January 17, 2023

Accenture Identifies Emerging Group of Industry Leaders Adopting ‘Total Enterprise Reinvention’ as a Strategy to Reach New Performance Frontier



‘Reinventors’ invest in new technologies, find new ways of working and transform their businesses to deliver both financial and non-financial value


NEW YORK; Jan. 17, 2023 – New research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) finds that to grow and lead in today’s volatile environment, a small group of companies are adopting a deliberate, continuous strategy of Total Enterprise Reinvention for every part of their business with new technologies and new ways of working.

Total Enterprise Reinvention is powered by advancements in technologies such as AI and cloud computing. Today just 8% of companies surveyed are ‘Reinventors,’ setting a new performance frontier for themselves and, in most cases, their industries. Their transformation is centered around a strong digital core and new ways of working that help optimize operations and drive growth.

“Post-pandemic, these leaders are systematically changing the game and their industries,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture. “Over time, they are transforming every part of their company to achieve improved financials, breakthrough innovation and increased resilience, and more actively create value for all stakeholders.”

As part of the research, Accenture surveyed more than 1,500 C-suite executives, 75% of whom agreed that a range of external forces—but particularly the pace of technology innovation, shifting consumer preferences and climate change—will further accelerate their investment in digital transformation.

Most companies (86%) focus on transforming parts of their business and treat transformation as a finite program rather than a continuous process. Accenture calls these ‘Transformers.’ The remaining six percent of companies are ‘Optimizers.’ They focus on functional transformations limited in scope and ambition—technology is not a significant enabler of their transformations.

The financial benefits are clear as Reinventors report generating 10% higher incremental revenue growth, 13% higher cost-reduction improvements, and 17% higher balance-sheet improvements than Transformers. They also deliver 1.3 times more financial value in the first six months than Transformers—a reflection of the speed at which Reinventors operate. Also, two-thirds of Reinventors say the delivery of their reinvention strategy is happening significantly faster relative to past transformations, compared to less than one-third of Transformers

“Our Global Disruption Index, a composite measure that covers economic, social, geopolitical, climate, consumer and technology disruption, shows a 200% increase over the past five years,” said Jack Azagury, group chief executive of Accenture Strategy & Consulting. “The time is now for companies to adopt a Total Enterprise Reinvention strategy and embrace the art of the possible that is available today through technology and new ways of working.”

Becoming a Reinventor
Companies that adopt Total Enterprise Reinvention exhibit six characteristics:

  1. Reinvention is the strategy. It is no longer an execution lever.
  2. The digital core becomes a primary source of competitive advantage. It leverages the power of cloud, data and AI through an interoperable set of systems across the enterprise that allows for rapid development of new capabilities.
  3. Reinvention goes beyond benchmarks, embracing the art of the possible. Technology and new ways of working create a new performance frontier.
  4. Talent strategy and people impact are central to reinvention, not an afterthought. These companies consider change management a core competency.
  5. Reinvention is boundaryless and breaks down organizational silos. It tackles capabilities end-to-end.
  6. Reinvention is continuous. It is no longer a time-defined one-off, but a capability continuously tapped by the organization.

More Insights from Accenture
Accenture released three additional reports at the World Economic Forum 2023 that underscore the importance of Total Enterprise Reinvention to accelerate growth by building a strong digital core, investing in new technologies, and transforming how collaboration works across the C-suite.

About the Total Enterprise Reinvention Research

You can explore the report Total Enterprise Reinvention: The strategy that leads to a new performance frontier in Accenture Foresight, our new thought leadership app, which provides a personalized feed of all our latest reports, case studies, blogs, interactive data charts, podcasts and more. Download the app at http://www.accenture.com/foresight.

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 738,000 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 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 Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed 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.

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Contacts:

Peter Y. Soh
Accenture
+1 703 947 2571
peter.y.soh@accenture.com

Melissa Volin
Accenture
+1 267 216 1815
melissa.volin@accenture.com