Full Value Ahead: Accenture Tech Symposium 2020

I had an amazing experience hosting our annual Accenture Technology Symposium in Atlanta February 24-26. We gathered CTOs, CIOs, CDOs, and IT and technology leaders from more than 100 client organizations across North America to share actionable insights on preparing for today’s ever-changing technology world. I’m so grateful to everyone who attended the symposium and shared their experiences, especially in the light of the travel and health concerns that are limiting our ability to gather in person right now. Together, we explored what it means for every company to be a technology company and every CEO to be a tech CEO.

Here are a few of my key takeaways: 

We’re entering a high stakes decade for enterprise technology

The next 10 years will be a crucial window to capitalize on the promise of digital and technology. The opportunity is great, though there is a lot more work to do to take full advantage and deliver on the many revolutionary advances that are disrupting the role of technology in business.

What we see: The C-suite is investing staggering amounts of money in new technology, and that’s expected to increase 1.8x in the next five years. What is eye-opening: Most companies are not yet realizing the full value from their technology investments. Some are even missing out by as much as 2X the value achieved by the leaders in their respective industries. Businesses urgently need to close this “innovation achievement gap.”

Penelope Prett, CIO, Accenture, and Annette Rippert, Group Chief Executive – Strategy & Consulting, Accenture, discuss how Accenture has achieved value across the enterprise through tech investments in Future Systems

One reason for the gap is you can have the right technology, but still head down the wrong path. Often companies introduce new enterprise technology in pockets. Accenture North America CEO, Jimmy Etheredge, rightly noted that failure to scale new technologies is not only from technology being siloed, but people being siloed. Meaningful and lasting change requires a change in mindset, culture and operating model at the leadership level and throughout the organization—not just in IT—to realize the full value of tech investments. With the proper investments in technology that span across the enterprise’s culture, mindset and operating model, companies should be able to achieve much greater innovation results.

Some industry leaders are already making great strides

We heard from a variety of companies from across North America at the symposium that are leading the charge in successfully realizing the promise of technology innovation at scale.

One recurring theme was that using cloud at scale is absolutely fundamental to driving boundaryless business innovation and shifting IT from a cost center to a growth engine. Another lesson I heard more than once was that the companies who have been most successful with intelligent automation don’t think about it as a quick win, but rather a deliberate, continuous, long-term change program. They are using automation in a steady and systematic way to free up financial and human capital and retire old systems and processes. When it comes to data, many are still at the beginning of their journey, though most recognize the need to turn data into a strategic, competitive asset. One large healthcare insurer talked about a huge opportunity they are pursuing to eliminate fraud and waste and make healthcare more affordable and accessible through better use of data analytics. So much potential for business and human improvement ahead.

A frequent topic of discussion over the two and a half days was the changing role and culture of IT. One leader at a multinational tech company discussed its effort to make its IT organization “vision-led” with a customer-driven, product development mindset. Another executive from a global hotel company said change required aggressively breaking down silos of applications and teams. A global energy company leader talked about how the traditional role of the supervisor is over. Teams need autonomy to innovate, otherwise they risk creating solutions that are “too big to fail.”

We embraced experimentation at the symposium holding an Innovation Rumble, where two Accenture teams competed over 24 hours to elevate the guest experience for an international hotel company.

It’s important to share, learn and harness the wisdom of leaders beyond your own industry

We have some big challenges ahead of us over the next decade. And events like the symposium are an incredibly important way to bring together some of the top minds from across industries. Taking time out of our day-to-day routines, to share practical advice and learn how to achieve success is invaluable. I felt like I learned as much in two days as I would have from reading 50 books.

Beyond the industry leaders I mentioned, we were honored to have two leaders from academia with us. ángel Cabrera, President of Georgia Tech, spoke about how his own training in both engineering and psychology gave him a distinctive, interdisciplinary viewpoint. He urged all of us in the audience of technologists “to not isolate yourself when you're thinking about innovation. You need interfaces between disciplines, organizations, geographies and industries.” For me, it hit home that in this age so oriented toward machine advancements, it will take listening to diverse human voices and bringing together diverse human skills to innovate successfully with technology.

We ended the event hearing quantitative futurist and Professor of Strategic Foresight at NYU Stern School of Business Amy Webb talk about confronting uncertainty. Nice, linear business planning timelines might be reassuring, but the real world we all inhabit is a lot messier, she reminded us. When it comes to facing disruption, business leaders need to have a long-term view and read signals from adjacent areas and industries. Her article in HBR last year explains in further detail how thinking like a futurist, and not a nowist, can help organizations becomes more resilient in the wake of constant change.

Our fireside chat with Jimmy Etheredge and Amy Webb, where we discussed how to face uncertainty and plan like a futurist.

The pace of technology evolution and business disruption we face today is the fastest in history. Every company is becoming a technology company, but no one single organization has the corner on successful technology innovation. We have a lot to learn from each other to seize the opportunities ahead. I look forward to being back in full force in 2021 and hope to see you at the symposium next year!