PwC Digital Modernization Leader Explains How AI Impacts People, Finance, and ERP Migrations

Welcome to this special report from Cloud Wars’ Agent & Copilot, where we analyze the opportunities, impact, and outcomes that are possible with AI.

In this episode, Jennifer Colapietro, Digital Core Modernization Leader at PwC, discusses AI-driven transformation in the human workforce, finance functions, and ERP, as well as overall agentic AI momentum.

Highlights

AI and Workforce Transformation (01:01)

Colapietro’s role includes ERP practices, finance solutions, workforce solutions, and enabling application and business outcomes. She emphasizes the strategic importance of digital core modernization in transforming finance and the workforce.

AI is reshaping work by augmenting human capabilities, helping organizations reimagine roles, workflows, and skills through copilots and embedded assistants that handle routine tasks, AI agents embedded in ERP solutions, and AI-powered programming tools that speed up development.

Successful Approaches to Workforce Evolution (04:09)

Colapietro emphasizes the need to align AI with business strategies and goals. She says companies should reimagine work by redesigning business processes and value chains to unlock efficiency, innovation, and growth. The future of workforce involves transforming organizational models and teams to excel in a hybrid AI-human model.

‘Psychological Safety’ and Employee Concerns (06:34)

Colapietro says employees’ psychological safety is a critical consideration, with employees often fearing job displacement due to unknowns with AI. Leadership and executive communication are crucial in making employees comfortable with using AI and addressing their concerns. She emphasizes the need for open dialogue around the roles of humans and AI in the future and how AI can enhance human capabilities.

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Finance Transformation with AI (08:02)

Colapietro shares an example of a cloud communications company that modernized its finance operations through a cloud ERP transformation. AI impacted the end-to-end finance value chain, including procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, finance planning, analysis, and treasury. “We really looked at unifying the data and automating key finance and procurement processes, and in doing so, the organization actually reduced their revenue booking time by nearly 75% and were able to retire more than 10 legacy systems, and they cut the reporting in half.”

Data and System Requirements for AI (11:44)

Colapietro mentions that AI opportunities are relevant across almost every industry, with the fastest adoption in data-intensive sectors like financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and consumer markets. Clean, organized data and systems are essential for capitalizing on AI.

AI in ERP Initiatives (11:59)

When executing migrations from on-premises to the cloud, AI agents act as an intelligent layer, advancing ERP’s promise of efficiencies and insights. AI agents help remove friction between systems and workflows, acting as a flexible layer between rigid ERP systems and human colleagues.

AI helps teams analyze legacy systems and map data to identify process improvements. AI plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges of custom code bases and improving the efficiency of ERP migrations

Agentic AI in Production (16:23)

While there is strong momentum behind AI agents, many companies are still in the proof-of-concept or pilot phase. This year is expected to be a pivot point, with companies moving from pilots to end-to-end AI orchestration, particularly in finance, operations, customer support, HR, and software development. Colapietro highlights the importance of orchestration technology in connecting multiple agents and humans across systems for end-to-end automation. (PwC offers an orchestrator called AgentOS).

Colapietro explains that clients often use a mix of vendor-developed agents and custom agents to address specific process needs.