COVID-19 a 'Giant Fast-Forward Button' on Cloud: Accenture CEO

The pandemic forced companies “to simultaneously transform multiple parts" and "reskill" staff in what would have been "sequential programs,” said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet on a fiscal Q2 call Thursday. The quarter that ended Feb. 28 had a return “to pre-COVID-level financial results a quarter earlier than we expected," she said. Revenue increased 8% to $12.1 billion. COVID-19 “hit a giant fast-forward button to the future,” Sweet said. “Demand to innovate at unprecedented speed and scale with rapid adoption of cloud, AI and other disruptive technologies, is accelerating.” And “digital laggards" are "determined to not simply catch up, but to leapfrog” their rivals, she said. “The move from approximately 20% to 80% in the cloud alone is a huge undertaking, and it is just the start, as companies will then continue to invest to grow and innovate on their new cloud foundations.”