Worldwide Business Consulting Services
2020 Vendor Assessment

This section briefly explains IDC’s key observations resulting in a vendor’s position in the IDC MarketScape. While every vendor is evaluated against each of the criteria outlined in the Appendix, the description here provides a summary of the vendor’s strengths and challenges.

Accenture is positioned in the Leaders category in this IDC MarketScape on worldwide business consulting services for 2020, based on IDC analysis and customer feedback.

Accenture helps clients address complex, mission-critical issues and works closely with C-suite executives to help them steer and shape their innovation and transformation agendas. With 509,000 employees and locations in 51 countries, Accenture is one of the world’s largest professional services companies. Its clients include more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500, including 91 of the top 100.

Earlier this year, Accenture announced changes to its growth model designed to unleash the full potential of the company’s capabilities, increase innovation, and create greater opportunities for its people. As part of this, Accenture is simplifying its organizational structure to more easily create multidisciplinary teams to serve its clients and work with ecosystem partners to create new assets and solutions.

Accenture will now organize its capabilities in four units, referred to as Services: Strategy & Consulting, Interactive, Technology, and Operations — with digital and technology expertise pervasive in all parts of its business. The company will manage its business through three geographic-based markets — Europe, growth markets, and North America — instead of five operating groups. At the same time, Accenture will continue to go to market by industry and will expand its global industry programs.

Accenture Strategy & Consulting, with more than 41,000 skilled professionals, includes the capabilities of Accenture Strategy; the industry consulting, functional consulting, and technology advisory capabilities (formerly in its operating groups); its network of innovation hubs; its Applied Intelligence capabilities; and advisory services for Industry X.0.

• Deep industry and functional expertise. As digital disruption continues to blur traditional industry lines, cross-industry expertise has become imperative. Accenture has deep industry and functional expertise across more than 40 industries. Under the new growth model, Accenture will have more resources aligned to industry, uniting around a single agenda for each industry across all of Accenture. The company’s goal is to redefine the meaning of “industry differentiation” by using its depth and breadth in each industry and systematically bring cross-industry insights and intelligent solutions to its clients and better serve clients that are at the center of industry convergence.
• Applied intelligence, data-infused analytics and insights, and design capabilities. Accenture’s Strategy & Consulting organization is centered around strategy, functional, and industry acumen; driven by assets and intellectual property (IP) — some proprietary, while others created, acquired, developed, or leveraged through partnerships with technology companies; and underpinned by data insights and design to provide continuous innovation to clients. Through its integration of data science, design, and technology acumen at scale, Accenture helps clients capitalize on disruption and anticipate changes to enter new markets, develop new business models, and transform clients’ businesses.
• Continuous innovation and agility at scale. Accenture has shifted to a mindset of continuous innovation in every part of its business, from its services to how it operates. Over the years, Accenture has made significant R&D investments to be at the forefront of cutting-edge, disruptive technologies. In fiscal year 2019, Accenture invested US$1.8 billion in R&D and training and an additional US$1.2 billion across 33 acquisitions to acquire critical skills and capabilities in strategic, high-growth areas of the market. Accenture has a track record of integrating acquisitions into its business and leverages them to drive organic growth and enhance its differentiation. In addition, Accenture has strong IP positions in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, blockchain, quantum, and extended reality, with approximately 7,400 patents and pending patent applications in 44 countries. Collaboration and innovation are fundamental to how Accenture works with clients. The Accenture Innovation Architecture integrates the company’s end-to-end capabilities — including those from Accenture Research, Accenture Ventures, Accenture Labs, Accenture Studios, and Accenture Innovation and Delivery Centers — to help clients quickly identify, develop, scale, and deliver disruptive innovations.
• Global scale and ecosystem relationships. Accenture serves clients in more than 120 countries and has an extensive network of digital studios, liquid studios, innovation centers, and delivery centers across the globe. In addition, Accenture has built a global ecosystem of more than 200 alliance partners that spans numerous industries and includes start-ups, universities, research institutions, technology companies, venture capital firms, up-and-coming disruptors, and industry associations. Accenture is a partner of many key technology players — including SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, and Workday — and a global player in cloud and AI on the Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud platforms. Accenture’s Avanade joint venture, co-owned with Microsoft, delivers services around Microsoft technology. Accenture leverages these relationships, together with its digital and industry expertise, to help clients transform their enterprises.
• “The New” that is now core. Accenture’s rotation to what the company calls “the New” — digital, cloud, and security services — over the past six years has proven the company’s ability to identify and scale new opportunities in strategic, high-growth areas of the market and deliver more industry-specific and cross-industry knowledge for the business and its clients. “The New” is now core to Accenture’s business and accounts for about 65% of the firm’s total revenue.
• Ability to deliver value for clients. Accenture’s commitment to deliver transformational value, from Strategy & Consulting to Operations, helps the company serve its clients in an age when traditional business consulting is experiencing its own level of disruption. By combining the expertise of its practices within a single organization, Accenture serves clients through multidisciplinary teams comprising professionals not only from its Strategy & Consulting service (including strategy practitioners, industry and functional consultants, tech advisory consultants, and Applied Intelligence and Industry X.0 practitioners) but from its Interactive, Technology, and Operations services as well. Accenture’s continued emphasis on shared objectives fosters regional collaboration to support global priorities and enables the firm to move seamlessly from global to local and from local to global.

Worldwide, Accenture is seen to excel at providing functional insights and competence. Accenture’s additional strengths are understanding clients’ unique business needs and meeting the project timeline.

Accenture can improve its perception among clients related to its ability to help clients expand into new markets and geographies. On projects, Accenture should emphasize how it can help clients adapt to change and become more agile and transfer knowledge and skills to the various stakeholders.