Beyond Covid, 2020 begins the decade of delivery

As we head towards the end of December I wonder if, like me, you’re looking back at what you’ve achieved over the last 12 months? I’ve been reflecting on the highs and lows of the past year both personally and professionally, taking stock and thinking about the year ahead. 

Of course, 2020 will always be remembered as the “year of Covid”: for the huge disruption that the global pandemic brought to all of our lives, for lockdown and the many adaptations we’ve all made to how we work and socialise. But 2020 has another significance for me as the year I launched our Strategy & Consulting (S&C) Service in the UK and Ireland. It brought together just under 4,000 people from our world-class Industry and Functional Consulting, Strategy, Tech Strategy & Advisory, Industry X, Innovation & Design and Applied Intelligence businesses - the scale of our own transformation was huge.

When I spoke at the virtual launch event in March, I shared my ambition for our team to be a growth engine within Accenture working with the most visionary CEOs across sectors to help them transform their businesses as we reinvented our own. We launched just before the first lockdown, but my ambition has never wavered and the team has delivered in spades. That’s not to say the last few months haven’t been tough. Launching a new business virtually, pivoting capability towards growing sectors and reskilling around demand have been relentless. My team has shown incredible resilience – they’ve really been superstars. 

I’ve also been energised by our clients this year. I’ve spoken to many CEOs who give me hope that UK Plc. will come out of Covid stronger.  A new style of leader has emerged – today’s CEOs are data-focused, tech-savvy and demonstrate strong EQ as well as IQ. This has been reflected in the way many businesses faced into Covid-19 to support their local communities. Manufacturers switched their production capability to manufacture PPE to support the health service. Many businesses went through rapid digital transformation to help their people work safely from home while continuing to serve their customers. Many business leaders have made workforce diversity a priority and are committed to building an inclusive internal culture. There’s never been a better time to be working with this new breed of CEOs; I feel very lucky!

In terms of 2020 “stand out” moments, one that I’m particularly proud of is Accenture being named #1 in Forrester’s Wave for Digital Transformation Services. Another was chairing a discussion with Sajid Javid MP and Dame Inga Beale, former CEO of Lloyds of London, at the virtual CBI Annual Conference in October. This year’s theme was “Build Back Better” – which is something of a personal motto. In my view, in times of uncertainty, the world needs great leaders - and the world really needs those leaders right now. Leaders who can build an economy that is fairer, greener and focused on growth - creating the new ' jobs to be done' which are so critical to our society. Finally, I am struck by how technology has played such a crucial role in helping the world to function - whether that's through enabling a virtual workforce, innovating through the ventilator consortium or thinking through digital manufacturing. The best of the past and what we've learned these last few months do have the potential to create a hybrid world - this future excites me.

So as 2020 draws to an end, with the vaccine programme underway and hope for a brighter 2021 to come, I can’t wait. We’re about to enter the decade of delivery on the true promise of digital where human ingenuity and technology combined will allow us to thrive.

And so I say, 'let there be change!”