Xavier Anglada, Managing Director - Strategy & Consulting Lead, Accenture Middle East • Interview
Accenture has created many new jobs and skillsets that did not exist in the past to complement new technologies
“Resilience is about the industries that have been able to adapt faster in the way they provide business continuity during challenging times.”
How do you evaluate HR resilience of industries and companies?
Resilience is an area where we have been able to proof test the dramatic changes that businesses have been impacted by these days. For example, retail, airlines, and hospitality have experienced a decline in revenue between 60% and 90%. Resilience is about the industries that have been able to adapt faster in the way they provide business continuity during challenging times. Many CEOs immediately had to prioritize the now, and in that case, resilience means how fast they were able to support their people, customers, and suppliers. Everything was under question including the supply chain, falling revenues, and costs. Accenture is a 500,000-people company covering various industries and markets, including many involved in business process outsourcing in India and Philippines. We help build global businesses such as the NSA and NHS. These organizations had to continue to working no matter what, so we had to find creative solutions. The last thing you want is to interfere with the availability of business in critical areas such as healthcare or banks. The central banks needed to continue to plan and push for liquidity in the market, so giving the central bank staff the capabilities of working from home securely was crucial for providing liquidity and solutions to corporates, SMEs, and individuals. We have seen a spectrum of readiness embedded into the DNA of companies as well as the processes and enablement of digital technology. For example, in the Gulf region, we have only recently started adopting cloudbased solutions. Moving to the cloud is a key recommendation during these times and for the long term. There is a wide array of cloud solutions, and there are many solutions that need to be designed at scale and implemented now in preparation for future crises and increasing resiliency. In pushing for resiliency, our main aim in light of the COVID-19 pandemic is to accelerate this transition toward the cloud.
How do you balance digitalization efforts with human capital development?
The right answer is in the middle as there is an advantage when humans and machines collaborate. On the other hand, we need to be relentless as leaders in companies to say that everything that can be automated will be automated. You need to review all the tasks that are done in a company to examine how the technologies we have today can be accelerated for automation and security. On the other extreme, completely new jobs will be created. Walmart increased the headcount of their people for commerce and logistics from 600,000 to 700,000 people. You need new skills to complement new technologies, and at Accenture, we have created many of these new jobs and skill sets that did not exist in the past. Education and health are going to be two key areas where we are going to see dramatic changes over the coming years. In times like these, the broader benefit should be prioritized over individual benefits, and this is where the human part supersedes the business individualism and the machine part. Edtech is coming, and there are many examples where we are starting to see AI playing a key role in personalizing education. With online education solutions, it’s possible to accelerate the experience of learning and include millions who previously lacked access.
Which technologies will be the game changer in the future?
At Accenture, we run a network of global innovation centers. We have one in Dubai for tourism, and we have one in China for car manufacturing. In total, there are over 100 innovation centers globally. These innovation centers showcase how technologies can help transform businesses and industries. We could not bring people to the innovation center so we created a 3D VR experience where you can visit the innovation center digitally. Similarly, blockchain is being applied to solve new problems and create innovative solutions. Some of these technologies are being reinvented for new use cases, and this will bring more effectiveness and expedience.