Accenture CEO Julie Sweet has a transparent message for the corporate’s staff. She has suggested that staff in search of promotions on the firm should display proficiency in utilizing its synthetic intelligence (AI) instruments. The advice comes as AI expertise have develop into a key a part of how the consultancy now operates. Speaking on the Rapid Response podcast, Sweet stated that utilizing AI instruments has develop into a requirement for workers who need to transfer up the corporate’s ranks.“If you want to get promoted, you’ve got to do the things that we do to operate Accenture. These are the new tools to operate a company. We didn’t go from zero to ‘you won’t get promoted’ in a month. It’s over a three-year period of getting used to the technology, making sure it’s user-friendly, making sure we have the right workbench for people to use, and then saying, ‘Hey, this is Accenture and how we operate,’” Sweet stated.Sweet’s feedback come as Accenture expands its use of AI throughout operations and worker workflows. In September 2025, the corporate stated it had invested greater than $865 million in a six-month enterprise optimisation programme that features reskilling 1000’s of staff and eradicating employees who declined to adapt to evolving office applied sciences.
How Accenture is planning to reskill its staff for utilizing AI in its operations
In 2023, Accenture introduced a three-year, $3 billion reskilling plan to combine AI throughout its operations. One of the objectives of the initiative was to develop the corporate’s AI workforce to 80,000 professionals by way of hiring, acquisitions and coaching programmes. Accenture at present has greater than 770,000 staff.Sweet stated that the usage of AI within the office is much like earlier shifts when computer systems turned broadly utilized in places of work. She in contrast present AI reskilling efforts with the typewriter and laptop coaching that staff as soon as needed to study.“No one would have said that requiring someone to use a computer is coercion. It’s how the companies were going to get work done. Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work,” she defined.Sweet additionally stated that she understands why some corporations are cautious about adopting AI throughout their organisations. In a earlier interview with Fortune, she stated some corporations struggled to combine AI as a result of they handled it as an extra instrument inside present workflows reasonably than designing techniques across the expertise.“First of all, I think we’re a good lesson in something that I’m advising CEOs all about: To capture the opportunity with AI, you really have to be willing to rewire your company,” Sweet stated at the moment.She additionally famous that Accenture staff confronted challenges as they tailored to the brand new instruments and modifications in working strategies.“For our people and our clients, it was hard. How do you have the courage to do that? That’s where you have the humility, but also this idea of embracing change and innovation,” Sweet famous.
