Accenture's latest financial report shows that its orders in the field of generative artificial intelligence have hit a new high, demonstrating the company's huge enthusiasm for investment in AI technology. This financial report data not only reflects the continued growth trend of the generative AI market, but also reveals Accenture's strong market competitiveness and technical strength in this field. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of Accenture’s latest progress in the field of generative AI, including its order amount, CEO’s perspective and cooperation with Nvidia, and explore its impact on the global economy.
In its latest earnings call on December 20, 2024, Accenture announced that its orders for generative artificial intelligence (AI) reached a record $1.2 billion. This brings the company's total generative AI sales to $4.2 billion since September 2023, marking a new quarterly sales high in the space and reflecting increasing customer investment in generative AI.
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Looking back at the September 2024 financial report, Accenture reported generative AI revenue of US$1 billion at that time, a significant increase from US$900 million in the previous quarter. Accenture disclosed the specific dollar amount of a generative AI deal for the first time since June 2023, when pure generative AI project sales for the quarter were $100 million. Sales today are nearly double last quarter's.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said in a conference call that generative AI is not fundamentally different in improving productivity. The key lies in whether customers allow the company to use these technologies and prioritize related projects. She emphasized that organizations must first establish a solid data foundation before expanding their AI applications. Still, Sweet noted that overall client spending on small transactions has not improved significantly at the moment, but when market conditions improve, Accenture will be able to seize more opportunities to meet client priority needs.
In its August 2024 financial report, Accenture confirmed that it had received US$1 billion in generative AI orders, bringing its annual total to US$3 billion. The business unit accounted for 6.4% of overall orders of $18.7 billion in the quarter. Meanwhile, Accenture added 24,000 employees during the quarter, taking its total headcount to 799,000, with a large portion of its hiring taking place in India. Sweet added that the company's number of employees in the data and AI fields has also grown steadily, with about 57,000 practitioners currently employed.
Despite strong results, Accenture is cautious about the global economy. Revenue in the first quarter was $17.69 billion, an increase of 7.8% from the previous quarter. This raised the company's full-year growth forecast to 4-7% from 3-6%. In contrast, Indian IT companies have yet to disclose similar generative AI revenue figures.
In addition, Accenture established a partnership with NVIDIA in October and launched the Accenture NVIDIA Business Group to help enterprises expand the application of AI. This program includes training for 30,000 professionals worldwide to assist customers in redesigning processes and expanding the use of enterprise AI systems.
Highlights:
Accenture’s orders in the field of generative AI hit a new record of $1.2 billion, with total sales reaching $4.2 billion.
The company's CEO emphasized that establishing a data foundation is critical to the expansion of AI applications.
The cooperation with NVIDIA aims to accelerate the promotion and application of enterprise AI.
To sum up, Accenture's success in the field of generative AI is not only reflected in its record-breaking order amount, but also reflects its precise grasp of technology development trends and its deep understanding of customer needs. In the future, the cooperation between Accenture and NVIDIA will further promote the application of generative AI technology and bring more innovation and value to enterprises. Its cautious attitude towards the global economy also shows the company's ability to assess and respond to risks during development.