Enterprise Technology Solutions
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Business demands for cloud adoption, automation, AI and increased transparency are setting the pace for digital transformation. The key to making this happen is the modernization of business applications, an important catalyst. Business applications, including ERPs (enterprise resource planning systems), can enable transformation for operational efficiency, AI-enabled decision-making and digital agility — and the companies that don’t enable such transformation may risk falling behind.
With market disruptors — such as supply chain and tariff triggers — driving the need for rapid change, achieving ERP transformation requires a proactive approach. Companies can better adapt by employing scalable business applications to maneuver a changing landscape with greater confidence. Many organizations are making strategic investments in PwC-led transformation initiatives with Oracle, SAP, Salesforce and Workday to realize value faster, unlock new growth opportunities and drive sustainable outcomes.
But despite the promise of these large-scale implementations, navigating the open path can be tricky. More than two-thirds of respondents to PwC’s 2024 Digital Trends in Operations Survey say shortcomings from tech investments are their most persistent problem, while 30% pointed to integration complexity.
Perhaps the traditional view of systems implementation is no longer enough to drive value. Rather, companies may find greater value by prioritizing frequently overlooked — yet critical — enabling functions.
Prioritizing enabling functions, embedded within PwC’s ERP transformation services, not only helps to boost a transformation project — but can also help avoid a value gap in future processes to drive automation, avoid compliance risks, capture tax effectiveness and cost savings, among others.
What are enabling functions — and why do they matter?
Most organizations understand the role a system integration plays in digital transformation efforts. But what’s different about enabling functions? Think of them as the toolbox for systems integrators, going beyond business applications and ERP systems to help address foundational elements that can underpin transformation success:
- Strategic value realization: Align every investment with business goals through detailed capture plans, value cases and integrated designs.
- NextGen change management: Empower your teams to grow in the face of change with human-centered, data-driven approaches that help accelerate adoption and productivity.
- Controls and security integration: Mitigate business and IT risks with well-designed application security, a highly automated control framework, and a program to continuously help monitor compliance.
- Data validation: Build confidence in data integrity and accuracy through repeatable validation strategies and automations.
- Program management: Provide clear oversight, risk mitigation and alignment so that projects can stay on track and deliver promised outcomes.
- Tax optimization and compliance: Reduce transformation risk by automating solutions for indirect tax, transfer pricing and direct tax.
- Transformation quality and risk management: Drive program outcomes with an independent, unbiased focus on critical success factors.
- Operating model design: Deliver x-functional capabilities (i.e., processes, governance, people/org, tools/technology, measures/motivators) with strategy to help drive measurable outcomes.
- Application managed services: Sustain the value of your digital investment.
The overlooked heroes of digital transformation
Enabling functions like program governance, change management, data validation, security and controls integration aren’t always central to traditional system integrator scope of work. They don’t make headlines. And traditional system integrators can often downplay these functions.
Why? They demand more effort, require specialized skills and add costs. Yet PwC has found that clients which ignore enabling functions tend to face greater risks of program delays, cost overruns and compromised compliance or security standards.
These are not just supplementary activities or “nice to haves.” These functions are the glue that can hold your digital transformation programs together. Without these elements, it’s an incomplete process and companies can potentially fall short before they even get started.
When enabling functions shine: A success story
Let’s look at an example. A major player in the food and beverage industry set a goal: mitigate technology and process risk through more effective application security and internal controls. It began its transformation journey with a preferred system integrator while also integrating PwC ERP security and control specialists as an enabling function workstream. This way, the organization was able to embed activities with the system integrator’s project plan; drive transparency and communication of dependent activities; and attain compliance readiness before the transformation went live.
In doing so — with a unique, holistic approach to systems integration that included enabling functions at the outset — this client realized a 50% increase in automation compliance of a control environment.
The way forward
Digital transformation is about more than just technology; it’s about reducing inefficiencies, improving productivity and empowering the business. Enabling functions are important for mitigating risk, protecting investments and gaining return on investment for large-scale implementations.
By championing these often-overlooked capabilities, we can reshape the market conversation, strengthen return on investment models for transformation and help our clients to increase the value of their technology.
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