New Accenture Microsoft Business Group Will Empower Enterprises to Thrive in the Era of Digital
Disruption
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Microsoft Corp., in conjunction with their joint venture Avanade, today announced the launch of the
Accenture Microsoft Business Group. The new group elevates a longstanding strategic alliance, expanding combined service
capabilities, global scale and joint solution development to help clients overcome disruption and lead transformation in their
industries. Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation.
Clients around the globe are looking to Accenture, Microsoft and Avanade for new strategies and industry solutions to drive
innovation and growth in the digital era. In response, the new organization represents the largest partner investment in harnessing
the enterprise-wide potential of Microsoft technology to date. Building on the success of Avanade, the group will bring together
more than 45,000 dedicated professionals — the largest group of Microsoft solution experts in the world. With new joint products
and services built on the Microsoft cloud, clients will be able to engage customers in new ways, empower employees, reimagine
operations and invent new products and services.
The Accenture Microsoft Business Group will be led by
Emma McGuigan, senior managing director, Accenture, who has been with the company for more than 20 years in various technology
leadership roles. Adam Warby will continue to serve as the CEO of Avanade.
“The Accenture Microsoft Business Group is a major step forward in our decades-long relationship with Microsoft. It brings
Accenture’s broad industry experience and transformation skills together with Microsoft’s powerful digital technologies and
Avanade’s specialization in the Microsoft ecosystem,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology & innovation officer
and chairman of the Avanade board. “The demand for digital transformation, powered by the cloud, has never been greater. We are
bringing the leading capabilities of our companies together to meet this demand and deliver innovation to our clients.”
Judson Althoff, executive vice president, Worldwide Commercial Business at Microsoft said, “Every company is becoming a
digital company. Building on our successful partnership with Accenture and Avanade, we will help customers fuel innovation at scale
and lead their industries into the future. This is core to our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet
to achieve more.”
“The new business group brings together the leading technology innovation and industry experience from our companies to help
clients transform their businesses and become intelligent enterprises,” said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture
Technology Services.
As digital disruption and innovation often occurs within industries, the group will co-invest in functional and industry
solutions based on Microsoft technologies, with a mission to provide clients with the most comprehensive set of services focused on
user experience, analytics and AI, cloud, security, IoT and other critical areas.
To help organizations across all industries, the new group will emphasize helping clients migrate to Microsoft Azure and
effectively harness the power of data and artificial intelligence, optimize Microsoft business processes with Microsoft Dynamics
365, and foster modern work and collaboration with Microsoft 365.
Together, Accenture and Avanade have delivered more than 35,000 Microsoft projects for more than 4,000 clients around the world,
helping companies such as Carlsberg and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) advance their digital transformation
agendas.
“Our digital program is all about giving customers and consumers an even greater experience when they engage with Carlsberg and
with our beers. We worked closely with Accenture, Microsoft and Avanade to transition our business-critical IT infrastructure to
the Microsoft Azure public cloud,” said Mark Dajani, CIO and SVP of Global Business Services at Carlsberg Group. “The transition
covered more than 150 terabytes of data on 600 servers and 200 applications, serving more than 10,000 employees in our Western
European region. Moving to the cloud has given us more visibility into our IT operations and enabled us to accelerate innovation
with artificial intelligence, DevOps and analytics.”
“CMHC embarked on our technology and business transformation to enable our employees to better assist Canadians in meeting their
housing needs,” said Paul Mason, chief information officer at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. “Our
close partnership with Accenture and Avanade has allowed us to introduce a range of Microsoft solutions that are helping us to
transform the customer and employee experience, create exciting new housing solutions, and support continuous innovation throughout
our business. Thinking digital has been an important focus of our work in recent years, and technological advancement is a vital
component of our company’s strategy going forward.”
Accenture and Avanade have been named Microsoft Alliance Partner of the Year 14 times, and Accenture was recently ranked number
one by industry analyst firm HFS Research in their Top 10 for Microsoft AI Services 2019 report.
About Accenture
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in
strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40
industries and all business functions — underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection
of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With
approximately 469,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world
works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge.
Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About Avanade
Avanade is the leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions and design-led experiences
delivered through the power of people and the Microsoft ecosystem. Our professionals bring bold, fresh thinking combined with
technology, business and industry expertise to help fuel transformation and growth for our clients and their customers. Avanade has
34,000 digitally connected people across 24 countries, bringing clients the best thinking through a collaborative culture that
honors diversity and reflects the communities in which we operate. Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 by
Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation. Learn more at
www.avanade.com.
Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of
Accenture.
This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not
an assertion of ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the existence of an association
between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks.
Hannah Unkefer
Accenture
+1 206 839 2172
hannah.m.unkefer@accenture.com
Microsoft Media Relations
WE Communications for Microsoft
+1 425 638 7777
rrt@we-worldwide.com
Matt Tucker
Avanade
+44 (0) 7795 827 301
matthew.n.tucker@avanade.com
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