Accenture and Microsoft strengthen bond with new business group
Accenture and Microsoft, in conjunction with their joint venture Avanade, are launching the Accenture Microsoft Business Group.
The new group elevates a longstanding strategic alliance, expanding combined service capabilities, global scale and joint solution development.
Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP and Microsoft.
The new organisation represents the largest partner investment in harnessing the enterprise-wide potential of Microsoft technology to date.
Building on the success of Avanade, the group will bring together more than 45,000 dedicated professionals - the largest group of Microsoft solution experts in the world.
With new joint products and services built on the Microsoft cloud, clients will be able to engage customers in new ways, empower employees, reimagine operations and invent new products and services.
The Accenture Microsoft Business Group will be led by Accenture senior managing director Emma McGuigan, who has been with the company for more than 20 years in various technology leadership roles.
Adam Warby will continue to serve as the CEO of Avanade.
"The Accenture Microsoft Business Group is a major step forward in our decades-long relationship with Microsoft," says Accenture's chief technology and innovation officer and Avanade board chairman Paul Daugherty.
"It brings Accenture's broad industry experience and transformation skills together with Microsoft's powerful digital technologies and Avanade's specialisation in the Microsoft ecosystem. The demand for digital transformation, powered by the cloud, has never been greater. We are bringing the leading capabilities of our companies together to meet this demand and deliver innovation to our clients.
As digital disruption and innovation often occur within industries, the group will co-invest in functional and industry solutions based on Microsoft technologies, with a mission to provide clients with the most comprehensive set of services focused on user experience, analytics and AI, cloud, security, IoT and other critical areas.
The new group will emphasise helping clients migrate to Microsoft Azure and gain value from data and artificial intelligence, optimise Microsoft business processes with Microsoft Dynamics 365, and foster work and collaboration with Microsoft 365.
"Every company is becoming a digital company," notes Microsoft worldwide commercial business executive vice president Judson Althoff.
"Building on our successful partnership with Accenture and Avanade, we will help customers fuel innovation at scale and lead their industries into the future. This is core to our mission to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.
Accenture Technology services group chief executive Bhaskar Ghosh adds "The new business group brings together the leading technology innovation and industry experience from our companies to help clients transform their businesses and become intelligent enterprises.
