- As PwC embarks on a transformative $1 billion AI investment over the next three years, understanding its impact on careers is crucial.
- To shed light on this, The Finance Story has invited Manpreet Singh Ahuja, PwC India’s Chief Digital Officer and leader of the Tech, Media, and Telecom (TMT) sector, for an in-depth discussion.
- Discover the latest developments in the Big 4 and essential insights for finance professionals navigating this evolving landscape.
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, early in my career I set my sights on becoming a fast-track Partner. And in 10 years, I did!
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.
Clients anticipate that we not only understand how to enhance efficiency and effectiveness through tech but also rely on us to be thought leaders.
They want us to help them in making significant leaps within their organizations.
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.
Don’t let the lack of a tech background hold you back—aim higher!
In fact I would suggest you use your non-engineering background as an asset because you probably understand business or financial aspects better than a pure technology person.
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 and 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.
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
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.
Chat PwC
We wanted our 250,000 employees to do more than just learn about AI; we wanted them to have hands-on experience.
So, we created Chat PwC, an AI virtual assistant capable of formatting data, summarizing meetings, writing emails, and even coding.
We are probably the first firm to roll out such a comprehensive AI tool on this scale. This bet has more than paid off with most employees using AI for repetitive tasks like summarization and creation of citizen-led innovation.
Our employees are churning up a large number of novel ideas to use AI for unique usages.
Gen AI Lab
In June 2023, we launched the PwC Gen AI Lab where our employees could tinker with the technology.
This experience was powerful, as each time they engaged with it, their understanding deepened significantly, generating excitement and a sense of control over the technology.
Additionally, you were equipped with compelling stories to share with your friends and clients. and that’s what happened.
These stories reached our customers, leading them to visit us, where we conducted workshops together.
Within 15-16 weeks, 6,000 individuals came to the lab to experiment with the newest technology, resulting in numerous opportunities.
Here’s how Gen AI Lab works:
It’s a large room with several screens and corners, each showcasing various prototypes in action.
Let’s say you’re a CFO and you walk into the lab. You want to know how Gen AI enables deep retrieval capabilities.
We’d then take you to a corner where we have a prototype and use case for contracts. We’d put in the prompt: “Look, we have 100 million contracts here. Let’s search for contracts with unlimited liability that are most vulnerable for your business.”
With that prompt, the system would sift through the contracts to identify the 20 that pose the greatest risk.
This is a very practical way to demonstrate deep retrieval in an 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
In essence, the PwC Gen AI Lab is a dynamic, hands-on space where you can see and interact with the latest in AI technology, customized to your needs and business.
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, 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
This singular platform is powerful enough to enable use cases across finance, contracts, HR, and other functions.
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.
Our investment in AI is all about driving progress and creating value, both within PwC and for our clients.
Tell us about PwC’s Partnership with OpenAI. What does this mean?
On 29th May 2024, PwC announced a major milestone: our US and UK divisions have teamed up with OpenAI.
We’re in the business of trying out technologies and mastering them in our world. We are the client 1 of OpenAI.
You need to find solutions for us, and when we discover effective methods for ourselves, we want to share them in the market too. The situation is similar with OpenAI.
We have become their biggest enterprise clients. A significant amount of effort is focused on developing and using their models to meet our internal requirements and those of our customers.
As a result, we have a deep understanding of the OpenAI environment and the models that support it.
Yes, we can resell or offer the OpenAI enterprise licenses to our customers. Then again, PwC is not in the business of selling licenses.
When companies need to make tech choices and go with the Open AI path, PwC will represent the latter by bringing the license and domain capabilities needed to implement a solution that unlocks value for them.
Who is leading AI Adoption in enterprises? Gartner points to the CFO. Your take?
In my view, AI adoption is a democratized opportunity.
Every function in the organization needs to ensure they’re leveraging AI for its economic, productivity, and transformative benefits.
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.
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.
The CEO should be driving the strategy on how the broader leadership team and the organization can leverage AI to create a competitive advantage, deliver hyper-personalized experiences for customers, and 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.
What’s the next level if I am good at prompting?
Once you are comfortable with the basics, take it further by applying AI to streamline specific tasks in your role.
For instance, as a CFO or auditor, use AI for advanced analytics, anomaly detection, or process efficiency improvements.
Step up to create custom models with your internal data for more tailored insights. This involves prompt engineering and model fine-tuning, which are key for gaining deeper, more specific insights.
Start by implementing AI in your daily tasks. As you advance, you can delve into more sophisticated techniques and custom solutions.
The biggest skill one can gain and is timeless, is curiosity. This skill will be a unique differentiator for your career.
Also read: Fast track Partner to Chief Digital Officer at PwC
What new roles are emerging due to AI?
In the finance world, the key is to be a strong finance professional who knows how to leverage a Gen AI platform.
It’s that straightforward.
No need to overcomplicate it—focus on mastering how to use AI effectively in your field.
