#Bharti Retail selects #Accenture to implement SAP® Solutions for retail

Bharti Retail Limited has selected Accenture to implement SAP® solutions to enable the retailer to more efficiently plan, monitor and track the flow of merchandise and information throughout its supply chain.
Under the contract, Accenture will also implement advanced analytics, planning and financial solutions from SAP, designed to improve the speed of reporting across the organization. This will provide Bharti Retail with actionable business insights and lay a foundation for better decisions for operational and business planning.
“The retail industry today is facing challenges of poor consumer sentiments, supply chain inefficiencies and rising costs", said Raj Jain, MD & CEO, Bharti Retail Limited. “We believe that Accenture’s systems integration capabilities and deep retail industry knowledge, combined with its unrivalled understanding and experience in implementing SAP solutions, will help us simplify and strengthen the efficiency of our business operations and support our efforts to rapidly scale up our business.”
Avinash Vashistha, chairman and managing director for Accenture India, said, “Using advanced analytics and implementing a central planning platform will provide Bharti Retail the insights, flexibility and transparency it needs in its IT operations and supply chain, thereby helping the company to streamline its operations expenditure and improve its profitability.”
Bharti Retail currently operates 212 neighbourhood stores and compact hypermarket formats across 11 Indian states.

Riverside Utilities Selects #Accenture to Implement SAP® Billing in #Odisha

Accenture has been selected by Riverside Utilities Private Limited (RUPL), a franchise of the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU), the largest electricity distribution company in the state of Odisha, to implement and manage a new deployment of the SAP® Billing application.

As part of a three-year agreement, through Accenture Enterprise Services for Utilities, Accenture will assist RUPL to implement and run the new solution, which is designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of meter readings, and customer billing and collections processes. This will help the company enhance its customer service, drive customer satisfaction and reduce complaints. It will also enable the company to better control electricity leakage and more closely monitor its distribution.

“We strive to provide our customers with great service and accurate and timely bills, irrespective of the amount on the bill,” said Mr. SS Vashisht, VP Operations, RUPL. “In order to do that in a cost-effective way, whilst also keeping pace with our customers’ rising expectations, we need a billing system that is robust, agile and able to support our growth agenda. We selected Accenture for the implementation due to its extensive experience with integrating SAP solutions and its vast knowledge of the utilities industry.

Sandeep Dutta, managing director, Accenture’s utilities industry group in India, said, “The challenge faced by regional utilities like RUPL is two-fold; first energy losses tend to be quite high, due to commercial and technical leakage; and secondly they have to service a large population of customers in remote regions. This puts a lot of pressure on costs and infrastructure. This new billing solution will help RUPL better manage these costs, while also driving improvements to its customer service.”

Accenture, Top Banks in Asia Launch ‘FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific’

A group of 10 leading financial institutions and Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today launched an Asia-Pacific-wide competitive search for the region’s top financial technology innovators.  Selected companies will participate in the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, a 12-week program that helps early- and growth-stage financial technology innovators accelerate product development and gain exposure to top-level financial industry executives. Further information is available at www.fintechinnovationlabapac.com and applications will be accepted between July 1, 2014 and July 31, 2014

Entrepreneurs developing potentially game-changing technologies for financial services – particularly in the areas of Big Data and analytics, mobile and wireless, payments, risk management, security, compliance, and social media and collaboration technologies – are invited to apply. Senior executives from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Barclays, China Construction Bank (Asia), DBS, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Ping An and UBS will select the winning applicants and provide mentoring to entrepreneurs from across Asia-Pacific who attend the program in Hong Kong.

Accenture and 10 leading banks in Asia launch 'FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific'. http://t.co/4C7mxKyS6a
— Accenture (@Accenture) June 11, 2014

“Hong Kong’s role as a regional hub for the banking industry and the gateway for China investment made it an ideal location to launch our new Asia-Pacific Lab,” said Sushil Saluja, senior managing director of Accenture’s Asia-Pacific Financial Services practice. “By fostering the development of the next generation of financial technology companies, the Lab will further strengthen Hong Kong’s status as one of the world’s leading financial capitals.”

The FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific is modeled on a similar program that was co-founded by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City in 2010. The New York Lab’s 18 alumni companies have raised more than $76 million in venture financing after participating in the program; one participant was acquired for $175 million.  In 2012, the FinTech Innovation Lab London was launched by Accenture and a dozen major banks in London, with support from the city’s mayor and other government bodies. The majority of the participants in the inaugural program have gone on to sign deals with banks and collectively they have raised $10 million in new financing since participating.

Global investment in fintech ventures has more than tripled from $928 million in 2008 to $2.97 billion in 2013, according to a recent report by Accenture. During the same period, investment in Asia-Pacific fintech ventures has increased nearly fourfold to $104 million in 2013.

#Accenture to Help Azure Power Expand its Solar Generation Business

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has been selected by Azure Power, India’s leading independent solar power producer, to implement an SAP® enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to support and drive growth in its solar generation business.

As part of the agreement, Accenture will provide implementation services in support of the SAP solution to Azure Power to help strengthen its business processes and improve planning, budgeting, forecasting, supply chain and revenue projections. The new solution will help the company scale its rapidly expanding solar footprint across India and will enable more effective management of complex business transactions.

“We are leading the solar revolution in India by bringing the cost of solar energy from INR 17.97/KWhr in 2010 to INR 5.45/KWhr in 2014 and are working with the Government and all stakeholders to reach grid parity by 2017,” said Inderpreet Wadhwa, CEO of Azure Power Ltd. “While we are growing at a very fast pace, it is essential for us to have our core business processes automated with adequate controls in place and we are excited to start our relationship with Accenture to manage our growth better.”

