"Move fast, transform and re-engineer"
Q&A with Bivek Sharma, Partner, PwC United Kingdom
Bivek SharmaPartner, PwC United Kingdom
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Bivek Sharma discusses AI-driven business model reinvention and the importance of experimentation.
What are the big AI opportunities right now? It’s about rapid, unprecedented evolution. AI enables redesigning business models, removing friction points and enhancing customer experiences in ways that just weren’t possible before. Changes that once took a decade can now happen in months. PwC is helping businesses add new value by reimagining services and exploring new markets. The key is embracing experimentation, adapting quickly and leveraging AI’s fluidity to transform engagement and deliver what customers truly value.
How would you encourage businesses to start using AI? If you’ve never used AI before, we advise clients to start rolling it out across your workforce – get them using it. Build that AI muscle because the best ideas will come from the workforce. Secondly, look at your business model – and are there new markets you could go after? Do some early-stage experimenting to lead to more fundamental transformation.
How can people rewire their mindset to adapt more quickly? At PwC, we treat AI with huge excitement, balanced by responsibility. Yes, there are going to be risks. But sitting on the sidelines, worried about what might happen, will do a disservice to your business – and you’re going to lose the race. Those that move quicker will understand how to navigate those risks quicker – and ultimately get better results, quicker.
What common threads do the most AI-innovative businesses have? One thing is the speed of experimenting and transformation – and they're not afraid to disrupt their current business model. In fact, they're embracing that disruption. My advice is, move fast. Transform. Re-engineer your business models. Get ahead of the market and be the disruptor.
Which value opportunity should you focus on – back office or front office? We tell clients to look at AI value creation through two lenses. The front office is where most of the disruption will be – how do you transform to take out the friction points? How do you get more customer engagement and market share, through better insights and service delivery? The back office is secondary – to make it as efficient as possible to support the front end. Doing it together is how we’re seeing the best results.
Can AI improve performance quality as well as productivity? Building an AI-native workforce is really important – not just for productivity gains and reducing costs, but for the broader capabilities of the workforce. They're actually going to be your idea generators, your transformers. So getting people adopting AI quickly, and using it day to day – that’s going to be game changing for organisations.
Should you upskill the whole workforce rather than specific departments? Definitely all departments. Early on, AI was seen as an ivory tower R&D initiative. But most ideas will come from your existing workforce. So, you need to look at it in two ways: top down, because you've got to invest at a transformative level. And bottom up, getting your workforce understanding the power of AI and how it impacts your business. It has to be democratised to get the quickest results.
How do you approach concerns about adopting and experimenting? Look, there will be some unintended consequences, so the governance layers have to work in parallel with how you’re evolving. Our ‘mantra’ for clients is scale smart and stay secure. You need to ensure you have the right guardrails in place today, without stifling innovation that will benefit humanity in the long run.
Those that move quicker will understand how to navigate those risks quicker – and ultimately get better results, quicker.
Does AI lower the tech barrier for small startups and entrepreneurs?Yes, barriers are disappearing for entry into some really complex areas. And that's what’s exciting, but also a concern for some. Nimble startups aren’t bound by the last 50 years of structure – and we've seen this with recent disruptions. They think about the client and getting to an outcome as quickly and as frictionlessly as possible. That's something we’re helping our corporate clients to look at.
What message would you give tomorrow's startups? I think my message is, you've got to be fluid – don’t stick to rigid business models. We’re helping clients to embrace the fluidity, embrace the level of disruption out there. And whatever business models you’re working on, you need to be comfortable pivoting constantly. That's how you're going to win in this market – that’s how your AI will deliver results.
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