3057: Accenture: Reinventing With a Digital Core

[00:00:04] What does it take to turn a business into a digitally driven powerhouse in today's fast evolving world?

[00:00:11] Well, today we're going to be joined by my good friend Andy Tay from Accenture.

[00:00:16] He's a key voice in the digital transformation sphere. He's been on the podcast before, but today we're going to explore the cutting edge strategies that businesses out there are employing to build a resilient and profitable digital core.

[00:00:31] And Accenture's latest report, Reinventing With a Digital Core, sheds light on how organizations are leveraging cloud infrastructure, data, AI and cybersecurity to not just survive, but thrive amid a world of digital disruptions.

[00:00:47] So today we're going to discuss how integrating these core elements effectively can boost performance, streamline operations and set the stage for continuous innovation.

[00:00:58] So if you find yourself wondering how can my company balance innovation with the need to manage technical debt, you're going to love this one.

[00:01:07] I will also talk about what it really takes to transform these digital investments into tangible business outcomes.

[00:01:14] But enough for me. Let's get my guest on to the show now.

[00:01:18] So a massive warm welcome back to the show.

[00:01:21] And if anyone that missed our last conversation, can you just remind everyone listening with a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:01:28] Neil, firstly, thank you so much for having me on the show.

[00:01:32] I'm Andy Tay. I serve as our global lead for our Accenture cloud first organization.

[00:01:39] And I'm essentially responsible for our partnerships with our largest cloud providers out there in the industry, both from a public and indeed from a private perspective.

[00:01:49] And if you were to think of cloud first and what I do, it's an assembly of multi service group and global professionals, cloud professionals.

[00:01:59] And our mission and our focus is really to help our clients, I would say swiftly and confidently transform their businesses, enabling them to perhaps become modern enterprises with modernized cloud technologies and securities and the infrastructures and the ways of working.

[00:02:16] But also to become intelligent enterprises with, as in today's world, modernized data foundations and AI, gen AI, and responsible AI.

[00:02:26] And finally, to help our clients achieve this concept of breakthrough enterprise and achieve new performance frontiers.

[00:02:34] And that can be from the bottom line or the top line in terms of new revenue paths or helping them enable new customer experiences or perhaps even in areas like sustainability.

[00:02:44] And so I, along with the team, help drive cloud advisory design and implementation services globally.

[00:02:51] And it keeps me busy as we know, but I'm extremely thankful to our clients and all our partners who entrust in us their transformation and reinvention journeys.

[00:03:02] And I'd like to say, with Accenture, our clients don't just compete, but they lead and they succeed.

[00:03:09] And that's my mission every day.

[00:03:11] Well, I'm thrilled to have you join me again on the podcast.

[00:03:14] And since we last spoke, the pace of technological change is showing no signs of slowing down.

[00:03:21] And I think it's very easy to get distracted by the latest shiny new thing, the latest new technology.

[00:03:27] Everyone keeps buying it and putting it on top of the old things.

[00:03:30] And one of the things that, or one of the reasons I was excited to get you back on is after seeing Accenture's latest report, which is entitled Reinventing with a Digital Core, which outlines the importance of having that strong digital core.

[00:03:44] But for anyone listening, hearing about this for the first time, can you expand on that?

[00:03:49] Maybe explain exactly what constitutes a digital core and how it can drive everything from sales to business performance.

[00:03:56] Thanks for touching that one.

[00:03:58] The digital core is the foundational critical set of technologies that make an organization's unique ambitions.

[00:04:07] All the companies out there sort of want to really drive towards an ambition or reinvent themselves to a new frontier.

[00:04:17] And the digital core serves as that critical set of technologies that really help those ambitions come to life.

[00:04:23] And we've got seven core elements of a digital core.

[00:04:27] And it spans from modern cloud infrastructures and practices that help enable companies become more sort of agile and innovative, enabling a data and AI backbone that helps bring sort of differentiation really critical in today's world to have that sort of AI-powered differentiation.

[00:04:48] And that includes responsible AI and, of course, the latest buzzword of Gen AI capabilities that truly from every part of every department and every company is serving as an accelerant.

[00:05:00] And also the sort of applications and digital platforms to help accelerate growth or enhance experiences or to help companies optimize the operations.

[00:05:10] And the other key points perhaps on the digital core just to call out is this concept of integration and composable integration.

[00:05:18] I'm happy to touch on that later, but also having security everywhere else.

