MOLLY WOOD: Right this moment I’m speaking to Julie Candy, chair and CEO of Accenture, a worldwide skilled providers firm that helps companies, governments, and different organizations construct their digital core, optimize their operations, speed up income development, improve citizen providers, and far, far more. Julie joined Accenture as common counsel after an extended profession in legislation, and in 2019, she grew to become 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 mentioned 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 principle 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 take a position $3 billion into synthetic intelligence and double its AI-focused employees to 80,000 folks, which is considerably greater than most firms even make use of. These are clearly actually huge numbers, and so let’s begin off with, why this huge wager?
JULIE SWEET: That’s an incredible 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 really taken a typing class on a typewriter. And after we take into consideration the affect on our staff’ 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 planet. However by way of actually how a lot it can change the way in which our staff do their jobs, it’s like after 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 aspect. As a enterprise, within the final 30 years, there is no such thing as a single know-how that I’ve been capable of arise in entrance of the CEO of any trade and credibly and authentically say that actually each a part of their enterprise, each a part of their enterprise, could have a cloth optimistic affect on the highest line and the underside line, due to gen AI.
MOLLY WOOD: Wow.
JULIE SWEET: That may be a fairly highly effective assertion. And that’s why we speak about reinvention. However what that requires just isn’t merely the know-how. It’s investing in, What does expertise appear to be? What does change appear to be? How do you rewire it primarily based on processes? And a whole lot of that may be accomplished with Accenture. Investing prematurely to have the ability to assist firms try this sooner. We wish to name that compressed transformation.
MOLLY WOOD: I desire a grasp’s thesis on compressed transformation. Are you able to speak a little bit bit extra about that idea, as a result of I believe that kind of completely articulates what we’re all feeling in the intervening time.
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, after we all needed to really face the place we had been in digital and go browsing, pace actually mattered. And firms began actually taking up this concept that they didn’t need to do every little thing sequentially and that they may transfer methods of working and cultures a lot sooner 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 sooner? As we sit right here right this moment and have a look at the affect of gen AI and the alternatives to vary, we’re really dealing with an identical second in that the ability of gen AI solely comes about if you really change the way in which you’re working. And so many consumers right this moment, 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 really function otherwise. After which construct in a view of what meaning 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 know-how and, oh, wait, that’s the end result I need. However you perceive the steps that you could take to truly rewire your organization to get to these outcomes, and we imagine that that may be accomplished on a compressed timeframe if you perceive every of the elements, along with the know-how.
MOLLY WOOD: I wish to return to the hiring and the folks funding that you’ve 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 precise information basis and use AI actually extra on a technical aspect. So create the precise AI spine or understanding AI in a technical approach, after which paired with our trade, our useful specialists, to have the ability to really redefine, like, okay, that’s the as is, what’s really doable? We make that distinction, initially, as a result of, you realize, no one has that scale that we even have right this moment, we imagine, the place we began with 40,000 a yr in the past, now we’re at 53,000. We are going to—I believe, I hope—overshoot our 80,000 by the tip of 2026. However that could be a sure sort of coaching and understanding that’s wanted. Now on prime of that, we now have to coach everybody at Accenture—we now have over 700,000 folks—in gen AI. And we begin with a really sturdy foundation, as a result of going all the way in which again to 2019, after we mentioned the following decade could be about utilizing tech information and AI, we began creating Accenture’s future-ready workforce throughout Accenture. We launched one thing referred to as TQ, the place it doesn’t matter in the event you work in office—so working our workplaces, otherwise you’re a strategist, otherwise you’re a technologist—you must cross a sure variety of assessments on core applied sciences. So we had already educated 600,000 folks on primary, conventional AI—it wasn’t conventional after we had been doing it—when gen AI actually sort of hit the world. Now we’re after all coaching all of our folks on gen AI.
MOLLY WOOD: And for individuals who don’t know, you simply talked about TQ, which stands for know-how quotient. I really wish to ask you a little bit extra about coaching, particularly, as a result of one of many first issues Accenture did by way of AI coaching was create this enterprise case for utilizing Microsoft Copilot, really as an early adopter. After which I learn that you just insisted that almost all senior leaders, the most-senior leaders, be educated first, together with your self, since you mentioned, you realize, you must have leaders who perceive the ability of AI, they usually can’t depend on others. Are you able to speak a little bit bit extra about that coaching strategy and what it was like for you?
JULIE SWEET: So, possibly a little bit background, as a result of I believe typically folks will say, like, What’s the enterprise case? And the place will we get the worth? And we’re among the finest studying organizations on the planet. We spend over a billion {dollars} yearly, we use studying science and learn how to prepare folks. And some of the vital issues we’ve discovered as we’ve pivoted during the last a number of years to digital cloud and safety is that it’s vital to have a piece and be taught, so that you just’re not simply sort of studying on a computer-based course and even in a classroom, however that you just really 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 prepare our folks, and it could actually’t simply be classroom and let me inform you concerning the energy. It’s a must to use it. And so I really began with my most senior leaders, as a result of what we’re telling all of our purchasers—and we, you realize, we reside what we are saying—is that with a view to make the precise selections as a CEO or within the C-suite, you must perceive the know-how at a a lot deeper degree than you probably did different parts of the revolution of know-how, like cloud. And we all know that it’s not sufficient to easily inform folks and attempt to prepare them, however they should really 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 really make change and the way you prepare folks. And so Microsoft Copilot is completely important to vary and transformation. Then on prime of that, what we’ve seen in our rollout to this point 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 adjustments 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 benefit from that productiveness, you then gained’t have a enterprise case apart from every particular person will probably be extra productive. We used to have lots of people making slides and doing stories, and we had entire teams round that, which we’re now altering as a result of we don’t want those self same sorts of teams. We will embed it in numerous 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 day by day. My favourite perform 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 have a look at them instantly and it’s very clear. I can simply shoot off the following electronic mail. And that’s superior.
