Big 4 Partner to Digital Transformation Leader: Inside PwC’s AI leap

• PwC is making a bold move with a $1 billion AI investment over the next three years.
• But what does it mean for careers in finance?
• To break it down, The Finance Story welcomes Manpreet Singh Ahuja, PwC India’s Chief Digital Officer and TMT leader, for an in-depth discussion.
• Here is PWC’s AI playbook.

How did you transition from CA to Chief Digital Officer without a tech background?

I began my career as an auditor at PwC and it has been two decades…And what a journey it’s been!

Always ambitious and driven, and in 10 years, I became a fast-track Partner. 

After 6-7 years as a Partner, I led PwC’s Risk Business, managing a strong team of 1,000 CAs, engineers, architects, MBAs, and process experts.

We saw results quickly with drastically improved metrics, including gross margins, client satisfaction, and revenue as we opened up non-traditional pathways for earning income.

I soon realized that the quickest way to deliver value to clients lies in leveraging technology.

In 2021, PwC appointed me as Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for India. My role is to drive digital-led transformation and innovation for clients and also keep our firm ahead of the curve with the latest in Digital and AI.

I also lead our Tech, Media, and Telecom (TMT) sector.

Can you become a CDO without a tech background or a Computer Science degree?

Short answer, yes!

There are a lot of people out there who have this mental restraint saying, ‘Oh, I am not a technologist.’

You don’t need to be a techie.

What do you need? The ability to think about what technology can do to disrupt a business. And it’s even easier in the world of generative AI.

Today, every role has a tech component. Whether you are an engineer, doctor, or even a chartered accountant, technology impacts all fields.

Also read: Big 4 firms scramble to win the consulting race. Investing over $4B in AI.

In 2023, PwC announced a $1 billion AI investment over three years. What are PwC’s goals? 

Generative AI presents a massive opportunity.

PwC invested $1 Billion to solve multiple things including:

• Augmenting client deliverables
• Differentiating our delivery.

It is one of the earliest and largest investments of its kind and showcases our belief and commitment to be future-ready.

We also get the most premium and early access due to such an early move.

Here’s how we’re putting that money to work:

Upskilling our workforce

As generative AI started making headlines in November 2022, our FIRST priority was to make sure our employees felt confident and excited about this new technology.

Generative AI opens up numerous opportunities and new revenue streams, benefiting not only our firm but also the broader corporate landscape.

So upskilling our people was crucial.

This involved a deep dive into:

• What generative AI can do
• How it differs from previous technologies
• Why it’s such a game-changer
• What is the responsible usage of AI and how to advocate safeguards for its proper use

Chat PwC

We wanted 250,000 employees to get hands-on with AI.

Launched Chat PwC, an AI assistant for tasks like data formatting, meeting summaries, emails, and coding.

PwC is likely the first firm to implement AI at this scale. This bet has paid off as most employees now use AI for repetitive tasks and generating innovative ideas.

Gen AI Lab

In June 2023, we launched the PwC Gen AI Lab, a space for employees to explore AI technology.

The lab is a hands-on environment where you interact with the latest AI, customized for your needs and business.

Engagement with the lab deepened understanding, creating excitement and a sense of control over the technology.

Employees shared compelling stories with clients, driving them to visit and collaborate in workshops.

Within 15-16 weeks, 6,000 people visited the lab, leading to numerous opportunities.

Here’s how Gen AI Lab works:

Imagine this:

It’s a large room with several screens and corners, each showcasing various prototypes in action.

Imagine you’re a CFO walking into the lab, curious about how Gen AI enables deep retrieval capabilities.

• We take you to a corner with a prototype and use case for contracts.
• We input the prompt: “Look, we have 100 million contracts here. Let’s search for contracts with unlimited liability that are most vulnerable for your business.”
• The system sifts through the contracts and identifies the 20 that pose the greatest risk.
• A practical demo of deep retrieval tailored to your area of interest.

The lab is divided into sections addressing different business needs:

• Marketing
• Customer Service
• Operations (including supply chain and logistics)
• Finance
• IT
• Risk Management
• People & Organization

Enhancing delivery services

Our next goal was to use AI to boost our service offerings.

We asked ourselves, “How can AI add more value to what we provide?”

To find the solution, we developed a range of Generative AI tools and integrated them into our daily operations, from deals advisory to tax returns.

On 15th March 2023, PwC partnered with Harvey.ai, a cutting-edge AI platform for legal professionals. This platform, unique among the Big 4, is used by 18,000 of our legal experts, tax and deals colleagues

Harvey saves us valuable time and effort by helping in,

• Tracking regulations
• Managing interdisciplinary rules
• Streamlining tasks like research and summarization

PwC is using it to create industry-first custom LLM models with large amounts of proprietary data and training for our specialized teams like tax, due diligence, and other areas.

PwC’s Partnership with OpenAI: What does it mean?

On May 29, 2024, PwC announced a major milestone: our US and UK divisions have teamed up with OpenAI.

We’re not just exploring technologies; we’re mastering them. PwC is OpenAI’s client 1.

• Our goal is to find solutions for ourselves, and when effective methods are discovered, we share them with the market. The same approach applies to OpenAI.
• PwC has become one of their largest enterprise clients, focusing efforts on developing and using OpenAI’s models to meet internal and customer needs.
• With this deep understanding of OpenAI’s environment, we can help clients implement solutions that drive value.

Also read: Accenture’s $3Bn AI gamble pays off: CEO Announces Soaring AI Earnings and New GenAI Deals worth $900 Mn

Who is leading AI Adoption in enterprises? Gartner points to the CFO. Your take? 

In my view, every function must play a role, with CDOs, CIOs, and CTOs enabling and accelerating the journey.

However, since AI adoption spans all functions, I believe it’s fundamentally a CEO-level agenda.

As a leader in your function, if you’re not pushing your team to actively engage with AI, you’re missing out on a crucial opportunity.

But yes the CEO should be driving the strategy on how the broader leadership team and the organization can leverage AI to create:

• Competitive advantage
• Deliver hyper-personalized experiences for customers
• Foster a tailored environment for employees!

How can finance professionals upskill for the world of GenAI?

Many people have this mentality – ‘Unless I go to a university and get a certificate, I can’t be skilled in AI.’

Being skilled at prompting is crucial.

What is prompting? It’s putting in the right command. By asking the right questions, you will receive accurate answers.

There is a lot of content available on the internet to learn about AI, but it requires time. So invest time!

My request for everyone is to visit ChatGPT and type ‘I am a finance professional interested in learning about Gen AI’s impact on finance.’

You will receive 6 pointers to guide you toward relevant YouTube videos, LinkedIn certifications, or Coursera courses.

To become an expert, you just need to play with it and you will figure it out.

Also read: Fast track Partner to Chief Digital Officer at PwC

What’s the next level if I am good at prompting?

• As a CFO or auditor, leverage AI for advanced analytics, anomaly detection, or improving process efficiency.
• Take it up a notch by creating custom models using your internal data for more personalized insights—this involves prompt engineering and model fine-tuning for deeper, tailored results.
• Start small by integrating AI into your daily tasks, and as you grow, explore more sophisticated techniques and custom solutions.