Sandeep Dutta, managing director in Accenture’s Resources operating group in India, said, “We are seeing an increasing number of independent providers entering the market to take advantage of the opportunity offered by solar but it is critical that these companies have the right business framework in place to support the fast pace of growth in this sector. We look forward to working with Azure Power to implement integrated and agile business processes that can help it outperform the competition and deliver on its expansion strategy.”

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 289,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Azure Power Ltd
Azure Power is India's leading independent solar power producer and has been at the forefront of developments in the sector since its inception in 2007. With implementation of better technology, competent team and sustainable business models Azure aims to provide solar energy as the most affordable and reliable power generation in the country. Azure Power is driving India’s economic development by delivering clean and lowest cost solar power to communities, governments, and commercial customers throughout India. Azure develops, constructs, owns and operates solar power plants in various parts of the country. Its home page is www.azurepower.com.

Accenture 10-Country Study Finds Singapore, Norway and UAE Lead in Digital Government

A new comparative study  by Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has found that Singapore, Norway and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) rank first, second and third, respectively, among 10 countries in their use of “digital government” — from offering online portals to access public services to employing digital channels and social media to communicate and engage with citizens.

The countries in the study  — Brazil, Germany, India, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the United Kingdom and the United States — were measured against the following criteria and given a cumulative score from one to 10:
Citizen Service Delivery Experience: The extent to which government agencies are citizen-centric, leveraging multichannel and cross-government public service delivery and initiating proactive communications, education and the use of social media for engagement.
§  Citizen Satisfaction: The extent to which citizens believe governments are meeting their needs and providing quality services.

§  Service Maturity: The level to which a government has developed a digital presence, in terms of publishing, interactions and online transactions.

The majority of countries that scored best in the study have made a sustained investment in digital government.  Top-ranked Singapore, for example, will be one of the first countries to ensure that every citizen has an electronic health record. The highest-ranking countries also actively seek and listen to citizen feedback.  In Norway, 78 percent of citizens believe that government should consult with them in the design and delivery of public services, which indicates a highly engaged population.

According to the report, high-performing digital governments are:
Focusing on their digital strategy, which is deeply embedded in the government agenda and public reforms.
Continuing long-term investment in key information and communication technology (ICT) assets and the digitalization of core public services, such as taxation, pensions and healthcare.
Leveraging the power of new technologies, such as social media, mobility, analytics, big data and cloud computing
Connected across agency boundaries and have a strong culture of collaboration and data sharing.
Digital Citizens

To determine citizens’ perceptions of digital government, Accenture surveyed 5,000 people across the 10 countries in the study. The survey found that the majority of respondents – 81 percent – would like their government to provide more services through digital channels and most, 64 percent, would like to use social media to engage with government.

“Citizens interact online with retailers and banks and they also want to engage digitally with their government, connecting via mobile devices 24-7,” said Bernard Le Masson, who leads Accenture’s Health & Public Service global management consulting business. “Citizen demand for digital services is even stronger in emerging markets, such as India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where 80 percent of citizens said they would like to communicate with government via social media and on their mobiles.”

However, the survey found that less than 40 percent of the citizens surveyed are satisfied with the quality of public services their country currently provides. In fact, the study found that as the more mature markets – like the United States and the United Kingdom — face significant budget challenges, they are more focused on cost cutting and must weigh expanding digital initiatives against the mandate to reduce government expenditure. This can take its toll on citizen satisfaction, evidenced by the results of the U.S. citizen survey, which showed that only 28 percent of respondents are satisfied with the quality of their public services, and most don't think government is prioritizing their needs appropriately.

By contrast, 80 percent of the survey respondents in the UAE said their government is proactively addressing their priorities in health, employment and education. According to Le Masson, the UAE is an emerging leader in digital government and its portal “My Gov” is a good example of a single, all-encompassing channel for citizens to communicate with all federal government entities.

“New digital technologies emphasizing speed and mobility are not only changing the way we live, work and interact with each other, but they are providing unprecedented opportunities for government to radically transform complex bureaucracies and become more agile, citizen-centric, efficient and innovative,” Le Masson added. “As governments become more digital and work toward ensuring that most citizens have online access, digital skills, and a voice in in the design of public services, they are experiencing higher levels of engagement, accountability and public trust.”

Methodology

Accenture conducted a comprehensive review of digital government in 10 countries — Brazil, Germany, India, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States— and developed a cumulative score from one to 10 based on three factors:  citizen service delivery experience (weighted 50 percent), service maturity (weighted 10 percent) and citizen satisfaction (weighted 40 percent).  To measure citizen service delivery experience, Accenture conducted a quantitative analysis of the 10 countries by evaluating services offered at the federal or central-government level to ensure direct comparisons across the countries.  Service maturity measured a government’s online or digital presence, such as providing portals to access information about government services.  (Note: The importance of this factor was given less weight in the country rankings since e-government has become ubiquitous and less of a differentiator among countries.) To gauge citizen satisfaction, Accenture also had IPSOS Mori conduct an online survey of 5,000 citizens across the 10 countries in October 2013 to assess their opinions of how government is meeting their needs and their perceptions on the quality of services government is providing.

Learn more about Accenture’s global program Delivering Public Service for the Future.
Accenture brings global experience and private-sector innovation to inspire government agencies to explore new opportunities to deliver better public services, while meeting increasing citizen demands at sustainable costs, by making four fundamental shifts: moving from standardized to personalized services, reactive to insight driven, public management to public entrepreneurship, and piecemeal efficiency to mission productivity. Organizations doing this are delivering public service for the future—supporting a flourishing society, safe and secure nation and economic vitality for citizens.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 281,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com

Accenture India healthcare Report 2014

A new report launched by Accenture titled ‘Delivering e-Health in India – Analysis and Recommendations’ focuses on the access to healthcare systems in India as per global and regional standards. The report highlights the current status of the Indian healthcare industry and its growth in the past decade. It identifies that greater healthcare funding cannot guarantee better access to the healthcare facilities, unless accompanied by powerful and innovative interventions to improve the healthcare ecosystem.

