accenture technology case studies

Client case studies & business success stories

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AXA’s claims in the cloud

Building cutting-edge AWS insurance capabilities

Future-forward learning and media company

Sanoma uses a multi-cloud strategy to accelerate innovation in learning solutions

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Preserving Tuvalu — the world’s first completely digitized nation — in the metaverse

Petrofac’s digital workforce transformation

Developing one of the energy industry’s first connected worker solutions

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Tomorrow’s demands, forecasted today

A forward-looking supply chain using demand forecasting

Routing to resilient, sustainable supply chain

The power of proactive risk management

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Stunning visual effects

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Duke Energy powers platform for methane reduction

First-of-its-kind, end-to-end methane emissions monitoring and remediation solution

Powering an actionable climate roadmap

Helping a petrochemical giant meet its net-zero commitment

Accenture Success Stories

Our stories and case studies reveal the human ingenuity behind everything from emerging technologies to global marketplaces. Discover how Accenture’s people are making a world of difference for clients and communities.                                                                                         

KEY RESULTS

Increase in Brand Awareness

Increase in Brand Consideration

Increase in Brand Usage

Marketing Objectives

Accenture is a leading global professional services company , providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations.

In 2021, Accenture set out to gain market share and fuel growth by updating perceptions about what it can do. Its target clients were C-suites and senior business decision-makers who were looking to transform their businesses through innovation.

In the run-up to the launch of its new brand message “ Let there be change ”, Accenture wanted to convince these business leaders that it had the end-to-end solutions to help them. It aimed to achieve competitive stand-out by becoming known for its research and perspectives and by illustrating its market leadership.

The Financial Times reaches 52% of C-suites in Accenture’s key markets, the highest amongst our competitors. Accenture saw that the FT could help it reach exactly the right audience; drive buzz with high-profile thought leadership content; and ensure that its new brand expression would be seen throughout Europe.

Our Solution

The FT devised a research-based multi-touchpoint campaign across Europe that promoted Accenture’s story to the FT audience and showcased its brand message in a credible environment, aligning it with high-profile FT editorial series, webinars and newsletters. Accenture had 100% share of voice across the series.

To get deeper insights before creating the campaign , the FT research team carried out a Management Consultancy Global Impact Study among over 550 of the world’s leading C-suites. This allowed us to understand the audience’s needs and see where Accenture currently stood among its competitive set.

We knew from the brief and our GIST findings that we needed to position Accenture around specific topics of interest.

• The focus of the campaign was the ‘ Economists Exchange ’ article series, exploring what a post-Covid recovery will look like. It featured top FT commentators like Martin Wolf and Gillian Tett in conversation with 12 world-leading economists, from Kristalina Georgieva to Raghuram Rajan and Jeffrey Sachs.

• We brought the topics to life in three co-hosted webinars , featuring high-calibre speakers such as Rolls Royce CEO Warren East.

• We launched an Accenture-sponsored mini-series on the ‘Tech Tonic’ podcast, exploring the big ideas driving innovation.

• Accenture also aligned with key topics of interest by sponsoring an FT Special Report ‘ The Cloud ’ and two premium newsletters: Tech FT and Coronavirus Business Update .

In an FT media first, we ran a campaign called ‘ Accenture Voices ’ to promote Accenture’s key influencers. The marketing team combined sponsorship of all native and display advertising units on the homepage across all key regions. Bespoke Promoted Content Units , served across FT.com, used semantic profiling to ensure contextual relevance and audience reach. A bespoke marketing campaign included paid social promotion, Linkedin targeting to Accenture employees, and 500,000 co-branded traffic driving impressions across FT.com

The campaign delivered exceptional results for Accenture, positioning it strongly as a leader in change.

• The Economists Exchange series reached over 102,000 known unique readers

• 1,200 senior business decision-makers attended the associated webinars, generating leads for Accenture

• With 10 touchpoints, this single campaign reached 502,191 unique FT readers and 92,000 unique C-Suite readers

• Accenture Voices saw over 4.4 million impressions and over 4,100 clicks

• Newsletter sponsorships delivered over 3.5 million impressions and 1,262 clicks

• The Special Report The Cloud reached 350,000 unique users

At the end of the campaign, the FT ran another Management Consultancy Global Impact Study to assess the impact of these results against the initial pre-campaign study. Across EMEA, Accenture had managed to increase its brand awareness by 60% . In Europe, it ranked highest as a firm that is a leader in digital development and innovation, and usage of the firm had increased by 27% . What’s more, 52% more senior decision-makers said they will be using Accenture in the next 12-24 months.

The post-campaign brand uplift study showed Accenture as the joint highest-scoring unaided first choice brand for management consultancy firms , while consideration saw an uplift of 31% between the control group and those that had seen the ads.

More case studies

FT Digital Dialogues

FT Live has an important role to play in helping FT readers and clients understand these deeply uncertain times. With these objectives in mind, they set to work on launching a new series of online events called Digital Dialogues.

Refinitiv recognized the FT's Trade Secrets as a strategic fit, providing context to the financial data it is known for – and sponsoring Trade Secrets would give Refinitiv a powerful means of achieving its brand recognition objectives.

Strong brand visibility at FT Live’s flagship virtual event for global policymakers and business leaders, backed by a multimedia content campaign, helped Suntory raise awareness of its sustainability initiatives.

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February 07, 2019

Emerging “Post-Digital” World Provides New Opportunities for Businesses to Deliver Personalized Realities and Experiences, According to Accenture Technology Vision 2019

Successful businesses will take advantage of new set of technologies but prioritize trust, responsibility, privacy and security

NEW YORK; Feb. 7, 2019 – The enterprise is entering a new “post-digital” era, where success will be based on an organization’s ability to master a set of new technologies that can deliver personalized realities and experiences for customers, employees and business partners, according to Accenture Technology Vision 2019 , the annual report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) that predicts key technology trends that will redefine businesses over the next three years.

According to this year’s report, “The Post-Digital Era is Upon Us — Are You Ready for What’s Next?,” the enterprise is at a turning point. Digital technologies enable companies to understand their customers with a new depth of granularity; give them more channels with which to reach those consumers; and enable them to expand ecosystems with new potential partners. But digital is no longer a differentiating advantage — it’s now the price of admission. In fact, nearly four in five (79 percent) of the more than 6,600 business and IT executives worldwide that Accenture surveyed for the report believe that digital technologies — specifically social, mobile, analytics and cloud — have moved beyond adoption silos to become part of the core technology foundation for their organization. “A post-digital world doesn’t mean that digital is over,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology & innovation officer. “On the contrary — we’re posing a new question: As all organizations develop their digital competency, what will set YOU apart? In this era, simply doing digital isn’t enough. Our Technology Vision highlights the ways in which organizations must use powerful new technologies to innovate in their business models and personalize experiences for their customers. At the same time, leaders must recognize that human values, such as trust and responsibility, are not just buzzwords but critical enablers of their success.”

Accenture Technology Vision 2019: The Post-Digital Era is Upon Us – Are You Ready for What’s Next? \

The Technology Vision identifies five emerging technology trends that companies must address if they are to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving landscape:

• DARQ Power: Understanding the DNA of DARQ. The technologies of d istributed ledgers, a rtificial intelligence, extended r eality and q uantum computing (DARQ) are catalysts for change, offering extraordinary new capabilities and enabling businesses to reimagine entire industries. When asked to rank which of these will have the greatest impact on their organization over the next three years, 41 percent of executives ranked AI number one — more than twice the number of any other DARQ technology.
• Get to Know Me: Unlock unique consumers and unique opportunities. Technology-driven interactions are creating an expanding technology identity for every consumer. This living foundation of knowledge will be key to understanding the next generation of consumers and for delivering rich, individualized, experience-based relationships. More than four in five executives (83 percent) said that digital demographics give their organizations a new way to identify market opportunities for unmet customer needs.
• Human+ Worker: Change your workplace or hinder your workforce . As workforces become “human+” — with each individual worker empowered by their skillsets and knowledge plus a new, growing set of capabilities made possible through technology — companies must support a new way of working in the post-digital age. More than two-thirds (71 percent) of executives believe that their employees are more digitally mature than their organization, resulting in a workforce “waiting” for the organization to catch up.
• Secure Us to Secure Me: Enterprises are not victims, they’re vectors. While ecosystem-driven business depends on interconnectedness, those connections increase companies’ exposures to risks. Leading businesses recognize that security must play a key role in their efforts as they collaborate with entire ecosystems to deliver best-in-class products, services and experiences. Only 29 percent of executives said they know their ecosystem partners are working diligently to be compliant and resilient with regard to security.
• MyMarkets: Meet consumers at the speed of now. Technology is creating a world of intensely customized and on-demand experiences, and companies must reinvent their organizations to find and capture those opportunities. That means viewing each opportunity as if it’s an individual market—a momentary market. Six in seven executives (85 percent) said that the integration of customization and real-time delivery is the next big wave of competitive advantage.

