KPMG, an audit, tax and consulting services company, identified a major challenge in its operations: the need to manage and analyze data from a multitude of sources. All this data, ranging from a few million to billions of rows daily, required a robust solution for extraction, transformation and loading for management. To address this scenario, KPMG selected Microsoft Fabric, an AI-powered analytics solution that provides services ranging from motion to data science, analytics and business intelligence.
Like many large organizations, KPMG struggled with the sheer volume and complexity of its vast data landscape. “The challenge was more than just tying together multiple components. It was imperative to rapidly reduce the complexity of the footprint and deliver business value to our people and clients,” said Rajiv Phougat, director and CTO of data and analytics at KPMG in the United States. The company also identified a need for global accessibility and cost efficiency, requiring a solution that went beyond conventional data management tools.
Choosing a Software as a Service Solution
KPMG provides data and analytics services to clients facing similar challenges. After implementing Fabric internally, KPMG was ready to share its knowledge and experience with clients to design, implement, and operate data and AI solutions using Fabric.
“Microsoft Fabric has quickly emerged as a key component, seamlessly integrating multiple elements to create a comprehensive analytics solution for us and our customers. Fabric provides the functionality needed to reduce data load times, ease demands on IT staff, and increase access to actionable insights,” said Phougat. “We are excited about the opportunity to use our in-house expertise to help customers leverage Microsoft Fabric’s capabilities to analyze data at scale, leveraging key features such as robust data governance and security capabilities, Microsoft OneLake for centralized access to data and Microsoft Power BI for reports.”
The integration of the Microsoft Azure Databricks The Fabric ecosystem has enabled KPMG to address complex data challenges, further enhancing its service offerings. This combination of advanced analytics, cloud-based flexibility and scalability underpins KPMG’s commitment to leveraging technology to deliver superior client value.
The synergy between Fabric and Azure Databricks has become a cornerstone of KPMG’s data strategy, enabling sophisticated data transformation and modeling essential to solving complex business challenges. “Azure Databricks is our default way to build any transformation or landing pipeline. We regularly use Azure Databricks to help clients perform complex data transformations and use it for specific use case modeling, such as peer benchmarking,” says Phougat.
Rajiv Phougat further points out that OneLake enables the company to connect multiple sources regardless of their location or storage mechanism. “We can see them all in one place in a single pane of glass and then provision them with the appropriate permissions and security to make the data available to our internal consumers. In this case, the consumers could be technical or business teams, data concierges, data scientists or data engineers. It’s all much easier than it used to be.”
KPMG relies on Power BI to visualize data for analysis, dashboards, and reporting. Additionally, KPMG's Power BI developers are using Copilot in Power BI on Microsoft Fabric to generate narratives and create simple questions and answers for predefined prompts. AI is helping to speed up the development of visualizations in Power BI, freeing up team members for other strategic priorities.
“Now, we can use this experience and what we’ve learned to help our customers better visualize their data,” says Phougat. “With Copilot and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, we can help our customers generate interactive agent-based modeling, presentations, and more in hours, something that used to take days or weeks.”
Building from data-driven insights
For KPMG, the impact of Fabric has been transformative. Enhanced data analytics capabilities have enabled KPMG to offer new services and provide deeper insights into operational efficiencies, market opportunities and strategic planning. KPMG clients benefit from personalized, data-informed guidance that meets their unique business needs.
“The depth of insights we can provide has fundamentally revolutionized the way we deliver value to our clients by optimizing their businesses and delivering actionable, high-value analytics,” says Phougat. “This has not only strengthened our service offerings, but also strengthened our position in the market by enabling us to provide data-driven guidance tailored to each client’s unique needs.”
KPMG’s deployment of Fabric has ushered in an era of enhanced collaboration and innovation among employees, with the platform’s unified approach to data analytics sparking a wave of creative solutions to business challenges. The firm is adopting Fabric for specific use cases across its audit, tax and advisory teams.
Fabric, integrated with Azure Databricks, is redefining the company’s approach to data analytics. As Phougat says, “It’s not just about technology; it’s about how we leverage technology to drive business value, drive innovation, and enhance our customer service. This demonstrates the power of aligning our technology with our business vision.”
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