Accenture leads with innovation to help businesses, workforce ‘pivot wisely’ to new technologies

Companies and governments today are operating in an evolving business landscape marked by the emergence of disruptive technologies.

With “disruptors” such as the convergence of digital technologies — including social, mobile, analytics and cloud — increasingly reshaping and enhancing how business is done, firms are faced with the inescapable challenge of riding the wave of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Firms must learn how to adapt these new technologies — which are challenging existing norms and revolutionizing business models — by developing innovative strategies to remain relevant and upskilling their workforces to better leverage the technologies to reshape the future of their companies.

“The digital revolution has ushered a lot of disruptions in an accelerated pace and new technologies are coming our way,” says Lito Tayag, country managing director of Accenture in the Philippines. “These digital developments are affecting organizations from top to bottom, changing the products and services that companies offer — and how they’re delivered to customers.”

While some may view these disruptive technologies as challenges, others see promising and lucrative opportunities to further expand their business.

Pivoting business wisely

In its “Making Your Wise Pivot to the New” research, Accenture found that CEOs globally are becoming more proactive in tackling the disruptive forces that are changing their industry. However, many companies still struggle to rotate their businesses decisively and sustainably to take advantage of new growth opportunities. Others cling to legacy products or outdated technology that hinder them from reaching their desired business outcomes.

It is amid such a backdrop that Accenture’s expertise in the fields of digital and technology come to play. Accenture’s presence in the Philippines began in 1985 with the creation of the first delivery center in

Accenture’s Global Delivery Network. To cater to the ever-evolving needs of its clients, Accenture has transformed its business by leveraging its unique end to end solutions and services and rotating them rapidly to the New – digital, cloud- and security-related services, while stepping up investments in high growth areas and developing talent.

Through its Technology and Operations business units, the company provides innovative solutions to help organizations pursue new growth opportunities amid technological disruptions—much like what it has done for its own transformation, and how it has been pioneering services that will enable the IT and business process management (IT-BPM) industry to thrive in the digital age.

Driving Innovation

Companies that survive disruption are constantly reinventing themselves and striving to make their businesses relevant for the future. To help its clients in the Philippines do this, Accenture is harnessing the end-to-end capabilities of its Technology and Operations business units to develop, deliver and scale innovation through innovative thinking, new technologies and cutting-edge methodologies.

For example, Accenture Technology helps companies innovate at scale by leveraging new IT skills and its leading ecosystem partners across the full spectrum of leading-edge technologies — including digital, cloud, security, data and analytics, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the internet of things, and immersive technologies such as virtual and extended reality. The Accenture Liquid Studio in Manila features an open environment where clients co-innovate with Accenture engineers to turn concepts into applications and solutions using these disruptive technologies. At the same time, the Liquid Studio helps train and upskill employees, offering them an environment where they can experience new and emerging technologies first-hand and adapt an experimental culture.

Meanwhile, Accenture’s Operations group provides end-to-end intelligent business process and infrastructure services to help clients transform their operations and deliver superior business outcomes and experiences. It is also re-imagining business process management type of work to create new and exciting opportunities for employees.

Reimagining work in the age of new technologies

In a study entitled “Reworking the Revolution,” Accenture notes that in the age of AI, “business success will increasingly depend on people and machines collaborating with each other”—a move that will drive efficiencies and create new forms of growth and innovation. Achieving this, however, will be highly complex and demanding—as companies should be able to reimagine work, pivot their workforce to disruptive business models and scale up training and upskilling employees in digital and new technologies.

To this end, Accenture is focused on investing in the upskilling of its employees so that they become adept in new technologies that will push them to continuously innovate. “Accenture is in the business of helping not only our clients but also our workforce to lead and succeed in the digital age,” said Mr. Tayag. “As part of our innovation agenda, Accenture is fostering an innovative culture and mindset among our people through various initiatives to encourage them to pursue continuous learning and training that will enhance their skills and capabilities.”

This commitment in talent development is showcased in the learning roadmaps that Accenture has developed for its community of innovators across its offices in Manila, Cebu, and Ilocos. By leveraging digital platforms, mobile solutions, and collaboration tools to help employees upskill and reskill faster, Accenture employees based in the Philippines completed more than two million learning hours during its fiscal year 2018.

In fact, Accenture was named Best Employer of the Year in the Philippines last March at the annual International ICT Awards Philippines for its industry-leading initiatives in developing talent. The award also recognized its people-driven programs on advancing inclusion and diversity and embracing equality in the workplace.

This commitment, according to Mr. Tayag, also extends to the communities in which Accenture operates. The company strives to collaborate with the industry and the academe to prepare Filipinos for the future of work, particularly in the IT-BPM industry, as newer technologies arise and improve the way communities work and live.