Accenture Launches Accenture LearnVantage
Accenture announced the launch of Accenture LearnVantage
to provide its clients with comprehensive technology learning and training
services that will help them reskill and upskill their people in technology,
data and AI to reinvent their organizations and achieve greater business value.
The new service is designed to help leaders across industries and governments
quickly identify gaps in relevant skills being created by advances in
technologies and then provide the industry-specific training needed to fill
those gaps at speed and scale. This includes delivering highly personalized
learning experiences for a wide range of technical and business users, from
specialized AI and data science, cloud and cyber security training for IT
professionals to Gen AI training for board and C-suite members and business
leaders.
The company will invest $1 billion in Accenture
LearnVantage over three years and has agreed to acquire Udacity to build on
and scale for clients Accenture’s deep experience in learning and training and
meet rising demand for technology skills, including generative AI. According to
Accenture research, business leaders say their No. 1 challenge is their
inability to upskill their workforces, with 51% of organizations starting to
see negative impacts from worsening IT skills shortages. In addition, 94% of
workers say they want to learn new skills to work with generative AI, but only
5% of organizations provide gen AI training at scale.
“We are passionate about helping our clients become
‘talent creators’—with people at the center of their reinvention using
technology, data and AI—and a critical part of that is investing in
industry-specific training and technology skills development,” said Julie
Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture. “We are scaling Accenture’s deep capabilities
as a world-class learning organization to help our clients meet their business
growth objectives and enable their people to develop the relevant skills they
need to make the most of the opportunities that technological change is
bringing.”
Accenture has helped many enterprises upskill their
workforces for business reinvention, including biopharmaceutical company Merck,
known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada.
“Digital, data, analytics and AI are touching every
part of what we do as a company as technology plays a pivotal role in
discovering, developing, manufacturing, and providing access for patients to
medicines and vaccines,” said Dave Williams, executive vice president, chief
information and digital officer, Merck. “To continue delivering on our promise
to use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the
world, we are developing and investing in our people. We have launched a
groundbreaking generative AI training program for our employees in partnership
with Accenture to create world-class digital leaders.”
Accenture invests more than $1 billion per year in
a wide range of learning and training for its more than 700,000 people,
delivering approximately 40 million training hours annually. For example,
training is helping Accenture achieve its goals to double its deeply skilled
Data & AI practice professionals to 80,000, and the company is rolling out
training for 250,000 technology professionals by the end of fiscal 2024.
Accenture has already trained more than 600,000 of its people in the
fundamentals of AI.
Accenture has invested to create an AI-native
learning platform that seamlessly integrates with an organization’s existing
learning platforms. With the help of an AI recommendation engine, the platform
curates the best learning content from Accenture and third-party providers to
offer a personalized learning journey that aligns with priority areas of
learning.
Accenture LearnVantage will offer tailored
technology learning programs; specialized, predesigned technology academies;
ecosystem learning certification services; and managed services for a client’s
own learning capabilities. LearnVantage also will offer nanodegrees, certified
online programs designed to provide users with hands-on experience and
industry-relevant skills in specialized fields.
The acquisition of Udacity will bring to Accenture
the company’s capabilities in integrating proprietary content, expert services
and scalable learning technology and aligns with Accenture’s long-standing
approach to learning through formal training, learning by doing and coaching by
experts. Udacity provides localized course offerings in multiple languages,
including English, Arabic, Korean and Spanish. Udacity’s more than 230
professionals will join the Accenture LearnVantage business. Accenture
LearnVantage’s full set of services will be available later this year following
the closing of the acquisition.
Accenture LearnVantage will work with technology
ecosystem partners, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft,
to provide generative AI content, industry-relevant technology training and
cloud certifications for their joint clients. It will also work with additional
world-class learning partners, including Pluralsight, Coursera, Workera and
Skillsoft.
“The rapid rise of generative AI has grown our
clients’ need for training and upskilling their people in cloud, data and AI as
they build their digital core, which is essential for reinvention,” said
Kishore Durg, global lead of Accenture LearnVantage. “Accenture LearnVantage
will help our clients not only advance their business goals but also help their
people build the skills they will need for the next waves of technology
change.”
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