MOLLY WOOD: At the moment I’m speaking to Julie Candy, chair and CEO of Accenture, a world skilled providers firm that helps companies, governments, and different organizations construct their digital core, optimize their operations, speed up income progress, improve citizen providers, and far, far more. Julie joined Accenture as basic counsel after an extended profession in regulation, and in 2019, she turned the agency’s first feminine CEO in its 35-year historical past. Final yr, Accenture introduced it was investing $3 billion into AI over the following three years, and stated it will improve the variety of employees in its information and AI observe to 80,000 folks. I spoke with Julie about why AI is taking the primary stage at Accenture, the corporate’s personal AI journey, and the way the group is positioning itself and its purchasers to make use of tech, information, and AI to reinvent each a part of its enterprise. Right here’s my dialog with Julie.
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MOLLY WOOD: Julie, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us on WorkLab.
JULIE SWEET: I’m actually excited to be right here, so thanks for having me, Molly.
MOLLY WOOD: Let’s bounce proper into the dialog concerning the funding in AI. Simply final yr, Accenture introduced its dedication to speculate $3 billion into synthetic intelligence and double its AI-focused employees to 80,000 folks, which is considerably greater than most corporations even make use of. These are clearly actually massive numbers, and so let’s begin off with, why this massive wager?
JULIE SWEET: That’s an excellent query, and I’d reply it in two methods. So there’s it from the person and why is it an enormous wager, after which it from an organization. So I’m sufficiently old to have truly taken a typing class on a typewriter. And once we take into consideration the affect on our workers’ and the workers of our purchasers’ particular person productiveness, this to us is sort of a PC second. Now, I’m not saying it’s like a smartphone second, as a result of that’s extra about being on the earth. However when it comes to actually how a lot it’ll change the way in which our workers do their jobs, it’s like once we moved from typewriters to computer systems. And we’re tremendous enthusiastic about that. It truly is rewiring the way in which people work, and that requires an funding, each for us as a agency, however extra importantly, we’re investing to have the ability to assist our purchasers go alongside that journey utilizing our expertise, and the way we’re going to have the ability to assist them with change. In order that’s on the person facet. As a enterprise, within the final 30 years, there isn’t a single expertise that I’ve been capable of rise up in entrance of the CEO of any business and credibly and authentically say that actually each a part of their enterprise, each a part of their enterprise, could have a cloth constructive affect on the highest line and the underside line, due to gen AI.
MOLLY WOOD: Wow.
JULIE SWEET: That could be a fairly highly effective assertion. And that’s why we speak about reinvention. However what that requires is just not merely the expertise. It’s investing in, What does expertise appear like? What does change appear like? How do you rewire it primarily based on processes? And loads of that may be accomplished with Accenture. Investing prematurely to have the ability to assist corporations do this quicker. We prefer to name that compressed transformation.
MOLLY WOOD: I desire a grasp’s thesis on compressed transformation. Are you able to speak a bit bit extra about that idea, as a result of I believe that kind of completely articulates what we’re all feeling in the meanwhile.
JULIE SWEET: It’s humorous, the time period first was coined by us throughout the pandemic as a result of, as we’ll all keep in mind, once we all needed to truly face the place we had been in digital and go browsing, velocity actually mattered. And firms began actually taking up this concept that they didn’t need to do the whole lot sequentially and that they may transfer methods of working and cultures a lot quicker than they ever thought doable earlier than the pandemic, as a result of they needed to be. And from that point, we as an organization actually began investing in, What does it take to maneuver quicker? As we sit right here right now and take a look at the affect of gen AI and the alternatives to vary, we’re truly going through an analogous second in that the facility of gen AI solely comes about if you truly change the way in which you’re working. And so many purchasers right now, they don’t take the step of claiming, right here’s the as is, it throughout the enterprise and never in silos. That is what the to be is. That is how we may truly function otherwise. After which construct in a view of what which means for duties and expertise. And the way in which you get to compressed transformation is that you just don’t merely say, right here’s the expertise and, oh, wait, that’s the end result I need. However you perceive the steps that it is advisable take to truly rewire your organization to get to these outcomes, and we consider that that may be accomplished on a compressed time-frame if you perceive every of the elements, along with the expertise.
