Accenture announced that it will be acquiring Udacity, a digital education pioneer with expertise in the development and delivery of proprietary technology courses. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Udacity’s team of more than 230 professionals will join Accenture LearnVantage, a new service that provides the company’s clients with technology learning and training services to reskill and upskill their people in technology, data and AI. The acquisition is part of Accenture’s larger effort to invest $1 billion in LearnVantage over next three years. It comes at a time when the demand for technology skill development has risen, especially around AI and generative AI.

With the new investment and acquisition, Accenture is tapping into the growing need for developing the right tech skills in the industry. An Accenture research points out that business leaders consider inability to upskill their workforces as the No. 1 challenge, with 51% of organizations starting to see negative impacts from worsening IT skills shortages.

The acquisition will bring to Accenture Udacity’s capabilities in integrating proprietary content, expert services and scalable learning technology while seamlessly bridging the gap between online education and workplace relevance, the company stated. 

Since its founding in 2011, Udacity has evolved from primarily consumer-focused to a talent transformation platform bringing customer value creation through career development in AI and tech. Through its network of more than 1,400 experts and a vast library of exclusive content co-created with industry leaders, Udacity has served more than 21 million registered learners in 195 countries, providing localized course offerings in multiple languages, including English, Arabic, Korean and Spanish. In a crowded market, Udacity has differentiated itself through its combination of high-quality content and ‘human in the loop’ learning, coupled with an outcome-focused approach.

“The rise of generative AI represents one of the most transformative changes in how work gets done and is driving a growing need for enterprises to train and upskill people in cloud, data and AI as they build their digital core and reinvent their enterprises,” said Kishore Durg, global lead of Accenture LearnVantage. 

“As we join forces with Accenture, we are thrilled to embark on this next chapter of our journey. Together, we are dedicated to delivering impactful and cutting-edge tech education that enables individuals and organizations to unlock their potential,” said Kai Roemmelt, CEO of Udacity. “

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Vidya Rao, CIO of Genpact has taken on an expanded role of Chief Technology and Transformation Officer. Her change in role comes as part of the company’s latest appointments aimed at strengthening its executive team with transformative digital leaders and propelling its AI-first strategy. 

In this role, Vidya will be at the forefront of reimagining Genpact’s internal processes, tools, technologies, and infrastructure with an AI-first approach. Furthermore, Rao will also play a crucial role in establishing a world-class data office to fortify Genpact’s data capabilities. This will enable Genpact to harness the power of data and drive insights to guide its AI and Automation initiatives effectively and shape our internal functions for the future, the company stated. 

Vidya is a global technology leader with over three decades of experience. She has been serving as the CIO of Genpact for over four years now and had a long stint with Accenture earlier, performing diverse roles and leading technology delivery for multinational clients. She also served on the board of Microfocus PLC until its acquisition by OpenText. 

Vidya has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Technology executives by Technology Magazine and Top 10 women by Mobile App Daily globally for her outstanding contributions to innovation and leadership.

Genpact also announced the appointment of Vipin Gairola as its Global Operating Officer. Gairola comes to Genpact from Accenture, where he served in several senior leadership roles over the past two decades. His most recent role was Chief Strategy Officer for Accenture Operations.

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Change is the only constant. But what if the pace of change is unusual and unprecedented? Are C-level executives prepared to deal with the speed and scale of business change? The Accenture Pulse of Change Index, published recently, reveals a number of interesting factors on this point. Per the Index, the rate of change affecting businesses has risen steadily since 2019, by 183% over the past four years and by 33% in the past year alone. Almost 80 percent of C-suite executives expect this change to accelerate even more in 2024. 

Pulse of Change Index is built on a range of business indicators such as labor productivity and IT spending, quantifies the change companies are facing, across six factors – Technology, Talent, Economic, Geopolitical, Climate and Consumer & Social. It then compares this data to a survey of 3,400 C-suite executives on how they view the impact of each factor on their organizations, as well as their preparedness to respond.

While 60 percent of the respondents in the survey believe that ‘change’ is a great opportunity for them, over half of them don’t feel fully prepared to respond to the change they will face in the 2024 business environment. 

Technology the biggest driver of change

Among the six factors, the Index indicator analysis reveals that Technology change increased the most, catapulted by advances in generative AI. It was the top cause of change in 2023, up from No. 6 in 2022. While this factor was validated in the survey, a significant portion (61%) expect the pace of technology disruption to accelerate even further in 2024. An impressive 76% of C-level leaders see generative AI as more of an opportunity than a threat, and more beneficial to revenue growth than costs reduction. 

Despite the realization, almost half (47%) of C-suite executives don’t feel prepared for the accelerating rate of technological change. Further, only 27% claim their organizations are ready to scale up generative AI, and 44% say it will take more than six months to do so and take advantage of the potential benefits. 

One of the key reasons for this lack of preparedness, according to the survey, is the recent backlashes on generative AI – especially with regard to the responsible use of the technology. 72% of C-suite leaders in the survey highlighted that they are approaching AI investments with caution because of societal concerns about the responsible use of the technology. 

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Accenture has announced a $3 billion investment over three years in its Data & AI practice, which it says will help clients across all industries rapidly and responsibly advance and use AI to achieve greater growth, efficiency and resilience.

“There is unprecedented interest in all areas of AI, and the substantial investment we are making in our Data & AI practice will help our clients move from interest to action to value, and in a responsible way with clear business cases,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture.

“Companies that build a strong foundation of AI by adopting and scaling it now, where the technology is mature and delivers clear value, will be better positioned to reinvent, compete and achieve new levels of performance. Our clients have complex environments, and at a time when the technology is changing rapidly, our deep understanding of ecosystem solutions allows us to help them navigate quickly and cost effectively to make smart decisions.”

Today’s announcement includes a range of investments that Accenture is making to help companies develop the new strategies, operating models, business cases and digital core architecture they will need to capitalize on AI innovation:
 

• Accenture will invest in assets, industry solutions, ventures, acquisitions, talent and ecosystem partnerships, which will deepen and develop new skills and capabilities across diagnostic, predictive and generative AI. 
• The Data & AI practice will double its AI talent to 80,000 professionals through a mix of hiring, acquisitions and training.
• The new AI Navigator for Enterprise is a generative AI-based platform that will help clients define business cases, make decisions, navigate AI journeys, choose architectures and understand algorithms and models to drive value responsibly. Building on Accenture’s own efforts, the platform will include assets designed to accelerate responsible AI practices and compliance programs.
• Accenture will create accelerators for data and AI readiness across 19 distinct industries as well as pre-built industry and functional models that take advantage of new generative AI capabilities.
• To advance uses of generative AI, its Center for Advanced AI is dedicated to maximizing the value of this technology across clients and within Accenture. This includes extensive R&D and investments to reimagine service delivery using generative and other emerging AI capabilities.
• Accenture will invest in new and existing relationships across its industry-leading cloud, data and AI ecosystems to reinvent the type of work being delivered to clients. For example, developers using pre-built models to enhance prototyping or creators building dynamic virtual environments that can adapt with real-world changes.

“Over the next decade, AI will be a mega-trend, transforming industries, companies, and the way we live and work, as generative AI transforms 40% of all working hours,” said Paul Daugherty, group chief executive, Accenture Technology. “Our expanded Data & AI practice brings together the full power and breadth of Accenture in creating industry-specific solutions that will help our clients harness AI’s full potential to reshape their strategy, technology, and ways of working, driving innovation and value responsibly and faster than ever before.”
 

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