Topic
27 facts from 9 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2000s
Microsoft started Avanade as a joint venture with Accenture in the 2000s to provide partners who could install its enterprise software.
“that's why we started this thing, Avanade, which is a big, big company at this stage, with Accenture. And that was in the 2000s.”
2022
After ChatGPT emerged in November 2022, Accenture gave its top fifty leaders the most AI training first, according to CEO Julie Sweet.
“when ChatGPT first emerged in, you know, November 2022, the people who received the most training initially were actually my top fifty leaders.”
2025
Daniel Whitenack says Deloitte, Accenture and McKinsey are making a lot of money from AI services.
“The companies that are making a lot of money off of AI are Deloitte, Accenture, McKinsey, right?”
2025
Daniel Whitenack says that in enterprise AI the firms making money have been services organizations such as Accenture, Deloitte and McKinsey, while OpenAI has been losing a lot of money.
“The ones making the money is Accenture, Deloitte, McKenzie, uh, et cetera, the the services organizations, right?”
2025
Accenture introduced agentic AI training for every employee in September, according to CEO Julie Sweet.
“In September, we introduced AI, agentic AI training for every person at Accenture, whether you work in HR or you're, you know, a technologist.”
2025
Accenture's AI training includes an hour of computer-based training, two hours in person, and a two-hour course created with Stanford.
“it's two hours of in-person training, and then we have another two hours of a course that we created with Stanford.”
2025
Julie Sweet says Accenture took significant market share in the year she had cancer and is a $70 billion company growing at 7%.
“took massive market share. We're 70 billion dollar company growing at 7%.”
2026
Accenture works across 120 countries and serves about 9,000 clients in every industry, according to host Bob Safian.
“So Accenture works across 120 countries, 9,000 clients. You're in every industry.”
2026
Julie Sweet says cyber resilience has become a big growth area for Accenture because AI has increased the attack surface for cyberattacks.
“we're helping clients look at their cyber resilience, right? This already been a big, big growth area for us because AI itself has increased the attack surface.”
2026
Bussmann says consulting firms' valuations are down 40% or more this year as AI changes their business model.
“You see, consulting firms also, their valuation is down this year, forty and more percent.”
Undated
An Accenture survey found about 95 percent of workers see potential value in working with generative AI systems, according to the guest.
“we did a a large survey a bit earlier this year, and we found that 95 of workers see potential value in working with these systems.”
Undated
The same Accenture survey found about 94 percent of professionals said they were ready to learn new skills to work with generative AI, according to the guest.
“94 of professionals tell us that they're ready to learn new skills to work with these gen AI systems.”
Undated
Accenture has an internal knowledge agent called Amethyst that any employee can interact with, according to the guest.
“our own knowledge agent that any employee can interact with.”
Undated
The guest says Accenture employees using Amethyst spend 98 percent less time searching for information than before.
“We're finding that by using Amethyst, uh, our employees are spending 98 less time searching for information than they were previously”
Undated
One company in the guests' research aims to launch 15 new products over five years and trained non-technical experts to make judgment calls with AI.
“One company that we've talked to in our research is aiming to launch 15 new products over the next five years.”
Undated
Chris Benson worked briefly at Accenture.
“I did a brief, uh, stint at Accenture as well.”
Undated
Paul Daugherty spent 38 years at Accenture before retiring.
“I was there for 38 years until I retired last year, and it was an amazing vantage point from which to see the transformation”
Undated
Daugherty says Accenture research now puts the share of work hours that generative AI can affect above 50%, up from an earlier 40% estimate.
“We've done some additional research, and, you know, you can you can peg it above above 50% now”
Undated
Daugherty says Accenture used classical AI to improve its software development productivity by about 10% a year.
“we were looking at our, for example, our software development processes and looking at how do we improve the efficiency and productivity of those every year, and we were improving them about 10% a year”
Undated
Daugherty predicts consultants will need to bring a foundation model pre-trained on client data and remodel the business live in the first meeting.
“you need to walk in with a foundation model with pre-trained on the client's data and in the CFO's office, be remodeling their business dynamically in the first meeting.”
Undated
The host, relaying a listener's comment, says Accenture laid off 11,000 people because of AI.
“Accenture just laid off 11,000 people in because of, uh, because of AI, and this is an in increasing trend.”
Undated
Julie Sweet describes an Accenture pharma client whose post-approval regulatory content for physicians took months and could be sped up by standardizing processes and data before using AI.
“we work with a pharma company that takes drugs, um, to market. Uh, and there's a process that once the drug is approved, you have lots and lots of regulatory stuff.”
Undated
Julie Sweet says Accenture phased in AI use as a promotion factor over about three years while making the tools user-friendly.
“It's over a three-year period of getting used to the technology, making sure it's user-friendly, making sure we have the right workbench for people to use.”
Undated
Accenture has a leadership essential asking everyone to respectfully challenge how things are done, according to Julie Sweet.
“So we have a leadership essential around we want everybody to ch respectfully challenge how we do things.”
Undated
Julie Sweet became Accenture's CEO first for North America and then globally, and says being an outsider to the firm's culture helped her get chosen.
“when I was selected as the CEO, first as the CEO of North America and then the CEO globally.”
Undated
Julie Sweet says Accenture directs much of its corporate citizenship spending to digital reskilling, which she says helps communities and links to the company's success.
“We spend a lot of our corporate citizenship on digitally reskilling because we know that helps, uh, communities”
Undated
Whittle cites Accenture and Cognizant as examples of large systems firms with hundreds of thousands of people whose clients work through sequential programs.
“amazing companies like Accenture or Cognizant that are hundreds of thousands of people”
Episodes