How EY's AI Platform Will Speed Up Transaction Analysis

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EY has unveiled a generative AI platform to transform how companies analyse potential mergers and acquisitions
EY’s Microsoft partnership powers new cloud system that processes 677m news articles to guide merger and acquisition decisions

Professional services firm EY has unveiled a generative artificial intelligence platform that aims to transform how companies analyse potential mergers and acquisitions. The system, called EY Competitive Edge, processes information from multiple databases to generate insights about markets and sectors in real-time.

The cloud-based platform integrates with Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service, which provides large language models that can understand and generate human-like text, alongside Azure AI Search and Azure Cosmos DB, Microsoft's cloud database service. The platform features a chat-style interface designed to make data interaction more intuitive for users.

Data and analytics capabilities

The system draws from a database of 26 million company profiles and information about 2.1 million transactions. It processes 325,000 company reports and monitors 677 million news articles to provide real-time market analysis. The platform also incorporates EY's internal research and surveys from 140 countries.

The platform combines external databases with company reports and publicly available information, creating what EY describes as an expansive layer of data. This integration aims to help EY teams provide more precise solutions for clients' strategic requirements.

Tony Qui, EY Global Strategy and Transactions Chief Innovation Officer

“In today’s complex business landscape, organisations and leaders need to navigate multiple layers of data to drive agile and confident decision-making,” says Tony Qui, EY Global Strategy and Transactions Chief Innovation Officer. “EY Competitive Edge helps clients do just that, offering the opportunity to collate, explore and interrogate a rich set of data and insights.”

Microsoft collaboration expands

The platform builds on an existing partnership between EY and Microsoft, and incorporates Microsoft’s generative AI (Gen AI) technology, which can create new content based on patterns in existing data.

The system forms part of EY’s artificial intelligence ecosystem, EY.ai, which has received industry recognition for its technological capabilities. This ecosystem integrates Microsoft’s suite of tools to enhance data management and power applications for target screening, competitor analysis and market assessments.

EY’s proprietary algorithms work alongside Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI technology to enhance data harmonisation and enable sector-specific data querying. This combination aims to produce faster and more relevant insights for users.

Lydia Smyers, Vice President, Northeast US, Americas Enterprise at Microsoft

“The collaboration is a powerful combination of the EY organization's industry-leading capabilities and Microsoft's advanced data and AI platforms,” says Lydia Smyers, Vice President, Northeast US, Americas Enterprise at Microsoft. “Together, we are helping businesses to leverage deep insights that drive innovation and strategic growth.”

Deal making transformation

EY Competitive Edge operates alongside two other transaction platforms, EY Diigence Edge and EY Capital Edge, which have been deployed by more than 10,000 clients globally. The three systems work in concert to support different stages of the merger and acquisition process, from initial strategy through to post-merger integration.

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The platform processes news and investment data to help identify acquisition targets. It combines external data sources with EY’s proprietary intellectual property to generate real-time insights for clients. The system monitors news articles and real-time investments to help narrow down potential acquisition targets.

The launch comes as companies seek more efficient ways to process the increasing volume of data available for transaction analysis. EY Competitive Edge aims to support strategic decision-making across all aspects of corporate growth strategies, from market entry analysis to competitor assessment.

The platform’s database includes thought leadership content and interviews from EY's global network, which spans 140 countries. This content is integrated with external data sources to provide context for market analysis.

“EY Competitive Edge supports front-end strategic discussions with clients across all aspects of their growth strategy,” says Andrea Guerzoni, EY Global Vice Chair for Strategy and Transactions. “In a merger and acquisition scenario it helps clients to process vast amounts of data – from newsfeeds to real-time investments – to uncover insights that help narrow down potential acquisition targets.”


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