 While the system has evolved in India over the past 50-60 years, the coverage and service levels of the entire public health ecosystem remains inadequate. Indian healthcare system continues to suffer from underfunding and poor governance which have created significant inequities in providing basic health care. While India’s healthcare expenditure has increased in the past and the government plans to increase the same further to nearly 2.5% of the GDP in the 12th five year plan, India has invested less public money in health than most comparable countries. India’s overall health spending does reach 6% of the GDP but most of that is private money.

 Major challenges hampering the growth of the healthcare sector and therefore the delivery of healthcare services are:


1.       Substantial gaps in healthcare infrastructure: Hospital bed density in India has stagnated at 0.9 per 1000 population since 2005 and falls significantly short of WHO laid guidelines of 3.511 per 1000 patients' population. Moreover, there is a huge inequity in utilization of facilities at the village, district and state levels with state level facilities remaining the most strained.

2.       Low healthcare insurance service coverage leads to high levels of out of pocket spending: Nearly 80% of spend in India is out-of pocket, primarily due to with extremely limited insurance coverage, both personal and government funded. Research has shown that the proportion of medical and healthcare expenditure in overall personal consumption has risen considerably over the years.

3.       Medical manpower remains inadequate: India is currently known to have approximately 600,000 doctors and 1.6 mn nurses. This translates into one doctor for every 1,800 people. The recommended WHO guidelines suggest that there should be 1 doctor for every 600 people. This translates into a resource gap of approximately 1.4 mn doctors and 2.8 mn nurses. There is also a clear disparity in the man power present in the rural and urban areas.

“Our report identifies the importance of shifting from ‘infrastructure focus’ to ‘productivity focus’ to generate corresponding improvements in India’s healthcare access. This can only be achieved if larger fund allocation for healthcare is accompanied by effective and innovative interventions to improve the existing healthcare ecosystem in order to achieve global standards,” said Krishna Giri, managing director, Health & Public Services, Accenture in India  He also added, “Comprehensive adoption of Information Technology and digitization of systems to improve access to these services is central to the success of these projects”.

It is also imperative to note that the comprehensive adoption of Information Technology (IT) practices is central to the success of these recommendations. The adoption of IT in Health Facilities in India has been abysmal at best. While it is definitely a cause for concern, it is imperative to understand the various drivers and roadblocks of health IT adoption in India, in order to ensure the successful implementation of the recommendations made in this report.



The report proposes five key measures that Accenture believes will have the most significant impact on improving healthcare access in India:



1.       Implementing hospital information systems and records digitization: Hospital Information System is the Health IT systems recommended to improve delivery of healthcare services to the public. It is an integrated system designed to manage the administrative, financial and clinical aspects of a hospital and its services.



2.       Automation of supply chain: Supply chain management system for drugs, vaccines and other consumables, along with equipment and other hard assets, is the cornerstone of all successful healthcare systems. The most critical components of the same are cold chain and logistics systems.



3.       Empowering Citizens through Information Dissemination: A citizen portal would aim at providing information and services transparently to public with the vision to enhance the citizen’s experience. Citizen portal implementation would lead to Better Messaging, Greater Efficiency, and Improved Citizen Engagement.



4.       Handheld based data collection: Given the limitations of providing hard IT infrastructure in the vast reaches of rural India, it is proposed that handheld based data collection modules would result in significant advantages.



5.       Analytics-enabled real time disease surveillance:    With real time surveillance costs, and ‘time-to-reaction’ are significantly lowered, leading to not only economic savings, but a much more efficient outbreak intervention mechanism as well.

The recommended interventions will have a potential impact throughout the patient life cycle in the healthcare system. They can address several inefficiencies in the healthcare value chain in India, and provide increased healthcare access to citizens, without significantly increasing the spending on the same. While most of these proposed interventions have either been rolled out, or envisaged in parts of India, the implementation, almost always, has been partial or incomplete. What seems to be required is a whole-hog approach to the country-wide rollout of these interventions, failing which, the real benefits may not be fully realized.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 281,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
 

Accenture Technology Vision 2014 Identifies Six IT Trends Driving Digital Power Shift

The days of innovative, technology-focused start-ups being the only market disrupters and growing faster than their larger, more established competitors may be coming to an end, according to a new report by Accenture (NYSE: ACN), as large enterprises are starting to take advantage of their size, skills and scale to transform into truly digital businesses.

The Accenture Technology Vision 2014 identifies six technology trends that are enabling large enterprises to join those start-ups previously recognized as market disrupters in pushing the boundaries of innovation and taking advantage of digital technologies for competitive advantage. The report finds leading enterprises are pursuing digital strategies that leverage mobility, analytics, and cloud to improve business processes, take advantage of real-time intelligence, expand the boundaries of traditional workforces, and transform the way data is managed and used.

 “We’re seeing large enterprises – armed with the resources, scale and drive to reinvent themselves through digital transformation – reasserting leadership in their markets,” said Paul Daugherty, chief technology officer, Accenture. “Leading companies are adopting digital to drive their processes more effectively and transform how they go to market, collaborate with partners, engage with customers, and manage transactions. Digital is rapidly becoming part of the fabric of their operating DNA and they are poised to become the digital power brokers of tomorrow.”

 The six IT trends identified as driving the digital power shift are:

 Digital-Physical Blur – Extending intelligence to the edge: The real world is coming online as wearable devices, smart objects and machines provide us with real-time intelligence, changing how we live and how businesses operate. This new layer of connected intelligence augments workforce capabilities, automates processes, and incorporates machines into our lives. For consumers, this provides new levels of empowerment, and for organizations, getting real-time, relevant data means both machines and employees can act and react faster and more intelligently in virtually any situation. In healthcare, for example, Koninklijke Philips N.V. is running a pilot Google Glass™ application that allows physicians wearing the display to simultaneously monitor a patient’s vital signs and react to surgical procedural developments, without needing to turn away from the patient or procedure.

