Key Findings & Highlights:
Julie Sweet started as CEO on September 1
She was formerly Group Chief Exec Americas, Accenture’s largest business, and her appointment was no surprise, though the internal competition was strong. Other applicants how now moved on.
In March Accenture introduced a radical change to its growth model and Global Management Committee.
Accenture is now organizing its capabilities into four services: Strategy and Consulting; Interactive; Technology; Operations. This is not the radical change: we had noted before that we expected Accenture Interactive to be separated from the other former ‘Accenture Digital’ businesses and Digital to cease to be treated as separate.
The radical change is moving from managing its business through its three regional businesses though Accenture will continue to go to market by industry and will expand its global industry programs. Just as some other vendors are moving to a more vertical-led organization, Accenture has elected to move on to a new operating model.
“Innovating in the New”/New Applied Now
The last six years have been marked by what Accenture calls its ‘rotation to the New’ (digital, cloud and security) and scaling capabilities in strategic, high-growth areas. The company claims that 70% of its revenues are now in ‘The New’. Accenture’s current tagline indicates both aspects of its transformation and evolution over the last few years (from ‘Pivoting to ...’ to ‘Leading in ...’ and now to ‘Innovating in…’ the New, also that it maintains its ambitions to be ahead of the curve in terms of portfolio development: we note that on occasion execs were already referring to “The Next New” before COVID-19.
And of course, the messaging has been adapted to one that now emphasizes its abilities to support clients outmaneuver the uncertainties related to COVID-19 and the nature of any economic recovery, and help them navigate financial, operational, market and strategic challenges. Accenture is already referring to the next decade as being one of the ‘Never Normal’.
Accenture continues to
- Be an active acquirer to bring in new or expand existing capabilities in areas such as Industry X.O and cybersecurity.
- Invest in enhancing its long-standing offers in areas such as Intelligent Platform Services,
- Embed a combination of automation, AI, and data and analytics in new offerings, and in service delivery.