According to the report, innovation for organizations in the post-digital era involves figuring out how to shape the world around people and pick the right time to offer their products and services. They’re taking their first steps in a world that tailors itself to fit every moment — where products, services and even people’s surroundings are customized and where businesses cater to the individual in every aspect of their lives and jobs, shaping their realities. One company taking individualization and customization to a new level is Zozotown, Japan’s biggest e-commerce company. Its skintight spandex Zozosuits pair with the Zozotown app to take customers’ exact measurements; custom-tailored pieces from the company’s in-house clothing line arrive in as few as 10 days. And it’s not just in the fashion industry where technology is enabling customization previously not possible. U.S. retailer Sam’s Club developed an app that uses machine learning and data about customers’ past purchases to auto-fill their shopping lists; the company plans to add a navigation feature to show optimized routes through the store to each item on that list. The report notes that companies still completing their digital transformations are looking for a specific edge, whether it’s innovative service, higher efficiency or more personalization. But post-digital companies are out to surpass the competition by combining these forces to change the way the market itself works — from one market to many custom markets — on-demand and in the moment, just as Chinese e-retail platform JD.com is doing with its “Toplife” platform. The service helps third parties sell through JD by setting up customized stores, providing access to its supply chain with cutting-edge robotics and drone delivery. In partnership with Walmart, a physical store in Shenzhen will offer more than 8,000 products available in person or delivered from the store in under 30 minutes. By offering unprecedented customization and speed, JD is empowering other companies while creating a new market for itself. For almost two decades, Accenture has taken a systematic look across the enterprise landscape to identify emerging technology trends that hold the greatest potential to disrupt businesses and industries. For more information on this year’s report, visit www.accenture.com/technologyvision or follow the conversation on Twitter with #TechVision2019. About the Methodology The Accenture Technology Vision is developed annually by the Accenture Labs and Accenture Research. For the 2019 report, the research process included gathering input from the Technology Vision External Advisory Board, a group comprising more than two dozen experienced individuals from the public and private sectors, academia, venture capital firms and entrepreneurial companies. In addition, the Technology Vision team conducted interviews with technology luminaries and industry experts, as well as with nearly 100 Accenture business leaders. In parallel, Accenture Research conducted a global online survey of 6,672 business and IT executives to capture insights into the adoption of emerging technologies. The survey helped identify the key issues and priorities for technology adoption and investment. Respondents were C-level executives and directors at companies across 27 countries and 20 industries, with the majority having annual revenues greater than US$6 billion. About Accenture Accenture 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 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 . # # # Contact: Hannah Unkefer Accenture +1 206 839 2172 [email protected] 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.

Customer Success: Accenture Technology Case Study

Case study: accenture technology.

Train 80,000 Developers in One Year

Accenture builds and maintains IT systems for the world’s most recognized brands. They sought a partner that could provide scalable self-service learning to address the needs of a large, multi-national developer workforce and enable the creation of secure, resilient software applications for their clients.

Train 80,000 software engineers

Teams had varying skill levels, and job functions focused on resilient design, secure coding, and robust application constructs.

Provide deep, continuous measurement

Reporting requirements included analysis by geography, job function, and business group.

Maximize training engagement

Driving completion would impact ROI for the training and pay dividends to Accenture clients as skill sets rose.

Goal exceeded by 40%

The successful pilot program and role-based training made putting 110,000 software engineers through an entire learning path within 12 months easy.

Full metrics visibility, quantifiable statistics

Weekly reports drove timely adjustments, including course completion, ‘Belt’ System progress, and competency baselines.

Participation across disparate groups

Seamless infrastructure and ongoing communication led to significant swings in staff engagement, consistency of course completions, and requests for more training.

Approach – Tailored to Desired Outcomes

Undaunted by the scale and guided by our experienced customer success team, we developed the guideposts for success:

Blended Training

Proven* to impact engagement, courses coupled with Cyber Range challenges provided a practical way to practice knowledge and baseline skills.

Progressive Learning

Learning paths were created for 24 roles, based on three competency tiers (aka “belts”). Post-training assessments determined if users were ready to advance to the next level.

Scalability & Integration

Single Sign-On (SSO) provided seamless access to Security Innovation’s training platform and enabled continuous reporting. The platform could handle over 20k concurrent users.

Quality & Optimization gates

A continuous improvement mindset was adopted from day one. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were supported by weekly status calls and quarterly business reviews (QBRs).

* Cybersecurity Training Benchmark Report – Ponemon Institute 2020

Power of Communication & Optimization

Course completion was a stated goal for Accenture, which had seen training endeavors fail in the past. Security Innovation’s customer success team executed regular communication plans including emails, social media posts, and scheduled prompts to spur continued action. The concerted effort led to spikes in both enrollment and course completion.

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Accenture Tech Vision Global Launch Event: A Bridge Between the Physical and Virtual Worlds

Introduction:

For two decades, Accenture has published an annual Technology Vision Report on the top technology trends that will impact business and IT leaders in the coming years. For many years as part of the global launch, Accenture has hosted several VIP client events around the world. In 2020, the launch events came up against the ultimate disrupter: Covid-19.

If Tech Vision events were going to take place in 2021, they would clearly have to be virtual. 

Accenture didn’t want the launch event to feel like a typical virtual meeting. The goal was to make it feel both interesting and engaging —as innovative and exciting as the technology trends that would be discussed.

The Challenge:

The challenge Accenture put before Touchcast was as thrilling as it was daunting: to create a global, virtual launch event that offered the global accessibility, high-end production values, and the analytics possible with a virtual event married with the real-time vitality, buzz, and connectivity of an in-person event. In essence, to bridge the physical and virtual worlds.

They didn’t want the Tech Vision launch event simply to share the possibilities of emerging tech —they wanted their clients to experience it. One thing apparent to the Accenture and Touchcast teams from the start was that they couldn’t merely move the Tech Vision event of years past online. To go virtual, they had to rethink the event from the ground up.

The Solution:

The first thing Accenture did was streamline the event program. Rather than an in-person event that provides an opportunity for networking and time to experience a demo showcase, they wanted to create a very tight hour of must-watch programming that would keep everyone engaged.

They also didn’t want the event to feel pre-recorded and inauthentic. Accenture wanted the audience to feel like they were immersed in a live event. It needed to be extremely sharp and well-produced like all Accenture events, but also have the spark that comes only from real-time experiences.

“Touchcast strongly recommended that the entire event should be pre-recorded to reduce the risk of a technical glitch,” says Katy Ahern, Accenture’s lead for technology innovation marketing and communications. “But we wanted our attendees to experience a live event with interactive discussions and Q&A."

“The Touchcast technology was flawless, and the platform provided us with the flexibility to have a keynote presentation and interactive, live panel discussions."

The Accenture and Touchcast teams decided on a hybrid approach. The keynote, intros, and outros would be pre-recorded so they could be edited and finely polished. And the panel discussions would be live with the speakers beamed in from their home offices.

Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s group chief executive - technology & chief technology officer, recorded his keynote speech in front of a full-body green screen so that he could walk across the virtual stage and simulate being on a real stage. Touchcast worked closely with the panelists to prepare them for the live discussions and onboard them from their home offices around the globe.

“We were very pleased with the live portions of the event. The platform offers flexibility so we could easily change the format to look like a live panel discussion similar to a news channel on TV."

What blended both the pre-recorded and live experiences together was the branding and design, which gave the event, along with its website, a seamless, polished, and cohesive feel. The virtual stage, design element, and every aspect of the platform had to feel part of the Tech Vision experience and align with Accenture’s brand. 

“I felt like we were really working with the best of the best, ” says Kelcie Des Jardins, who managed the event production for Touchcast. “There was this idea of the event being both ephemeral but also something that would live on.”

The event brought together attendees from 45 countries, who listened and watched in multiple languages, all translated by artificial intelligence  in real time, with over 1,300 poll interactions on event day. Even more telling was the positive feedback elicited both internally and from clients who were taken back by how immersive and transportive the event was. 

For Ahern, the Tech Vision launch event offered many opportunities to learn on how to plan for future virtual events; namely that you don’t need to be in person to have a big event where attendees feel like they’re in a professional, interactive environment. The Tech Vision 2021 launch event also offered inspiration for how to continue iterating and pushing the boundaries between physical and virtual worlds.

“We're really excited about working with Touchcast because the platform provides us the opportunity to creatively engage with our audience."

The big question is then: Where does this bridge between physical and virtual worlds lead next?

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Accenture Technology Vision 2023: Generative AI to Usher in a Bold New Future for Business, Merging Physical and Digital Worlds

Report explores how technology will transform the way people work and live

Accenture unveils generative AI center of excellence for clients and partners

 New research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) finds that generative AI and other rapidly evolving technologies are ushering in a bold new future for business as physical and digital worlds become inextricably linked.

The Accenture Technology Vision 2023, “ When Atoms Meet Bits: The Foundations of Our New Reality , ” explores the technology trends underpinning the convergence of the physical and digital, as businesses look to accelerate enterprise reinvention in the here and now.

“The next decade will be defined by three mega technology trends—cloud, metaverse and AI—which collectively will collapse the distance of our digital and physical worlds,” said  Paul Daugherty, group chief executive of Accenture Technology . “While generative AI will have far-reaching impact, leaders must dive in now to achieve its full promise, as it will require significant investments in data, people, and customizing foundation models to meet organizations’ unique needs.

Mahesh Zurale, senior managing director, lead — Advanced Technology Centers in India, Accenture  said, “We’ve arrived at an exciting frontier of technology innovation for businesses, one where we’re not just digitizing but starting to put the digital foundation to work. The next wave of business transformation will shift from creating isolated digital capabilities to creating a new reality that seamlessly converges the physical lives we’ve been leading with digital. It not only offers new opportunities to build products & services and create new ways of working but is also the force behind a new era of scientific research.

To fully unlock the opportunity of the new reality, companies need to develop an innovation strategy on three pillars – information (IT), physical systems (OT), and science tech (ST) while continuing to invest in skilling across areas like quantum computing, AI, extended reality, creative thinking, and critical reasoning capabilities to name a few .”

The meteoric rise of ChatGPT has captivated the world’s attention on the power of  generative AI  to augment human capability. Accenture estimates as much as 40% of all working hours will be supported or augmented by language-based AI. Among business leaders, 98% of respondents agree AI foundation models will play an important role in their organization’s strategies over the next three to five years.