 From Workforce to Crowdsource – The rise of the borderless enterprise: Picture a workforce that extends beyond its employees, consisting of any willing individual connected to the Internet. Technology now allows organizations to tap into vast pools of resources around the world, just as companies like MasterCard Incorporated and Facebook Inc. do through organizations such as Kaggle Inc., a global network of computer scientists, mathematicians, and data scientists who compete to solve problems ranging from finding the best airline flights to optimizing retail-store locations. Channelling such efforts to achieve business goals is a challenge, but the opportunity is enormous: tapping an immense, agile workforce that is not only well-suited to solving some of today’s toughest business problems, but also, in many cases, is motivated enough to do it for free.

 Data supply chain – Changing the way data is handled to put information into broader circulation: Data technologies are evolving rapidly, but most have been adopted in a piecemeal fashion. As a result, enterprise data is vastly underutilized. Currently, just one in five organizations integrates data across the enterprise[1]. To truly unlock data’s potential value, companies must start treating it more as a supply chain, enabling its easy and useful flow through their entire organizations, and eventually throughout their ecosystems, too. Companies such as Google Inc. and Walgreens Co. have adopted this approach by opening up APIs; more than 800,000 websites now use Google MapsTM data, and third-party developers are able to include the ability to scan barcodes from Walgreens’ prescription bottles into their apps to make it easier for people to refill prescriptions.

Harnessing Hyperscale – Hardware is back (and never really went away): The hardware world is now a hotbed of innovation as demand soars for bigger and faster data centers. Advances in areas such as power consumption, processers, solid state memory, and infrastructure architectures are giving enterprises new opportunities to massively scale, increase efficiency, drive down costs, and enable their systems to perform at higher levels than ever before. As companies digitize their businesses, more and more will see hardware as essential to enabling their next wave of growth.

 Business of Applications – Software as a core competency in the digital world: Mimicking the shift in the consumer world, enterprises are rapidly adopting apps in a push for greater operational agility. According to Accenture research, 54% of the highest-performing IT teams have already deployed enterprise app stores[2], facilitating this shift towards simple, modular apps for employees. IT leaders and business leaders must establish who plays what role in app development in their new digital organizations, as pressure for change is driven by the business. They must also transform the app development process itself, in order to take advantage of new technologies quickly, support regular software iterations, and, ultimately accelerate business growth.

 Architecting Resilience – “Built to survive failure” is the mantra of the non-stop business: In the digital era, businesses are expected to support the non-stop demands placed on their processes, services and systems. This has ripple effects throughout an organization, especially in the CIO’s office where the need for “always on” infrastructure can mean the difference between “business as usual” and the erosion of brand value. Companies such as Netflix, Inc., which uses automated testing tools to deliberately attack its systems as a means to increase resiliency, are among today’s IT leaders. These companies ensure that their systems are designed and built for failure, taking advantage of modular technologies and advanced testing processes rather than designing to specifications.

 “These key trends build on those we have seen over the past couple of years,” continued Daugherty. “Last year, we declared that every business is a digital business, whether its leaders acknowledged that or not. Now, we see that digital technologies run through every facet of the highest-performing businesses. Looking at the shifts in technology and the impact they’re having on the strategies and operational priorities of organizations around the world, we believe there are tremendous opportunities for every C-suite executive to be a digital disruptor – to reinvent and redefine their business to create lasting competitive advantage.”

 For nearly 15 years, Accenture has taken a systematic look across the enterprise landscape to identify emerging IT trends that hold the greatest potential to disrupt businesses and industries.  For more information on this year’s report please visit www.accenture.com/technologyvision or follow the conversation on Twitter with #TechVision2014.



About the Methodology

Accenture’s Technology Vision is developed annually by the Accenture Technology Labs. For the 2014 report, Accenture researchers and scientists developed hypotheses about information technology developments that they expect to have a significant impact on businesses over the next three to five years.  Accenture also employed social collaboration techniques and crowdsourcing to solicit input and suggestions from thousands of its own employees. Other sources used for the report include trends identified by industry analysts, themes at conferences, academic literature, and Accenture’s original research into the characteristics of high-performing IT organizations.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 281,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013.  Its home page is www.accenture.com

Accenture Consumer Survey Reveals Market Opportunities in Wearable Technologies

In a consumer electronics world dominated by smart­phones, HDTVs, laptop computers and tablet PCs, a new market category is generating significant consumer buying interest: wearable technologies. A new Accenture (NYSE: ACN) survey (Accenture Digital Consumer Tech Survey 2014) found that more than half of consumers (52 percent) are interested in buying wearable technologies such as fitness monitors for tracking physical activity and managing their personal health. The survey of more than 6,000 people in six countries – Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- showed that many are also interested in buying smart watches (46 percent) and Internet-connected eyeglasses (42 percent).

Wearable technologies deliver a wide range of capabilities: fitness monitors track a person’s heart rate and calories burned, while Internet-connected eyeglass displays enable consumers to browse the Internet, take digital photos and receive hands-free notifications. Among the six countries, consumers in India were most interested in buying fitness monitors (80 percent), smart watches (76 percent) and Internet-enabled eyeglasses (74 percent).

“In the past year wearable technologies have emerged as the next big consumer electronics market category, particularly for health and wellness,” said Mattias Lewren, global managing director of Accenture’s Electronics and High-Tech industry group. “To capitalize on this growth opportunity, consumer electronics companies should consider investing in wearable product innovation and industrial design, and building ecosystems that connect wearables to the broader array of interactive digital networks. Every consumer is a digital consumer, and the keen interest in wearable technology provides further evidence of that.”

