THE Philippines managing director of global professional services company Accenture announced that the firm is now undergoing an “innovation-led” transformation to be in step with the fast-paced developing technology.
In a press conference in Taguig City on Wednesday, January 30, Lito Tayag shared how Accenture has been keeping up across “technological waves” that are affecting businesses such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud, security data and analytics, blockchain, and immersive technologies.
Accenture’s transformation is in the context of all these digital developments, Tayag said.
“The new is a high-level word for new technologies, new platforms, new processes. If we are transforming our business based on what is happening with the digital transformation, then we pivot all of Accenture’s business into the new as well,” he said.
As of today, he said 60 percent of Accenture is “in the new.”
As part of its journey toward innovation, Accenture rebranded its delivery centers in the Philippines: Accenture Advanced Technology Centers and Accenture Intelligent Operations Centers “to reflect the focus” that Accenture has for business.
At present, the firm is also upskilling its people through its immersive learning spaces and programs such as Innovation First Friday, Innovation Arena, and Innovation Road Shows.
“Part of our innovation journey is building a culture of innovation. Again, this will be in the context of upskilling our talent... At the end of the day, Accenture’s business is about people,” Tayag said.
In 2018 alone, Accenture spent more than P2 million hours in training its employees.
“[The hours spent in training] gives you an indication of what kind of focus, what kind of investment we are making on our people,” he said.
Tayag admitted that some jobs were affected in the course of innovation but this barely affected the company as a lot of new jobs were also created.
“We have anticipated this. We know the impact of technologies and because of technology, there are some jobs that were at risks of being automated, but there were also new jobs created,” said Tayag.
Aside from the mentioned innovations in the company, Tayag also highlighted Accenture’s initiatives and its wavering commitment in advancing its inclusion and gender diversity agenda.
According to him, 52 percent of workers in Accenture are women.
“We sincerely believe that in order to bring some unique perspectives, we have to make sure that we also support inclusion and diversity. I think this is part of the base of our foundation,” he said.
In 2018, Accenture received the first Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (Edge) Move Certification, a leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality.
In the same year, Accenture also ranked first in the global Thomson Reuters Diversity & Inclusion Index.
According to Tayag, the innovation of Accenture also extends to communities, especially to the youth.
Last year, Accenture launched skills to succeed academy training in partnership with government agencies, like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. The program is aimed to address the rising unemployment among the youth.
Accenture has also donated to remote public schools more than 2,000 computers to expose the students to technology.
Accenture operates in Manila, Cebu and Ilocos.
Tayag said they have no plans of expanding anytime soon and are focusing right now on these three locations. (SunStar Philippines)