MOLLY WOOD: I need to return to the hiring and the folks funding that you’ve got made, this 80,000 AI-focused employees. What does AI-focused imply at Accenture?
JULIE SWEET: So AI-focused, the 80,000, are the people who find themselves getting up day in and day trip and serving to our purchasers create the fitting information basis and use AI actually extra on a technical facet. So create the fitting AI spine or understanding AI in a technical means, after which paired with our business, our useful specialists, to have the ability to truly redefine, like, okay, that’s the as is, what’s truly doable? We make that distinction, initially, as a result of, you recognize, no person has that scale that we even have right now, we consider, the place we began with 40,000 a yr in the past, now we’re at 53,000. We’ll—I believe, I hope—overshoot our 80,000 by the top of 2026. However that could be a sure sort of coaching and understanding that’s wanted. Now on high of that, we have now to coach everybody at Accenture—we have now over 700,000 folks—in gen AI. And we begin with a really robust foundation, as a result of going all the way in which again to 2019, once we stated the following decade can be about utilizing tech information and AI, we began creating Accenture’s future-ready workforce throughout Accenture. We launched one thing known as TQ, the place it doesn’t matter should you work in office—so working our places of work, otherwise you’re a strategist, otherwise you’re a technologist—it’s a must to move a sure variety of assessments on core applied sciences. So we had already skilled 600,000 folks on fundamental, conventional AI—it wasn’t conventional once we had been doing it—when gen AI actually sort of hit the world. Now we’re in fact coaching all of our folks on gen AI.
MOLLY WOOD: And for many who don’t know, you simply talked about TQ, which stands for expertise quotient. I truly need to ask you a bit extra about coaching, particularly, as a result of one of many first issues Accenture did when it comes to AI coaching was create this enterprise case for utilizing Microsoft Copilot, truly as an early adopter. After which I learn that you just insisted that the majority senior leaders, the most-senior leaders, be skilled first, together with your self, since you stated, you recognize, it’s a must to have leaders who perceive the facility of AI, and so they can’t depend on others. Are you able to speak a bit bit extra about that coaching method and what it was like for you?
JULIE SWEET: So, perhaps a bit background, as a result of I believe generally folks will say, like, What’s the enterprise case? And the place can we get the worth? And we’re probably the greatest studying organizations on the earth. We spend over a billion {dollars} yearly, we use studying science and learn how to practice folks. And one of the vital vital issues we’ve realized as we’ve pivoted over the past a number of years to digital cloud and safety is that it’s vital to have a piece and study, so that you just’re not simply sort of studying on a computer-based course and even in a classroom, however that you just truly use it. So it’s a work-and-learn fusion that’s tremendous vital. And so at Accenture we’ll have rolled out to twenty,000 of our folks, together with our most senior leaders, Microsoft Copilot, and my primary level in my enterprise case is that we’re going to run Accenture and we’re going to ship our providers to our purchasers utilizing gen AI. And I would like to have the ability to practice our folks, and it may possibly’t simply be classroom and let me inform you concerning the energy. You must use it. And so I truly began with my most senior leaders, as a result of what we’re telling all of our purchasers—and we, you recognize, we dwell what we are saying—is that so as to make the fitting selections as a CEO or within the C-suite, it’s a must to perceive the expertise at a a lot deeper stage than you probably did different components of the revolution of expertise, like cloud. And we all know that it’s not sufficient to easily inform folks and attempt to practice them, however they should truly use it. So I actually emphasize that as a result of each single CEO says that they’re going to rework utilizing gen AI. They usually’re not specializing in the way you truly make change and the way you practice folks. And so Microsoft Copilot is totally important to vary and transformation. Then on high of that, what we’ve seen in our rollout to date is that our individuals are seeing productiveness will increase, they’re seeing higher engagements as a result of they’re not as drained doing repetitive duties. And as we’re ready to make use of