Accenture, Microsoft and Avanade to empower enterprises

Technology companies Accenture and Microsoft Corp., in conjunction with their joint venture Avanade, have announced the launch of the Accenture Microsoft Business Group. The new group elevates a longstanding strategic alliance, expanding combined service capabilities, global scale and joint solution development to help clients overcome disruption and lead transformation in their industries. Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation.

Clients around the globe are looking to Accenture, Microsoft and Avanade for new strategies and industry solutions to drive innovation and growth in the digital era. In response, 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 Emma McGuigan, senior managing director, Accenture, 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. 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,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology & innovation officer and chairman of the Avanade board. “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.”

“Every company is becoming a digital company. 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,” added Judson Althoff, executive vice president, Worldwide Commercial Business at Microsoft.

“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,” stated Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture Technology Services.

As digital disruption and innovation often occurs 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 artificial intelligence, cloud, security, internet of things and other critical areas.