Accenture’s Technology Vision 2023 identifies four trends that are key to unlocking this new shared reality:

• Generative AI:  Advancing human capability as a co-pilot, creative partner or advisor, nearly all executives agree that generative AI will spark significant creativity and innovation (98%) and usher in a new era of enterprise intelligence (95%).
• Digital identity:  The ability to authenticate digital users and assets—the foundation for traversing digital and physical worlds—is now seen by 85% of executives as a strategic business imperative, not just a technical issue.
• My data, your data, our data:  AI cannot reach its full potential until companies figure out data. That means breaking down data silos and modernizing their data foundations. In fact, 90% of executives believe data is becoming a key competitive differentiator within organizations and across industries.
• Our forever frontier:  Feedback loop between science and technology is getting faster, with each accelerating the advancement of the other, in ways that 75% of respondents believe could begin to unlock the world’s grand challenges.

Building on years of research and client work, Accenture has established a company-wide team—the  Generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM) Center of Excellence , bringing together 1,600 professionals dedicated to generative AI and leveraging the depth and experience of more than 40,000 AI and data professionals across Accenture. To help guide and inform business leaders, Accenture has published “ A New Era of Generative AI for Everyone , ” an in-depth study of generative AI/LLM that provides actionable insights on how leaders can best use this disruptive technology.

For 23 years, Accenture has taken a systematic look across the enterprise landscape to identify technology trends with the highest likelihood of disrupting businesses and industries. For more information on this year’s report, visit  www.accenture.com/technologyvision  or follow the conversation on Twitter with #TechVision.

About the Research For the Technology Vision 2023 report, “When Atoms Meet Bits: The Foundations of Our New Reality,” Accenture gathered input from an external advisory board of more than two dozen practitioners spanning public and private sector, academia, venture capital and entrepreneurial companies. In parallel, Accenture Research conducted a global survey of 4,777 C-level executives and directors across 34 countries and 25 industries. The survey was fielded between December 2022 and January 2023.

About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent and innovation led company with 738,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at  www.accenture.com .

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Connect with us, vr onboarding: how accenture is redefining hr with metaverse technology.

by HRD Connect | Case Studies

• Date published: Feb 13, 2023

It’s no secret the HR function is changing. 91% of HR leaders believe the scope of their role has changed in the last five years, and 73% feel the term ‘Human Resources’ is outdated, reflecting its administrative past rather than its agile future. And yet, the adoption of emerging technologies that are accelerating the innovation of practices such as immersive learning is sluggish. HR leaders feel they lack the right technology and the skills to implement it at scale.

At Accenture, however, emerging technologies such as VR and the metaverse are revolutionizing the HR function. The ‘Nth Floor,’ is Accenture’s pioneering application of the metaverse where the firm has rolled out a new immersive experience as part of its onboarding process. It has created virtual counterparts of physical offices that have helped improve hybrid collaboration and networking. It provides a platform for immersive learning. The scale of Accenture’s metaverse is seriously impressive:

• Accenture has onboarded over 150,000 employees in the metaverse
• Post-onboarding surveys have scored 94% favorability
• Accenture has delivered hundreds of community gatherings, including an annual strategy meeting for 150 managing directors in 25 countries

Olly Jeffers, Accenture’s Global Onboarding Metaverse Lead, takes us up to the Nth floor to look at how metaverse technology is redefining Accenture’s HR practices.

Accenture’s enterprise metaverse: The Nth Floor

Accenture has always prioritized experimenting with the latest technologies and using them at the enterprise level. Indeed, it has explored the use of virtual worlds for over 15 years. With the world forced into remote and hybrid working over the past three years, and the maturity of VR and metaverse technology, it began exploring ways to bring its global workforce together beyond traditional email, phone calls, and video meetings. Through a series of pilots and experiments, it evaluated the use-case of metaverse technology for parts of the onboarding journey. Jeffers describes the early adoption of this technology among the HR team at Accenture.

“We started to see that the metaverse was providing our people with a social and collaborative touchpoint. It was a spontaneous connection at a time when it wasn’t possible to meet in person. It was very memorable for our employees, and fun, so we began to create One Accenture Park for our employee onboarding.”

“Having brought aspects of our onboarding experience inside the metaverse for our new joiners, our leadership was immediately bought in. We rolled out metaverse technology beyond the onboarding experience. The Nth floor was born.”

How Accenture is applying metaverse technology

Accenture believes the Nth floor to be the world’s largest enterprise metaverse. It spans onboarding, immersive learning, collaboration, socializing, and wellness. Not only has it completely re-imagined the onboarding experience for new starters, but it has helped Accenture to tackle issues including hybrid working and engaging L&D programs that improve the quality of leadership skills across the globe. Let’s explore the depths of the Nth Floor and how it is accelerating the digitization of myriad HR functions.

One Accenture Park is a home for new joiners. In the metaverse onboarding hub, employees going through onboarding can network, meet their peers, and learn about Accenture’s culture and business practices. The immersive experience begins on their second day. Jeffers explains the two-part experience that follows.

“Firstly, we welcome new joiners into a conference room designed to replicate Accenture’s physical office spaces. This is a chance for them to move around, talk with other new joiners, and acclimatize themselves to the technology. Subsequently, their ‘park ranger’ will lead them down a corridor and see One Accenture Park open in front of them in Jurassic Park style.”

“They then move into smaller groups and take part in a small bonding exercise. When they return, they begin to learn about what Accenture does and how we work. A mock client provides them with business challenges that they solve as a team. The new joiners get a taste of what it’s like to work for Accenture in an immersive world, free from distractions, and far more engaging than any other remote onboarding.”

To date, Accenture has onboarded over 150,000 employees in One Accenture Park. This remarkable achievement shows how emerging technologies like the metaverse, and VR, can not only help HR teams scale their work, but also improve employee experience across the full course of the employee lifecycle. The feedback Accenture has received through post-onboarding surveys and even organic employee feedback is a testament to the journey it has created. The virtual onboarding received an average rating of 4.7 on a 5-point scale (94% favorability). A new starter recently shared the following feedback:

“ The inclusion of One Accenture Park brought another dimension of engagement during the onboarding process. It allowed a different approach to our learning, exploring, and interaction within my new start group whilst being able to get hands-on with technology. This added to the excitement and enthusiasm, so much so that myself and a couple of colleagues decided to further explore the capabilities of the metaverse and socialize in VR. We discovered things like being able to explore different Accenture offices, project a presentation on a giant skyscraper and play games.” – Delvin Monzon, Technology Architect, Accenture

It has also been a constant evolution and learning exercise for Accenture.

“It’s taken the work of many teams, and many people to create One Accenture Park. That work hasn’t stopped either. We continue to develop and grow the spaces and build new experiences. Building a world like this means forging strong relationships with a vast range of teams. This included learning experience teams, our instructional designers, and onboarding experts. Most importantly, we worked very closely with our XR team. These designers, developers, and artists bring these ideas to life. They are the architects of these virtual spaces.”

Immersive Learning

Organizations are only just beginning to recognize the scope VR technology can have for L&D programs. Previously limited to more technical or dangerous use cases , immersive learning can be applied to countless hard and soft skills to facilitate development. Demand for job roles such as instructional designers is increasing as HR leaders look to understand what applications immersive learning may have. Accenture’s Nth floor has revolutionized its approach to learning and development at all levels of the organization.

It has held hundreds of community gatherings in immersive spaces. For example, at an annual strategy meeting with client account leaders, Accenture created a virtual lounge using a combination of avatars and realistic meeting spaces to provide a deeper sense of connection. The result was more than 150 managing directors in 25 countries, enjoying face-to-face time from their locations. Jeffers talks through another example: ‘The Leadership Essentials Mountain.’

“On the lower level of One Accenture Park, there’s something called the ‘NJ Expo’. It’s an interactive museum where people can discover key Accenture topics, such as having a successful career at Accenture. One of these is the Leadership Essentials Mountain. We’re using pneumonic devices, analogies, and metaphors to get the key essence of the topic across in a very memorable way.”

“With the Leadership Essentials Mountain, we encourage people to explore seven mountain checkpoints on a journey to discover what the leadership essentials are. Employees learn the characteristics and behaviors that exemplify how we lead at Accenture when they reach each checkpoint. Eventually, they reach the top of the mountain, and through this virtual gamification, they’ve learned the essentials.”

These revolutionary immersive learning journeys replicate many of the benefits of more traditional, in-person learning events, that cannot video meetings cannot capture.

“When you put the VR headset on, you remove all distractions. On a normal call, message alerts are firing off, emails coming in, or other phone calls coming through. It can be challenging to just focus. We remove a lot of the noise.”

“Secondly, the spatial audio used in the Nth Floor replicates the real world. In the real world, if I wanted to talk to someone in person, I could do so without disturbing the meeting. With video meetings, it tends to be that only one person can talk at a time. For events like watching a speaker on a stage, it allows you to reflect and have a conversation about what you’re hearing at the moment.”

“Lastly, in a networking setting, you can dynamically move from conversation to conversation and focus on the information that matters to you. We’re seeing this help our learners reflect on what they’re learning, which supports our durable learning principles.”

Socializing

An immersive learning model like this relies on leveraging early adopters. These are individuals within the organization who are eager to embrace innovative technology. Such change agents can help socialize it among teams. Accenture worked closely with a core network of employees who recognized the possibilities with metaverse and empowered them to create events within the Nth Floor to learn, connect, and socialize.

“It doesn’t intend to ever replace face-to-face connections. But for an organization with the global scale of Accenture, it’s not always possible to have people come together.”

“Especially for teams that are spread across large distances, or just can’t travel to the office, the Nth Floor gives them the power to come together, feel present, and be with their colleagues. Take a daily stand-up. Now we can meet on the beach at One Accenture Park and hear the waves on the sand.”

As the hybrid conversation continues in full swing, organizations that seek ways to augment the benefits of in-person work in remote environments stand to improve employee engagement by offering their workforce more personal ways of connecting.

The future of Accenture’s metaverse

Unlike its physical counterparts, the Nth floor has the benefit of continued expansion and consistent reimagination. With metaverse champions creating new events and opportunities for virtual collaboration, and support from the C-Suite, Accenture has secured buy-in at all levels to continue evolving.