it in additional locations, we’re then making the modifications to truly go from the as is into the to be. If all you do is roll out Microsoft Copilot and also you say, okay, we’ll simply use it in that a part of your job—now you possibly can summarize notes higher—and also you don’t say, what’s the chance to now change the way in which we work, to reorganize into other ways to reap the benefits of that productiveness, then you definately received’t have a enterprise case aside from every particular person might be extra productive. We used to have lots of people making slides and doing stories, and we had complete teams round that, which we’re now altering as a result of we don’t want those self same sorts of teams. We are able to embed it in several teams. So that’s going from the as is to the to be as part of the transformation. And by the way in which, I take advantage of it daily. My favourite operate is the flexibility to summarize notes on the finish of a name. I don’t have to attend for another person to do it. I take a look at them instantly and it’s very clear. I can simply shoot off the following e mail. And that’s superior.
MOLLY WOOD: You might have been quoted as saying that integrating and utilizing AI isn’t about, you recognize, to the purpose you simply made, it’s not about reinventing particular person productiveness, it’s about reinventing processes. And as you begin to see that occur, because the productiveness beneficial properties create the area to think about a brand new sort of course of, how does that then begin to feed your purchasers’ wants? , it kind of feels prefer it’s educating the expansion mindset alongside the adoption.
JULIE SWEET: That’s proper. Properly, let me simply take a concrete instance. If you consider a shopper items firm that has loads of discipline salespeople, proper? As a result of they exit and promote to, let’s say it’s a meals firm. They promote to all people from mom-and-pop retailers to massive field retail or grocery shops. However they’ve discipline gross sales, which right now, previous to the usage of AI and gen AI at scale, about 50 % of their job is extremely administrative. Which means, by the way in which, that after they’re hiring folks, they rent folks that have actually good administrative expertise. They could not have as nice buyer expertise as a result of, on the finish of the day, they’re not getting product out to the shopper except they’re actually ready to do this administrative work. And most corporations have the service, the precise supply, versus the gross sales versus the advertising all somewhere else, and we all know that corporations wrestle with working in silos. We’re working with some shopper items corporations now to interrupt down all of these limitations and have the ability to put within the palms of a discipline salesperson, each single day, the information of issues like, you recognize, Who hasn’t purchased from me from the final three months who I ought to go after? What can be the fitting pitch primarily based on their service and their wants? So somebody telling them, guess what, you guys missed a supply final month and so they had been actually mad primarily based on their emails. So now when he’s strolling or she’s strolling into that retailer, there’s a personalised pitch that takes into consideration the historical past, which prior to those instruments and utilizing gen AI to have the ability to take a look at information that’s not popping out of the methods and that’s coming in emails, that might have taken loads of work, so it didn’t get accomplished. When you consider, then, the facility of this, you out of the blue now offered this shopper with the choice to take their discipline salespeople and both cowl extra territory or get extra environment friendly and take out the underside line. You’ve enabled them to, if they’ve the fitting expertise, construct deeper relationships and maybe introduce totally different providers. And also you’ve modified what it is advisable rent for, since you had been hiring for folks with plenty of administrative expertise. Now you possibly can rent for people who find themselves extra strategic, who’ve higher buyer expertise and subsequently deepen the relationships. That’s what the facility of this expertise permits. We needed to perceive the expertise to take it from this extremely highly effective expertise to delivering worth to these prospects who at the moment are higher served and have extra personalised service to the underside line as a result of they’ve obtained efficiencies, and to the highest line as a result of they’ve now opened up each new providers and maybe a much bigger footprint.
