Accenture to Invest $3 Billion in AI to Accelerate Client Transformation.

June 13, 2023: Accenture, a global IT services leader, has announced a substantial investment of $3 billion in its Data & AI practice over the next three years. This investment aims to support clients from various industries in their transformation journeys. The company plans to double its AI talent, expanding its workforce to 80,000 individuals through hiring, acquisitions, and training.

By expanding its data and AI capabilities, Accenture will develop new industry-specific solutions and pre-built models to drive value across 19 sectors. The company recognizes the growing interest in AI and aims to responsibly help clients move beyond interest to action and tangible business outcomes.

Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture, stated, “There is unprecedented interest in all areas of AI, and the substantial investment we are making in our Data & AI practice will help our clients move from interest to action to value and in a responsible way with clear business cases.”

Accenture boasts extensive AI expertise with over 1,450 patents and pending patent applications globally, along with a wide range of client solutions implemented at scale, spanning industries such as marketing, retail, security, and manufacturing. The company has integrated AI into its service delivery approach, improving efficiency, valuable insights, and accelerated value for thousands of clients.

The company actively engages in generative AI projects, collaborating with clients to tackle diverse challenges. For instance, they assist a hotel group in managing customer queries and helping a judicial system process vast amounts of complex legal documents.

In addition, Accenture has introduced the AI Navigator for Enterprise, a generative AI-based platform that empowers clients to define business cases, make informed decisions, navigate AI journeys, select appropriate architectures, and understand algorithms and models to drive value responsibly. The platform includes assets designed to expedite the adoption of responsible AI practices and compliance programs.

Paul Daugherty, Group Chief Executive of Accenture Technology, emphasized the transformative power of AI, stating, “Over the next decade, AI will be a mega-trend, transforming industries, companies, and the way we live and work, as generative AI transforms 40 percent of all working hours.”

By leveraging its expanded Data & AI practice, Accenture aims to create industry-specific solutions that enable clients to harness the full potential of AI, reshape their strategies, adopt new technologies, and drive innovation responsibly and efficiently.

Furthermore, Accenture intends to invest in new and existing relationships within its leading cloud, data, and AI ecosystems to reinvent the nature of work delivered to clients.

Accenture is deploying the SambaNova Suite, a high-performance computing (HPC) system dedicated to AI workloads, as part of its AI initiatives. SambaNova has developed its own ‘DataScale SN30’ processor designed for AI tasks, which is available as part of a comprehensive package. This collaboration enables Accenture to provide generative AI solutions to its customers, offering pre-trained models that can be further refined using client-specific data.

Bhaskar Ghosh, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Accenture, highlighted the vast potential of generative AI across different industries. The company has identified over 300 use cases internally where generative AI can significantly impact service delivery and consulting to technology and beyond.