Earlier this month, Accenture announced the graduation of its first Accenture Capability Hub cohort. The hub offers an accredited and exclusive multi-track training programme covering various areas such as security, cloud, data and AI, and change management.
It is the first step towards launching Accenture LearnVantage Academy Saudi Arabia, which offers comprehensive technology education and training services to Saudi Arabian businesses and organisations. This will allow them to reskill and upskill their employees, help them reinvent their organisations, and achieve greater business value.
The first cohort consisted of around 50 new joiners to Accenture who had devoted three months in person to gain the relevant skills. This was followed by another three months on the job, putting their skills to work.
Why start The Capability Hub?
The company’s research also found that the main challenge for business leaders is upskilling their workforce. Nearly 51 per cent of organisations are starting to see negative impacts from worsening IT skills shortages.
In addition, 94 per cent of workers say they want to learn new skills to work with GenAI, but only 5 per cent of organisations provide appropriate training at scale.
Accenture estimates that $10.3 trillion of economic value can be realised if international businesses take a responsible, people-centric approach to AI. That value can only be realised if organisations reinvent their learning strategy.
“The Capability Hub in Riyadh is Accenture’s first step in closing that gap. It aims to empower employees with the necessary skills to take advantage of Gen AI’s opportunities. The hub provides six months of dedicated training in technology, data & AI to some of our organisation’s brightest young minds, nurturing their creativity, innovation, and capacity for critical thinking,” explained Mohammed Bamaga, Accenture’s Academy lead in Saudi Arabia, in a conversation with edge/.
Why Saudi Arabia?
Omar Boulos, Accenture’s Middle East market unit lead, had said, “Establishing an educational infrastructure in Saudi Arabia marks significant steps towards strengthening Accenture’s presence in this dynamic market. We firmly believe that Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 provides an ideal framework for us to contribute our extensive knowledge and capabilities to help empower the Kingdom’s young generation.”
Bamaga explained that since the announcement of the Saudi Vision 2030, the country’s economy and society have embarked on a remarkable journey. Saudi Arabia is achieving many of its targets, especially regarding human capital development, including female participation in the workforce. It is on course to achieve others, such as increasing employment.
Accenture works with major national enterprises such as Riyadh Air, Saudia, the Saudi Electric Company, and Aramco.
“Learning is a major part of Accenture’s offering, and establishing an educational infrastructure in Saudi Arabia was a natural development that strengthened Accenture’s presence in the region. We firmly believe that Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 provides an ideal framework for us to contribute our extensive knowledge and capabilities to help empower the Kingdom’s young generation,” said Bamaga.
He added The Capability Hub will contribute to Saudi Arabia’s journey towards a future of greater prosperity, producing graduates capable of leading growth and supporting a resilient economy that stands at the forefront of global innovation and development.
“We are passionate about helping our clients become ‘talent creators’—with people at the centre of their reinvention using technology, data and AI—and a critical part of that is investing in industry-specific training and technology skills development. We are scaling Accenture’s deep capabilities as a world-class learning organisation 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,” added Bamaga.
Investing in AI skilling in the region
Globally, Accenture invests more than $1 billion annually 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 of doubling its deeply skilled data and 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 people in the fundamentals of AI. In line with these efforts, the hub will prepare its graduates to capitalise on the opportunities that Gen AI and new technology offer.
“Accenture’s Capability Hub is the first step towards launching Accenture LearnVantage, which will provide clients with comprehensive technology learning and training services that will help them reskill and upskill their people in technology, data & AI to reinvent their organisations and achieve greater business value,” said Bamaga.
The new service is designed to help leaders across industries and governments quickly identify gaps in relevant skills created by technological advances and provide the industry-specific training needed to fill those gaps at speed and scale.
This includes delivering highly personalised learning experiences for various technical and business users, from specialised 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.
As part of the LearnVantage program, Accenture has created an AI-native learning platform that seamlessly integrates with an organisation’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 personalised learning journey that aligns with priority areas of learning.
“Accenture LearnVantage will offer tailored technology learning programs, specialised, predesigned technology academies, ecosystem learning certification services, and managed services for a client’s learning capabilities. LearnVantage will also offer Nanodegree, certified online programs to provide users hands-on experience and industry-relevant skills in specialised fields,” said Bamaga.
