Human ingenuity, enabled by technology

While most businesses identify their people as their most important asset, at Accenture it’s a deep and fundamental conviction.

It’s a source of pride for the company that it regularly features in the top 10 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, the world’s most respected measure of workplace culture and talent management best practice.

And it’s a philosophy that drives its approach to the digital transformation that it has embraced with skill and purpose. For Accenture, technology is the key that unlocks the human ingenuity that has made it one of the world’s leading, and most sought after, professional services businesses.

Accenture’s focus on its people has kept the company in the top rankings of the best workplaces. Its commitment to providing great employee experiences also includes a strategy for space management in the workplace, which continues to position Accenture as a leader in technology and cost efficiencies.

Keeping it simple, streamlined, and scalable

Its ‘people-first’ formula has delivered global success on a vast scale. From offices in 200 cities, 730,000 professionals deliver services to a broad spectrum of 9,000 business, government, public, and third-sector organizations. So, in a huge business, what does ‘putting people first’ really look like at Accenture?

The answer is to keep it simple. It has a single aim—to create a streamlined, supportive, and technology-enabled workplace experience, providing everything needed to do great work in a cost-effective and energy efficient environment.

In today’s fast-moving world, workplaces must enable teams to be flexible and agile, working collaboratively with colleagues and clients to respond at speed, scaling operations up or down as needed.

This mindset helped Accenture to double in size in the three years up to 2023, as it raced to provide technology, resources, and support for its clients. It has also committed $3 billion to GenAI, including Now Assist from ServiceNow, and will hire and train 80,000 more employees, doubling its AI talent.

This commitment to its people also encompasses the physical work environment. Accenture is seeking the most cost and energy-efficient mix of spaces, using opportunities to reduce both its physical footprint and carbon emissions, while still delivering spaces that support connectedness and collaboration.

Building on the ServiceNow AI Platform’s “connective tissue”

To achieve its workplace goals, Accenture built on its long partnership with ServiceNow, with the ServiceNow AI Platform’s single architecture and data model described by the company as the “connective tissue for all of our systems”.

Accenture selected the Workplace Service Delivery (WSD) platform, using it to create Accenture Places, a purpose-built solution for employees and managers alike, rich in digitization and process automation.

The company’s previous workplace tools relied on a myriad of disconnected solutions which provided little automation and required lots of manual tasks, emails, and waiting for responses, with delays and errors leaving employees feeling frustrated.

“I wanted something much more personalized and easier to use for everyone and for us to manage our office spaces around the world more effectively,” explains Lisette Smyrnios, Accenture’s Global Workplace Managing Director. “In particular, we wanted to ensure that we were providing the right spaces and services for those with accessibility or neurodiversity needs.”

As businesses around the world assess their long-term requirements for office space, Accenture had already decided to reduce its real estate portfolio by 25%.

“We needed a platform and data to help us optimize every square foot of real estate, and reduce space no longer needed,” explains Lisette. “It was exciting to work with ServiceNow to help design and build our bespoke version of WSD, focusing on a new reservations service and space planning functionality.”

Consistency and ease of use

The essential component of the reservations service was consistency and ease of use, with an intuitive interface guiding employees to access information, review options, see what events are happening in each office, and make a booking in less than a minute.

“The challenges of workplace management are a bit like a Rubik’s Cube!” ventures Lisette. “It’s complicated, but getting everything aligned produces happy colleagues and guests, and helps us to make smart, efficient use of space and energy. By leveraging WSD, we have already decommissioned nine tools and have another eight planned."

“ServiceNow’s focus on the user experience, and the integrated platform as a single system of action, aligns with ours. We valued the chance to work collaboratively, to lean in, understand the vision, and influence the Workplace Service Delivery roadmap.”

Showing colleagues that the business cares

The Accenture Places portal, built on WSD and accessible on all mobile devices, enables users to identify and book a workspace or meeting room in a building, on a floor, and with colleagues of their choice. They can organize car parking and EV charging, IT equipment, and catering services too.

Users can see photographs and videos of the building, indoor floor maps, and images of interior spaces and layouts to assess suitability and accessibility, as well as proximity to lifts, cafeterias, wellness spaces, and other services.

They can find offices hosting networking events, training sessions, social gatherings, or yoga classes, to create a bespoke and productive visit. Employees reserving space, facilities, and services for groups can share their reservations with colleagues.

In addition, the WSD application integrates with IoT devices throughout the building. Interactive door panels and desk digital signage outside conference rooms and on desks show who has reserved the room. Occupancy sensors provide real-time utilization data, guiding employees to available spaces, while portfolio managers can access insights about how individual space types are being utilized.

ServiceNow Workplace Visitor Management within WSD also provides a seamless way for an Accenture host to invite clients to a location, so their visit is supported by Workplace for an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Previously, completing reservations would take around a minute with the legacy system lacking an effective ‘quick search’ function. Now, employees can complete the booking of a space on a certain date and time segment in seconds thanks to the quick search functionality of WSD.

“It’s important to consider the experience in totality,” explains Monika Patel-Mistry, Global IT Delivery and Capability Lead. “It’s not just about choosing a workspace or a room, there are other considerations too. Are there height-adjustable desks? Is there a wellness room? Are there showers so I can cycle to the office? The details in ServiceNow demonstrate we care about them as individuals, not just as employees.”

Integrations add functionality and value

Another key advantage of WSD is its integration with Microsoft Teams, Accenture’s go-to platform for day-to-day working. Users can access the reservation service without leaving Teams.

“The integration with Teams is huge,” stresses Lisette. “Our people spend their days on Teams, on calls and working on deliverables. They pin WSD to the Teams task bar, book space, add services, and check details without breaking stride.”

Accenture Places also connects with other core financial and resource management systems, ensuring, for example, the correct charge codes are always applied for each individual reservation requiring for-fee services like catering, eliminating errors requiring time consuming resolution.

Accenture Places provides detailed insights that are helping Lisette and Monika to continuously improve the platform. With WSD tagging each neighborhood in buildings, employees can select a workspace close to colleagues or teams they plan to collaborate with to make the most of their visit.

In its first year, 4.35 million reservations in 378 buildings were completed using the Accenture Places workplace services portal, with ongoing additional deployments in high volume locations in India and the Philippines.

“End users love how easy to use the ServiceNow platform is, and how the depth of information enriches their experience,” says Lisette. “It’s also helping us drive effective utilization of our space, for example ServiceNow sends reminders asking users to confirm, modify, or cancel their reservation.” Now, Lisette and Monika can also see which rooms and which desk configurations are most popular and make more of those available to staff.

With reservations now live, Accenture’s WSD focus is moving to space planning and capacity management. “We’re actively managing our office space on a daily basis,” says Lisette.

Managing complexity

A major workplace challenge for Accenture is the management of its global network of delivery centers, where hundreds or thousands of employees in numerous, multi-skilled teams deliver professional services. Organization and location of space is driven by multiple requirements including individual clients, service lines, technologies, and tax jurisdictions.

“The visibility and control in WSD will help us to support colleagues working with clients to identify the right spaces and resources for them to most effectively deliver their projects,” explains Monika.

“The future of the workplace is a hot topic right now,” concludes Lisette. “With the help of WSD—amongst other contributing factors—not only can we create the right formula for our own business needs, but we can also recommend how WSD can help our clients achieve their own objectives for their office experience and optimization.”