I also work at a big 4, and perhaps the same one as you, and I assure you, there is a way. There is always a procedure or some way you can follow. You just need to know how to look it up.
We have our own development team, our own servers, our own freedom to deliver to clients fast without the hassle of the main corporation. How? We talked to the right persons.
Big 4?
I can't imagine myself working in a place like this..I understand there should be a level of checks, however this is just crazy...
Hierarchies and the systems or checks that they serve at places like this exist only to keep some people employed. That has got to suck! For anyone who has a rogue or novel idea will get shot down because it’s too much of a burden in terms of overhead to get any decision made.
After about 9 weeks of emails, meetings, and pitches, I finally got Anaconda up and running. A week later, I tried to upgrade the 3rd party packages.. No dice. Blocked by the corporate VPN. I'd need the sign off every time I wanted to `pip upgrade` anything
Needless to say, I do not bother anymore.