BMS expects SAP Joule capabilities to be available across the business within the next year. Progressive automation is extending further into procurement workflows too, with agents now handling some tasks as part of a broader move towards more autonomous operations. Behind all of this is a commitment to governance.“ By building governance into the AI deployment from the start rather than retro fitting it,” Sharmita says. Every AI-assisted process rolled out at BMS has clear boundaries on what it can decide autonomously versus what requires human review, full auditability and validation to the same standard applied to any GXP-relevant process or system.“ Speed and compliance aren’ t in tension if we design for both from day one,” she explains.“ They only conflict when compliance is treated as a later checkpoint instead of a design constraint.”
Partners as co-owners None of this transformation happens in isolation. Sharmita names PwC, EY and SAP among BMS’ s key technology partners, alongside a wider ecosystem of collaborators.“ Our approach with partners is to treat them as co-owners of the outcome and not vendors just executing a spec,” she says. This philosophy, she explains, is particularly
14 September 2026