[00:05:23] And the research that you called out, we executed this research and it shows that companies that are in the top 25th percentile of digital core capabilities,

[00:05:35] who've sort of been very intentional in assembling those seven core elements and tweaking and pushing them left and right,

[00:05:42] companies who are in the top 25th percentile experience 20% higher revenue growth and 30% increase in their profitability.

[00:05:53] And those are massive benefits.

[00:05:55] But it doesn't just stop there.

[00:05:56] There are other benefits that these companies reap.

[00:05:58] And as an example, I think it was the four or so percent and some of these percentages might be slightly off, but in the order of 54% strongly agreed that their enterprise systems were now helping them through this sort of digital core,

[00:06:14] the hardened digital core, was now helping them diversify into other geographies and other industries.

[00:06:20] And to say that really is the core of what a digital core is.

[00:06:25] It helps you become reinvention ready, which of course isn't easy.

[00:06:29] Reinvention is very hard and it's not for the sake of reinventing.

[00:06:32] It's about achieving different set of results.

[00:06:35] It's about changing everything and perhaps driving towards new customer experiences.

[00:06:41] The other thing I want to maybe just call out here, Neil, is there are companies who are going even a step further

[00:06:47] and they're looking at boosting their innovation and boosting their strategic investments in managing areas such as technical debt.

[00:06:56] And they, as they sort of go that step further, are getting even greater benefits.

[00:07:01] And it's what we sort of call this sort of 60-40 effect.

[00:07:05] They're achieving 60% increase in revenue growth and 40% increase in profitability.

[00:07:13] It's just significant.

[00:07:14] And so I think as companies sort of push themselves to achieve these sort of advanced digital core capabilities,

[00:07:22] they just get themselves in a better position to perhaps quickly adapt to business needs,

[00:07:29] adopt new technologies and mitigate against this myriad of risks that are out there.

[00:07:34] And essentially, they become reinvention ready.

[00:07:36] And that's a huge focus of Accenture right now.

[00:07:40] And that's why we wanted to get this digital core research out there, what we call reinventing with a digital core.

[00:07:48] And over the last couple of years, we've seen AI go through a hype cycle of sorts.

[00:07:54] We've seen early adopters rush in at the very beginning, others adopting a more cautious approach

[00:07:59] and waiting to see how problems are lined out before diving in.

[00:08:02] Now it feels that, from a mainstream point of view, more and more are dipping their toes in the AI waters.

[00:08:09] And of course, before doing any of this stuff, AI readiness will play a critical role in shaping a company's future success.

[00:08:16] So the big question for any business leaders listening who that resonates with,

[00:08:20] how can organizations best integrate AI into their operations to not only optimize processes,

[00:08:27] but also drive growth and innovation and deliver ROI on that investment too?

[00:08:32] Yeah, really great one.

[00:08:34] And like you rightly called out there, Neil, I think in the last 12, 18 months or so,

[00:08:39] there's a lot of experimentations and the quote-unquote dipping off toes in AI,

[00:08:45] specifically and particularly in Gen AI, less so perhaps on classical AI.

[00:08:50] But Gen AI has served as this sort of accelerant for classical as well.

[00:08:54] But as we sort of turned a year and we're going through 2024 and as we sort of look forward to FY20 for the new calendar year,

[00:09:03] we're seeing clients and customers out there and enterprises out there really go beyond the experimentation

[00:09:09] and look at how to sort of get it scaled inside their enterprise.

[00:09:13] And the ingredients of AI success require that strong set of digital core capabilities that I touched on,

[00:09:20] because otherwise you sort of, your technology can truly limit your ambition.

[00:09:26] And we like to say that AI also plays a role in helping you maintain or evolve that digital core.

[00:09:33] So it really starts with adopting those seven components.

[00:09:36] And I would say it's also important to note that it goes beyond the technology

[00:09:41] and we're continuously assessing what it will be to enable people to do things in the new

[00:09:47] and how AI will drive value and new business outcomes.

[00:09:51] And as we sort of do all that, we recognize that process is key.

[00:09:56] You get your seven components in, you say, okay, what else do I have beyond the technology?

[00:10:03] And process starts kicking in and you start wondering, well, what do you mean by that?

[00:10:06] And if I was to dig in a wee bit there, it includes building a data-driven culture.

[00:10:11] So sort of this data first, truly pushing your company to understand everything about itself,

[00:10:18] its customers, its suppliers, its end-to-end supply chain through data.

