Archive for September, 2011
Posted on September 30th, 2011 at 12:09 pm by Jort Possel
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Theme: About Accenture, Column | Tags: Accenture, History, Innovation that works, Management Consulting, open leadership, Outsourcing, Technology services
In celebration of Accenture’s 10-year anniversary, I have written about it’s history over the past months. Over this period, I have taken a chronological look at the roots of Accenture by taking a closer look at one specific period which shaped the culture and values of our company: from the Beginnings in the early 1950′s to our transformation which resulted in Becoming Accenture in 2001, to Building High Performance and our Accent on the Future.
As a wrap-up of this series of blog posts, I have highlighted the blog posts which discussed the foundational periods in Accenture’s history below:
- 1953: First commercial application of a computer in the United States: Andersen was hired to program the payroll for General Electric’s Appliance Park manufacturing facility near Louisville, Kentucky. General Electric hired the Administrative Services team to assist in the design and installation of the system.
- 1965: John Higgins’ Charismatic Leadership and Accenture’s Special Sauce: Higgins was the organizational genius of Andersen. “John was probably one of the most brilliant men I have ever met in my life. He was meticulous in everything he did. It was either going to be right or not at all”. The Special Sauce was a mixture of moxie, drive and the willingness to commit the necessary resources. While Higgins didn’t coin the phrase “special sauce,” his strong leadership provided all the key ingredients for the recipe.
- 1970′s: “Bargain of the Century” – St. Charles: Beginning in the early 1970s Andersen made the “bargain of the century” when it purchased St. Dominic College in St. Charles, Illinois for $4 million. Today, the facility continues to play a role in Accenture’s education programs. A trip to the St. Charles campus is still a rite of passage for newly hired consultants.
- Early 1980′s: Competition from IT Outsourcing: The consultants realized that while Administrative Services was growing at roughly 20 percent a year, the industry was growing even faster, and, therefore, the consultants were losing market share. A new breed of non-accounting firms with practices which had it’s roots in IT outsourcing was emerging.
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Posted on September 28th, 2011 at 12:16 pm by Barend van Doorn
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Theme: Business Transformation, Latest Post | Tags: customer expectations, customer needs, Customer Service, Digital channels, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Mobile banking, Social networking, Technology advances
Growth is back on the agenda for banks. The focus for banks globally is moving to revenue and the customer. Cost-cutting remains a major priority, but higher shareholder value cannot be delivered by pruning cost alone. Yet in developed markets, expanding the customer base is likely to be difficult and expensive. Therefore growth depends on the ability to derive more revenue from the existing customer base and to do so cost effectively.
Following the financial crisis, trust has been eroded and will require a major effort to rebuild. Customers show a far higher willingness to shop around and buy different products and services from multiple vendors. And critically, customers’ general expectations of service and the integration with their lives, have been transformed by rapid advances in everyday technology.
Achieving this will require a renewed focus on customer channels to create more effective and efficient distribution. The switch in focus from product to customer demands the development of more customization built around the needs of customers’ individual preferences. In other words, banks need to find better ways to serve their customers at lower cost and in a very personalized way.
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Posted on September 21st, 2011 at 12:33 pm by Jeroen Hendrix
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Theme: Innovation that works, Latest Post | Tags: Accenture Innovation Awards, Corporate Agility, Entrepreneurship, GEM, Innovation that works, InShared, Platform Innovations, Profitable growth, Sustainable Growth
The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2010, published in late August, seems at first glance to paint a very positive picture of entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. According to the Monitor, the Netherlands now has the highest number of start-up businesses in Europe. In 2010, no less than 7.2% of the adult population was involved in establishing a start-up business or managing a business that had been up and running for less than 3.5 years.
So on the face of it, entrepreneurship is alive and kicking in the Netherlands. In fact, it’s healthier than it has been for decades. However, the Monitor also notes the shortcomings – or weaknesses – of the Dutch entrepreneurial world. Foremost among these is the modest level of product and business innovation. Partly as a result of this lack of innovation, the Netherlands has at best an average score in terms of the number of fast-growing businesses.
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Posted on September 19th, 2011 at 12:11 pm by AccentureNL
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Theme: Best place to work, Careers, Latest Post | Tags: Battle of the Best Beta, Child Sponsorship Program, corporate citizenship, Corporate social responsibility, Environmental Stewardship, NGO
Blog post written by Nienke Schütte. Nienke is a former blogger on Blogpodium and Corporate Citizenship Lead Accenture Netherlands till January 2012.
Sharing our skills and knowledge with NGO’s, foundations and donor organizations to increase their impact on society is the heart of
Accenture’s Corporate Citizenship program. By investing time and skills for one day up to a year as a part of their career, our employees get the chance to broaden their horizon while contributing to society. For this project 2 Accenture consultants and 180 Dutch students invested their time in supporting
Plan with a challenge in their daily operations in Zambia.
