India born Bhaskar Ghosh named Accenture's chief strategy officer

 

Global IT and consulting major Accenture on Monday said that it has made a few changes to its global management committee as a part of which India-born Bhaskar Ghosh has been appointed as the the NYSE-listed company's chief strategy officer.

Ghosh was previously an advisor to the company’s chief executive officer, and prior to that he was heading global delivery of technology services globally as its chief executive.

In the new role, Ghosh would be responsible for the company’s strategy and investments, including ventures and acquisitions while he would continue to lead the growth strategy for the company’s Industry X business that includes digital manufacturing and intelligent products and platforms.

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“Bhaskar brings incredible vision and business acumen to his new role as chief strategy officer,” said Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer, Accenture. “Under his leadership, he helped grow Accenture into a technology industry powerhouse and expanded our data, cloud and security offerings. His vast experience will be invaluable as we invest to help our clients become cloud first and transform every aspect of their businesses with technology.”

Simon Eaves who was previously the chief strategy officer at Accenture has been appointed managing director for the UK and Ireland. Olly Benzecry, who served as managing director and chairman of Accenture in the UK and Ireland since 2011, will continue as chairman until he retires at the end of August 2021.

Consulting firm Accenture opens second innovation hub in India at Hyderabad

American consulting and professional services company Accenture opened a new Innovation Hub in Hyderabad, spread over 300,000 square feet where clients can co-innovate with Accenture by ideating, rapidly prototyping and then scaling disruptive products and services for the digital economy.

The latest addition to the Accenture's global innovation network houses 2000 professionals with expertise across multiple industries and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, security, extended reality, automation and blockchain, according to the company. This is Accenture's second such facility in India after Bengaluru.

"Our research shows that organisations are struggling to achieve their innovation goals, due to the lack of an enterprise-wide strategy for technology investments and adoption,"said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture Technology Services. He claimed the new Innovation Hub has the pieces their clients require to accelerate value creation through enterprise-wide, game-changing innovation.

The new facility also houses Accenture's first Nano Lab in the Asia-Pacific region, offering clients a window into the latest breakthroughs in applied research from Accenture Labs worldwide. The Nano Lab showcases uses for a range of advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, extended reality and security, and allows clients to connect with researchers located in Accenture Labs globally through immersive sessions and workshops.

Accenture, SAP co-develop cloud-based solution to help utility firms

Accenture and SAP on Tuesday announced that they are co-innovating and co-developing the new SAP Cloud for Utilities solution to help companies more effectively manage business processes and customer experiences.

This initiative aims to elevate energy transition and customer experiences, helping companies quickly adapt and thrive in times of change.

The solution is designed to be deployed in a cloud or hybrid environment to help utility companies automate sales processes, freeing up more resources to create meaningful customer experiences that can result in loyalty and revenue.

SAP Cloud for Utilities can incorporate intelligent technologies and real-time business insights, building extensive capabilities around marketing, service, commerce, product bundling, self-service, fulfillment of complex services and subscription billing for commodity and non-commodity products.

"Working with SAP and our utility industry co-innovation group to accelerate developing SAP's cloud-based platform for utilities can enable our clients to better create new experiences for their customers while streamlining back office operations," Jean-Marc Ollagnier, group chief executive for Accenture's Resources business said in a statement.

Additionally, Accenture and SAP also plan to integrate data with Experience Management solutions from SAP and existing operational data to help enable utility companies manage end-to-end core processes, networks and employees more efficiently.

"SAP Cloud for Utilities is our strategic cloud solution, designed to support lead-to-cash processes that can enable utilities to capture new opportunities and develop fresh business models in the dynamic market for innovative commodity and non-commodity products," SAP Industries Co-President Peter Maier added.

Accenture launches largest interactive experience centre in Mumbai

Software consulting giant Accenture has opened its largest interactive experience centre in Mumbai.

This is the sixth such facility by Accenture Interactive, the marketing managed services arm of Accenture, which contributed $8.5 billion to the company’s business in 2018.

This centre serves as the hub of Accenture’s “experience activation network” – a collection of state-of-the-art sites worldwide that deliver marketing and brand solutions. “We have one of the most powerful experience activation networks globally and Mumbai is the largest and most important centre within that network.

The solutions here will focus on data analytics and insights, target segmentation and content creation along with customisation apart from programmatic delivery and measuring the performance of campaigns on a daily basis, ” said Nikki Mendonca, President, Accenture Interactive Operations.

Mendonca added that Accenture expects to add a few hundred new marketing activation roles to the Mumbai centre by 2021. The centre will cater to business needs across the Asia Pacific as well as global clients. Accenture has similar centres across Italy, Spain, Poland, Costa Rica and China. Globally, Accenture Interactive has about 50,000 employees.

Occupying two floors of its intelligent operations centre in Mumbai, this activation centre includes dedicated design thinking spaces, immersive demonstration zones and interactive digital surfaces for clients. Clients like GlaxoSmithKline, Radisson Hotel Group and Shell, among others, will be serviced through this centre.

Accenture Interactive Operations, which is almost a decade old, delivers content, programmatic, digital marketing and e-commerce services to leading brands across roughly 75 countries.

Accenture Interactive Operations has a large talent base in India, paired with deep technology and functional skills, having established credentials across the spectrum of marketing activation services.

Large banks also form and increasing customer base for the firm as they seek to bring in fintech solutions to improve customer experience.

“A large part of the new requests come from European businesses and North America as many retailers are looking for different operating models following the entry of data-driven direct-to-consumer business models like ecommerce. We are looking at centres like Mumbai and Costa Rica to create near shore and offshore models that will change the operating models for a lot of retailers,” added Mendonca.

According to market estimates, Accenture Interactive is on course to surpass $10 billion in revenue this year after reaching $8.5 billion by August 2018.

The company has acquired several digital marketing agencies in the past year to expand, including Fjord, Karmarama, The Monkeys and SinnerSchrader. The company, in April, made the biggest acquisition in its 10-year history with the purchase of creative agency Droga5 for an estimated $475 million.