Introduction to Accenture
The Accenture Company is a large enterprise that is responsible for many businesses of different nature. The baseline for the operations however is in the information technology and business process outsourcing business. The company is a consulting firm that provides outsourcing, information technology-based as well as consultancy services to other businesses all around the world. The headquarters for the company are present in Bermuda, however, it is present and operation in more than 43 countries around the world. Accenture, India is one of its subdivisions in the international market. “The firm is said to be committed to deliver innovation and its Utilities Industry group collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses.
It is asserted that Accenture Ltd. can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help their utility clients improve their performance due to the firm’s expertise in business process. Furthermore, it works with over 300 clients in 43 countries and serve 83 percent of the Global Fortune 500 utilities.” (‘Accenture Overview Delivers High-Performance’, 2007)
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Accenture
The strengths of the company pertaining to the broad offerings of services that the company provides t its clients and other business across the world. The Accenture Company has a significant presence in the software and information technology industry which forms the bulk of its consulting and business process outsourcing services. Aside from having a storage background in consulting services the company also has a strong customer base that is built on satisfied clients and high quality and professional provision of services for international business and their operations across the world.
The human resource management services provided by Accenture to its business are growing in demand and importance in the industry. Moreover, the global scale of the company and its operations provides the company with a unique advantage over others in the market.
The weaknesses of the Accenture Company include the fact that the company has a considerably weak performance in The EMEA despite the high balance sheet accounts. In fact, the company has been facing declining revenues from Europe, the Middle Eastern, and the African region. Aside from this, the company has also been depicting a rather poor performance in the government segment as well. This segment mostly pertains to the services and products provided by Accenture to the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. The poor performance of the company to these regions in the government sector, which form a considerably high portion of its market, can lead to a large decrease in the companies profitability and financial performance in the future
The Organizational Issues Faced by Accenture
The organizational issues that are faced by the Accenture Company in India pertain to specific managerial and structure-based issues. The main issues that are faced by the company are due to its global expanse and large size. The Accenture Company is essentially a global enterprise now and this makes it hard to manage the company in a standard manner all over the world. As a result, the company has had to face technical, skill-based as well as structural issues pertaining to large organizations.
The specific organizational issues which are being faced by the Accenture Company mostly pertain to the management of its human resource. The industry of information technology has grown exponentially in the last decade creating several opportunities in the global IT market for skilled professionals. As a result, the company has very limited skilled professionals with substantial experience to hire in its growing business. Moreover, the growing business in the IT sector is also attracting lots of relatively low-skilled and less experienced people who have to be training and mentored in order to make their work of professional quality.
This affects the service provided by the company as well as increases its cost of personal management. The Accenture Company however benefits from a large pool of workers and employees which is available to it from India who is willing to work at a restively lower rate. The company also has to hire fresh graduates and entrants in the market which costs the company expensively in terms of personal and human resource management.
The other challenge which is faced by the company and is of considerable importance is the issue of information management and information security. This is a hot topic and a very sensitive issue around the world as the integrative and advancing technology enables privacy offenders to access private information putting the electronic intellectual property of the company more at risk. The main products and services of the company pertain to an online and electronic solution that is system-based. Moreover, the high rate of attrition also increases the risk to the intellectual property of the company. With the client critical information with a large group of people who do not stay with the company for a long period, the client critical information needs to be protected.
The Future of Accenture
The Accenture Company is facing multiple opportunities in the international as well as the regional Indian market of information technology and consultancy-based services. There has been a marked increase in the global spending by the companies for their information technology divisions. This is increasing the market available for the company enabling it to take advantage of the increasing market to increase its own share. The marked increase in the growth of IT in the US, Europe as well as in Asian countries like India is providing opportunities for the company to expand and increase its operation on a regional as well as on a global scale.
Aside from this the business process outsourcing market for the Human Resource and its management is also significantly increasing. “Worldwide HR BPO market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of over 15% during the 2006-2010 period, to cross $25 billion in 2010.” (‘Accenture SWOT Analysis’’, 2007)
In order to combat the personal management problems the company has been facing lately, Accenture has employed the workforce-of-one technique whereby it has been treating its employees as individuals elements in the workforce, targeting an HRM strategy devised specifically for them. Aside from this, the company has also adopted a more performance-oriented, responsive style of management to retain and leverage talent and knowledge base within the organization. The company has altered its personal management policies and strategies to reflect transparency and accountability in the management.
This was done by reengineering the core processes of the company and redefining the roles of the managers. By employing such a reforming technique the company has been able to increase the efficiency of the business as well as retain its current workforce. Moreover, the company has also been able to enhance the processes dedicated to marketing activities by focusing on the quality of the product and service as perceived by the customers.
The growing retail baking segment in the region as well as the international market is also providing the company with opportunities for growth. However, in order to overcome its organizational challenges and its weaknesses the company will have to develop a standard for human resource management at all its service delivery centers around the world. The company needs to be proactive in order to take advantage of the opportunities presented to it and requires an integrative approach to increasing the communication for its operations in the different regions.
Moreover, the investment made by the company in its human resource is beneficial for the company as it increases the availability of professionals in the market therefore enabling the company to have a significant human resource at hand for its increasing nature of operations.
References
2007, ‘Accenture Overview Delivers High-Performance’, American Gas, Vol. 89 Issue 9, p41-41, 1/6p. Web.
2007, ‘Accenture SWOT Analysis’, Datamonitor, p1, 11p. Web.
Cohen, J.R., 2005, ‘Accenture’s Head of IT Due Diligence Discusses the Process’, Mergers & Acquisitions Report, Vol. 18 Issue 25, p3-4, 2p. Web.
Salkey, J., 2004, ‘What makes a good leader great?’, Strategic HR Review; Mar/Apr2004, Vol. 3 Issue 3, p2-2, 1p. Web.