In addition, the survey found significant consumer interest in purchasing phablets, an emerging category of mobile devices that combine smartphone and tablet PC functions while featuring a screen size of five-to-seven inches -- in between a traditional smartphone and a tablet PC. The survey also unveiled strong purchase plans over the next year for traditional smartphones, HDTVs, laptops and tablet PCs.

Consumers crave phablets

More than half of consumers (52 percent) who plan to buy a traditional smartphone in the next year indicated they would prefer a phablet. And while interest in phablets was significant, the surveyed also revealed that consumers continue to show strong interest in buying traditional smartphones and tablet PCs.  During the next year, for instance, 52 percent plan to purchase a smartphone and 40 percent a tablet PC. Similarly, 41 percent intend to buy a HDTV and 38 percent a laptop. Consumers’ plans to buy these four types of multi-function devices – typically the most popular product categories in consumer electronics -- far exceed the percentages that plan to purchase single-function devices such as home game consoles (25 percent), Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation units (23 percent) and ebook readers (22 percent).

High interest across the board in India

Consistent with their keen interest in buying wearable technologies, consumers in India ranked highest among the six countries in the percentages that plan to buy consumer electronics products during the next year in numerous categories. For example, 80 percent plan to buy a smartphone; more than two-thirds (69 percent) a HDTV; nearly two-thirds (65 percent) a traditional tablet PC, and almost two-thirds (63 percent) a laptop PC.

“India is clearly a major growth market for consumer electronics,” said Lewren. “Craving more personalized digital experiences, the country’s consumers rank among the world’s most willing to pay for and use consumer electronics devices -- including wearable technologies.”

Methodology
In October and November 2013, Accenture conducted an online survey of 6,021 consumers in six countries: Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The sample in each country is representative of the online population, with respondents ranging in age from 14 to 55 and over. The survey polled respondents about interest in buying numerous consumer electronics devices such as: 3D TVs; 4K TVs; basic mobile phones; desktop PCs; ebook readers; GPS navigation devices; in-vehicle entertainment systems; HDTVs; home game consoles; laptop PCs; portable gaming devices; regular TV; TV set-top box/cable boxes; smartphones; tablet PCs, and wearable devices.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 281,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013.  Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Helps Modernize India’s Maharashtra Sales Tax Department

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is undertaking a management consulting project  to help transform the Maharashtra Government’s Department of Sales Tax to maximize revenue collection and strengthen its enforcement function.

Accenture also will identify a service provider to upgrade the department’s technology infrastructure with the goal of increasing efficiency and updating record maintenance so historical data will be easier to access and identify.  The improvements also are expected to make it easier for taxpayers to interact with the department.


“The Department of Sales Tax is a major revenue collecting body for the government of Maharashtra, contributing about 60 percent of all revenue,” said Nilaya Varma, managing director for Accenture’s Health & Public Service management consulting business in India. “The project will facilitate improved business processes and create multiple channels for service delivery, facilitating prompt action that will lead to improved services and more interactive communication.”

The state of Maharashtra has always been a leader in automation in the government sector, and the programs it implements will become a benchmark for other states, Varma added.



Dr. Nitin Kareer, Indian Administrative Services, is commissioner of Sales Tax. Kareer said that a comprehensive automation of the department identified issues like flexibility, scalability and integrity of data in the current system.


“Compounding the matter were the needs of departmental staff which have increased to include workflow automation and smarter systems that can aid in decision making. Accenture has spearheaded a multitude of projects in analytics consulting and, through this partnership, we hope to achieve efficiency in our existing processes,” Kareer said. “The simplification and streamlining of  procedures will support the department in achieving a better control on tax evasion with the help of technology. It also will help in reducing administrative overhead, which is another plus in a time of economic uncertainties.”

Learn more about Accenture’s work with public service agencies around the world and its global program, Delivering Public Service for the Future.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013.  Its home page is www.accenture.com

Janalakshmi Financial Services Teams up with Accenture to Scale Up Operations

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), one of India’s leading microfinance organizations, have signed a five-year agreement in which Accenture will provide business process outsourcing and IT services designed to help the client rapidly scale up its operations to deliver microloans to India’s poor.

 Under the agreement, Accenture will manage JFS’s customer and account master data and provide processing, reconciliation and reporting services as part of their customer onboarding and processing operations. It will also manage JFS’s application platform including its core banking system, customer relationship management software, and employee portal and website.


“The opportunity for serving the unbanked population in India is large and our recent equity raise positions us well to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Ramesh Ramanathan, Chairman, Janalakshmi Financial Services. “Our opportunity for growth rests on unwavering focus to serve the financial underserved Indian population with leading technology and sound processes. With Accenture delivering core IT and business processes, we will be more agile, more scalable, and far better positioned to serve our clients across India.”



Accenture will also provide application maintenance services to support third-party technologies and work proactively with JFS to help identify new technology opportunities. Accenture also will provide infrastructure outsourcing services -- including end-user device management and network and server management.


Piyush Singh, Managing Director and Head of Accenture’s Financial Services group in India said, “As an innovator in Indian financial services, Janalakshmi Financial Services is positioned to play an important part in bringing the unbanked Indian population under the banking umbrella. With an integrated approach comprising business process outsourcing and technology, Accenture can deliver higher-value services to help JFS drive operational excellence, and enable its management team to keep the focus on its customers and on increasing financial inclusion in India. We are committed to supporting the company’s growth tied to tangible business outcomes and we are delighted to support their journey to become a high performer in an important and exciting new chapter for Indian financial inclusion.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013.  Its home page is www.accenture.com



About Janalakshmi Financial Services

Janalakshmi Financial Services (Janalakshmi) is a for-profit NBFC-MFI with assets of more than INR 12 Billion as on date, with the entire promoter stake held in a not-for-profit, Jana Urban Foundation. This is the only NBFC-MFI in India structured in such a manner, with the deliberate intent of keeping the social spirit intact. Janalakshmi’s market-based approach to financial inclusion is defined by three distinct characteristics: first, an exclusive focus on servicing the needs of the poor; second, a strong customer-value driven approach in designing financial products and services; third, the centrality of technology and processes as the foundation of a scalable enterprise (for more information on www.janalakshmi.com).

