Accenture's Global Technology Growth Continues in India

As the process of digitization increases, there is an increasing need for information technology (IT) professionals, who are tasked with analyzing information and communicating it to others. India has been growing as a hub for IT and Accenture is hopeful that this will allow them to create more opportunities. This blog post discusses the growing number of people entering the IT field and how technology growth in India will play a vital role in creating new job opportunities.

Accenture's global technology growth continues to increase in India because it is one of the fastest-growing countries for future careers. The Indian government has been supportive by implementing programs that can be used as models for sustainable innovation with improved public-private partnerships. These programs can help the Indian IT sector to grow and overcome its key challenges.

Optimistic about the future of the industry, Accenture's Managing Director for India and South Asia, Manish Maheshwari, says that there are four key imperatives for India's IT industry: talent acquisition, talent development, technology adoption and digital transformation. With three-quarters of the companies surveyed indicating that they will increase investment in employee training by at least 20% over this year and next year,[1] [2] it will be important to ensure that R&D efforts are matched to demand.[3]

Germany is a prime example of what can happen when an economy intends to become more innovative. This can be attributed to the fact that the number of companies with more than 250 employees that invest in R&D has increased from 18% to 22% from 2010 to 2013.[4]

This is an example of what India can learn from, as a majority of countries including India will experience continued high growth in innovation and digitization. The market for IT products and services is expected to grow by 5 percent annually until 2020.[5] The impact of digitization on the Indian economy went beyond IT and affected all sectors, including manufacturing, energy, tele-communication and banking. There is an increasing need for IT professionals who are tasked with analyzing information and communicating it to others. In turn, they create new jobs opportunities.

The country's IT sector has been growing at a rapid pace and Accenture expects that this trend will continue. India currently has the second largest number of engineers in the world and over 5,800 engineering graduates are added to the workforce every year.[6] The IT industry is expected to increase its contribution to India's gross domestic product (GDP) from 4.8 percent in FY15, to 6 percent by 2020.[7] In 2015, there were over 500 companies in the information technology sector that had a billion-dollar valuation. Additionally, "India became one of the top five global digital innovation hubs" with more than 200 digital startups.

The country's success at digitization can be attributed to the effective implementation of the best practices that are aimed at fostering business and industrial growth, as well as assuring national security.[8] The government has implemented many programs that are supported by private sector participation, including:

Accenture is currently expanding its operations in India in order to continue providing services and developing innovative solutions for clients. Accenture is working with several private companies, as well as government institutions from across the country including state-owned enterprises such as Bharat Bill Payments, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Air India and Dassault Systèmes. By working with the government, Accenture is committed to growing India's digital economy while helping the nation navigate through the challenges it faces. These projects include:

Accenture has developed a number of successful Intellectual Property (IP) policies that make this possible. For instance, it has:

One of Accenture's biggest initiatives in IT is its "Connected Learning Initiative" or CLI. It began in 2011 and aims to provide education for all people throughout India by using technology and information.[11] By using video conferencing, distance learning and mobile apps, CLI seeks to improve education for all students throughout India by providing access to quality schools.

Accenture collaborates with several universities to provide a technology-rich education that goes beyond the classroom. The company has collaborated with many top universities across India including:

Additionally, Accenture created an on-line Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Called "Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Training Program" Accenture is the first company to offer this in the country. 

Accenture's Managing Director for Information Technology, Manish Maheshwari says that "We would like our clients to be engaged in improving quality of life and wealth creation for all citizens. We believe that we have a responsibility to contribute. Technology has a role to play in these goals." Additionally, Accenture is working with several state-owned enterprises and some of the country's biggest banks such as State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank to develop innovative solutions.

The company's clients include UNICEF, Google University, Deloitte Foundation and the Economic Times of India. Any clients that deal with government institutions including public sector companies must hold a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) certification. They also must be "transparent about their growth plans". This includes presenting their sustainable data plans for 2015-2022 and a plan to support women and children in all areas related to their business activity within India.

The company's goal is to develop "environmentally friendly products, services and initiatives", including working with companies such as Vestas, R3 and the International Transport Forum (ITF).

Accenture has a longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. In 2015, the company celebrated its 15th anniversary of its Women's Initiative Network (WIN), which focuses on developing women leaders in the India office. Additionally, the company held an executive summit for women in leadership roles which was attended by over 40 CxOs from across 10 countries. Enterprise Women Leaders Program is another example of Accenture's commitment to diversity and inclusion. Also known as E-WLP, this program works to develop high potential women leaders into future business leaders.

Accenture has also partnered with several women NGOs in the country including Association for Promoting and Empowerment of Women in Rural India (APEWRI), Accenture Volunteer Program, Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad, Yuva Sena, Anusandhan Trust among many others. Accenture supports these organizations to help them implement visibility campaigns to more than 25,000 villages across India. The company also provides training and mentoring to these women NGOs so they can use Accenture's technology.

Another initiative that Accenture is working on is its "My Skill Training" program which aims to help youth from disadvantaged communities achieve skilled employment through online vocational training.

Conclusion

Accenture believes that "the future of work is digital, mobile, social and connected". It plans to build itself into the most innovative firm by being flexible and ready to act quickly on new opportunities in the market. Additionally, Accenture aims to help others develop new solutions and engage in economic growth. The company says this will be achieved by "optimizing existing assets, developing solutions that enable business evolution, and designing collaborative business models that create value for clients."

In 2015 Accenture introduced "The Network," a tool that helps its employees learn new skills throughout their career. This tool will allow employees to access training materials on their smartphones at any time.