Dive Brief:
- EY will deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales and Copilot for Sales tools, with plans to reach 100,000 employees across 700 offices in 150 countries, the professional services company said Tuesday.
- Around 25,000 EY workers already have access to Microsoft’s AI-powered CRM and tailored assistant in the U.S., Canada, Singapore and South Africa. The rollout will conclude in January 2025 and will make EY one of Microsoft’s largest customers worldwide, the company said.
- “The move from its legacy CRM system to a dedicated digital sales foundation addresses the demand for a unified approach to client relationships, including deeper understandings into industry issues, and the ability to provide targeted and meaningful insights quickly,” EY said in the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Professional services firms are doubling down on AI and rolling out tools to employees after laying out major investment and adoption plans last year.
As part of EY’s AI strategy, the firm spent $1.4 billion developing an AI-powered platform, a large language model and the underlying infrastructure. Tech vendor partnerships have supported the pace of innovation for the company. Microsoft provided EY with early access to Azure OpenAI capabilities. EY also has AI alliances with Dell, ServiceNow and IBM.
“Part of embarking on this journey was to demonstrate to clients how it can be done for complex organizations in highly regulated industries, providing a clearer view of the entire client lifecycle from opportunity management to sales, focused on solving critical business issues,” Hanne Jesca Bax, EY global vice chair, Markets — elect, said in a statement.
Other professional services firms are following a similar playbook.
After announcing a $1 billion, three-year plan to bolster AI offerings internally and for customers last April, PwC said it is currently in the “prove it” phase of demonstrating the technology’s capabilities and benefits.
PwC is set to become the largest customer of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise following a rollout that will give 100,000 employees access to the business-focused tool, PwC said last month. The consulting firm is also developing custom GPTs to review tax returns, generate proposal responses and assist software developers.