[00:10:22] And also understanding the ethical considerations and what we are out there sort of pushing,

[00:10:28] which is this sort of concept of responsible AI.

[00:10:31] And it also goes in terms of really succeeding and integrating with AI.

[00:10:35] It also goes into investing in talent and training of your people.

[00:10:41] Then, of course, you've got to sort of look at identifying clear objectives,

[00:10:46] knowing where you want to be and also where you are and truly assessing what your AI readiness is,

[00:10:53] having perhaps a plan around early pilots,

[00:10:56] and then a very intentional plan that maybe sees you start small but then scale quick.

[00:11:02] And we've seen the scale in areas like customer service,

[00:11:06] where generative AI successfully automates and gleans out these sort of insights

[00:11:12] for frontline service workers.

[00:11:15] And as an example, we're working with a technology retailer in Europe

[00:11:19] to truly unlock new growth and customer savings through the customer service

[00:11:25] by accelerating the adoption of new Gen AI capabilities.

[00:11:29] We're helping them move across that digital core, the stack of them.

[00:11:33] So we're helping them move their operations from the legacy data center to the cloud.

[00:11:37] We're helping them be very intentional in the public cloud versus private cloud posture

[00:11:42] and what should go where and do they need data repatriation or not.

[00:11:46] And really helping them build this sort of powerful digital core

[00:11:49] that then fuels their customer service with a unified data foundation as such.

[00:11:56] And with that, they're getting customers with happier engagement scores,

[00:12:02] greater efficiencies with their customers.

[00:12:04] We're seeing higher touch experiences, faster and easier access to information, etc., etc.

[00:12:11] So the benefits just go beyond.

[00:12:13] And so super important to be very intentional in how you implement your AI,

[00:12:20] feeling comfortable in starting small, but be really focused in having a scale plan

[00:12:25] that has responsibility at the core as well.

[00:12:28] And in the report, it also emphasizes re-engineering systems for AI operations.

[00:12:34] And I was thinking just to maybe bring that to life a little,

[00:12:38] are you able to share any examples of how companies that are investing in innovation

[00:12:43] are actually better positioned to redesign business processes and enter new markets and drive growth?

[00:12:49] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:12:50] Interesting, because we all think innovation just happens.

[00:12:53] But investing in innovation is critical, Neil.

[00:12:56] And we're advising our clients to boost investments in strategic innovation

[00:13:01] and really re-engineering their systems for machine and AI operations.

[00:13:06] And we often find that the companies out there expect IT to drive value,

[00:13:11] yet most of the IT spend is on keeping the lights on.

[00:13:16] And so you're operating in a keep the lights on mode.

[00:13:19] And to take advantage of the opportunities that AI brings,

[00:13:23] companies need to continuously increase their allocation of their budget into innovation,

[00:13:28] obviously without starving important maintenance projects.

[00:13:32] And our research, our digital core research,

[00:13:35] found that companies that have this sort of reinvention-ready digital core

[00:13:39] are continuously increasing a proportion of their IT budgets to innovation,

[00:13:47] as opposed to operations and maintenance alone.

[00:13:51] And those who are succeeding are seeing sort of a reduction in inefficiencies,

[00:13:57] they're consolidating their vendors,

[00:13:59] they're optimizing their cloud costs,

[00:14:02] they're seeing greater value,

[00:14:03] they're operationalizing with wholesale automation across the board.

[00:14:08] And they are successfully redesigning their business processes,

[00:14:13] they're launching products,

[00:14:15] they're launching new services,

[00:14:16] and they're entering new markets.

[00:14:18] One example is with a global consumer goods company

[00:14:22] that has over 400 brands.

[00:14:25] And when you have that,

[00:14:26] you have to have an intentionality around how you're innovating on those brands

[00:14:30] and what you're investing on those brands.

[00:14:33] And in partnering with ourselves and our partnership with Microsoft

[00:14:37] and with Avan,

[00:14:37] their commitment to innovation is now upwards of a billion in R&D every year.

[00:14:44] And they attribute their massive sales growth to that focus on innovation

[00:14:49] and that focus on brand investment.

[00:14:51] And it's just super, super important for companies to, in my mind,

[00:14:55] have that sort of intentionality around investing in innovation

[00:15:00] in order to truly achieve success.

[00:15:04] And there are a lot of horror stories or negative press around technology and tech trends at the moment.

[00:15:10] One of the things I thought was quite exciting was how tailoring digital core advancements

[00:15:14] to specific organisational needs can often trigger improvements

[00:15:20] right across other areas of the business.