“We’re very excited for the future of the metaverse and how Accenture can use these tools. Beyond the HR function, it’s helping us serve our customers. We’re already showing our clients how the metaverse will transform business and using our story as the proof-of-concept.”

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, strategic it transformation at accenture.

Publication date: 20 January 2017

Teaching notes

In 2001 Accenture took the bold step of separating from its parent, Arthur Andersen. The new firm that emerged had a bright future ahead, but it also faced the challenge of building a new IT infrastructure that could support a global organization that consults on leading-edge technology. Accenture's CIO at the time, Ed Schreck, knew that becoming a master of your own trade was not an easy task. Frank Modruson, Schreck's successor and the person responsible for carrying forward the IT transformation challenge from 2002 on, had ambitious plans for the new technology infrastructure that was to replace Arthur Andersen's legacy systems. Difficult decisions had to be made. Should the firm continue with a decentralized approach to managing technology platforms, in which each country chooses its own IT platforms and has autonomy to run them? Or should the firm take a mixed approach, in which the same standard applications would run throughout the enterprise but would be managed independently by individual offices? Or should Accenture espouse a “one-firm” approach and boldly shoot for a centralized implementation of its most critical systems, with all its offices interconnected on the same “instance” of a software platform? Furthermore, should the firm retain its traditional conception of IT as cost center, or should it migrate to a scheme that recognizes IT as a service provision center that generates measurable value for the organization? These questions and many others drove Accenture's CIO team to undertake one of the most remarkable IT transformations in a global organization in recent years.

To understand best practices for transforming an IT infrastructure. To offer a step-by-step approach to rationalizing a billion-dollar-plus IT technology infrastructure. To understand the connection between strategy and architecture in delivering high performance for an organization. To understand organizational change strategies and approaches in dealing with complexity in very large companies.

• Information Technology
• IT Transformation
• Designing IT Infrastructure
• IT Platform
• Enterprise Application
• Organizational Culture
• Managing IT Like a Business

Jeffery, M. , Fisher, D. , Granot, M. , Kadyan, A. , Pho, A. and Vasquez, C. (2017), "Strategic IT Transformation at Accenture", . https://doi.org/10.1108/case.kellogg.2016.000321

Kellogg School of Management

Copyright © 2010, The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

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Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

• Hacking the Case Interview

Accenture interviews are comprised of case interviews and behavioral or fit interview questions. If you are interviewing for Accenture’s Strategy group, you will also be given a special type of interview called the Accenture Potentia Interview.

If you have an upcoming Accenture interview, we have you covered. We’ll cover in detail:  

• The Accenture interview process
• What is an Accenture case interview?
• What does an Accenture case interview assess?
• How to solve Accenture case interviews
• The common types of Accenture case interviews
• Accenture case interview examples
• Accenture case interview tips
• How to prepare for Accenture case interviews
• How to ace the Accenture Potentia Interview
• Accenture behavioral and fit interview questions
• Recommended Accenture case interview resources

The Accenture Interview Process

Accenture is a massive professional services firm that provides management consulting, IT consulting, and back office outsourcing. Within management consulting, Accenture is broken down into three groups: Strategy, Operations, and Digital.

Accenture Strategy is the group that is most similar to McKinsey, BCG, and Bain in the type of work that they do. The Operations and Digital group is focused more on implementation rather than on pure strategy.

Depending on the office and group that you are applying for, there will be two to three rounds of interviews. Each round will have anywhere from one to three 1-hour interviews. Your interviews will be a mix of case interviews and behavioral or fit interview questions.

Below is an example of what your interview process could look like:

• Accenture first round interview : Two 40-minute interviews. The first 10 minutes will be spent on behavioral or fit interview questions and the remaining 30 minutes will be spent on an Accenture case interview.
• Accenture final round interview : Three 1-hour interviews. One interview will be focused on behavioral or fit interview questions. The other two interviews will be focused on Accenture case interviews.

One important thing to note is that if you are applying for a role in Accenture Strategy, one of your interviews will be a special type of interview called the Potentia interview.

You’ll be interviewed by more senior people as you go through the different rounds of interviews. In the first round, you’ll be interviewed by consultants or managers. In the final round, you’ll be interviewed by managing directors and senior managing directors.

We’ll cover all of the different types of interview questions in detail in the next few sections.

What is an Accenture Case Interview

An Accenture case interview, also known as a “case” for short, is a 30 to 60-minute exercise in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.

These business problems can be anything that real companies face:

• How can Amazon increase its profitability?
• What can Apple do to increase customer retention?
• How should Tesla price its new electric vehicle?
• Where should Disney open another Disneyland theme park?

Accenture case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation. Cases simulate real business problems that consulting firms solve for their clients. Many Accenture case interviews are based on actual projects that interviewers have worked on.

While consulting projects typically last between 3 to 9 months, case interviews condense solving the business problem into just 30 to 45 minutes.

Accenture case interviews can cover any industry, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, energy, education, healthcare, government, and technology.

They can also cover a wide range of business situations, including entering a new market, launching a new product, acquiring a company, improving profitability, and growing revenues.

Although Accenture case interviews cover a wide range of industries and business situations, no technical or specialized knowledge is needed.

Unless you are interviewing for a consulting firm that specializes in a particular industry or function, cases are designed to be solved by someone that has general business knowledge.

Nailing your Accenture case interviews is critical to get a job at Accenture. There is no way to get a Accenture job offer without passing your case interviews.

What Does an Accenture Case Interview Assess?

Accenture case interviews assess five different qualities or characteristics: logical and structured thinking, analytical problem solving, business acumen, communication skills, and personality and cultural fit.

1. Logical and structured thinking : Consultants need to be organized and methodical in order to work efficiently.

• Can you structure complex problems in a clear, simple way?
• Can you take tremendous amounts of information and data and identify the most important points?
• Can you use logic and reason to make appropriate conclusions?

2. Analytical problem solving : Consultants work with a tremendous amount of data and information in order to develop recommendations to complex problems.

• Can you read and interpret data well?
• Can you perform math computations smoothly and accurately?
• Can you conduct the right analyses to draw the right conclusions?

3. Business acumen : A strong business instinct helps consultants make the right decisions and develop the right recommendations.

• Do you have a basic understanding of fundamental business concepts?
• Do your conclusions and recommendations make sense from a business perspective?

4. Communication skills : Consultants need strong communication skills to collaborate with teammates and clients effectively.

• Can you communicate in a clear, concise way?
• Are you articulate in what you are saying?

5. Personality and cultural fit : Consultants spend a lot of time working closely in small teams. Having a personality and attitude that fits with the team makes the whole team work better together.

• Are you coachable and easy to work with?
• Are you pleasant to be around?

All of these five qualities can be assessed in just a 30 to 60-minute Accenture case interview. This is what makes case interviews so effective in assessing consulting candidates.

How to Solve Accenture Case Interviews

Accenture case interviews, also known as case study interviews, are candidate-led. This means that you will be expected to drive the case. You will be suggesting what areas to explore, what analyses to do, and what next steps should be.

Accenture cases last between 30 to 45 minutes. They tend to be based on real business situations, often drawn from an actual project that your interviewer worked on.

In  Accenture’s case interview workbook , they state that success in their case interviews does not depend on finding the correct answer. Instead, you are assessed on:

• How clearly you define the problem
• How logically you structure the analysis
• How strong your quantitative analysis skills are
• How well you communicate your thoughts to the interviewer

In addition to these hard skills, there are also soft skills that you will be assessed on. These are:

• Poise : your confidence, ability to perform well under pressure, and how you handle making mistakes
• Communication : your listening skills and how articulate you are in presenting your process and conclusions
• Flexibility : how well you can adapt your thinking to changing circumstances
• Other  intangibles : your energy and drive, initiative, time management, decisiveness, and genuine interest in consulting and the firm

Accenture suggests following six different steps to solve an Accenture case interview.

(Source: Accenture Case Interview Workbook)  

1. Listen to the case

In this step, the interviewer will give you a description of the case problem. This description can be as short as a few sentences or as long as a full page of detailed information.

During this step, make sure you are taking notes on the most important pieces of information. You should focus on understanding the context, company, and the objective.

2. Clarify the problem

Understanding the business problem and objective is imperative to successfully solving the case. Answering or addressing the wrong business problem is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

Therefore, ask clarifying questions to better understand the business situation and issue. Afterwards, make sure that you confirm or verify the objective of the case with the interviewer. This ensures that you will start the case on the right track.

3. Decompose the problem

Next, you’ll need to break down the problem in an exhaustive and logical way. You can do this by creating an issue tree or framework.

A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into simpler, smaller components. Think of a framework as brainstorming different ideas and organizing them neatly into different categories.

Accenture provides a few examples of frameworks that you can use to get you started thinking about how to solve different types of cases.

  (Source: Accenture Case Interview Workbook)  

We recommend that you do not just memorize these frameworks and use them in your interviews. Instead, use these frameworks as background knowledge to help you make your own frameworks that are tailored to the specific case that you are solving for.

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks .

4. State your hypotheses

After decomposing the problem, you should list out potential hypotheses that answer or address the business problem. A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far.

A hypothesis helps guide your analysis and keeps you on track. It ensures that you are spending your time answering the right questions and conducting the right analyses.

5. Test your hypotheses

Once you have a hypothesis, you’ll answer questions or conduct analyses to refine your hypothesis.

Sometimes, your hypothesis will be completely wrong and you’ll need to develop another hypothesis to test. Other times, your hypothesis will be generally right and you’ll need to refine and narrow down your hypothesis further.

This is an iterative process. Your hypothesis should be constantly changing and becoming more refined as you progress through the case. Once you have developed meaningful support for your hypothesis, you will move onto the final step.

6. Summarize your findings

In this step, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. It is also good to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data.

