Will invest $1 billion over three years and agrees to acquire Udacity to meet clients’ significant need for training

AI-native learning platform uses recommendation engine to deliver personalized learning experiences for technical teams, business users, C-suite and board members

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today 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.

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Accenture today 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. (Photo: Business Wire)

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.”

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 743,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release, including those relating to the nature, timing and amount of the investments described herein and the anticipated benefits of such actions, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “aspires,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook,” “goal,” “target” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance nor promises that goals or targets will be met, and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks include, without limitation, risks that Accenture’s investment in Accenture LearnVantage may not achieve the anticipated benefits for the company as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.

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