytics,” Taylor elaborated. “These capabilities allow partners to build high-value, recurring services in areas like licensing compliance, DevOps support, security posture management, and cloud modernization.”

On the business side, Taylor sees the program helping partners generate more recurring revenue. “By shifting the burden of tooling, integration, and interpretation to skilled MSPs, the program enables organizations to offload complex Java management tasks to trusted experts. Partners, in turn, gain the ability to embed themselves more deeply in their customers’ operations—delivering proactive, data-driven insights and driving long-term engagement through subscription-based offerings,” Taylor explained.

Enterprise Information Resources buys PLESM. Both consultancies focus on SuccessFactors, a workforce management platform that SAP obtained in 2011 through a $3.4 billion acquisition. Austin-based PLESM specializes in helping companies adopt SuccessFactors’ LMS module, which is used to manage employee training programs. The firm sets up the software for clients and provides ongoing support. This support can take multiple forms, including assistance with update installation.

SuccessFactors customers “need more than just implementation,” Ross Dubuc, the director of client engagement at Enterprise Information Resources, told Boardroom Insight. “They need a partner who brings clarity, accelerates adoption, and stays accountable long after go-live. With PLESM, we expand our capacity to support complex SuccessFactors Learning initiatives from initial deployment to sustained optimization.” 

Enterprise Information Resources, which is also known as EIR, already provided SuccessFactors LMS services before the acquisition. Its LMS client roster includes Fortune 50 life sciences companies, retailers and manufacturers. 

“We guide clients through implementation and stay with them to ensure the technology works for their people, processes, and goals. It’s a practical, long-term approach built on genuine partnership, and it’s what sets EIR apart,” Dubuc said.

A 76-year-old customer experience consultancy gets a rebrand. Indianapolis-based Walker has refreshed its brand and appointed Jack Walker as president. The executive, a great-grandson of the firm’s founder, joined the firm in 2014. He gave us a brief walkthrough of Walker’s history on occasion of the corporate refresh.

The consultancy was a founding member of Qualtrics’ partner program when the software vendor launched it in 2017. Qualtrics, a former SAP unit, provides a popular cloud-based customer experience management platform. The software helps companies with tasks such as asking online shoppers for feedback on how to improve an e-commerce website’s interface. Walker recently expanded its technology focus by inking a partnership with Databricks, a major data management provider.

“Our decision to begin working with Qualtrics in 2017 aligned Walker with the leading technology in the XM category,” Walker president Jack Walker told Boardroom Insight. “But, as technology and business evolve, so too should our partnerships. As a newly established consulting partner of Databricks, Walker is well-positioned to continue to lead the industry in achieving Unified XM,” he added, referring to a data management concept popular in the customer experience management world. Unified XM is the practice of using data from multiple systems to study the quality of customer experiences. For example, a retailer might correlate survey responses from its website with in-store buyer feedback.

A Boardroom Insight exclusive: We heard from Deloitte Germany, the German affiliate of the world’s largest professional services network by headcount and revenue, about its new partnership with STACKIT. STACKIT is a cloud provider that offers infrastructure for heavily regulated organizations in Europe. It’s a unit of Schwartz Group, a conglomerate that also operates the Lidl supermarket chain.