EY reported a 15% efficiency gain after testing Microsoft Copilot with 150,000 employees. On Friday, the two companies announced a $1 billion, five-year expansion to bring Copilot to the remaining 250,000 staff.
What the Investment Covers
EY has about 400,000 employees globally. The initial 150,000 users showed a 15% productivity improvement—though specific workflow details were not disclosed. For a global consulting and audit giant, saving 15% of labor hours is enormous.
The new agreement allocates funds to three areas:
- Expanding Copilot deployment from 150,000 to 400,000 employees across EY's global workforce
- Embedding Microsoft's Forward Deployed Engineers within EY to work alongside industry teams
- Packaging EY's consulting methodology, tested internally, for resale to clients—EY acts as Microsoft's 'customer zero'
Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft's commercial business, stated:
'Combining Microsoft's trusted AI platform with EY's industry capabilities helps clients move beyond pilot phases to enterprise-scale execution.'The phrase 'beyond pilot phases' implies that many enterprise AI projects over the past two years have stalled at the demo stage.
Consulting's Old Business Model
For 30 years, consulting's core business has been deploying smart people to do work clients cannot handle themselves—financial compliance, tax planning, risk assessment, process optimization, M&A due diligence—all knowledge work involving reading, judgment, and reporting. These are precisely the tasks LLMs excel at now.
EY has built an internal multi-agent framework called EY Canvas, covering 130,000 audit professionals and 160,000 audit engagements. It breaks down repetitive, routine audit tasks for AI agents to execute.
EY Global Chairman and CEO Janet Truncale said:
'Combining people and innovation allows clients to realize the transformative power of agentic AI within their enterprises.'In business terms: EY used to sell billable hours; now it sells AI agents plus fewer human hours. Each agent replaced translates to margin improvement.
Microsoft's Ambitions Beyond EY
Microsoft's strategy is clear: use EY—the first Big Four firm to sign—as a reference model for enterprise AI transformation. In early May, KPMG announced a strategic alliance with Anthropic for its 276,000 employees to use Claude. Within the same month, two Big Four firms aligned with Microsoft and Anthropic respectively, as both US AI giants compete for consulting industry access.
Why consulting? Because consultants are leverage for enterprise AI adoption. A consultant running a project can sell the Copilot deployment playbook tested at EY to client banks, pharma, and energy companies. Microsoft doesn't need to knock on every door; EY's 170,000 consultants do it for them.
EY's initial industry coverage includes financial services, industrials, energy, retail, government, and healthcare—EY's core client sectors.
Is the 15% Real?
Back to the key number: 15% efficiency gain. EY provided no details—whether it's an average across all roles, specific workflows, measured by time saved or tasks completed. Such data typically undergoes PR polishing before release. But even discounted to 8-10%, it's staggering at the scale of 400,000 employees.
The next 12-18 months will be telling: if productivity metrics hold as Copilot rolls out to the remaining 250,000 staff, Microsoft's approach is validated—EY becomes a case study for other consulting firms. If numbers decline, the 'AI boosts efficiency' narrative may need revision.
Sources: CocoLoop; EY and Microsoft to invest over $1bn in enterprise AI transformation (International Accounting Bulletin)