November 28, 2011
Accenture’s Robert Kress Authors New Book – Running IT Like a Business: Accenture’s Step-by-Step Guide
 
NEW YORK; Nov. 28, 2011 — Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced that Robert E. Kress, chief operating officer of Accenture’s IT organization, has authored a new book titled Running IT like a Business: Accenture’s Step-by-Step Guide. Published by IT Governance Publishing (ITGP), the book provides insights and advice for unlocking the business value of a company’s IT function and details Accenture’s own IT transformation as a leading example.
 
In the book, Kress provides clear strategies, recommended actions, and real-life examples of how the IT function can deliver real value to organizations by:
 
  • Deploying the latest technologies to help do things better, faster and cheaper.
  • Taking advantage of communication and collaboration technologies to facilitate networking across organizations, leading to greater synergy and higher productivity.
  • Identifying business risks and applying measures to reduce these risks.
  • Implementing technologies to diversify and grow the business.
  • Developing vital communication skills necessary to facilitate the change process.
  • Realizing cost savings across the organization.
 
“The centrality of IT as a core tool for every organization provides the rationale for this book,” said Robert E. Kress. “If a professionally run IT function is essential to every business, government or non-profit enterprise, then running IT like a business is the only logical way to run IT. This has been our approach at Accenture since our company was established and our experiences serve as the basis for the insights and recommendations in the book.”
 
Accenture’s IT organization has spent the last decade on a journey to centralize, rationalize and standardize its global IT operations, driven by a mission to maximize efficiency. For example, over time 600 global applications were reduced to 350 and 1,500 local applications shrunk to just 200. Today, there is one financial system, one time and expense system, and one human resources system for the entire company. Kress cites four key IT metrics that reflect Accenture’s ability to run IT like a business:
 
  • Accenture’s percentage of satisfied sponsors, as measured during annual surveys, rose over the decade from 67%, in 2001, to 92% in 2011.
  • Accenture’s annual IT spend in terms of absolute dollars declined over the period by 22%, despite the fact that the size of the workforce increased by nearly 300%.
  • Accenture’s annual IT spend as a percentage of company revenues declined by 59% over the period.
  • Finally, Accenture’s annual IT spend per person fell by 70%.
 
According to Kress, for every dollar Accenture made in IT investments over these years, the company realized three dollars in savings (see graph).

 
 
Running IT like a Business: Accenture’s Step-by-Step Guideis available in multiple formats and can be purchased in local currency from the following websites:
 
 
International (shipping from UK, GBP currency denominated)
USA (shipping from USA, USD currency denominated)
EU (shipping from Netherlands, Euro currency denominated)
 
 
About the author
Robert E. Kress is the COO of Accenture’s Information Technology organization.  He has overall responsibility for running IT like a business within the company, including the direct management of IT governance, strategy, planning, risk management, audits and IT policy. Robert has extensive experience in IT planning, governance, technology operations, application development, product management, service planning and program management.  Robert’s first book, IT Governance to Drive High Performance: Lessons from Accenture, was published by IT Governance in 2010.
 
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 236,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
 
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Contact:
 
Hannah Unkefer
Accenture
+1 (415) 537-4848