MOLLY WOOD: You’ve been quoted as saying that integrating and utilizing AI isn’t about, you realize, 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 features create the house to think about a brand new kind of course of, how does that then begin to feed your purchasers’ wants? , it kind of feels prefer it’s instructing the expansion mindset alongside the adoption.
JULIE SWEET: That’s proper. Properly, let me simply take a concrete instance. If you concentrate on a client items firm that has a whole lot of discipline salespeople, proper? As a result of they exit and promote to, let’s say it’s a meals firm. They promote to everyone from mom-and-pop retailers to huge field retail or grocery shops. However they’ve discipline gross sales, which right this moment, previous to the usage of AI and gen AI at scale, about 50 % of their job is very administrative. Meaning, by the way in which, that after they’re hiring folks, they rent people who 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 until they’re actually ready to try this administrative work. And most firms have the service, the precise supply, versus the gross sales versus the advertising all somewhere else, and we all know that firms wrestle with working in silos. We’re working with some client items firms now to interrupt down all of these obstacles and be capable of put within the fingers of a discipline salesperson, each single day, the information of issues like, you realize, Who hasn’t purchased from me from the final three months who I ought to go after? What could be the precise pitch primarily based on their service and their wants? So somebody telling them, guess what, you guys missed a supply final month they usually 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 customized pitch that takes into consideration the historical past, which prior to those instruments and utilizing gen AI to have the ability to have a look at information that’s not popping out of the methods and that’s coming in emails, that may have taken a whole lot of work, so it didn’t get accomplished. When you concentrate on, then, the ability of this, you abruptly 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 precise expertise, construct deeper relationships and maybe introduce totally different providers. And also you’ve modified what you could rent for, since you had been hiring for folks with a number of administrative expertise. Now you possibly can rent for people who find themselves extra strategic, who’ve higher buyer expertise and due to this fact deepen the relationships. That’s what the ability of this know-how permits. We needed to perceive the know-how to take it from this extremely highly effective know-how to delivering worth to these clients who are actually 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 an even bigger footprint.
MOLLY WOOD: And also you carry up, really, I believe one other big matter, 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 staff. I imply, this can be a exhausting 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 by way of making that course of higher and increasing the sorts of expertise you may be capable of search for?
JULIE SWEET: We get roughly 6 million or extra resumes a yr and we rent about 100,000 folks, not web however whole, as a result of you may have attrition in that. So, with a view to try this, we now have used AI for now a number of years to have the ability to undergo the resumes and actually determine who we wish to speak to. Then we now have recruiting pods which can be tuned to the type—as a result of we rent everyone, from docs to programmers to, you realize, cyber consultants. So we rent a whole lot of totally different varieties of individuals. And so AI allows us to sift by the resumes after which get the resumes to the precise extremely educated people to make these selections. So there’s no hiring determination that’s made by AI right this moment at Accenture, however AI is used to actually assist us. And the proof of how efficient it’s, is throughout the pandemic, when most firms 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 turn out to be one of many 100,000, however what are the abilities that you just search for? You talked concerning the know-how quotient, however I ponder, 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 discovered 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 talent necessities and the competencies are altering and that we’d like individuals who wish to be taught and embrace studying. So simply take into consideration what we’ve been speaking about right this moment. The truth that AI goes to rewire and you must go from an as is to a to be. Properly, beneath all of which can be people who find themselves doing the as is, proper? And they also need to be taught 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 be taught, you realize, what’s gen AI and the way can it assist us? And so we now have 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, after all, we work with a whole lot of purchasers and also you’d say, nicely, possibly that’s apparent. However, you realize, I don’t suppose it’s as apparent to many, many firms, 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 in the event you’re in a continuing, we imagine a continuing state of reinvention on account of know-how, you must be actually nice at change. And to be actually nice at change, you must be nice communicators.
MOLLY WOOD: It looks 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 type of companies the place it’s recognized for having folks from sort of conventional enterprise backgrounds, but additionally 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 certainly one of your huge 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 keen about 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 could not have the background however completely have the potential, together with the training competencies. So within the US, roughly 20 % of our entry-level hiring are apprentices. And our apprentices come from non-traditional backgrounds however have wonderful potential. And we contemplate that, as we transfer ahead, there’s a fair better alternative as a result of, for instance, we’ll more and more use gen AI to enhance our studying instruments and to assist folks be taught. We predict that gen AI will proceed to open up alternatives to higher 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 a whole lot 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 firms. The excellent news is that Accenture, Microsoft are very centered on constructing it into our providers and to the know-how. However, you realize, we didn’t need to have a accountable PC or a accountable cloud. AI is a really highly effective know-how, and due to this fact, as firms, 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. We’ve 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 ought 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’d 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 would begin with, take a deep breath, proper? [Laughter] As a result of I believe, you realize, I chuckle that I grew to become a CEO six months earlier than the pandemic. And on the time, we mentioned, 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 little bit grace, as that is actually an incredible journey and one which I really feel privileged to have. I do wish to emphasize that AI is a know-how the place the CEO and senior enterprise leaders actually need to know the know-how 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 know-how 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 this moment.
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 determination making, crew constructing, and enterprise management. If you happen to’ve obtained a query or a remark, please drop us an electronic 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 this moment’s new world of labor. You will discover all of it at microsoft.com/worklab. As for this podcast, please fee us, evaluation us, and observe us wherever you hear. 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 mentioned, the opinions and findings of our visitors are their very own, they usually could 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.