Afterwards, the interviewer may tell you what actually happened with the case or project that they worked on. Don’t worry if your methodology or answer does not match what actually happened. Remember, you are not assessed on your answer, but the overall process.

Learn case interviews in 30 minutes

We've compiled all of the different steps of solving an Accenture case interview into a more easily digestible 30-minute video. We highly recommend watching the video below in its entirety.

The Common Types of Accenture Case Interviews

Accenture states that there are three types of cases you may see in your interviews:

• The “Great Unknown”
• The “Parade of Facts”
• The “Back of the Envelope”

The “Great Unknown” and “Back of the Envelope” are the most common types of cases.

The “Great Unknown” Case

For this type of case, very little information will be provided to you on the case background. For “Great Unknown” cases, you’ll be tested on your ability to probe for details, which requires having a structured framework.

Examples of cases:  

• Your client is a leading manufacturer of prefabricated kitchen furnishings. They have been steadily losing market share over the past two years. You have been hired to help them understand why this is happening and what they can do to improve their market standing.
• A major furniture retailer has experienced declining profits for four quarters, but has experienced a 25% growth in sales and has opened many new stores during this time. Why are profits declining?
• A fast food company is thinking about putting a franchise in an airport. Should they do this?
• A bread division of a large food company is facing increasing competition in the market. Should they exit the market?
• A car company is interested in developing a new car. What marketing related issues should it consider before making the investment?
• What factors influence the revenue potential of a new pharmaceutical product?
• Citibank is considering purchasing another credit card company, which would give them access to 100,000 new card holders. What is the estimated value of this acquisition?
• A commercial bank is re-evaluating the number of branches it operates and whether they should increase the number of branches or close some down. How should they make this decision?
• A large conglomerate company is facing declining profits in its railroad company division and is considering shutting it down. Is this the right course of action? What are potential alternatives?
• New York City has hired you to determine what optimal route or what destination taxi drivers should go to when they do not have a customer.

The “Parade of Facts” Case

For this type of case, a significant amount of details on the case background will be provided to you, some of them unnecessary. For “Parade of Facts” cases, you’ll be tested on the ability to synthesize and identify key issues.

Example of a case:

• Your client is a food company that wants to develop a freshly prepared meal business
• There is a trend among customers towards fresher foods with no artificial preservatives or coloring
• Consumers are currently purchasing $5B of frozen meals and there is a trend towards more upscale products
• A fresh meal plate combines a protein, vegetable, and starch and is delicately arranged in a sealed plastic dome package
• Nitrogen gas flushing is used to extend shelf life
• Product is currently in limited consumer testing at $5.50 to $8.50 per meal
• Shelf life of product is 14 days
• Product will spoil in 21 days, potentially causing food poisoning
• Client wants to know if they can make money in this business
• Client wants to know if the market is big and how will they keep competition out
• Client wants a consultant to assist in building a business case for them

The “Back of the Envelope” Case

This type of case asks a market sizing or estimation question. Very little information will be provided, but a clear question will be asked.

“Back of the Envelope” cases primarily test your analytic abilities. It requires a structured, logical thought process and competency in working with numbers and making calculations.

Examples of cases:

• Estimate the total number of dry cleaners in Philadelphia
• How much money could Continental Airlines save by giving customers half a can instead of a whole can of Sprite?
• What is the estimated value of a taxi medallion in New York City?
• Discuss what is wrong with the following statistic: The Volvo is the safest car on the road because a recent study has shown that Volvos have the fewest number of accident deaths per mile driven
• Estimate the change in the price of oil in the year 2000 from today’s price. Will it increase or will it decrease?
• Estimate the number of attendees for a free concert for U2 in Central Park in New York City

Accenture Case Interview Examples

We've compiled additional examples of Accenture case interviews below. These case interviews were actual cases given in previous Accenture interviews.

Example #1 : A consumer electronics company is looking to introduce a new smartwatch to the market. How should they launch this new product?

Example #2 : A global logistics company wants to streamline its supply chain operations. How can they lower their costs?

Example #3 : A pharmaceutical company is considering discontinuing a particular drug from its portfolio. Evaluate the reasons behind the decision and assess the financial implications.

Example #4 : A non-profit organization focusing on wildlife conservation is facing funding challenges. Recommend initiatives to enhance long-term sustainability of fundraising.

Example #5 : A financial services firm is considering adopting blockchain technology for its operations. What are some considerations that they should think through?

Example #6 : A leading e-commerce platform wants to enhance its customer experience. How can they improve customer satisfaction and loyalty?

Example #7 : A software company that currently serves small and medium-sized businesses wants to expand into the enterprise market. Should they enter this new market?

For more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases .

Accenture Case Interview Tips

Below are six of the most useful Accenture case interview tips for acing your case interviews.

Tip #1: Take your time and don’t rush into speaking

Structure your ideas and thinking before you start talking. If needed, talk through the problem out loud so that the interviewer can follow your thought process.

Tip #2: Be flexible

There may be times when the case will take a different direction than anticipated. You may also need to completely change your approach or hypothesis. It is important that you are open-minded and adaptable throughout the case.

Tip #3: Use visual aids

To make your communication even more clear and easy to follow, use visual aids to your advantage. When presenting your framework, turn your paper around so that it faces the interviewer. When outlining a process, use a whiteboard if there is one available.

Tip #4: Be 80/20

The 80/20 principle states that 80% of the results comes from 20% of your effort. You will not have the time to answer every single question in a case interview. Therefore, take an inventory of all of the information that you have and focus on diving deeper into the areas that will have the greatest impact.

Tip #5: Pay attention to cues from the interviewer

Remember that case interviewers are meant to be collaborative. You should listen closely to what the interviewer has to say. They may provide you with hints to help you out. They may also give you feedback on your approach or structure to help steer you in the right direction. Don’t dismiss what interviewers have to say.

Tip #6: Showcase your individuality

A case interview is an opportunity to showcase your personality and experiences. If you have unique insights based on your previous work experiences, make sure that you bring it up. This can help separate your answer from other candidates.

How to Prepare for Accenture Case Interviews

There are seven steps to preparing for Accenture case interviews.

1. Understand what a case interview is

The first step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to understand exactly what case interviews are.

When you are familiar with what case interviews are, it is important to know what a great Accenture case interview performance looks like.

Knowing what a great Accenture case interview performance looks like will facilitate how quickly you learn case interview strategies in the next step.

Before continuing onto the next step, you should be familiar with:

• The overall objective of a case interview
• The structure and flow of a case interview
• The types of questions you could get asked
• What a great case interview performance looks like

2. Learn the right strategies

Now that you have sufficient background knowledge, the next step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to learn the right strategies to build good case interview habits.

It is much more effective to learn the right case strategies the first time than to learn poor strategies and try to correct them later.

The quickest, most efficient way to learn these strategies is to go through our Comprehensive Case Interview Course .

If you prefer reading case interview prep books instead, the three I recommend are:

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook
• Case Interview Secrets

Hacking the Case Interview provides strategies on exactly what to do and what to say in every step of the case interview. It is a concise and straight to the point guide. I recommend this book as the first book to read for beginners.

Case Interview Secrets teaches core concepts such as the issue tree , drill-down analysis, and a hypothesis driven approach. It illustrates these concepts through stories and anecdotes. If you have read Hacking the Case Interview, I recommend also reading this book to get perspectives from a second author. Check out our full review of Case Interview Secrets .

Case in Point provides a ton of specific and complex frameworks. However, you likely won’t be using many of these in an actual case interview because many of them are overly complex and specific. If you have time, it may be useful to skim through this book. Check out our full review of Case in Point .

At the bare minimum, read either the first or second book. If you have the time, read the first two books so that you can get strategies from two different authors.

Make sure to spend sufficient time learning the right strategies before starting to practice cases. It is ineffective to practice cases if you have no idea what strategies to practice and refine.

Before moving onto the next step, you should at least have strategies for the following parts of a case interview:

• Developing unique and tailored frameworks
• Solving quantitative problems
• Answering qualitative questions
• Delivering a recommendation

3. Practice 3-5 cases by yourself

Once you have learned the right strategies, the next step in Accenture case interview prep is to practice.

When practicing case interviews, it is usually better to practice with a case interview partner than to practice by yourself . Casing with a partner better simulates the real case interview experience.

However, when you are just starting to practice, I recommend doing the first 3 – 5 cases by yourself.

There are three reasons for this:

• You can get the hang of the case interview structure and format much more quickly working by yourself rather than having to wait to schedule a time with a partner
• There are many aspects of case interviews that you can practice without a partner, such as structuring a framework and solving quantitative problems. You can get much more practice working through these parts by yourself
• You may have difficulty finding a case interview partner if you are a complete beginner. Without having done any cases, you likely won’t know how to properly give a case or provide good feedback

4. Practice 5-10 cases with a partner

The next step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to case with a partner.

Casing with a partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview. There are many aspects of case interviews that you won’t be able to improve on unless you practice live with a partner.

When practicing cases with a partner, ensure you are spending enough time after cases to deliver feedback.

For a case that takes around 30 – 40 minutes, spend at least 15 – 20 minutes for feedback. Much of your learning and improvement will come from these feedback sessions.

Do not move onto the next step until you have done at least 5 – 10 cases and are beginning to feel comfortable with case interviews.

5. Practice with a former or current consultant

At this point, I highly recommend asking former or current consultants to give you a practice case. This will significantly help you prepare for case interviews.

Doing a mock case with a former or current consultant is highly advantageous because they know exactly how to run cases and give feedback. You’ll receive incredibly helpful feedback that your previous case partners likely missed.

If you feel that you are plateauing with your case partner, that is a sign you should do a mock case interview with a former or current consultant.

You can find former or current consultants among:

• People you met during the consulting recruiting process
• Your broader LinkedIn network

I would not ask a consultant that is involved with the consulting recruiting process for a case too prematurely. Although these practice cases are not evaluative, some firms will actually make note of how well you perform during the practice case.

