Consulting firm PwC announced Wednesday that it is accelerating its adoption of generative AI in the US and UK through an agreement with OpenAI that it said makes it both the first reseller for ChatGPT Enterprise and the product’s largest user.
“PwC consultants are leveraging the capabilities of ChatGPT Enterprise as a valuable tool in their work,” said partner and GenAI leader at PwC, Bret Greenstein. “This technology not only enhances productivity and expedites tasks, but also significantly contributes to the overall efficiency of our consultants. It is important to note that the utilization of GenAI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise does not result in additional charges for our clients. Rather, it serves to streamline operations, making the consultants’ job easier and more effective without driving up costs for our valued clients.”
The company said in a release that it is actively using GenAI with 950 of its top 1,000 US consulting clients, as well as talking with many of its audit clients about the ”transformative power” of the technology.
The company is, in part, preaching to the converted. According to PwC’s annual global CEO survey, released in January, 58% of CEOs said that they believe that GenAI will improve the quality of their company’s products and services in the next 12 months, and 70% said the technology will significantly change the way it creates, delivers and captures value over the next three years.
Jennifer Hamel, research director on the IDC Enterprise Intelligence Services team, said that the partnership puts PwC in a good place, competitively.
“Professional services firms are all vying for AI-related opportunities and have similar technology ecosystems, which makes differentiation challenging,” she said. “Partnering with OpenAI directly, separate from and in addition to its longstanding alliance with Microsoft, is a way for PwC to offer something different from its competitors. Of course, that ‘first reseller’ advantage will not last long as OpenAI expands its partner ecosystem.”
Mark Tauschek, VP of research fellowships and distinguished analyst at Info-Tech Research Group, agrees. “All of the big consulting firms are providing SI services for GenAI,” he said. “The real value they provide is expertise and experience implementing private OpenAI tenants in Azure or Bedrock in AWS. They’ll provide strategic consulting for GenAI and strategic use cases, as well as professional services around selection, integration, and implementation. The real value of the PwC reseller agreement is the system integrator services and a one-stop shop, so their customers who don’t have AI expertise don’t have to go to Microsoft to license OpenAI in a private Azure tenant.”
Greenstein emphasized that no client data will be sent to OpenAI, and that every AI-generated piece of advice will be vetted by an experienced consultant before it goes to a client.
“We understand that AI is a powerful tool that can enhance speed, scale, and productivity, but we never assume it to be perfect. It is the responsibility of our leaders and consultants to ensure accountability, maintain quality, and uphold our commitment to delivering reliable advice and solutions to our clients,” he said.
