Inside View: Accenture Consulting

Energized by client need for digital and technology services, Accenture is scouting for talent. Business school has proven to be fertile hunting ground for the world’s fifth largest consulting firm by revenue. It was last year a top recruiter at INSEAD, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School, Duke Fuqua and LBS. With a surging global advisory sector poised to surpass $245 billion, Accenture has seen marked growth in digital areas such as big data analytics. Increasingly, business has called upon the firm to deliver long-term strategy projects at the intersection of business and technology. For a business whose livelihood is dependent upon offering best practice client-facing services, the need to hire the very best people is salient. There is great demand for talent at Accenture, and its links to the top MBA programs go a way to satisfying its staffing needs. Expansion of its standalone digital unit has been rapid. Founded in 2013, Accenture Digital had grown to have 28,000 employees at last year’s count. Accenture has 336,000 employees operating across 56 countries. The firm looks for individuals that have deep experience in change environments, and who are comfortable operating in and designing solutions for complex business problems. Increasingly, an understanding of data and analytics is required. In this interview with BusinessBecause Gregor McHardy, managing director and technology consulting lead for communications, media and technology at Accenture UK and Ireland, shines a light on the growing need for tech-savvy strategists. What demand are you seeing for strategy consulting, which is slated as experiencing resurgence? We see significant demand for strategy consulting, particularly as Accenture has positioned itself at the intersection of business and technology. For example: within the communications, media and technology industry there is a lot of market consolidation and convergence, which is creating demand for M&A and strategy consulting work. Also with digital disruption, our clients are reviewing their business models and assessing what they need to do to reinvent themselves, which also requires strategy consulting input and support. Our recent acquisition of Javelin Group is a key indicator of our growth aspirations in this space, and compliments an aggressive year of hiring for strategy skill sets. What expertise is needed for consultants to address complex long-term problems? We look for individuals that have deep experience in change environments and are comfortable operating in and designing solutions for complex business problems. Increasingly, an understanding of data and analytics is required. We see clients increasingly make more data-driven decisions and putting analytics at the heart of their businesses. So, our teams are increasingly bringing data and analytics skills into project analysis and execution. read more: http://www.businessbecause.com/news/inside-view-top-jobs/3408/inside-view-accenture-consulting-2015