At this point, you will have accumulated a long list of improvement areas from all of the different people you have cased with.

6. Work on your improvement areas

In this step of preparing for Accenture case interviews, you will work on strengthening and fine-tuning your improvement areas. Examples of common improvement areas include:

• Creating a more complete and mutually exclusive framework
• Performing math calculations quicker or more smoothly
• Providing more structure to your qualitative answers
• Leading the case more proactively
• Delivering a more succinct recommendation

Try to focus on improving one thing at a time. This is much more effective than trying to improve everything at once.

For some areas, such as math, it will be better to work independently. For other areas, such as learning to proactively lead the case, it will be better to work with a case partner.

If you are looking for more cases, look at the resources listed in step four. If you are looking for specific drills or practice problems for a particular part of a case interview, check out The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook .

Do not move onto the next step until you have finished working on all of your improvement areas.

7. Stay sharp

If you have progressed this far, congratulations! You have almost finished preparing for Accenture case interviews.

Once you feel that you have no more improvement areas to work on, the key is to not burn yourself out by doing too many unnecessary cases.

While each case that you do makes you slightly better, there is a point when doing too many cases can create case fatigue right before your interview. Case fatigue can negatively impact your interview performance.

On the other hand, you also don’t want to go weeks without having done a case. You may end up forgetting strategies or become rusty and slow.

Once you have achieved case mastery, I recommend doing no more than 2 cases per week in the weeks leading up to your interview. This ensures that you remain sharp for case interviews, but don’t have case fatigue.

How to Ace the Accenture Potentia Interview

The Accenture Potentia interview is a 1-hour interview given to candidates that are applying for a role in Accenture Strategy. Here is the structure of the Accenture Potentia Interview:

• You’ll be given a short paragraph of text about a business topic with a problem statement. Topics are diverse and may not be work-related. Examples of topics include blood diamonds in Africa or intellectual property on the Internet
• You’ll have 5 minutes to prepare and think through the problem statement
• You’ll have a 45 to 60-minute conversation with the interviewer in which you’ll present your thoughts and the interviewer will ask follow-up questions

The purpose of the Potentia interview is to challenge your strategic thinking. There is no right or wrong answer. There are also no calculations or math involved.

Instead, the interviewer is assessing you on the structure and organization of your answer and your creativity.

Tips for the Accenture Potentia Interview:  

• Use a framework or structure for your answer : Remember that you are being assessed on how you structure and organize your answer. Therefore, instead of listing random ideas that come to mind, develop a framework to structure your ideas.
• Brainstorm as many ideas as you can : Use your framework to help you brainstorm effectively. Your framework should have three to five different areas. Meticulously think through each area and try to generate at least three ideas in each.
• Have a mix of practical and ambitious ideas : You are being assessed on creativity, so make sure you include ideas that are ambitious and impactful. However, you also want to show sound business judgment, so you will need to include ideas that are practical and easier to implement. You should have a mix of these two types of ideas.
• Bring in ideas that you learned from your prior work experience : One way to demonstrate creativity is to take ideas or solutions in one industry and apply them to another. Therefore, if there is an opportunity to leverage learnings from your prior work experience, you should definitely bring it up.
• Make it a conversation : Remember that the Accenture Potentia interview is meant to be a two-way conversation. Make sure you are listening to the feedback or questions that the interviewer has and responding accordingly.

Accenture Behavioral and Fit Interview Questions

In addition to case interviews, you will likely be asked a few behavioral or fit interview questions. There are ten questions that are most commonly asked.

1. Why are you interested in working at Accenture?

How to answer: Have at least three reasons why you’re interested in working at Accenture. You could mention that you loved the people that you have met from Accenture so far. You can talk about Accenture’s massive global presence and expertise in nearly any industry or function. You can speak to how Accenture provides strategy and implementation, so you can see the impact of your work.

2. Why do you want to work in consulting?

How to answer: Again, have three reasons why you’re interested in consulting. You could mention the fast career growth opportunity, the opportunity to develop soft and hard skills, or the level of impact that you can make by working with large companies on their most challenging issues.

3. Walk me through your resume.

How to answer: Provide a concise summary of your work experience, starting with the most recent. Focus on emphasizing your most impressive and unique accomplishments. At the end, tie your experiences to why you are interested in consulting.

4. What is your proudest achievement?

How to answer: Choose your most impressive, unique, or memorable accomplishment. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work.

5. What is something that you are proud of that is not on your resume?

How to answer: This is a great opportunity to highlight an accomplishment that is not related to your professional work experience. Perhaps there is a non-profit that you volunteer at, a side project or business that you work on, or a hobby that you have won awards or recognition for. Choose something that is impressive and interesting.

6. Tell me about a time when you led a team.

How to answer: If possible, choose a time when you directly managed a person or a team. For this question and the following questions, make sure that you structure your answer. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. This is known as the STAR method and is commonly used to answer behavioral or fit interview questions.

7. Give an example of a time when you faced conflict or a disagreement.

How to answer: When answering this question, focus on emphasizing the steps you took to resolve the conflict or disagreement. Speak to the interpersonal skills you had to use in order to mediate the situation. Interviewers want to know that you are a great mediator and that you can handle conflict in a constructive way.

8. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone.

How to answer: Choose a time when you were able to change someone’s mind. Focus on emphasizing the steps that you took to persuade that person and what impact and results this had. Interviewers want to know that you are a great communicator and a good people person.

9. Describe a time when you failed.

How to answer: Choose a time when you failed to meet a deadline or did not meet expectations. Focus on emphasizing what you learned from the experience and how you used that experience to deliver even better results in the next opportunity that you got. Interviewers want to see that you don’t get discouraged from failure and that you treat those experiences as learning opportunities.

10. What questions do you have for me?

How to answer: This is a great opportunity to get to know the interviewer on a more personal level. Ask them questions about their experience in consulting or their career. Express genuine interest in what they have to show and ask follow-up questions. The more you can get the interviewer talking about themself, the more likely they will have a positive impression of you.

For a step-by-step guide on how to best answer all of these questions and more, check out our complete guide on consulting behavioral interview questions .

Recommended Accenture Case Interview Resources

Here are the resources we recommend to learn the most robust, effective case interview strategies in the least time-consuming way:

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
• Hacking the Case Interview Book   (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.
• Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with former consulting interviewers
• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer
• Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple interviews

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Evolving the Scaled Agile Framework:

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CASE STUDY: Accenture

Key accenture learnings on scaled and distributed agile delivery.

In the provided case study, Accenture shares its insights on addressing process, organization, and tool challenges, including:

• Solution misalignment between teams
• Integration of Agile with Waterfall
• Different timezones, customs, and cross-team activities
• Different DevOps tools between teams

As many companies struggle to implement Agile at scale in distributed environments, this case study describes Accenture’s experience enabling faster delivery and speed-to-market by implementing Agile programs using SAFe, along with adoption of DevOps principles. The early benefits are compelling:

Early Quantitative Benefits

• 50% improvement in merge and retrofit (based on the actual effort tracked)
• 63% improvement in software configuration management (effort to support SCM activities)
• 59% improvement in quality costs (percentage of defects attributed to SCM and deployment)
• 90% improvement in build and deployment (process and effort to raise deployment requests)

“ Enhanced SAFe processes are key to attaining solution alignment between different scrum teams. ”

“ SAFe is critical to the alignment of delivery timelines.”

Early Qualitative Benefits

• Improved demand management and traceability from portfolio through to Agile delivery teams
• Granular configuration management and traceability
• Integration with Agile life cycle tools to allow story-based, configuration management driven from meta data
• Real-time traceability of status for build and deployment
• Automated build and deployments, including “one-button deployment”
• Developer efficiencies as a consequence of improved tool interaction times and processes

Download Accenture Case Study

Many thanks to Accenture’s Mirco Hering, APAC lead for DevOps and Agile, Andrew Ball, senior manager, and Ajay Nair, APAC Agile lead for Accenture Digital, for taking the time to share their insights and learnings. Their story is an inspiration to all of us in the SAFe community. 

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SAP and Accenture Collaborate on Getting to Value Faster with SAP Business AI

Generative AI is the number one driver of transformation today. While it may not be the only or final technological breakthrough, embracing generative AI requires both a multi-year change agenda and a continuous transformation program.

And it all starts with value and elevating IT for the AI era with a strong and secure digital core. This includes emphasis on adopting ready-to-scale AI models, a modern data foundation, and a flexible AI architecture that supports the use of multiple foundation models to future-proof organizations from the evolution of technology and model changes.  

According to Accenture research , 40% of C-suite leaders believe their organization will fully scale generative AI enterprise-wide in six to 12 months. Currently organizations are scaling generative AI in select business areas either extensively (56%) or in a limited way (nearly 30%). Only 10% say they have scaled generative AI with extensive adoption across their entire enterprise, and just 13% are “extremely confident” they have the right data strategy and core digital capabilities in place to effectively leverage generative AI.  

That’s why organizations are increasingly turning to SAP and its partners to help them completely transform their business, and why SAP and Accenture are working together to help their customers make SAP Business AI and data their number one competitive advantage.

Accenture Embraces SAP Business AI to Advance Business Outcomes

By Marc-Oliver Klein and Stephanie Guimbellot

SAP and Accenture have been collaborating and working with customers on technology evolution for over 40 years, using their unique strengths to help industries transform and lead in the market.

As AI is integrated into business applications, it is unleashing new levels of productivity and creativity while forging a path to the future that is different and faster than any previous technology wave.

For many clients, 2023 was a year of experimentation with generative AI. In 2024, we’re focusing on helping clients realize value at scale by going after the business potential in enterprise data with AI, strengthening digital core with embedded AI capabilities, enhancing business functions with AI insights, and accelerating revenue growth with SAP Business AI offerings like Joule, generative AI hub, SAP Datasphere, and SAP HANA Cloud vector engine.