Global CEOs Remain Committed to Sustainability:UN Global Compact and Accenture Study

More than two thirds of chief executives - 67 percent - believe that business is not doing enough to address global sustainability challenges, according to a survey by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture (NYSE: ACN). Amid evidence that CEOs are strongly committed to embedding sustainability throughout their organizations, the vast majority now call for action to incentivize and reward sustainability leaders and unlock the full potential of the private sector.

Business leaders’ views on the private sector’s progress in addressing global sustainability challenges are detailed in the survey of 1,000 CEOs. It is the latest triennial global poll by the UN Global Compact and Accenture, and the largest such study of top executives ever conducted on sustainability. Published in The UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study on Sustainability 2013: Architects of a Better World, the study also includes in depth interviews with 75 CEOs and an analysis of those companies that successfully combine sustainability leadership with market leading business performance.

As the UN Global Compact continues to see rapid growth, with almost 8,000 corporate participants, the study demonstrates broadening awareness on the part of global business of the opportunities presented by sustainability. Fully 78 percent of surveyed CEOs see sustainability as a route to growth and innovation, and 79 percent believe that it will lead to competitive advantage in their industry. However, CEOs see the economic climate and a range of competing priorities creating obstacles to embedding sustainability at scale within their companies.

This year, 93 percent of respondents say that environmental, social and governance issues are important to the future of their business, the same proportion as the previous study in 2010. But the proportion describing sustainability as very important has fallen from 54 percent to 45 percent, including only 34 percent of CEOs in Europe. While 84 percent believe that business should lead the way in addressing sustainability challenges, they point to a number of barriers:
·         A lack of financial resources is the leading barrier to advancing sustainability, cited by 51 percent of respondents; 40 percent say that economic conditions have made it difficult to embed sustainability into core business.


·         The failure to make a link between sustainability and business value is the fastest rising barrier. In 2007, 18 percent said this deterred them from taking further action, rising to 30 percent in 2010.  This year, 37 percent of responding CEOs cited this factor, and just 38 percent believe they can accurately quantify the business value of sustainability.


·         Only 15 percent of responding CEOs think business has made good progress over the last three years in making sustainability a must-have factor for consumers, even though 82 percent think this is critical to harnessing sustainability as a transformative force in the economy. Almost half (46 percent) believe consumers will always consider sustainability as secondary to price, quality and availability.


·         In a sign of investor ambivalence, although 52 percent of respondents see investor interest as an incentive for them to advance sustainability practices, only 12 percent of respondents see investor pressure as a leading motivator. Nevertheless, only a small minority of CEOs (15 percent) blame the short-termism of financial markets as a barrier, and 69 percent believe that investor interest will be increasingly important in guiding their approach.


“As the CEO study reflects, the challenge at hand is to unlock the full potential of corporate sustainability to transform markets and societies around the world,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “With thousands of companies, from market leaders to small enterprises, committed to responsible business practices, we can see that there is enormous momentum. Now, we need policymakers, investors and consumers to send the right signals to spur the next level of corporate sustainability action, innovation and collaboration.”

A call for partnerships with governments and market intervention
CEOs are demanding greater collaboration between business, governments and policymakers, according to the survey. Forty two percent of respondents now list governments among their top three stakeholders in sustainability, a rise from 32 percent in 2007. Eighty three percent of respondents think more efforts by governments to provide the enabling environment will be integral to the private sector’s ability to advance sustainability. Specifically, 85 percent demand clearer policy and market signals to support green growth.
When asked which policy tools should be prioritized, 55 percent point to regulation and standards and 43 percent call for governments to adjust subsidies and incentives. A further 31 percent seek intervention through taxation. Softer measures, such information and voluntary approaches, are supported by only 21 percent of CEOs.
“CEOs’ initial optimism has given way to the belief that the constraints of market structures and incentives prevent them from embedding sustainability at the heart of their business,” said Sander van ‘t Noordende, Group CEO, Accenture Management Consulting. “Many would now welcome government action to reshape market rules.  But before taking this step, business leaders should recognize that even in today’s imperfect markets, high performing companies do manage to combine commercial and sustainable success. These companies are harnessing sustainability as an opportunity for growth, innovation and differentiation, and demonstrate that sustainable business is good business.”

High Performers in Sustainability
Using Accenture’s methodology to assess high-performing companies, the report identifies a number of approaches most likely to be taken by what the study categorizes as “Transformational Leaders”, those assessed as sustainability leaders that also outperform their industry peers on traditional business metrics.  These companies more readily accept that the world is not on track to meet the needs of a growing population and that business is not doing enough. They are also more committed to engaging consumers, local communities, policy makers, investors and other stakeholders.  The analysis reveals that these leaders set an example for other businesses by being more likely to:
·         See sustainability as an opportunity for growth and innovation, according to 81 percent of Transformational Leaders, by accessing new markets, developing new products and services, and differentiating their offerings through superior social and environmental performance.

·         Go beyond measuring their emissions and mitigation efforts to fully quantify and track the positive value of sustainability to their company and their impact on the communities in which they operate; 81 percent of Transformational Leaders practice integrated reporting of financial and sustainable metrics.

·         Invest in innovation and deploy new technologies to advance sustainability. These include more sustainable and efficient uses of energy, data analytics to better manage resource consumption, machine-to-machine technologies and closed loop business models; 95 percent of Transformational Leaders report that they will invest in and deploy new technologies on sustainability in the next five years.