[00:15:22] So on that point,

[00:15:23] how do you see companies prioritising these improvements

[00:15:27] to make the journey towards building an industry-leading digital core more attainable?

[00:15:32] Because that is the tricky bit, right?

[00:15:34] I mean, we might make it sound incredibly easy,

[00:15:35] but with things like culture change and so many other moving parts to this,

[00:15:41] anything you can share around there?

[00:15:42] Yeah, yeah.

[00:15:44] You know, everything is so different.

[00:15:46] Every company is different.

[00:15:47] Every digital core is different.

[00:15:49] There are, as I touched on, seven key areas of a digital core.

[00:15:53] The digital platforms, the data, the AI, the infrastructure,

[00:15:56] the integration, the security,

[00:15:57] and this concept of a control plane that helps you sort of manage the continuum across your estate.

[00:16:03] And getting an industry-leading level of a digital core involves improving in all these areas.

[00:16:12] As I mentioned, every company is different.

[00:16:14] Every digital core is different.

[00:16:16] One organisation might want to prioritise one aspect of their digital core,

[00:16:20] and another one looks at another area.

[00:16:22] And all their journeys are unique.

[00:16:25] They all start somewhere else.

[00:16:26] But one area that I would say that many people start with is on what we perhaps call the no-regret moves,

[00:16:34] and in terms of building the capabilities that will deliver key efficiencies

[00:16:39] that can then be reinvested into the next step of the journey.

[00:16:43] And so I think this sort of concept of prioritising which area you want to improve is critical,

[00:16:51] and identifying the right set of no-regret moves by assessing your,

[00:16:55] in a very intentional way, assessing your current maturity across your digital core,

[00:17:00] identifying your gaps and creating a roadmap is so, so critical.

[00:17:05] The one thing I also perhaps want to touch on here, Neil, is in our research,

[00:17:11] we found that there were very strong correlations between the pillars of the digital core,

[00:17:16] so across those seven.

[00:17:17] And you can almost think of it as sort of the halo effect,

[00:17:21] where you enhance one pillar, for example, on the cloud side, private or public,

[00:17:26] and it can be with any of the key players out there.

[00:17:30] I mentioned Microsoft, but we've got strong partnership and capabilities with AWS.

[00:17:35] We've had that in a storied way.

[00:17:37] And the same for Google as well.

[00:17:38] And so you can sort of implement and enhance that pillar.

[00:17:42] And then what we find is that has a beneficial impact on another pillar.

[00:17:46] And you start looking at your data and AI and bringing in the capabilities that some of these

[00:17:50] houses have.

[00:17:51] And the impact, or rather the degree of impact, this sort of halo effect,

[00:17:56] can range upwards of percent, depending on, of course, which pillar.

[00:18:00] And so tailoring your digital core and being intentional on which area you want to advance

[00:18:06] and being sort of really focused on which area you want to prioritize is critical.

[00:18:10] But it's also very unique.

[00:18:13] And I think one of the challenges that many organizations face is the oldie but a goodie,

[00:18:18] the balancing of technical debt with future investments.

[00:18:21] I'm sure it's something that you hear about time and time again.

[00:18:24] So how can companies better allocate their IT budgets effectively to reduce some of that

[00:18:31] technical debt while ensuring they're making those strategic investments in future technologies

[00:18:36] that they have to do?

[00:18:37] I think in the past, we look at a lot of, if you go in any, look at any airline or airport,

[00:18:41] there's just new tech on top of old tech repeatedly.

[00:18:44] And there's a whole heap of problems there.

[00:18:47] Yeah, technical debt is essentially the cost in terms of money and in effort that is necessary.

[00:18:53] It's critical for a company to keep its IT systems up to date for the current business needs.

[00:19:02] But what's important is to look to the future and to balance your technical debt liabilities

[00:19:09] with future investments that are necessary.

[00:19:12] Companies need a sort of strategic, balanced approach.

[00:19:16] And so we found that in terms of budget applied to technical debt,

[00:19:20] our research shows that there's somewhat of a sweet spot.

[00:19:24] Of course, every company is somewhat different,

[00:19:25] but there's somewhat of a sweet spot of about 15% on average

[00:19:29] where companies are managing their technical debt effectively

[00:19:32] while still maintaining strategic investments in the future.

[00:19:36] And interestingly enough, we sort of rage a wee bit on AI

[00:19:40] and the opportunities AI is creating.

