Turning client zero into global proof
PwC is moving from more than 100 ERP systems toward a single AI-powered platform on SAP Cloud ERP applications. In doing so, it’s enabling faster finance operations, stronger governance, and simpler operations across its global network.
| Industry | Headquarters | Company Size |
| Professional services | London, England (global) | 328,000 employees |
reduction in time needed to raise a bill.
IT overhead savings, freeing funds for innovation.
faster upgrades, accelerating access to SAP software innovation.
Chief Financial Officer, PwC US
Reducing financial complexity from fragmented ERP systems
When a client hires professional services leader PwC, they expect one firm, not a map of internal systems. Yet behind the global brand sits a network of more than 160 independent territories, each able to make its own technology choices. Over time, that led to a patchwork of more than 100 ERP systems across the network. Local independence helped member firms serve their markets, but it made global finance operations harder to run. When carrying out their daily work, client-servicing professionals were hindered by inconsistent processes, complex governance, limited scalability, and technical debt.
PwC recognized that it was time to establish a clean, modern foundation that would streamline and harmonize processes across geographies, improve governance and controls, and accelerate innovation for automation and AI.
Global Engagement Management and Financial Information Systems Leader, PwC Germany
Adopting SAP software standards to scale public cloud faster
PwC chose SAP Cloud ERP for its global rollout because the business needed more than an ERP migration. It needed a global operating model that could scale across independent territories without recreating local complexity in the cloud. The firm moved away from designing around local preferences and toward adopting a fit-to-standard approach based on SAP Cloud ERP wherever possible.
In workshops with SAP, teams examined finance and project billing processes, looking for areas where harmonization could replace local variation. This helped PwC strengthen governance, simplify controls, and avoid rebuilding custom code for continuous innovation.
SAP Business AI Platform and the SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud solutions extend the foundation with integration and data insights. Together, they give PwC the trusted data layer and scalable architecture it needs to explore AI capabilities.
Global Engagement Management and Financial Information Systems Leader, PwC Germany
Accelerating finance and innovation with a trusted foundation
PwC is now recognized as the largest customer of SAP Cloud ERP globally. What’s more, in 2026, it was an SAP Innovation Award winner in the Cloud ERP Champion category.
More than 100,000 professionals across 19 countries are already operating on SAP Cloud ERP, with more than 30 territories and over 250,000 users on the road map. The fit-to-standard approach protects the value of public cloud by reducing technical debt and making upgrades 10 times faster. The transformation has also helped reduce IT overhead costs by about 25%, freeing teams from maintaining fragmented systems. Employees benefit from more consistent processes and access to the right data at the right time, helping them make decisions faster and spend less of their day on administration.
PwC is now using its new platform to co-innovate with SAP through forward-deployed engineering. The billing process became a natural opportunity because of its scale and friction. The company handled more than six million billing-related transactions in 2025, with peak days of more than 6,000 bills. Raising a bill took approximately 35 minutes and involved multiple applications, adding administrative burden. Now, with a new billing agent based on Joule Agents, finance users simply navigate through a single guided interface. They use natural language or direct entry to fill in billing forms while the agent executes the workflow behind the scenes.
The results have been promising, with 100% of users reporting their satisfaction with the new billing process and the time taken to raise a bill slashed by 85% to just five minutes. For PwC, this represents savings of $33 million in costs and 150,000 in hours each year.
Global Engagement Management and Financial Information Systems Leader, PwC Germany
Expanding client-zero learning into more intelligent operations
PwC plans to keep building its public cloud foundation, expanding the rollout to more territories and users while turning this digital foundation into practical innovation for its people and clients.
Building on its AI capabilities, including Joule Agents, PwC can continue exploring agent-led ways of working beyond the billing process.
The broader ambition is to make client zero a repeatable proof point, showing clients how standardized data, public cloud, and AI can help global organizations operate with more speed, consistency, and confidence.
Want to know more about PwC?
PwC’s SAP S/4HANA Cloud Implementation: Not Just a Migration—A Blueprint for Intelligent Operations (SAP Innovation Awards submission)
Accelerating Innovation Through Early Adoption of SAP Joule (Video)