MOLLY WOOD: And also you carry up, truly, I believe one other big subject, since you talked about hiring, retaining expertise, and with the ability to do all of these issues extra effectively. I’m going to focus first on Accenture, which has over 730,000 workers. I imply, it is a laborious quantity for folks to understand, and 200,000 of that quantity has been employed within the final couple of years. How have you ever and the way are you leveraging AI when it comes to making that course of higher and increasing the forms of expertise you would possibly have the ability to search for?
JULIE SWEET: We get roughly 6 million or extra resumes a yr and we rent about 100,000 folks, not internet however complete, as a result of you’ve attrition in that. So, so as to do this, we have now used AI for now a number of years to have the ability to undergo the resumes and actually determine who we need to speak to. Then we have now recruiting pods which are tuned to the type—as a result of we rent all people, from docs to programmers to, you recognize, cyber consultants. So we rent loads of totally different sorts of individuals. And so AI permits us to sift by means of the resumes after which get the resumes to the fitting extremely skilled people to make these selections. So there’s no hiring choice that’s made by AI right now at Accenture, however AI is used to actually assist us. And the proof of how efficient it’s, is throughout the pandemic, when most corporations had been actually struggling to rent. We went from 500,000 folks in 2019 to over 700,000 folks two years into the pandemic. So within the hardest labor market in historical past, and we had been ready to take action due to this high-tech, high-touch hiring.
MOLLY WOOD: What are the, not that we’re making an attempt to offer folks a cheat code to change into one of many 100,000, however what are the abilities that you just search for? You talked concerning the expertise quotient, however I’m wondering, what are a few of the expertise you search for and the way is that evolving, together with the understanding that the work panorama is evolving with the arrival of gen AI.
JULIE SWEET: I believe there’s two actually vital expertise. So, one is the query we ask everybody, whether or not you’re an analyst out of faculty or a senior skilled rent. And we merely say, What have you ever realized within the final six months? It’s an excellent highly effective query, as a result of what we all know for sure is that the ability necessities and the competencies are altering and that we want individuals who prefer to study and embrace studying. So simply take into consideration what we’ve been speaking about right now. The truth that AI goes to rewire and it’s a must to go from an as is to a to be. Properly, beneath all of which are people who find themselves doing the as is, proper? And they also need to study the to be. Take into consideration the place I began, the place I wished my most senior leaders to make use of Copilot to begin to actually study, you recognize, what’s gen AI and the way can it assist us? And so we have now to have an organization of learners. So we search for that as a competency. The second is that we search for nice communication expertise. Now, in fact, we work with loads of purchasers and also you’d say, nicely, perhaps that’s apparent. However, you recognize, I don’t suppose it’s as apparent to many, many corporations, is that if your organization is altering, then we frequently will say about the necessity to have the flexibility to vary, the flexibility to carry folks alongside. And that begins with nice communication expertise. And so that is one thing that we’re each on the lookout for and more and more investing in constructing, as a result of should you’re in a continuing, we consider a continuing state of reinvention resulting from expertise, it’s a must to be actually nice at change. And to be actually nice at change, it’s a must to be nice communicators.
MOLLY WOOD: It seems like an actual alternative, the way in which you’re speaking about approaching folks’s expertise from, as a mindset, for instance. I really feel like consulting is a kind of companies the place it’s identified for having folks from sort of conventional enterprise backgrounds, but in addition individuals who get there in unconventional methods. How do you, and can you proceed, do you suppose, to take extra non-traditional approaches to discovering new expertise? And the way does that contribute to one in all your massive passions, fairness and variety?
