Accenture is kicking off a sweeping six-month restructuring plan, valued at $865 million.
According to CEO Julie Sweet, weaving artificial intelligence into daily operations is the top concern for many corporate leaders. This transformation is playing out in concrete terms at Accenture: AI-related projects now account for €5.1 billion in the order book, up from €3 billion a year earlier.
The IT services company is placing a strong bet on increasing the skills of its workforce. More than 500,000 employees have already been trained in the fundamentals of generative AI. The objective now is to train more than 700,000 people in agentive AI, in partnership with Stanford, thereby covering nearly the entire workforce.
Today, the company counts 77,000 employees specializing in AI and data, double the number from two years ago.
Top management intends to rapidly part ways with staff believed to be unable to acquire the necessary skills. The exact number of departures planned as part of this restructuring has not been disclosed.
77,000 Employees Specializing in AI and Data
Several factors have weighed on Accenture’s activity. The drastic reductions in US public spending, driven by the Doge of Elon Musk, forced the firm to justify the tangible value of its missions for taxpayers and to concede price reductions to its major federal clients. These federal contracts, which accounted for 8% of revenue in 2024, trimmed growth by roughly 20 basis points this year.
The reform of H-1B visas, with the introduction of a flat $100,000 tax announced by Donald Trump, raises questions about wage costs and access to qualified workers.
Accenture, which secured approval for 1,568 H-1B visa beneficiaries in the first half of the year, ranks among the 25 largest U.S. employers using the program. Julie Sweet nevertheless believes these changes will not have a meaningful impact, since these visas affect only around 5% of the group’s American employees.