“CEOs are clearly disappointed that markets have not aligned with sustainability in the way they had hoped three years ago and would like to see more action from governments to create an enabling environment. But the good news is that they have not lost faith in the role of business to drive sustainability,” Peter Lacy, the study lead from 2007 to 2013, and managing director, Accenture Sustainability and Strategy Services, Asia Pacific. “To move from incremental to large scale transformation, businesses must accept that instead of  persuading consumers about sustainability they must give them sustainable products and services they want at prices they can afford. And instead of showing investors the savings made from sustainability, the will have to demonstrate the positive business value it can generate.”

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 266,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Learn more at: www.accenture.com/ungcstudy

About the UN Global Compact
The UN Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to voluntarily align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues. By doing so, business can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere. Endorsed by chief executives, the UN Global Compact is a leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible corporate policies and practices. Launched in 2000, it is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world—with over 12,000 signatories from business and key stakeholder groups in 145 countries, and more than 100 Local Networks. www.unglobalcompact.org

Accenture Expands Product Lifecycle Management Expertise with Acquisition of PRION Group

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced its intent to acquire PRION Group – a leading consulting and systems integrator that specializes in Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software. The acquisition will strengthen Accenture’s PLM skills and enhance its ability to help clients deliver products to customers faster and more efficiently.

PRION Group provides PLM strategy and process consultancy, system implementation, data migration, application management and PLM as a managed service. With the acquisition of PRION Group, Accenture will expand its end-to-end PLM offering by combining PRION Group’s full range of PLM services with Accenture’s existing PLM capabilities. Combining PRION Group with Accenture’s management consulting, technology and outsourcing capabilities will create a market-leading global PLM offering for a range of industries, including industrial equipment, automotive, consumer goods, and aerospace and defense.

Koen Deryckere, senior managing director with Accenture said: “With manufacturing companies spending as much as 25 percent of their revenues on innovation and product development, PLM can help them avoid investments  in products that are either late to market or don’t fully address customer requirements. The combination of PRION Group’s PLM specialist skills and Accenture’s industrialized delivery methodologies and global scale will help clients tackle the fragmented system and process landscape in the product development space, which many companies face today.”

PRION Group’s skilled workforce specializes in implementing Siemens PLM Software to help clients achieve the maximum business benefits the software can provide by improving product data management, reducing development times and more efficiently delivering products to customers faster. PRION Group’s clients span a range of industries, including automotive, aerospace and defense, transportation and engineering and consumer electronics.

Dr. Joseph Unger, managing partner of PRION Group, said: “The combined capabilities of PRION Group and Accenture will enable us to offer clients the full range of services needed to improve the critical processes that get products to market quicker and more efficiently. We will help tackle key pain points of PLM projects and support clients as they seek to reduce the cost of PLM activities while increasing the traceability of products and data transparency.”

Frank Riemensperger, country managing director for Accenture Germany said: “The engineering lifecycle of products increasingly draws on a complex mix of mechanical, electrical and software elements, all of which require different development techniques. Truly understanding and managing dependencies and integration requires a robust set of PLM capabilities. This acquisition will allow us to rapidly expand our PLM capabilities with a strong focus on Siemens PLM technology, thanks to the experience and skills of the PRION Group staff in helping clients unlock new value and efficiencies through critical process improvement.”

“Industry 4.0 concepts will dramatically increase the incidence of sensor-equipped materials and components along the manufacturing cycle,” Riemensperger added. “These provide data and updates that allow companies to further optimize production and become more flexible, complimenting PLM-driven activities around increased efficiency and reduced time-to-market.”

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Stuttgart, PRION Group is a privately held company with more than 330 employees. It has offices in Munich, Nuremberg, Zurich, Oxford, Portland, Detroit, Bangalore, Pune and Singapore.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 266,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About PRION Group
PRION Group, headquartered in Stuttgart, is a major global Siemens PLM Software partner for the implementation of Teamcenter, NX and Solid Edge. Worldwide, over 330 PRION Group experts provide business-driven and highly standardized PLM and CAD solutions to industry leading companies from offices in Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremberg, Zurich, Oxford, Portland, Detroit, Bangalore, Pune and Singapore.

Accenture research finds more women are satisfied with their current job and are not looking for new job opportunities

 New global research from Accenture, titled “The Path Forward,” has found that a greater number of women (40%) are satisfied with their current job and are not looking for new job opportunities as compared to men (28%). The research further reveals that 80% of the respondents in India stayed at their jobs longer than they may have otherwise because of a flexible work arrangement. Family responsibility is the most commonly cited reason to work a flexible work schedule. Accenture conducted its global research study, “The Path Forward” for release on International Women’s Day to gain insight into behaviours and attitudes regarding women’s careers.  The research explores career satisfaction levels, aspirations and factors for career advancement. It examines the factors that may hold professionals back from progressing in their careers and seeks to better understand the support and programs companies provide that attract, develop and retain high-performing employees. “Companies across the globe are recognising employees’ need for work-life balance and are devising various policies like flexible work options and telecommuting to assist employees in better balancing their lives. Resonating this emerging trend, Accenture’s recent research study, “The Path forward”, reveals that 28% of the respondents in India felt they had work-life balance all the time, which was highest among all countries” said Rekha M. Menon, Executive Director - Geographic Services for Accenture in India and ASEAN. “We at Accenture recognize that people lead busy, full lives with a variety of time demands – and believe that each person finds a unique proportion of balance between their work and personal needs. We have a formal Flexible Working Arrangement (FWA) policy in place which enables our employees to take up Flex Time, Part Time and Telecommuting. We focus on outcomes and not hours to determine if an employee is productive and thus strongly believe that flexibility enhances productivity of the individuals and the organization by positively impacting engagement and retention as well as commitment of our people to strive and stay.“  Research methodologyIn November/December 2011, Accenture conducted an online survey of 3,900 business executives from medium to large organizations in 31 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.  A minimum of 100 respondents from each country participated, with the exception of Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Finland, where the combined number of respondents totaled 200.  Respondents were split evenly by gender and were balanced by age and level in their organizations.  The margin of error for the total sample was approximately +/-2percent.  A full report on the research, “The Path Forward,” is available at www.accenture.com/pathforward.