JULIE SWEET: Properly, Molly, initially, I outline myself as an unconventional expertise as a result of I began as a lawyer, and I used to be a lawyer for 17 years earlier than I joined Accenture as the final counsel. So, I completely am obsessed with each studying and the truth that it’s vital to look broadly at expertise and to not put folks into buckets. Together with that, as you’re alluding to, we at Accenture are very dedicated to creating new pathways for people who might not have the background however completely have the potential, together with the educational competencies. So within the US, roughly 20 % of our entry-level hiring are apprentices. And our apprentices come from non-traditional backgrounds however have superb potential. And we contemplate that, as we transfer ahead, there’s a good larger alternative as a result of, for instance, we’ll more and more use gen AI to enhance our studying instruments and to assist folks study. We expect that gen AI will proceed to open up alternatives to raised reskill and upskill folks, and so we proceed to have that dedication to offering these pathways in our markets across the world.
MOLLY WOOD: In order that’s nice to listen to, particularly as a result of there are loads of questions on information units and inequalities because it pertains to the recruiting course of.
JULIE SWEET: Properly, I’d actually take us to this idea of accountable AI, and that could be a new competency for corporations. The excellent news is that Accenture, Microsoft are very centered on constructing it into our providers and to the expertise. However, you recognize, we didn’t need to have a accountable PC or a accountable cloud. AI is a really highly effective expertise, and subsequently, as corporations, we have to deal with it identical to different potential challenges. All of us have anti-corruption applications. All of us have information privateness applications. Now we have office compliance applications. Accountable AI is a compliance program, and at Accenture, it’s overseen by the audit committee of our board. And what we are saying to CEOs within the C-suite is that each time you’re looking at a use case for gen AI, you need to be asking the query, What are the dangers and challenges potential on this use case, and the way is our accountable AI program going to mitigate these dangers and monitor them? Tremendous vital.
MOLLY WOOD: And at last, I might be remiss if I didn’t ask you for some recommendation for enterprise leaders. Management is such a key part of compressed transformation. What recommendation are you able to provide enterprise leaders in 2024?
JULIE SWEET: I’d begin with, take a deep breath, proper? [Laughter] As a result of I believe, you recognize, I snigger that I turned a CEO six months earlier than the pandemic. And on the time, we stated, there’s no playbook. Properly, I haven’t encountered something since then for which there’s a playbook, together with now gen AI. So all of us have to offer one another a bit grace, as that is actually an excellent journey and one which I really feel privileged to have. I do need to emphasize that AI is a expertise the place the CEO and senior enterprise leaders actually need to know the expertise so as to have the ability to actually get the worth out of it. As a result of it truly is the wedding of enterprise and expertise that will get the worth.
MOLLY WOOD: Thanks once more. Julie Candy is Chief Government Officer at Accenture. We actually, actually recognize the time right now.
JULIE SWEET: Molly, thanks a lot for having me. It was actually nice to see you.
MOLLY WOOD: Thanks once more to Julie Candy, Chief Government Officer at Accenture. And that’s it for this episode of WorkLab, the podcast from Microsoft. Please subscribe and test again for the following episode of this season, the place I’ll be chatting with Michael Platt, Director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, about what mind science can train us about choice making, crew constructing, and enterprise management. In case you’ve obtained a query or a remark, please drop us an e mail at worklab@microsoft.com. And take a look at Microsoft’s Work Pattern Indexes and the WorkLab digital publication, the place you’ll discover all of our episodes, together with considerate tales that discover how enterprise leaders are thriving in right now’s new world of labor. Yow will discover all of it at microsoft.com/worklab. As for this podcast, please charge us, evaluation us, and comply with us wherever you pay attention. It helps us out a ton. The WorkLab podcast is a spot for consultants to share their insights and opinions. As college students of the way forward for work, Microsoft values inputs from a various set of voices. That stated, the opinions and findings of our company are their very own, and so they might not essentially replicate Microsoft’s personal analysis or positions. WorkLab is produced by Microsoft with Godfrey Dadich Companions and Cheap Quantity. I’m your host, Molly Wooden. Sharon Kallander and Matthew Duncan produced this podcast. Jessica Voelker is the WorkLab editor.
