Member Download: Jeff Wong, EY
Leaders at our Member organizations are driving corporate innovation in exciting ways
Jeff Wong is the Global Chief Innovation Officer of EY, one of the largest professional services organizations in the world, which has almost 300,000 people serving clients in more than 150 countries. Jeff works across the entire organization to help identify, share and scale leading ideas. He leads the
Global Innovation team, challenging everything from the way EY operates internally to how it provides services to its clients. Part of the Global Innovation team’s remit is to research and explore new technologies to transform the EY business.
In this role, Jeff brings deep experience working in technology in Silicon Valley and across strategy, investing and building new ventures globally. Throughout his career, he has built new businesses across various concepts, including local commerce, B2B exchanges, services, mobile and big data at Boston Consulting Group, JAFCO America Ventures, J.P. Morgan Partners and eBay.
Jeff sits on the Oxford Foundry Board of the University of Oxford and the Advisory Board of AI4All. He is a member on the Business Council of the Asia Society, helping drive the innovation and transformation agenda. He is also a fellow of the 2019 class of the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Jeff has an AB in Economics, master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management and an MBA from Stanford University.
1) You’re EY Global Chief Innovation Officer — can you share the breadth and depth of your role and what you spend your time on?
In my role as the EY Global Chief Innovation Officer, I am focused on how to “create new” innovations using disruptive technologies, opportunities to evolve the way we work now and in the future, as well as how we scale new solutions sustainably to create a better working world.
I joined EY in 2015 and built a global team to pursue these goals and transform the 150-year-old organization. We have about 300,000 professionals across the globe in auditing, tax and consulting services, and practices such as data consulting, and we are always rethinking how we serve clients with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.
In the past few years, EY Advanced Tech Lab (AI and blockchain) has made significant impacts in transforming the EY organization and its clients’ businesses and broader global industries. We’ve harnessed the power of AI and automation to launch a data-driven online solution that supports EY tax teams to prepare and classify transactions with improved efficiencies. The AI-powered Document Intelligence platform helps reduce document review and processing time and cut costs by up to 90 percent. So EY teams can redirect their critical thinking and talent to other high-impact opportunities. We also leveraged AI and blockchain capabilities to expand the Xbox enterprise blockchain platform for rights and royalties management to easily onboard participants with smart contracts. In addition, we’ve used blockchain technologies working with Canadian Blood Services to track and trace blood products from donors to patients to transform supply chains. We’ve even used blockchain to track and trace provenance, quality and authenticity of global vintage wine imports, while eliminating layers of intermediaries and enabling cost efficiencies.
Today, we have 40,000 advanced technologists — including AI leaders, mathematicians, data scientists, software engineers, product managers and user experience designers — working alongside professionals with backgrounds in accounting, finance and law.
In my role, I encourage the next generation of leaders to challenge traditional thinking and to ask better questions that lead to stronger, more equitable outcomes and solutions. To transform industries, I believe innovation must take place in all corners of the business. It’s my job to identify innovative technologies and cultivate an ecosystem that convenes academia, startups, the public sector and technology leaders to help surface and resolve issues collectively. When we empower people with the tools to navigate disruption, we all end up better, faster and stronger.
2) You recently had the most viewed keynote from Reuters Tech Momentum conference where you talked about widespread disruption leading to possibility — can you tell us more about that?
We’re living in a disruptive time that has fundamentally reshaped the way we live and work — and that will continue to change after the pandemic. We cannot just return to normal, nor should we. We should work toward a return to better. This is why innovation is so critical, from large to small companies — and even us individually.
While COVID-19’s challenges have been unprecedented, we’ve been through disruptions before that have opened the doors to possibilities and can be translated to opportunities. My keynote addressed the critical conversations I’ve been having with my colleagues, fellow members of the C-suite and entrepreneurial communities since the onset of the pandemic: how to identify possibilities amid disruption that invite opportunities for innovation. I believe we are at a unique moment in time of reinvention, where business leaders can meet disruption with opportunity to redefine business models and their futures and thrive in a post-pandemic world.
3) How do you turn possibility into opportunity in disruptive times?
Innovation is a cornerstone of business strategies that translate these “possibilities” into “opportunities” amid disruption. It’s a capability that allows us to address disruptions from different directions, giving us the agility and resiliency we need to respond to a rapidly changing environment.
This change cannot happen without having the right mindset to bring these qualities to the table, especially in disruptive times. Every leader should bring a “startup mindset” to work each day. By focusing on customer needs and behaviors, with agility and a willingness to fail, more doors open for new opportunities. In times of disruption, conventional thinking won’t be enough to survive. Rather, it is this startup mentality to try new things and seek the next big idea that will set industry disrupters apart.
4) What’s your outlook on the role of innovation and technology for the future of your industry — professional services?
Accelerated by the pandemic, companies are doubling down on innovation investments to accelerate their digital transformations — not just to adapt to the future of work but to withstand continued disruption. What they planned to do in three years, they’re now accomplishing in three months.
Within the professional services industry, we view AI as a tool to help empower EY professionals to make them better, faster and stronger at what they do best. For example, we perform tens of thousands of audits for every engagement. In just 90 days of using AI, EY teams were three times faster at analyzing contracts. Not only does AI make processes faster, better and easier, it also accelerates data-driven decision-making. Innovation and technology will continue to play critical roles in the professional services industry as client and employee needs evolve.
5) What is one key piece of advice you’d like to give C-suites when it comes to building innovation strategies to create long-term value?
The best innovation can happen only when diverse voices have a seat at the table. When we bring diverse perspectives, skillsets, experiences and backgrounds into the mix, we engage in more meaningful conversations and ask better questions. I encourage business leaders to think about their “innovation representation.” Who on their board, leadership team or investment committee has delivered new concepts anchored in advanced technology? Who can identify, recruit and evaluate new talent to think differently and share new perspectives?
For example, we launched EY Neurodiversity Centers of Excellence in 2016 to provide meaningful career opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. Since then, we have hired nearly 150 neurodiverse individuals across the globe for roles in blockchain, data analytics, AI and other advanced technologies. They have worked on more than 150 automation and innovation-related projects, creating more than $350 million in cost savings and revenue generated for the organization.
Leaders can invest in diverse talent and skill sets to help their organizations see around corners and move disruptive technologies forward, as well as prepare their teams for technologies that will stand the test of time and become part of the fabric of business. This also means bringing diverse skill sets to the table and equipping employees with the ability to expand their skill sets to prepare for future disruptions. Recently, we welcomed the first class of graduates of the EY Tech MBA launched in association with Hult International Business School. Through its innovative virtual learning model, EY people can build their own personal curriculums across subject areas including AI, blockchain, robotic process automation, and diversity and inclusion.
6) What are trends/technologies that are under the radar that corporations should focus more on?
Digital technologies have been on leaders’ radars for centuries, but leading organizations are seizing this moment to ramp up. Companies that invest in AI, blockchain and other advanced technologies will now pull ahead. Of all these technologies, I believe AI will play an especially pivotal role in transforming workplaces. In fact, a recent EY survey finds that 88% of AI leaders say AI has positively impacted their ability to innovate, and 93% say AI has reduced costs and boosted efficiency and productivity.
When it comes to implementing these technologies, the greatest risk is being too slow to respond. My advice to leaders? Get your hands dirty and experiment with these disruptive technologies. The companies that are hitting the gas pedal on these investments will be the ones that break from the pack and outrun competitors to drive opportunity amid disruption.
The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.
