Dive Brief:
- Accenture laid out plans to launch a network of generative AI studios for enterprises to explore use cases and test integrations, the company said Wednesday.
- The IT services and consulting firm will initially stand up studios in Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington D.C. The Chicago location will focus on financial services and consumer goods and services and San Francisco will specialize in software, platforms and media, the company said.
- The innovation centers are part of a $3 billion investment in data and AI the company announced in June. “The studios are designed to help our clients move from interest to action to value, in a responsible way with clear business cases,” Manish Sharma, North America CEO of Accenture, said in the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Accenture is continuing its quest to capture enterprise clients interested in generative AI adoption.
“Over the past year, we’ve had more than 3,000 generative AI client conversations and expect that number to increase significantly over the year in North America as we bring our clients to our new studios,” Sharma told CIO Dive in an email.
Participating organizations will connect with Accenture’s AI and data experts to leverage the firm’s ecosystem of partnerships and strategic investments.
Accenture partnered with Google Cloud in June to guide organizations on the optimal use of generative AI to address specific business needs.
The company also partnered with ServiceNow and Nvidia in July to launch AI Lighthouse, a project devoted to designing and engineering domain-specific large language models and generative AI capabilities.
“Clients are meeting with us today in our Innovation hubs for bespoke demonstrations and workshops, and we have 300 active generative AI projects underway,” Sharma said. “Our studios are dynamic – we will continue to add more demos, prototypes, use cases and experiences on an ongoing basis.”
Other professional services companies have invested heavily in AI capabilities. PwC laid out a $1 billion, 3 year AI roadmap in April. KPMG was an early adopter of Microsoft’s generative AI-powered 365 Copilot. Deloitte launched a generative AI-focused practice and has plans to use Google Cloud’s generative AI capabilities to build industry-tailored solutions.