[00:19:42] And it's just an interesting one to note that while AI is actually creating great value opportunities,

[00:19:47] it's also creating technical debt.

[00:19:49] And our research indicated upwards of 40% of companies list AI as a top contributor now to technical debt.

[00:19:58] And so being very proactive and very strategic and very intentional on the balance of sort of what you do

[00:20:07] and where you invest, particularly around AI and your AI initiatives is critical.

[00:20:12] And one of the other things I saw Accenture highlights is that leading organizations should be thinking about

[00:20:18] dedicating 15% of their IT budgets to balance debt reduction with future innovation.

[00:20:25] Quite a powerful stat there.

[00:20:26] So how can programmatic and autonomous methods help organizations maintain some of those evergreen IT capabilities

[00:20:34] that we're talking about here?

[00:20:35] Well, evergreen IT is an easy meal.

[00:20:38] And technical debt, as we've discussed before, has ballooned.

[00:20:41] And obviously, this is because of financial and time constraints, but also the breakneck pace of tech change

[00:20:49] and tech innovation, evolving product requirements, talent shortages.

[00:20:54] The list just keeps adding up.

[00:20:55] And so maintaining this evergreen IT estate is simply not easy.

[00:21:01] And that said, though, we've seen companies sort of employ more programmatic approaches to contain technical debt,

[00:21:11] be it at code or infrastructure levels or other parts of the system.

[00:21:14] And it does mean then being more proactive and staying ahead of it.

[00:21:19] For example, AI today is both, as I touched on, technical debt risk and a solution.

[00:21:24] And it can, on the one hand, be used to automate the management of technical debt whilst as well accelerating your future.

[00:21:33] And so I think we will see more companies adopting more programmatic approaches,

[00:21:40] not only to automate and code refactoring, testing and documentation,

[00:21:44] but also on infrastructure such as programmatic version control systems, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:21:51] So it's an important point sort of really adopting these programmatic and autonomous methods

[00:21:57] to really maintain your IT estate.

[00:22:01] And, of course, everything that we're talking about here has a lot of different moving parts.

[00:22:06] So what role do you think the cloud infrastructure, data management and cybersecurity collectively play

[00:22:14] in maybe building that robust digital core that we're talking about?

[00:22:18] And how do you think companies can ensure these elements do work together to achieve that long-term success?

[00:22:24] Yeah.

[00:22:26] Yeah.

[00:22:26] One of the core parts to build a robust digital core,

[00:22:31] that companies need to effectively integrate their cloud estate and the continuum of their cloud,

[00:22:37] be it the sovereign cloud or edge cloud or private cloud or the public cloud.

[00:22:42] And perhaps some of them might be multi-cloud.

[00:22:45] And so you have to sort of integrate all of that as well as integrating with a strong data management capability and foundation,

[00:22:52] but also staying on top of cybersecurity.

[00:22:56] And all those elements that you mentioned are all essential.

[00:22:59] You need all three of those to be stable and to keep your IT estates and your IT capabilities up to date.

[00:23:07] You can't really sort of advance without those three core foundational parts.

[00:23:13] And the cloud side of it is a real digital foundation.

[00:23:17] It helps drive this sort of agile and scalable set of capabilities that you need.

[00:23:24] Your data management is important because it makes accurate, usable data accessible throughout your organization

[00:23:32] so that you can now make timely strategic decisions, which is really important in the era of AI.

[00:23:38] And then, of course, cybersecurity, as you mentioned, is critical across your digital core.

[00:23:42] Without it, you can't evolve up the stack.

[00:23:44] It protects your infrastructure, protects your data, and it helps you mitigate against risks from AI as well.

[00:23:50] And it helps you sort of safely scale opportunities throughout your platforms.

[00:23:55] And so those three are super important.

[00:23:57] I think to achieve long-term success, companies really have to look to this concept of adopting a cloud-first strategy,

[00:24:06] enforcing strong data governance and data practices, embedding security throughout the systems, etc., etc.

[00:24:12] And when you do that, I think you start getting to this concept or this continuum of being a modern enterprise

[00:24:22] with modern infrastructure, modern networks, modern applications, modern data, and modern ways of working.

[00:24:29] So this concept of modern enterprises.

[00:24:31] But also you start moving into the era of being an intelligent enterprise and really infusing intelligence throughout your digital core,

[00:24:41] which will then in and of itself help open up new possibilities and new value.

