Building innovative talent within and beyond the workplace

Every successful enterprise knows that innovation is critical for growth—and is, therefore, a necessity for businesses, economies and governments alike, especially in the Philippines.  

Today, economies are increasingly pushing for initiatives that will create an environment that encourages and fosters innovation across all fronts. The Global Innovation Index (GII), co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization, stresses the significant role that innovation plays in any economy. The GII 2019 results show that the Philippines is making significant headway in innovation adoption among the 129 countries assessed, jumping from 73rd place in 2018 to 54th place this year.  

Leading with an innovation agenda

The private sector continues to help the Philippines create a culture that will prepare businesses, and more importantly, the workforce, to meet the challenges brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

“The way we work and live are constantly being disrupted by new technologies,” said Lito Tayag, country managing director of Accenture in the Philippines. “We need to learn to constantly innovate, adapt to changes, and leverage new technologies to thrive in a fast-evolving and digitally-driven landscape, especially in the context of the local information technology and business process management industry, or IT-BPM.”

Companies like Accenture, for instance, have innovation firmly embedded in their strategies and operations. As part of its innovation agenda in the Philippines, Accenture has rolled out various programs that help foster an innovation mindset among employees. These programs provide opportunities to fully embrace innovation as a key enabler in helping employees achieve their professional goals and drive the company’s success. 

Recently, Accenture employees across the country participated in activities that showcased and celebrated innovation within the company, encouraging them to develop and apply innovative ideas and help bring them to life for businesses and communities.

During its Technology Month celebration, Accenture’s Technology business in the Philippines organized the Ideas to Outcome competition, which generated thousands of entries from employees. Awards were given to top ideas inspired by extended reality, the internet of things and data analytics, showcasing the employees’ desire to develop game-changing solutions that can bring positive change in industries and societies.  

Meanwhile, Accenture’s Operations business launched an idea-generation contest last August as part of its innovation campaign. Employees put their knowledge and skills in automation, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to good use by developing leading-edge solutions designed to add value and improve the way the world works and lives. The finalists presented their ideas during the company’s Innovation Congress 2019, which was attended by more than 800 people from Accenture in the Philippines, the IT-BPM industry and the academe. Winning teams were judged for being innovative, sustainable, impactful and compelling—attributes that will positively shape the future of business and communities.

Fostering an innovative culture and mindset

As a people-driven company, Accenture is committed to continuously train and develop employees to remain abreast in new technologies. The company focuses on fostering an innovative culture and mindset by upskilling and reskilling employees to enable them to lead the delivery of more complex and higher-value services to clients. 

In addition to setting up immersive learning spaces across its offices in Manila, Cebu and Ilocos, Accenture has rolled out programs and campaigns that include learning roadmaps that leverage digital platforms, mobile solutions and collaboration tools to help employees upskill faster. 

“These learning platforms help fuel our employees’ desire to innovate and evolve in the work that they deliver to our clients,” said Benedict Hernandez, Accenture Operations lead in the Philippines. “They motivate them to take charge of their careers and help them grow in their chosen fields as technology masters, business advisors or data analysts.” 

Accenture named Team The Visionaries from the University of San Carlos in Cebu as Program The Future 2019 Grand Champion for Parasight, an application that aims to help medical technologists quickly detect Amoebiasis.

Preparing the talent of the future

Accenture’s employees spent more than 2 million hours in the company’s various learning and training programs in its 2018 fiscal year. But in addition to future-proofing its workforce, Accenture is also collaborating with industries, organizations and the academe to prepare the Filipino talent of the future—helping make the Filipino talent at par with, if not better than, their counterparts elsewhere in the world. 

“Accenture is a staunch advocate of STEM education, and we believe that instilling an innovative culture and mindset through STEM education is critical to developing our young students to become innovation leaders in the future,” said Ambe Tierro, Accenture Technology lead in the Philippines and the company’s global AI capability lead. 

One of these initiatives is “Program The Future: The Accenture Technology Campus Challenge.” Currently in its sixth year, the program is designed to spark innovation among Filipino college and university students, tasking them to design and build technology solutions to make a positive impact in society. Accenture’s technology experts serve as mentors to the students, helping them get a better grasp of data analytics, AI and user-experience design to fine-tune their ideas. 

Last year, Accenture also teamed with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and several non-government organizations to launch the Skills to Succeed (S2S) Academy, a free online learning program for jobseekers in the Philippines. Designed and developed by Accenture, the S2S Academy offers free online learning courses to help jobseekers aged 16 to 24 improve their soft skills and build confidence—which, when combined with the technical know-how, can help young Filipinos secure jobs for their future.  

By developing innovative talent within and beyond the workplace, the Philippines can thrive and succeed in the digital economy. Forward-thinking companies like Accenture are highlighting why and how leading and prioritizing an innovation agenda can help propel the IT-BPM industry to continued growth in the future. 

Benedict Hernandez, Accenture Operations lead in the Philippines, reiterated the importance of learning programs to help employees innovate and evolve in their careers at the Accenture Innovation Congress 2019.