Unlocking cloud-native reinvention
Accenture creates a cloud-native ecosystem with Google Cloud as part of scaled enterprise transformation
5-MINUTE READ
From "lift and shift" to paradigm shift
Turning a traditional IT infrastructure into a cloud-powered innovation engine requires more than migration. While the "lift and shift" approach—simply moving existing systems to the cloud—offers a quick fix, it fails to unlock its full potential.
Think of it like moving an old house to a brand-new neighborhood—the location changes, but the foundational issues, like the leaky roof, remain. Imagine instead a house specifically designed for its environment, with modular components that can be easily reconfigured as needs change, requiring minimal maintenance, and capable of integrating smart systems like AI and machine learning. That's cloud-native: an infrastructure that is flexible, scalable and optimized for performance.
Before this transformation, most of our workloads in the cloud had not been rearchitected to take full advantage of the cloud's agility, automation and innovation, making them difficult to maintain and manage. Siloed ERP systems prevented a holistic view of the business, and manual data gathering and analysis were time-consuming and error-prone. The lack of a unified SaaS solution for data collection and analysis led to inefficient processes, redundant tasks and wasted resources.
To resolve these issues, we embraced cloud native to help build a strong, connected foundation of cloud, data and AI—a "digital core" that supports our continuous reinvention. A decade ago, we began our cloud journey. Today, we build, operate, and innovate entirely in the cloud, using the best cloud technologies and tools to deliver richer functionality, integrate data across systems, and drive faster performance.
Partnering with Google to pioneer cloud native
We began our cloud-native transformation by choosing the right partner: Google Cloud. Their mature capabilities, robust infrastructure, and advanced analytics—refined through years of managing the world’s largest datasets and powering some of the biggest platforms—fueled our reinvention.
As customer zero, we were one of the first to deploy, test and refine Google Cloud’s cloud-native solutions at scale. To get an idea of what that means for us, consider that we serve clients in over 120 countries and have a workforce of 801,000 people. Our collaboration with Google Cloud transformed Accenture into a living lab for enterprise innovation. For instance, by integrating Google Cloud’s services with our security and provisioning models, we developed more secure and faster deployment methods. This early adoption and refinement have provided us with unique insights and experience, which we now use to guide our clients through their own cloud transformations.
Running simpler, smarter and greener
Accenture's cloud reinvention achieves new performance frontiers
Today, Accenture's global IT infrastructure runs almost entirely on cloud-native technologies, a transformation fueled by our pioneering work with Google Cloud. Every new application is built and deployed through automated pipelines that function like high-speed assembly lines, streamlining the coding, testing, and release of software. Accenture has unlocked unprecedented levels of agility, performance and innovation by embracing modern application development practices—like automated delivery, management and repair, modular containerization and scalable cloud services.
What once took weeks now happens in minutes. Engineers can now provision entire infrastructures with just a few lines of code, bypassing the labyrinth of tickets and approvals that previously created bottlenecks. Siloed departments have transformed into collaborative powerhouses, with developers, security and operations teams now working in unified workflows.
99%
faster system set-up time
Accenture built a unified, cloud-native data foundation on Google Cloud, consolidating enterprise data into a single data lake that powers advanced analytics and machine learning. Once siloed data now flows freely across the organization, transformed from a static resource into a strategic asset, while secure governance protocols ensure responsible data access and use. The modern foundation allows for real-time, seamless data integration across platforms and propriety applications used for various functions such as HR, Sales, Legal, and Finance—providing a unified and real-time view of the enterprise.
For example, our business management dashboard uses BigQuery and AI to integrate and analyze diverse data in real time, allowing us to track items such as project status, resource utilization and compliance simultaneously. Another example is our legal contract management system, which uses BigQuery, Google Translate API, AI and natural language processing to translate documents, identify trends, flag risks and verify policies, eliminating thousands of hours of manual review.
+1.200TB
of business data now available to users
Sustainability is a key part of thoughtful cloud architecture, not an afterthought. Accenture cut its carbon footprint tenfold, partly by using cloud-native technologies to minimize physical infrastructure and dynamically scale resources, reducing energy use and waste.
10x
decrease in carbon footprint
We learn the lessons, so our clients don't have to. It's all intellectual capital. We use our experience, which ultimately led to a 50% reduction in infrastructure costs, to help our clients accelerate their own transformations
Steve Courtney / Managing Director – Global IT, Strategy, Architecture & Innovation, Accenture
On the horizon
Accenture is now focusing on the next frontier: scaling AI across its enterprise. We are exploring the use of Google Cloud 's AI tools in various use cases, from gen AI-powered enterprise search to AI-driven software delivery. As we continue to harness data and AI to fuel our ongoing reinvention, we will continue to push the boundaries of cloud-powered enterprise innovation.