The combination of Accenture’s challenge to recruit Beta students and invest time and skills to support Plan to reach their target is a great example of how Corporate Citizenship becomes part of our DNA. The principles of corporate social responsibility are fundamental to our character and the way we run our business. With this approach we help charities and non-profit organizations reach their goals, in the same manner as we help regular clients in achieving high performance.
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Posted on September 16th, 2011 at 11:56 am by Jort Possel
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Theme: About Accenture, Column | Tags: Business Transformation, Commitment, Corporate values, customer needs, Emerging markets, History, open leadership, Stewardship
Some speculated at the time of the IPO in 2001 that Accenture’s special culture and values wouldn’t be able to survive the transition to public ownership. The severe economic downturn that followed didn’t help the organization’s odds. But the partnership values and culture have retained a special meaning at Accenture.
The principles of it will never change—that is the emotional attachment, the ownership, the feeling of authority and accountability are the things we have to continue to hone and get right. Green was leading a town hall meeting at the St. Charles campus in the summer of 2004. There were about 800 employees in the auditorium, and one employee in the back of the room said, “I’ve been here three weeks. I think I understand some values, but what is this thing called stewardship?”
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Posted on September 15th, 2011 at 9:49 am by Jesse Heuer
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Theme: Careers | Tags:
Een nieuwe project biedt nieuwe kansen en uitdagingen – een van de vele redenen om consultant te zijn.
De afgelopen anderhalf jaar heb ik binnen de industrie retail interessante en innovatieve projecten gedaan. Mijn klant binnen de retail was marktleider op haar gebied en samen met mijn collega’s hebben we bijgedragen aan het consolideren van die marktpositie. Mijn laatste project was het introduceren van leveranciersmanagement – na enkele succesvolle inkooptrajecten – werd het tijd voor deze vervolgstap in de verdere professionalisering.
Leveranciersmanagement gaat over Read more…
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Posted on September 12th, 2011 at 12:09 pm by Pieter Paul van Oerle
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Theme: Innovation that works, Latest Post | Tags: A2 Challenge, Accenture Innovation Awards, Cloud, De Waag, Entrepreneurship, High Performance IT, High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Innovation that works, Mobile apps
Last month on August 30th the winner of the A2 challenge 2011 ‘Crowdriding‘ was announced during the Grand Finale in one of the most historic buildings in Amsterdam ‘De Waag‘. What started as an initiative of Philips, Mediaguild and High Tech Campus Eindhoven has become one of the largest local business plan competition for talent in the Netherlands.
By bringing together technical and business talent fragmented across the Dutch A2 high way road (which connects the 2 most prominent Tech melting pot High Tech Campus Eindhoven with the center for creativity, finance and business opportunities in Amsterdam), we aim to stimulate the level of innovation and entrepreneurship in this region. The participants were challenged to come up with new business ideas and innovations across four thematic streams: Consumer Lifestyle, Clean Tech and Energy, Healthcare and Media & Communication.
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Posted on September 9th, 2011 at 12:07 pm by Tom van der Spek
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Theme: Business Transformation, Latest Post | Tags: Cyber crime, Financial crime, Financial crime management, Financial Services, Fraud
Like stated in my first blog post, Insurance fraud is becoming an increasingly bigger problem in the Netherlands with an estimated 1 Billion Euro fraudulent claims annually. Organized crime, global terrorism, and new and ever-changing types of fraud – in addition to increased regulatory requirements – have led financial services organizations to pursue new techniques for preventing and detecting illegal activities.
In the digital age, the implications of fraud and financial crime perpetrated against financial services organizations and their customers have become ever more significant. The introduction of new products, however – and the use of new channels for distribution – create new vulnerabilities which must be addressed with new techniques. In recent years fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated in the tools and methods they use to conduct fraud and are often able to “break” new prevention technologies within a few days of implementation. This is forcing financial services organizations to innovate continuously to stay one step ahead of the criminals. Still, companies are often at risk when they launch a new product or begin using a new channel; innovation can create the risk of attack as prevention measures may not be evolved enough to address such risks.
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Posted on September 8th, 2011 at 2:48 pm by Jeroen Fidder
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Theme: Careers | Tags:
Een nieuw project is altijd mooi – hoe mooi zijn dan twee nieuwe projecten! Beide projecten zijn inhoudelijk spot-on waar ik mee bezig wil zijn en in allebei heb ik een uitdagende rol. Maar wacht eens even… Dan werk ik zeker tachtig uur per week!
Nee, dat doe ik niet. Ik heb de eerste week wel lange dagen gemaakt om de boel goed op gang te krijgen maar nu is het weer prima te doen. Ik wordt ondersteund door hele goede collega’s en heb bij Accenture namelijk geleerd om ‘smart’ te werken. Op dit moment ga ik dus op maximum snelheid maar maak ik er geen circuit van maar een ben ik lekker aan t cruisen. Het blijft opletten, maar je maakt enorm veel mee en het landschap… is prachtig!
Groeten
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