Accenture SA is stepping up its fight for local IT consulting and services market share as its parent sets aside R1.75 billion for technology consulting capabilities.
So says DeWet Bisschoff, lead for Accenture SA's technology consulting business.
Yesterday the international consulting group announced it would invest more than $250 million over the next three years to expand its technology consulting capabilities throughout the globe.
Accenture chairman and CEO, William Green explained: "Aligning IT with business strategy has, once again, become a top issue for companies worldwide. To address this, we are enhancing the end-to-end services we offer through Accenture Technology Consulting.
"Our unique status as one of the few, and certainly largest, independent sources for technology services should position us well in addressing the dramatically increased demand we've seen for these services over the last year."
Bisschoff is unable to reveal how much of this investment will reach SA's shores, but notes the country has been a strong performer for the group and will receive investment accordingly.
"Accenture has companies in 49 locations; the South African business is in the list of Accenture's 15 largest companies. We have been satisfied with our performance to date; but the local market is expanding rapidly and we intend to benefit from that growth," he explains.
Soft investments
Unlike the recent capital investments of local services competitors IBM, Business Connexion, T-Systems and GijimaAst, Accenture SA intends to invest in softer areas such as people, knowledge and partnerships.
"We have four key investment areas: recruiting and training of our people; development of internal assets and offerings; development of hard core offerings for alliance partners; and continuation of the building of our alliances and partnerships.
"Today a lot of value lies in the intellectual property and thinking that a company can offer. Businesses want partners that can put together a holistic solution, rather than letting IT do its own thing," he says.
Dispelling misconceptions
Bisschoff says the budget will not be used to fund acquisitive investments, like that of arivia.kom.
Accenture is one of five companies believed to be short-listed for the purchase of the ailing state-owned IT services company. It is understood Accenture, IBM, T-Systems, Dimension Data and Siemens Business will be issued with formal requests for proposals by the middle of next month.
"If we are successful in our bidding for arivia.kom, it will not come out of this budget. That is a totally separate matter," he explains.
Instead, the company intends to dispel misconceptions that it is a consulting company alone and prove its merit as a service provider.
BMI-TechKnowledge analyst Roy Blume says the company's standing in the IT services market is not that high. It will have to increase its profile in order to make a dent in competitors' market share, he notes.
Share