“In partnership with SAP and its customers, we’re emphasizing must-dos for the C-suite,” said Lan Guan, chief AI officer at Accenture. “That includes leading with value, investing in a digital core, nurturing talent, practicing responsible AI, and committing to continuous reinvention. This is how you capitalize on AI’s inflection moment strategically.”

And with Joule, business process reinvention and change adoption in cloud ERP just got easier through new capabilities to boost IT and business user experiences. Accenture plans to embrace the consulting capability for Joule and ABAP code generation in compressed cloud ERP transformations and will collaborate on the consulting capability for Joule with a team of AI experts and prompt designers to facilitate relevant user responses aligned with SAP industry best practices and clean core strategies.

“Our ecosystem plays a critical role in helping our customers adopt SAP Business AI to get immediate value from these exciting new technologies and solutions,” said SAP Chief AI Officer Philipp Herzig. “We very much value our long-standing partnership with Accenture. They have long been an important partner in the industry for bringing innovation to our joint customers, now also by activating SAP’s embedded AI capabilities, including Joule, and building customer use cases on SAP Business Technology Platform with SAP AI Core and generative AI hub. I look forward to our continued collaboration and the outcomes that generative AI will deliver in both business transformations and operations for our customers.”

Accenture is already working on various use cases that leverage SAP Business AI offerings, and the company continues to take an early leadership position in SAP Business AI.

• Accenture’s financial advisor , an SAP 2024 Innovation award winner, uses SAP AI core and large language models (LLMs) to deliver untapped financial value in financial ledgers and transactions. It is helping Accenture business and finance leaders reduce decision-making time by 15%, reduce financial narrative efforts by 60%, and mitigate risks with real-time financial data insights, including 13,000+ user alerts per month.
• Accenture’s supply chain nerve center uses AI models to enable intelligent, responsive, and risk-resilient supply chains to help clients manage disruptions, identify improvements, and resolve issues. The nerve center uses SAP’s generative AI hub and SAP Business Technology Platform, which connects to an LLM fully integrated with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Integrated Business Planning, and SAP Intelligent Asset Management.

Accenture is also evolving its assets and platforms including GenWizard, SynOpps, and AI Navigator for Enterprise to help clients move to cloud ERP faster and achieve earlier business outcomes.

Make Decisions Easier with SAP Business Transformation Solutions and Large Process Models

By Hartmut Poppinga and José Morán Moya

SAP and Accenture are teaming on SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX solutions to help customers with the quantitative insights they need to get alignment and buy-in on cloud ERP and the foundation to tap into the full value of generative AI.

The combined power of SAP and Accenture is helping customers examine business processes at every level of the organization, establish what works, discard what doesn’t and use their own data to create a business case and measure success and value over time. SAP is helping with foundational implementation and Accenture teams are providing analysis, insights, advisory and process modeling. This collaboration is significantly reducing the time it takes clients to complete current state and gap analysis to get to value faster.

“The long-standing partnership between Accenture and SAP is characterized by delivering successful transformation outcomes to our mutual customers,” said Mani Pirouz, chief business officer of SAP Signavio and LeanIX. “Through our joint offerings we help companies become agile, resilient, and intelligent enterprises. SAP Signavio plays a crucial role in transformations by providing insights, collaboration, governance, and execution capabilities for continuous process improvements. These allow companies to unlock business value above and beyond their technical road maps.”

SAP and Accenture’s focus is grounded in a value-led method, cloud ERP business case, and road map that takes a holistic approach to an organization’s full value chain and helps customers:

• Understand the potential to reinvent the value chain and develop end-to-end capabilities powered by generative AI and new ways of working
• Be value-led in every business capability chosen to reinvent with generative AI
• Identify strategic bets where the technology creates differentiated sources of value that cannot be easily captured by competitors
• Reorient the organization from siloed functions to end-to-end business capabilities and decision-making through a unified data architecture and cross-functional teams

“Combining Accenture’s deep industry expertise with SAP solutions helps clients define and realize value in a systematic way,” said Caspar Borggreve, senior managing director and lead of Accenture SAP Business Group. “This is about shifting the focus from siloed use cases to a holistic look at industry value chains to prioritize investments, achieve efficiencies, benefit from generative AI, and scale competitiveness.”

Learn more about Accenture + SAP . 

More in Ecosystem

Generative AI Innovations Take Center Stage at SAP Sapphire in 2024

SAP’s New AI Innovations and Partnerships Deliver Real-World Results

SAP Infuses Business AI Throughout Its Enterprise Cloud Portfolio and Partners with Cutting-Edge AI Leaders to Bring Out Customers’ Best

The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value

If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI (gen AI) , 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology. In the latest McKinsey Global Survey  on AI, 65 percent of respondents report that their organizations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the percentage from our previous survey just ten months ago. Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were last year , with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Alex Singla , Alexander Sukharevsky , Lareina Yee , and Michael Chui , with Bryce Hall , representing views from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and McKinsey Digital.

Organizations are already seeing material benefits from gen AI use, reporting both cost decreases and revenue jumps in the business units deploying the technology. The survey also provides insights into the kinds of risks presented by gen AI—most notably, inaccuracy—as well as the emerging practices of top performers to mitigate those challenges and capture value.

AI adoption surges

Interest in generative AI has also brightened the spotlight on a broader set of AI capabilities. For the past six years, AI adoption by respondents’ organizations has hovered at about 50 percent. This year, the survey finds that adoption has jumped to 72 percent (Exhibit 1). And the interest is truly global in scope. Our 2023 survey found that AI adoption did not reach 66 percent in any region; however, this year more than two-thirds of respondents in nearly every region say their organizations are using AI. 1 Organizations based in Central and South America are the exception, with 58 percent of respondents working for organizations based in Central and South America reporting AI adoption. Looking by industry, the biggest increase in adoption can be found in professional services. 2 Includes respondents working for organizations focused on human resources, legal services, management consulting, market research, R&D, tax preparation, and training.

Also, responses suggest that companies are now using AI in more parts of the business. Half of respondents say their organizations have adopted AI in two or more business functions, up from less than a third of respondents in 2023 (Exhibit 2).

Gen AI adoption is most common in the functions where it can create the most value

Most respondents now report that their organizations—and they as individuals—are using gen AI. Sixty-five percent of respondents say their organizations are regularly using gen AI in at least one business function, up from one-third last year. The average organization using gen AI is doing so in two functions, most often in marketing and sales and in product and service development—two functions in which previous research  determined that gen AI adoption could generate the most value 3 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023. —as well as in IT (Exhibit 3). The biggest increase from 2023 is found in marketing and sales, where reported adoption has more than doubled. Yet across functions, only two use cases, both within marketing and sales, are reported by 15 percent or more of respondents.

Gen AI also is weaving its way into respondents’ personal lives. Compared with 2023, respondents are much more likely to be using gen AI at work and even more likely to be using gen AI both at work and in their personal lives (Exhibit 4). The survey finds upticks in gen AI use across all regions, with the largest increases in Asia–Pacific and Greater China. Respondents at the highest seniority levels, meanwhile, show larger jumps in the use of gen Al tools for work and outside of work compared with their midlevel-management peers. Looking at specific industries, respondents working in energy and materials and in professional services report the largest increase in gen AI use.

Investments in gen AI and analytical AI are beginning to create value

The latest survey also shows how different industries are budgeting for gen AI. Responses suggest that, in many industries, organizations are about equally as likely to be investing more than 5 percent of their digital budgets in gen AI as they are in nongenerative, analytical-AI solutions (Exhibit 5). Yet in most industries, larger shares of respondents report that their organizations spend more than 20 percent on analytical AI than on gen AI. Looking ahead, most respondents—67 percent—expect their organizations to invest more in AI over the next three years.

Where are those investments paying off? For the first time, our latest survey explored the value created by gen AI use by business function. The function in which the largest share of respondents report seeing cost decreases is human resources. Respondents most commonly report meaningful revenue increases (of more than 5 percent) in supply chain and inventory management (Exhibit 6). For analytical AI, respondents most often report seeing cost benefits in service operations—in line with what we found last year —as well as meaningful revenue increases from AI use in marketing and sales.

Inaccuracy: The most recognized and experienced risk of gen AI use

As businesses begin to see the benefits of gen AI, they’re also recognizing the diverse risks associated with the technology. These can range from data management risks such as data privacy, bias, or intellectual property (IP) infringement to model management risks, which tend to focus on inaccurate output or lack of explainability. A third big risk category is security and incorrect use.

Respondents to the latest survey are more likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider inaccuracy and IP infringement to be relevant to their use of gen AI, and about half continue to view cybersecurity as a risk (Exhibit 7).

Conversely, respondents are less likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider workforce and labor displacement to be relevant risks and are not increasing efforts to mitigate them.

In fact, inaccuracy— which can affect use cases across the gen AI value chain , ranging from customer journeys and summarization to coding and creative content—is the only risk that respondents are significantly more likely than last year to say their organizations are actively working to mitigate.

Some organizations have already experienced negative consequences from the use of gen AI, with 44 percent of respondents saying their organizations have experienced at least one consequence (Exhibit 8). Respondents most often report inaccuracy as a risk that has affected their organizations, followed by cybersecurity and explainability.

Our previous research has found that there are several elements of governance that can help in scaling gen AI use responsibly, yet few respondents report having these risk-related practices in place. 4 “ Implementing generative AI with speed and safety ,” McKinsey Quarterly , March 13, 2024. For example, just 18 percent say their organizations have an enterprise-wide council or board with the authority to make decisions involving responsible AI governance, and only one-third say gen AI risk awareness and risk mitigation controls are required skill sets for technical talent.

