The ecosystem era is here. Are you ready?

EY has identified seven distinct types of ecosystem business models, each with its own go-to-market, risk sharing and commercial characteristics. These range from marketplaces, where all brands can be present, to the “scaling” ecosystems favored by airlines, where individual players offer extended benefits to their customers through partnering.

We’ve also found that not all ecosystems are equal. High-performing ecosystems deliver, on average, 1.5 times the cost reduction of low-performing ecosystems. They also generate 2.1 times the incremental revenue growth.

EY teams work with an ecosystem of alliance partners, including Microsoft, SAP, and ServiceNow, to provide the right technology to help our clients create long-term value and transform at speed and scale.

Let’s look at three different ways that ecosystems add value.

Generative AI opens doors to business transformation

More than a third (37%) of Asia-Pacific CEOs are already actively investing in AI-driven innovation, and more than half (52%) have plans to do so within the next 12 months, according to the EY CEO Outlook Pulse Survey.

Asia-Pacific CEOs see AI as a “game changer” that drives business efficiencies and innovation, and 68% believe that job losses from AI will be counterbalanced with new roles and career opportunities.

EY has recently harnessed Microsoft Cloud and Azure OpenAI technologies to develop the EY Intelligent Payroll Chatbot. This tool analyzes individual payslips in the context of regulatory compliance and company policies to answer granular questions and generate personalized explanations for employees. Initial results from the chatbot pilot suggest a 93% first-time answer ratio.

Another powerful application of AI has laid the foundations for a higher education ecosystem. After the overnight pivot to online learning during the pandemic, many universities realized they were missing the digital spine needed to deliver a consistent experience to students. The EY Learning Lab tool uses generative AI to sift through existing content – from videos to blogs to quizzes to lecture notes – making corrections, filling in learning gaps, and creating new resources. The application is built on top of Microsoft technology and provides a rich, tailored, and consistent student experience.

Seven in 10 Asia-Pacific CEOs say AI can be a force for good – and EY agrees, which is why we’ve launched a new campaign showcasing the diversity of EY people, skills, technology, AI and, importantly, ecosystems.

It is no surprise, then, that six in 10 respondents to the latest EY Global Board Risk Survey told us their current risk management frameworks were insufficient to manage emerging and evolving risks.

Despite the complexity of the risk landscape, risk is often managed across individual business lines, with poor visibility of the complete picture and a lack of skilled resources leading to imperfect decision-making.

An ecosystem approach can help companies examine risk from every angle. EY teams work with ServiceNow’s cloud-based software platform to apply machine learning, leverage data and automate workflows to help businesses scale.

We are seeing companies with mostly manual processes move from pen and paper to a single source of truth. Spreadsheets and siloes are replaced with a unified platform that continuously monitors risks and responds in real-time. And because the solution is modular, those at a less mature stage can start with a small deployment.

One EY client moved from a very manual operation reliant on spreadsheets and multi-systems to ServiceNow’s single integrated third-party risk management platform. The firm was able to expand its coverage of risk beyond the basics to include cybersecurity, privacy, modern slavery, workplace health and safety, operations, and resilience. In doing so, this firm increased its third-party risk assessments by 300%.

As the risk landscape expands, the response should not be to hire more risk and compliance people to undertake manual work. We have the tools – and, indeed, the ecosystems – to do the heavy lifting while human talent focuses on higher order tasks: strategizing and scenario planning, engaging with stakeholders, and providing the ethical considerations and contextual understanding to make decisions with clarity and confidence.