Juan Pedro Moreno, CEO, Accenture • Interview

Accenture represents the jack of all trades for many Spanish companies, which have benefited from its help in areas diverse as cost and infrastructure restructuring, technology, and HR management.

How has Accenture company developed in Spain, and what are its main achievements?

Accenture has been in Spain for over 50 years. Of the 100 largest companies in Spain, we work with more than 70. We have helped companies in all areas throughout the different stages through which Spain has passed, including the internationalization of Spanish companies. We have helped them overcome crises and work with them on cost and infrastructure restructuring, technology, and human resources management. Now, more than ever, we help them with the digital transformation they are going through. Accenture has also transformed, and we are now the undisputed leaders in the country in everything that has to do with the digital transformation of the business, infrastructure, and operations. Accenture Spain’s business exceeds EUR1 billion, of which 60% is digital, security, and the cloud. These drivers push the transformation of companies.

What role will technology play in the future of Accenture?

Everything points to our goal of selling value to customers. In the past, we sold projects; we installed a system, trained employees, redefined processes, and made acquisition strategies. Now, we sell fewer projects but more value. Companies’ incomes will grow, their profitability will improve, they will obtain better efficiency radios, and so on. However, to have this kind of growth, which is more difficult, they must look into those who install the technological system and those who provide training and a business plan to execute. There must be communication, creativity, and marketing skills for customers. We generate value for our clients, and a part of our income depends on its success. This cannot be achieved without communication, as we live in a world that has become multi-channel and is moving from traditional media to other media. This causes an extremely important convergence between technology and communication-advertising. There is a combination of advertising, creativity, and technology that we want to make. We want to bring all that content and creativity applied to 20-second ads and take it to the millions of interactions that any consumer has at any time with their brand.

With what institutions of the public sector do you work?

We work with the autonomous communities and ministries. Accenture is behind many things that are done in Spain, although its work may seem invisible. For example, we work on programs with AI to control social security fraud, and we detect when an employer is lying or defrauding social security. We also work with town halls like in Bilbao, where we replaced its technological platform, resulting in it collecting 30% more fines than before. Another area we work extensively is the justice system, which is slowly changing in this country. We have worked on this for many autonomous communities such as Canaria, Navarra, Asturias, and many other places where we digitalize processes so that judicial management is easier and accelerated.

What are Accenture’s goals for 2020?

Our goal and motto is to help improve the world in which people live and work by serving companies. We do it through digital technologies, though we also have an important social vocation, especially in these moments when everything is changing due to digitalization. Not leaving anyone behind is also a goal for us, and this is achieved in the long term. We work hard to prevent vulnerable people from being excluded from the digital transformation process. We dedicate 80,000 hours of free work per year to ensure nobody is disconnected, and to this end, we have an initiative called Together for Employment that adapts people to the new requirements of the world. For example, we use augmented reality to teach people to be hotel or bar waiters, apps to learn how to respond to the public, and so on. Everything is radical, and everything is being redefined. Being able to define the game and its rules while also being a player is an interesting challenge for us. ✖