Bringing gen AI capabilities to bear

The latest survey also sought to understand how, and how quickly, organizations are deploying these new gen AI tools. We have found three archetypes for implementing gen AI solutions : takers use off-the-shelf, publicly available solutions; shapers customize those tools with proprietary data and systems; and makers develop their own foundation models from scratch. 5 “ Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide ,” McKinsey, July 11, 2023. Across most industries, the survey results suggest that organizations are finding off-the-shelf offerings applicable to their business needs—though many are pursuing opportunities to customize models or even develop their own (Exhibit 9). About half of reported gen AI uses within respondents’ business functions are utilizing off-the-shelf, publicly available models or tools, with little or no customization. Respondents in energy and materials, technology, and media and telecommunications are more likely to report significant customization or tuning of publicly available models or developing their own proprietary models to address specific business needs.

Respondents most often report that their organizations required one to four months from the start of a project to put gen AI into production, though the time it takes varies by business function (Exhibit 10). It also depends upon the approach for acquiring those capabilities. Not surprisingly, reported uses of highly customized or proprietary models are 1.5 times more likely than off-the-shelf, publicly available models to take five months or more to implement.

Gen AI high performers are excelling despite facing challenges

Gen AI is a new technology, and organizations are still early in the journey of pursuing its opportunities and scaling it across functions. So it’s little surprise that only a small subset of respondents (46 out of 876) report that a meaningful share of their organizations’ EBIT can be attributed to their deployment of gen AI. Still, these gen AI leaders are worth examining closely. These, after all, are the early movers, who already attribute more than 10 percent of their organizations’ EBIT to their use of gen AI. Forty-two percent of these high performers say more than 20 percent of their EBIT is attributable to their use of nongenerative, analytical AI, and they span industries and regions—though most are at organizations with less than $1 billion in annual revenue. The AI-related practices at these organizations can offer guidance to those looking to create value from gen AI adoption at their own organizations.

To start, gen AI high performers are using gen AI in more business functions—an average of three functions, while others average two. They, like other organizations, are most likely to use gen AI in marketing and sales and product or service development, but they’re much more likely than others to use gen AI solutions in risk, legal, and compliance; in strategy and corporate finance; and in supply chain and inventory management. They’re more than three times as likely as others to be using gen AI in activities ranging from processing of accounting documents and risk assessment to R&D testing and pricing and promotions. While, overall, about half of reported gen AI applications within business functions are utilizing publicly available models or tools, gen AI high performers are less likely to use those off-the-shelf options than to either implement significantly customized versions of those tools or to develop their own proprietary foundation models.

What else are these high performers doing differently? For one thing, they are paying more attention to gen-AI-related risks. Perhaps because they are further along on their journeys, they are more likely than others to say their organizations have experienced every negative consequence from gen AI we asked about, from cybersecurity and personal privacy to explainability and IP infringement. Given that, they are more likely than others to report that their organizations consider those risks, as well as regulatory compliance, environmental impacts, and political stability, to be relevant to their gen AI use, and they say they take steps to mitigate more risks than others do.

Gen AI high performers are also much more likely to say their organizations follow a set of risk-related best practices (Exhibit 11). For example, they are nearly twice as likely as others to involve the legal function and embed risk reviews early on in the development of gen AI solutions—that is, to “ shift left .” They’re also much more likely than others to employ a wide range of other best practices, from strategy-related practices to those related to scaling.

In addition to experiencing the risks of gen AI adoption, high performers have encountered other challenges that can serve as warnings to others (Exhibit 12). Seventy percent say they have experienced difficulties with data, including defining processes for data governance, developing the ability to quickly integrate data into AI models, and an insufficient amount of training data, highlighting the essential role that data play in capturing value. High performers are also more likely than others to report experiencing challenges with their operating models, such as implementing agile ways of working and effective sprint performance management.

About the research

The online survey was in the field from February 22 to March 5, 2024, and garnered responses from 1,363 participants representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. Of those respondents, 981 said their organizations had adopted AI in at least one business function, and 878 said their organizations were regularly using gen AI in at least one function. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.

Alex Singla and Alexander Sukharevsky  are global coleaders of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and senior partners in McKinsey’s Chicago and London offices, respectively; Lareina Yee  is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, where Michael Chui , a McKinsey Global Institute partner, is a partner; and Bryce Hall  is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office.

They wish to thank Kaitlin Noe, Larry Kanter, Mallika Jhamb, and Shinjini Srivastava for their contributions to this work.

This article was edited by Heather Hanselman, a senior editor in McKinsey’s Atlanta office.

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Case Study: Working with Xometry Helps 557 Form Keep All its Parts in Motion

Learn how this Michigan-based custom manufacturing company used the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine® to deliver an automation solution for one of its clients in the automotive industry.

Automation can be a game-changer for manufacturers when it comes to increasing speed and efficiency, but creating a system that runs smoothly requires organization and vision. With more than 30 years of experience in the automation arena, Mark Matheson understands what it takes to keep a complex operation moving. 

“They were visiting a customer’s facility and my dad saw this guy at the facility walk all the way down this long building, grab a piece of basket, bring it all the way to where the equipment was located, dry fit it, walk all the way back because it didn't fit, cut it again, walk all the way back,” said Ryan Matheson, Mark’s son, who is a co-owner of 557 Form along with his father and brother, Shane Matheson.  

After looking at the project drawings, Mark felt confident that he could deliver an organized and efficient cable management kit, which Ryan likens to a piece of IKEA furniture.

“IKEA is known for giving you a desk in a box, and every single piece in it is labeled so that you can build it yourself. They make it really easy on you to build these kits. So that's what we do – on a manufacturing scale,” he explained.

“We saw there's an opportunity to capitalize on this part of the project that no one wants to deal with – it is really intricate and labor intensive.”

This opportunity led to the creation of 557 Form. The family business’ unique name is inspired by Mark’s late father, Ronald Ray Matheson, who had a Formula boat with twin 557 cubic-inch motors that he built himself. “That's how we got the name,” Ryan said. “That boat went over 100 miles an hour. And we deliver for our customers in a fast and efficient manner, so our logo and name are very fitting.”

That need for speed prompted 557 Form to search for a partner that could deliver custom parts faster and cheaper than their local shops, and a YouTube ad led them to Xometry.

557 Form used CNC-machined part from Xometry to build this SPC check station, which is used to verify that in-process parts are meeting specs from the machining cells. (Image: 557 Form)

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“I first heard of Xometry through YouTube. I was researching how to possibly design something, and an ad came up for Xometry and I thought, ‘Oh, I like this. I like where this could go,’” Ryan said. “We finally had an opportunity to use them [for a] project, and I am so beyond glad we did.”

Xometry’s ability to compete on price was a big driver for 557 Form, since “getting stuff locally here is pretty expensive and it's only getting more expensive,” Ryan said. “I saved quite a few thousand dollars going through Xometry.”

“We used the international option of getting these parts made and I am just blown away by the lead time and the quality. I didn't have to talk to one person, and I had zero issues with specs on the parts. It is just unreal that I was able to have that happen and not talk to one person. It saved me a lot of time.”

557 Form worked with Xometry for several one-off orders of miscellaneous spare parts for customers. When the company took on a new, complex project Ryan knew Xometry could handle the large order. 

Bearings manufacturer CW Bearing hired 557 Form to create a three-robot automation system to work on ball nuts that would ultimately end up in Toyota vehicles. 

“We helped them design an automation line so that when the raw material comes in, the robots bring this part to each machining center to get machined, and then we pack it out,” Ryan said. To complete the project, 557 Form ordered more than 50 custom CNC-machined parts from Xometry.

557 Form used CNC-machined parts from Xometry to build this laser enclosure, which is used to laser etch part numbers, info, and QR codes for tracking in a safe manner. (Image: 557 Form)

Technology Plus the Human Touch

In addition to using the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine for the CW Bearing automation project, the Mathesons turn to the tool often when preparing quotes for other 557 Form customers.  

“It saves me because I know whatever part I'm selling to my customer, I'm going to be making money on it now,” Ryan said. “Without Xometry, you're just playing darts — a quote for the intricate spare parts our customers’ want is just a shot in the dark.  You don't know how much this part will truly cost you unless you go to your locals, and then you have to wait and waste a week waiting on the quote.  And then before you know it, your customer is already bugging you, 'Hey, where's my quote?" 

While the ability to receive a quote without needing to schedule a call or talk to a person was a selling point for Ryan, he also noted that Xometry backs up the efficiency of automation with the human touch.

“There was a point where something on my drawing didn't correlate to what was in the model. And Xometry came back to me and said, ‘Hey, this doesn't match this. Are you sure?” he said. “They're not only just accepting the work, they are checking the work.”

The Power of the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine®

Xometry’s AI-powered platform makes it easy to build your next big idea by giving you instant pricing, lead times, and DFM feedback for your custom parts.

With the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine®, you can instantly access the production capacity of over 10,000 manufacturers with wide-ranging capabilities, including CNC machining, 3D printing, injection molding (manually quoted in 24-48 hours), laser and sheet cutting, sheet metal fabrication, and more. In addition to our self-guided instant quoting experience, we also offer sales-assisted quoting requests. Learn more about requesting a quote.

557 Form used CNC-machined parts from Xometry to build this over/under conveyor, which carries parts from one operation cell to another. (Image: 557 Form)

Quick Fixes Keep Timelines on Track

In addition to competitive pricing and fast turnaround times, Ryan said Xometry “customer service has been great.” He noted the careful packaging of each order, with each part packaged individually.

When one order got damaged during shipping, Xometry stepped in with a fast solution.

“There was a package that came from overseas and the box was broken. Two parts had fallen out. And I reached out to Xometry said, ‘Hey, these two parts are missing,’” Ryan said. “They shipped them out in, like, two or three days from that, and I received them the very next week.”

Being able to count on on-time orders and quick fixes for any problems empowers 557 Form to maintain the reputation it has built for quality and speed. “Xometry is definitely always going to be my go-to for custom parts,” Ryan said.