Major move designed to create new model for
rapid migration to the cloud and realization of value for clients
and their stakeholders
Karthik Narain appointed to lead Accenture
Cloud First
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced the formation of Accenture
Cloud First with a $3 billion investment over three years to help
clients across all industries rapidly become “cloud first”
businesses and accelerate their digital transformation to realize
greater value at speed and scale. Karthik Narain will lead
Accenture Cloud First and join the Global Management Committee,
effective October 1.
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Introducing Accenture Cloud First
(Graphic: Business Wire)
Accenture is recognized as a leading partner to the world’s
major cloud providers. With approximately $11 billion in cloud
revenue in its fiscal year 2019, Accenture’s leadership spans from
Software as a Service — delivered through the company’s Intelligent
Platform Services — to its migration, infrastructure and
application cloud services. More than 100,000 Accenture cloud
professionals help clients shape, move, build and operate their
businesses in the cloud and realize the cloud’s business value,
speed, cost, talent and innovation benefits.
“COVID-19 has created a new inflection point that requires every
company to dramatically accelerate the move to the cloud as a
foundation for digital transformation to build the resilience, new
experiences and products, trust, speed and structural cost
reduction that the ongoing health, economic and societal crisis
demands — and that a better future for all requires,” said Julie
Sweet, chief executive officer, Accenture. “Accenture Cloud First
and our substantial investment demonstrate our commitment to
delivering greater value to our clients when they need it most.
Digital transformation requires cloud at scale, and post-COVID
leadership requires that every business become a ‘cloud first’
business.”
Accenture Cloud First is a new multi-service group of 70,000
cloud professionals that brings together the full power and breadth
of Accenture’s industry and technology capabilities, ecosystem
partnerships, and deep commitment to learning and upskilling
clients’ employees and to responsible business, with the singular
focus of enabling organizations to move to the cloud with greater
speed and achieve greater value for all their stakeholders at this
critical time. Specifically, this new group integrates the
company’s wide-ranging cloud expertise, including cloud migration,
infrastructure, and application services and ecosystem
partnerships; deep industry and cross-industry insights, data and
Applied Intelligence capabilities; Accenture Interactive’s leading
experience design skills; and insights from the company’s unmatched
experience in modernizing and operating large IT estates and key
business processes across finance, HR, marketing, supply chain and
specific industries for leading global companies. This operational
experience at scale is critical to ensuring companies realize value
from their cloud and digital transformation. Edge computing,
integrated with the cloud, also will be a key focus area.
Accenture Cloud First also combines world-class learning and
talent development expertise; deep experience in cloud change
management; and cloud-ready operating models with a commitment to
responsible business by design — with security, data privacy,
responsible use of artificial intelligence, sustainability and
ethics and compliance built into the fundamental changes Accenture
helps companies achieve.
Accenture’s $3 billion investment will be used to continue
advancing — often together with its cloud and broader technology
ecosystem partners — industry roadmaps, data models, and solutions;
cloud AI data and AI architectures; integrated full-stack
infrastructure and applications capabilities; cloud tools, assets,
and automation to drive lower unit cost and innovation; and
research and development in edge computing and related cloud
technologies.
Karthik Narain will lead Accenture Cloud First. A technology
industry veteran based in Silicon Valley, Narain most recently
served as the lead for Accenture Technology in North America,
helping guide Global 2000 brands in using the power of the cloud
and other technologies to transform their businesses. Over his
20-year career, he has led many innovative technology programs for
clients across a variety of industry sectors, including Software
& Platforms, Financial Services and High Tech. Karthik also
previously led Technology services for Accenture’s Communications,
Media and High Tech industry segments.
“Cloud is the most disruptive and value-creating technology of
our time — it is the foundation for the digital transformation that
is driving profound changes in how businesses operate, compete and
create value for all their stakeholders,” said Paul Daugherty,
group chief executive, Accenture Technology. “With most businesses
currently at only about 20% in the cloud, moving to 80% or more
rapidly and cost effectively is a massive change that requires a
bold new model. Accenture Cloud First, along with our $3 billion
investment and our market-leading Software as a Service
capabilities in Intelligent Platform Services, ensures that we
provide our clients with value, speed and innovation in every part
of their cloud journey.”
“The acceleration to new levels of digital performance by
companies requires a transformation of talent across the enterprise
to achieve truly new ways of competing, operating and serving
customers,” said Annette Rippert, group chief executive, Accenture
Strategy and Consulting. “We believe that helping our clients
purposefully build the core skills they need and quickly adopt new
ways of working is essential to achieve value moving to the cloud.
Accenture Cloud First brings our strong capabilities in driving
change and developing talent not only for our clients but also for
Accenture — we are already 95% in the cloud, and in FY19, we
invested $1 billion in developing our people.”
Today’s announcement comes as worldwide demand for cloud
computing has skyrocketed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According
to Gartner, the worldwide public cloud services market is forecast
to grow 6.3% in 2020 to total $257.9 billion, up from $242.7
billion in 2019. “When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there were a few
initial hiccups but cloud ultimately delivered exactly what it was
supposed to,” said Sid Nag, research vice president at Gartner. “It
responded to increased demand and catered to customers’ preference
of elastic, pay-as-you-go consumption models.”1
[1] Gartner Press Release, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public
Cloud Revenue to Grow 6.3% in 2020, July 2020,
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-07-23-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-revenue-to-grow-6point3-percent-in-2020#:~:text=The%20worldwide%20public%20cloud%20services,increasing%2095.4%25%20to%20%241.2%20billion
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company,
providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting,
interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities
across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and
specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries — powered
by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and
Intelligent Operations centers. With 513,000 people serving clients
in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation
to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value
across their enterprises. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and
its logo are trademarks of Accenture.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200917005256/en/
Christian Harper New York, NY +1 917 452 4417
christian.harper@accenture.com
Mylissa Tsai New York, NY +1 917 452 9729
mylissa.tsai@accenture.com
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