Accenture to invest $3bn in AI to support its clients

The New York-listed company plans to double its talent in the tech segment to 80,000 professionals as demand for the latest innovation continues to rise

Accenture will invest in assets, industry solutions and partnerships to deepen its AI capabilities. AP

Global consultancy Accenture plans to invest $3 billion over the next three years in its data and artificial intelligence practice to help its clients use the latest technology and boost their growth.

As part of the strategy, the New York-listed company will invest in assets, industry solutions, ventures, acquisitions, talent and ecosystem partnerships to deepen and develop new skills and capabilities across “diagnostic, predictive and generative AI”, the company said on Wednesday.

It will also double its AI talent to 80,000 professionals through a mix of hiring, acquisitions and training over the next three years.

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

“Companies that build a strong foundation of AI by adopting and scaling it [up] now, where the technology is mature and delivers clear value, will be better positioned to reinvent, compete and achieve new levels of performance.”

AI is gaining traction around the globe as a number of companies adopt the latest technology to boost efficiency and automate their operations.

The global generative AI market is expected to reach $188.62 billion by 2032, growing at an annual rate of more than 36 per cent from $8.65 billion last year, according to Brainy Insights.

The use of AI is also expected to grow in the region amid digital transformation strategies.

Spending on artificial intelligence in the Middle East and Africa region will jump to $3 billion this year – accounting for nearly 2 per cent of global AI spending of $151.4 billion, according to a report by the International Data Corporation.

Rapid adoption of cloud solutions by different industries and a hastened digital transformation will drive AI spending over the coming years, the report found.

“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 per cent of all working hours,” said Paul Daugherty, group chief executive of Accenture Technology.

“Our expanded data and AI practice brings together the full power and breadth of Accenture in creating industry-specific solutions that will help our clients harness AI’s full potential to reshape their strategy, technology and ways of working.”

As part of its investment, Accenture is also launching a new AI Navigator for Enterprise to help clients “define business cases, make decisions, navigate AI journeys, choose architectures and understand algorithms and models to drive value responsibly”, it said.

The platform will include assets designed to hasten the adoption of responsible AI practices and compliance programmes.

The company will also focus on the creation of accelerators for data and AI readiness across 19 distinct industries, as well as “pre-built industry and functional models that take advantage of new generative AI capabilities”, it said.

In March, Accenture announced plans to cut 19,000 jobs, or about 2.5 per cent of its global workforce, over worries of a global economic slowdown.

In a report earlier this year, Goldman Sachs said the growing adoption of artificial intelligence technology can help boost global economic growth and raise labour productivity.

The combination of significant labour cost savings, new job creation and higher productivity for non-displaced workers can lead to a productivity boom that raises economic growth "substantially", the US investment bank's analysts said in the report.

Widespread AI adoption can eventually boost annual global gross domestic product by 7 per cent in the 10 years after at least half of companies worldwide use AI technology.

The bank estimates that AI adoption could raise global annual productivity growth by 1.4 percentage points over a decade, although it expects a more delayed impact in emerging market economies.