How we’re embracing the power of cloud-based collaboration

Accenture is always evolving, empowering our 500,000+ employees to work seamlessly and serve our clients effectively. Especially now, more than one year into the pandemic, that means progressive and productive change is the order of the day, every day, with a relentless focus on human ingenuity and technology. That’s why our global IT organization has implemented many leading collaboration and cloud-based capabilities, including Microsoft 365. Microsoft Teams and OneDrive for Business, for example help ensure our people can work at home and serve clients on any device, with consistent functionality and positive experiences. An added benefit…these capabilities support our commitment to a reduced environmental footprint.

The power of change

Sometimes one change can have far-reaching impact. As we continue on our cloud journey, we decided to embrace the cloud technologies that are part of Microsoft 365, including OneDrive and Teams. We understood that making this change for all our digital workers would be a unique journey that would not happen overnight. We also believed that the rewards would be well worth the effort, enabling our people to align their skills and ideas with technology to transform the way we work.

That’s exactly what happened when our people made the move to OneDrive for Business. Given their familiarity with other Microsoft cloud-based solutions, like Microsoft Office and SharePoint, that many of our employees already used in their work, it was a seamless transition.

The perfect platform

With its new usability and collaboration capabilities, OneDrive provides a perfect platform, bringing our people’s ingenuity and technology skills together to benefit our business and clients. Now a key enabler of our digital worker vision, OneDrive delivers secure file storage in the cloud and allows our employees to easily access their files and share them with others, regardless of the device they are using or the place they are using it.

Large files can be shared with colleagues with ease, making reviews and revisions efficient. People can even simultaneously access and edit documents, a real boon when they may be facing a deadline. Access is available through company laptops and or personal tablets and mobile phones, using Microsoft’s Intune Mobile Application Management (MAM) solution. One sign of success? There are 2.9 billion files and ten petabytes of data already stored in OneDrive for Business.

An interesting side note that surfaced is OneDrive’s positive impact on employees who never worked from home before. Many of them were given brand-new laptops by Accenture, and having their files transferred via the cloud onto OneDrive made becoming productive at home far easier. And since most of our people now work in the cloud, sustainability became a real benefit due to Microsoft’s commitment to using renewable energy and increased efficiency in their data centers.

The connection to change

As we all navigate how best to work and live in this unusual time, Accenture remains focused on helping everyone work together virtually. Another piece of the Microsoft 365 platform, Microsoft Teams, has proven to be a game-changer for our employees, enabling them to quickly connect across countries, cultures and time zones, and work seamlessly anywhere. As a collaboration platform, Teams brings together people, content, and the tools they need to get things done effectively and efficiently.

Day in, day out, employees experience the value and versatility of Teams. Its virtual meeting options include audioconferencing and videoconferencing, which can be scheduled in advance or spur-of-the-moment, which can be especially helpful when working on a rush project with a geographically dispersed group. We’ve seen a fourfold increase in the use of audioconferencing, with over one billion minutes a month. And there’s been a greater utilization of videoconferencing with a 15-time increase. Teams is helping to keep Accenture connected, and business running smoothly.

We are actively expanding Microsoft Teams from the chat and conferencing tool that our people now rely on to a digital cockpit where work gets done by bringing custom and third-party applications directly into Teams. For example, Power BI is a robust Business Intelligence app that can collect, sort and present data reports directly in Teams. And custom apps, like CALM (CAL + Machine), can deliver in-context insights, such as financial filings or Twitter news, to our Client Account Leads. We’re also integrating our ServiceNow Support app into Teams to make it easier for our people to get the help they support they need.

At the end of the day, Accenture embraces change for one fundamental reason: to deliver on the promise of our people, technology, and human ingenuity to create a better work/life experience for all, even during atypical times.

Change for the environment

What’s equally nice is that these transformative changes are helping us meet our ambitious environmental goals. By positioning Accenture in the cloud with Microsoft 365 technology, we have been able to be productive and run our business sustainably. Through our innovations, global policies, and product features, we are limiting data growth and minimizing energy consumption from the hardware storing our data. And, working with a partner like Microsoft, we can rely on their continued use of renewable energy and increased efficiency in their data centers to further reduce our environmental footprint. Let there be change.