About Accenture: Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  Through its Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship focus, Accenture is committed to equipping 250,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.  Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Technology Vision 2012 Identifies Context-Based Services as an Emerging Technology Trend That Can Help IT Leaders Increase Revenue for Their Businesses

Information technology leaders stand to drive new revenue streams for their businesses by leveraging “context-based services,” an emerging technology trend where real world and digital data are aggregated to understand “who you are, where you are, and what you are doing” to give consumers an “extremely rich experience,” according to a new report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN). 

Accenture identifies context-based services as one of six key trends in its Technology Vision 2012, an annual outlook of the most important emerging technology trends that are predicted to have a critical impact on businesses.  Accenture has been researching and predicting the future of technology trends for more than a decade. 

Accenture predicts that a surge in context-based services is imminent, enabled by the convergence of and easy access to many sources of contextual information, including soaring smartphone usage, the expansion of cloud computing, an explosion of social media participation, and the development of powerful tools for aggregating and analyzing multiple forms of data.     

“CIOs and other IT leaders who have started to leverage contextual data to build a deeper understanding of consumer preferences and habits are establishing themselves as strategic players within their companies,” said Gavin Michael, Accenture’s chief technology innovation officer who spearheaded the project. “They are teaming more effectively with functions such as sales and marketing and leveraging contextual services to drive new revenue and deliver more value for their businesses.” 

As an example, consider one travel company that scans Twitter accounts in search of mentions about upcoming trips. It then alerts hotels located in the communities where the traveler is headed. The traveler benefits because the hotel – via Twitter – might offer discounted rates as an enticement. And the hotel benefits by potentially gaining a new customer.  In another example, several mobile phone service providers are experimenting with technology that automatically deactivates phones for motorists, thereby preventing them from violating laws against driving while texting or speaking on the phone.  

The big difference is that technology now enables rapid aggregation of data from multiple sources and delivers new insights that can give users a much more immersive and valuable experience, according to the report. 

The other trends in the Accenture Technology Vision 2012 include: 

Converging Data Architectures: As data becomes a more valuable asset for most organizations, data architectures will need to change and bridge between old and new databases and systems to unlock the value. It is not hard to find predictions about the likely growth in the volume and importance of data. Indeed, one hot topic has been so-called ‘big data’. But ‘big’ misrepresents the issue. It is not just the rising volume of data that will challenge organizations, but rather developing new data architectures for effectively handling both structured and unstructured information. Furthermore, getting the architecture right is a crucial foundation for supporting another data-related trend: the need to share data far more freely and easily, to generate new business value. 

The report foresees a rebalancing of the database landscape to manage unstructured data, as data architects embrace the fact that relational databases are no longer the only tool in the toolkit. 

Industrialized Data Services: Related to the data architecture trend, the report says the true value of data – from both inside and outside their organizations -- will be realized when it is shared freely. To do that, data is being decoupled from applications and no longer owned by a single business. What’s needed, according to the report, are fresh approaches to data management. 

In the next few years, Accenture sees leading organizations mastering the types of data management necessary to strike the right balance between constraint and freedom for their data, based on a clear-eyed view of the real value of the data. They will start to think in terms of industrializing the sharing of data.

Social-Driven IT: The report finds that social media will no longer be just a “bolt on” marketing channel for organizations. They are becoming powerful catalysts that are changing the ways customers, employees and partners use technology to interact with the world around them. Most enterprises have yet to catch up to that reality and almost none take full advantage of it.  

PaaS-Enabled Agility: IT leaders that try to select a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) architecture based on what they think will “win” or view ‘as-a-service’ platforms as only cost-saving measures may not be seeing the total picture. Instead the report emphasizes the importance of the agility of the platform in concert with market viability and a focus on the complementary collection of business services also provided by the vendor.

The report predicts that PaaS providers will increasingly offer three additional components: reusable business services, integration capabilities, and extension capabilities.  It also notes that every platform will need to offer rich and robust capabilities for management and infrastructure. 

Orchestrated Analytical Security:  Companies are more “connected” than ever—not only through the Web and mobile devices, but through other non-traditional routes, most notably in the physical world. Think about how connected automobiles and industrial controls are to other systems. Consequently, the risks have increased and how organizations assess the risks is changing. The good news is that taking a data-centric view toward security – and running the equivalent of analytics-driven security – will help combat the risks.  

“The Accenture Technology Vision 2012  represents more than a casual peek into the near future,” said Michael. “We believe the trends we have identified hold the potential to profoundly change the face of corporate computing and that IT leaders who embrace these trends stand to gain a strategic advantage.” 

For more information on Accenture’s Technology Vision 2012 please visit www.accenture.com/technologyvision. 

About the Methodology

Accenture Technology Labs has published its annual technology vision report for the past seven years. For the 2012 report, Accenture researchers and scientists developed hypotheses about information technology developments that will have a significant impact on Accenture’s clients in the next five years. A wide range of sources were used  for the report, including the flow of venture capital funding, trends highlighted by IT analysts, key themes at industry conferences, academic literature, and tapping industry and technology experts from Accenture. Also used was Accenture’s original research into the characteristics of high-performing IT departments.  

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.  Its home page is www.accenture.com. 

Sourced From:Genesis Burson-Maresteller,