How KPMG Uses Joule for Consultants to Drive Clean Core and 20% Faster Sprints

There’s a particular kind of pressure inside an SAP consulting team. The clock is always running, the customer expects certainty, and the technical details rarely wait for responses like, “let me get back to you.”

What stands out isn’t a grand promise that AI will change everything, but a set of grounded, workshop-level moments where time, confidence, clean-core discipline, and real delivery outcomes collide.

In conversation with SAPinsider ahead of the SAPinsider Vegas conference, Doug Kimball, SAP Learning & Enablement Lead at KPMG, describes how his organization uses Joule for Consultants (J4C) to reduce manual research, speed up architecture decisions, and support clean-core outcomes without piling on technical debt. He also sketches the consultant skill sets he expects to matter most as AI becomes embedded in day-to-day SAP delivery.

Gaining Efficiency

SAPinsider: KPMG is a major early adopter of J4C. Beyond high-level efficiency gains, how has it changed the day in the life of a KPMG consultant?

Doug Kimball: At a practical level, J4C helps our consultants spend less time doing manual research and information gathering, and more time delivering high-value, real-time advice to customers. The easiest place to see that shift is in a live design workshop, whether it’s virtual or in-person, because that’s where questions arrive fast and you either keep momentum or lose the room. In the past, if a customer asked a specific technical question, a consultant might need hours to dig through documentation and assemble the right material to respond. With J4C, they can get the same validated answer in minutes, keeping the workshop moving and building customer confidence in the moment. ​

SAPi: There’s a fear that AI will replace the need for deep expertise. How is KPMG using J4C to elevate its junior consultants, while letting seniors focus on strategy?

Kimball: Our goal is empowerment, not replacement. For junior consultants, J4C can serve as a mentor, providing a reliable path for learning and upskilling, and giving instant access to the latest SAP best practices. The knock-on effect is essential because when juniors can self-serve foundational guidance faster, experienced consultants aren’t pulled away as often for level-one questions. That frees senior people to spend more time directly with customers on complex problems, such as designing sophisticated integration architecture, where experience and judgment still matter most.

Practical Applications

SAPi: Your session during the SAPinsider Vegas conference touches on real-world applications that drive speed to value. Can you share a story from a cloud transformation where J4C acted as a catalyst—saving a deadline or unblocking a bottleneck?

Kimball: We recently worked with a leading consumer goods customer to replace their legacy ERP with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. The critical constraint was doing it with zero disruption to their existing e-commerce portal. J4C acted as a catalyst, helping us design the entire integration architecture, including identifying the correct APIs and applying SAP Integration Suite best practices. The result was 15–20% faster sprint completion and a successful transition with no interruption to business operations.

SAPi: Many people still think of AI as a tool for Q&A. How is KPMG moving beyond that into using it for complex tasks like ABAP interpretation or system configuration design?

Kimball: We’re moving beyond Q&A by using J4C to accelerate complex processes, such as system configuration design. One example is a fit-gap assessment. Under this approach, consultants can use J4C to analyze a customer’s business requirements directly from workshop notes. Additionally, J4C can compare those requirements against SAP best practices and propose an initial configuration design. That approach quickly highlights where standard processes fit and, just as importantly, flags the gaps where a unique solution is needed so teams can focus immediately on the most critical design decisions.

Trusted AI and the Path Forward

SAPi: KPMG is known for its Trusted AI framework. How does J4C help you innovate with SAP’s clean-core philosophy without introducing the technical debt that has plagued ERP systems for decades?

Kimball: KPMG’s Trusted AI framework is our strategic approach to deploying AI responsibly, regardless of technology and ERP systems. J4C is a key tool that helps us enforce clean-core principles and prevent technical debt. First, it guides consultants toward standard processes by giving instant access to best practices. Second, when requirements fall outside the standard, it provides expert guidance on building clean side-by-side extensions using SAP BTP. Combined with robust governance and ethical principles, we can use Trusted AI to innovate for customers without creating technical debt.

SAPi: If you look a year or two down the road, how do you think the standard skill set for an SAP consultant evolves because of tools like Joule? What should the next generation focus on now?

Kimball: We see the skill set evolving away from manual execution and toward AI-embedded delivery. I see three main career directions:

• Strategic orchestrators who guide the why of a project and help customers realize the business value of AI
• Solution and enterprise architects who create the technical blueprint
• Modern builders who are hands-on AI builders delivering with speed and quality

These aren’t rigid job titles as much as directions people can grow toward. Across all of them, the most important capabilities are adaptability and critical judgment, along with deep sector and industry knowledge. These factors let teams connect with customers at a business level, not just a technical one, and become value creators who link business outcomes, processes, and AI into a coherent strategy.

This Q&A gives SAP project leaders and program managers a practical look at how KPMG uses SAP Joule for Consultants to create innovation within the organization and for KPMG customers.  Interested readers can see Doug share additional insights during the SAPinsider session Transformations Reimagined with SAP Joule for Consultants: Real World Insights from KPMG, at SAPinsider Las Vegas 2026 on March 19.