Accenture continues to have a busy 2020, making investments, closing acquisitions—and changing up its leadership.
Like many companies, Accenture has struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the firm recently revealed that it might have to lay off 5%—or around 25,000—of its global workforce. While the company’s full-year fiscal 2020 results were in line with expectations, its revenues for the full fiscal year increased only 3% compared with fiscal year 2019.
As a result, firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) just became the most-valuable information technology (IT) services company globally, surpassing Accenture for the first time.
In the meantime, Accenture is focused on the future. The company is making a $3 billion investment over three years in Accenture Cloud First, a new multi-service group of 70,000 cloud professionals that will help clients become “cloud first” businesses and accelerate their digital transformation. It also entered into an agreement to acquire N3, a tech-driven sales and demand-generation firm, for an undisclosed sum, and recently made a strategic investment in InCountry, a data residency-as-a-service platform provider.
Now Accenture has announced changes to its Global Management Committee, appointing a new chief strategy officer, and the company is making leadership moves in its U.K. and Ireland business.
Bhaskar Ghosh is now the Chief Strategy Officer, overseeing the company’s strategy and investments, including ventures and acquisitions. He will also continue to lead the growth strategy for Accenture’s Industry X business.
“Bhaskar brings incredible vision and business acumen to his new role as chief strategy officer,” said Julie Sweet, Accenture’s Chief Executive Officer. “Under his leadership, he helped grow Accenture into a technology industry powerhouse and expanded our data, cloud and security offerings. His vast experience will be invaluable as we invest to help our clients become cloud first and transform every aspect of their businesses with technology.”
In addition, Simon Eaves has been named managing director of Accenture in the U.K. and Ireland. Once he begins his new role in January, he will oversee Accenture’s industries and services in those countries. Eaves has been with the company for 20 years, most recently serving as group chief executive of Accenture’s Products organization. Olly Benzecry, who has served as managing director and chairman of Accenture in the U.K. and Ireland since 2011, will continue as chairman until he retires at the end of August 2021.
With these moves, Accenture looks to its strategic future under its new leadership and hopefully positions itself for growth in a post-pandemic market.
