A new digital vision for PwC Ireland with Chief Digital Officer Joe Tynan

Joe, congratulations on your new role. Can you tell us a little more about PwC's digital transformation?

Joe: PwC's digital transformation programme is called Think Digital. That's a deliberate tie in to our manifesto for change, Think Beyond. Our world is defined by continuous change and we are here to help our clients navigate this complexity and volatility on their path to the future. We want to build a creative, innovative, digitally-enabled firm that allows us to create the next generation of solutions for our clients while giving our people the skills needed in today's, and tomorrow's, world. We are democratising innovation, equipping our people with digital tools and skills, empowering them to think differently about what we do and giving them space to create solutions for ourselves and our clients.

We can't predict what the jobs of the future will be but we can future-proof our people to ensure they can thrive in a digital future.

What can you tell us about the purpose and goals of digital transformation in the firm?

Joe: Think Digital is about equipping our people with the skills, the knowledge, the space and the digital resources that will help them and the firm be fit for the future. At its heart, we have three core goals:

• To build a place to learn
  We have given our people access to different ways of learning to allow them to shape their own digital upskilling journey in a way that is meaningful to them.
• To create a place to work
  We're creating an environment where self-disruption is the norm, reimagining the possible at each opportunity and bringing the learning to life. We're utilising tech tools that give us greater data analysis and visualisation capabilities to give our clients more meaningful insights.
• To provide a place to share
  This year, we will be implementing the Digital Lab, a one firm, online technology-sharing community where our people can find, build and contribute digital assets to be shared across the business.

What types of technology and innovative digital solutions are you using as part of the transformation strategy?

Joe: We have introduced data wrangling technology like Alteryx and visualisation tools such as Tableau to the firm. We are also using tools like UiPath to help us introduce intelligent process automation where relevant. The digital solutions we build using these tools are developed in-house, by tapping into the power of the people closest to the work.

What aspects of the business do you think are going to change the most by virtue of the digital transformation programme?

Joe: For us, digital isn't about changing what we do but how we do it, our value is in the strong relationships we build with our clients and digital isn't going to change that. What will change and is already changing is how we use technology to reimagine the possible, drive greater efficiencies and enhanced quality and provide deeper and more meaningful insight to our clients.

For example, a small team in Tax recently built an interactive visualisation tool that takes what was traditionally presented as a static excel table of results and converts this into an interactive, graphical presentation that facilitates meaningful and real time analysis of that data with the client.

People are a huge part of any transformation programme. How have you prepared staff at PwC for this change in culture and ways of working?

Joe: The cultural and behavioural change required for a transformation like this is something that we are very aware of and many digital transformation programmes can fail because the people aspect isn't considered early or often enough. By involving people at all levels in the organisation, we're ensuring that our people understand what's in it for them and really feel a part of this journey. We're empowering our people to be infinite learners by removing limits on when, where, what and how they build their digital skills, whether that's through bite-sized offerings on Vantage or longer, more immersive offerings like our Digital Academies or our Digital Accelerator programme. On a practical level, we recently ran the first of our Hackathon events, where we brought staff together on an inspiring journey to leverage our diverse skill sets and backgrounds to develop digital solutions to the problems our society faces. It was remarkable what we are able to achieve when we collaborate, in this instance with regard to education and mental health in homelessness, and I'm looking forward to the next Hackathon and seeing how we can bring those ways of working into the office.

And on a related point, what do you think staff will see and experience as being a part of digital transformation?

Joe: Our research and our lived experience has shown that a citizen-led approach to innovation, supplemented by business-led innovation like the Digital Lab, is by far the most effective. We're putting this in the hands of our people. Arming them with digital tools and better data to do more. Listening to their ideas. And quickly scaling those ideas that can create even better value and quality for our clients and a better work experience for our people. We're giving our people the ability to change how they work, the power to create and innovate more than ever before. Having said that, we still want people to develop their professional skills with us. Digital enhances those skills, making our people more valuable and accelerating their careers and in turn, adding further value to our clients.

PwC is a leading practitioner in helping businesses transform their operations, in all kinds of ways. How have those experiences influenced the decision to invest in digital transformation?

Joe: We have constant lines of dialogue open with our clients so we know what motivates them, the challenges and opportunities they face and what keeps them up at night. Our 2019 CEO Survey showed that the skills gap was one of the top challenges for CEOs, with 34% saying they're extremely concerned about the availability of key skills, including digital skills, as a threat to business growth. Our most recent CEO Survey shows a clear link between economic optimism, confidence about future revenues and reported progress in upskilling telling us that when people are upskilled, it isn't just the people themselves who benefit but also businesses, the wider economy and society as a whole. In this dynamic world, we know that our clients need to adapt to change constantly with an eye always on the future. We're changing how we work, so we can provide insights to help our clients change how they work.

What do you think will be the greatest returns on digital transformation for PwC in Ireland?

Joe: Think Digital is a big investment for PwC and I'm confident that we will see big returns. For our people, it will mean fewer repetitive tasks, more rewarding work, new skills and potentially a new career path. It will allow us to attract the type of talent we want to continue to be fit for the future. For our clients, it will allow us to give them more meaningful and real-time insights about their business using data that they probably already have. Going through this ourselves, and leveraging what is happening in the PwC Network, also allows us to help clients on their own digital journeys.

And finally, what is your vision for the digital future of PwC?

Joe: There are no limits when it comes to the digital future of PwC. When people power technlogy, we break barriers and unleash true transformation with value that's undeniable. For me, a truly digital PwC will be a place where our people feel that they are given the space and support to innovate, where we push ourselves to think beyond what's in front of us and where we work to understand clients' challenges to guide them to tailored solutions, not just for today but for whatever the future may bring.