How EY Is Moving Companies From 18 Months of AI Experiments to Real ROI | Mike Flynn, Principal
The AI Report PodcastShow Notes
In this episode, Mike Flynn joins Liam to break down how companies are moving from AI experimentation to measurable business value. Mike has spent more than 20 years in consulting, including nearly a decade at EY, nine years at PwC, and now leads the technology sector for EY's consulting business.
They discuss why businesses need to redesign workflows around AI instead of simply adding AI to existing processes, how EY's "Design for Zero" approach works, and why AI agents are changing the economics of software.
Mike also explains the real costs behind AI agents, what enterprises want from AI vendors, how AI is reshaping consulting, and why EY is investing in forward-deployed engineering.
Key Topics Covered
Moving from AI experiments to measurable ROI
EY's "Design for Zero" approach to AI-first workflows
Why per-seat software budgets break with AI agents
The real cost of an AI agent task
What enterprises want from AI vendors
How AI is changing consulting and forward-deployed engineering
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction and Mike's path from the Air Force to EY and PwC
01:58 - What Mike's role at EY looks like today
03:57 - Why point solutions create "trapped work"
04:29 - From AI experiments to end-to-end transformation
07:47 - Where AI-first redesign is working today
10:00 - Why AI is breaking the per-seat software model
13:01 - The real costs behind running an AI agent
16:00 - Measuring AI spend versus business value
18:28 - How much work will AI actually take over?
20:52 - Why companies need more granular AI cost controls
25:53 - Building automated control loops for AI
31:21 - Experimenting with enterprise AI tools at scale
36:02 - Why enterprise AI adoption moves slower than personal AI
39:37 - CIOs shift from adoption to process redesign
41:29 - What enterprises want from AI vendors
45:24 - Consulting versus AI deployment at EY
46:36 - Why AI may create more consulting work, not less
49:00 - EY's forward-deployed engineering strategy
52:16 - The two qualities Mike looks for when hiring
55:33 - Why Mike does what he does
Where to find Mike:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbernardflynn/
EY - https://www.ey.com/
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