[00:24:46] And like I touched on, this concept of responsible AI is also important.

[00:24:50] It's important that you sort of look at some of the risks and biases that are inherent in your decisions.

[00:24:55] And so you then now can say, okay, how do I achieve new performance frontiers?

[00:25:02] How do I get towards this next level of an S-curve?

[00:25:05] How do I get different results and drive better experiences?

[00:25:10] And this concept of a breakthrough enterprise, so to speak.

[00:25:14] But the one thing I would say is it's really difficult.

[00:25:18] And companies can have this sort of look at it and go, oh, my God, it's a task that is heavy to undertake.

[00:25:24] Like we have found that one of our best pieces of advice, and it doesn't necessarily have to be with us, but it can be with Accenture.

[00:25:33] But one of our best pieces of advice is the best companies out there, the ones winning,

[00:25:39] the ones achieving those next levels of an S-curve of value are the ones who do not go it alone.

[00:25:45] In fact, the fastest impact to a reinvention-ready digital core comes when you team up with your ecosystem of partners,

[00:25:53] as I mentioned, with the likes of Google and Amazon, ServiceNow and Microsoft and Dell and HPE and IBM, etc., etc.

[00:26:04] But that ecosystem of partners to help you jointly innovate is so critical.

[00:26:09] And then, of course, a GSI like Accenture to help you assemble and orchestrate across the myriad of complexities.

[00:26:15] And if we do dare look ahead into 2025, how do you see the role of digital cores evolving?

[00:26:23] And are there any other important factors you think organisations should maybe thinking about focusing on to remain competitive

[00:26:30] and continuously reinvent themselves in this rapidly changing business landscape?

[00:26:35] There's so much going on.

[00:26:37] It can be difficult keeping up, can't it?

[00:26:39] It is really difficult keeping up.

[00:26:42] And just as individuals, it's super important to keep up and to almost push yourself to reinvent yourself almost every five years or so.

[00:26:48] And now that five-year cycle is becoming two years, three years, that kind of thing.

[00:26:52] Yeah.

[00:26:52] But I think we're only really at the tip of the iceberg here.

[00:26:55] And in terms of what the cloud and the sort of cloud-based digital core can do for businesses in this era of AI-powered invention and reinvention,

[00:27:08] the concept of continuous reinvention hinges on establishing your modern digital core.

[00:27:15] But you've got to keep evolving it.

[00:27:16] And so I think the role of the cloud in a digital core as we go forward here cannot be understated.

[00:27:23] It serves as a sort of foundation of tech innovation.

[00:27:28] And we've seen that the cloud can truly help accelerate your business.

[00:27:32] And it's at the core of what you do across the board.

[00:27:35] I think if we look ahead, perhaps into 2030, dare we say, we're going to increasingly sort of have different challenges as we always have.

[00:27:43] Everyone's on a different course.

[00:27:45] The pace of their migration and their modernisations will be sort of at different paces.

[00:27:50] There'll be new tech decks out there.

[00:27:52] There'll perhaps be a continued misalignment or lack of business and IT alignment.

[00:27:59] The complexity will continue.

[00:28:00] And it's just important that companies continue to focus on continuous reinvention, just continuously staying with it,

[00:28:11] fostering that innovation culture and creating talent through upskilling and really training.

[00:28:18] And education is a key one for us as well as an Accenture business.

[00:28:21] But helping your talent upskill and continuously iterating your digital core, also re-engineering your processes.

[00:28:29] All of that is really important for your onward success in that unknown future.

[00:28:37] What we do know is that change is coming and it's not stopping.

[00:28:40] 100% with you on that.

[00:28:42] And although our conversations are always forward-looking and looking at the pace of technological change,

[00:28:48] I always like to finish by asking my guests to look back and share something personal.

[00:28:53] Last time you left me a great Afrobeat song.

[00:28:56] But this time I'm going to ask you to go back even further because none of us are able to achieve any degree of success without a little help along the way.

[00:29:03] So is there a particular person that you're grateful towards?

[00:29:07] Maybe they saw something in you, invested a little time in you that helped you get you where you are today,

[00:29:12] that we can give that little shout out and maybe a bit of recognition and a thank you to.

[00:29:16] Who would that be?

[00:29:18] That's a good one.

[00:29:19] Yeah, our conversations are so forward-looking, Neil, and I love them.

[00:29:22] But as you say, none of us can sort of quite get to where we are or where we're going without a bit of a village.

[00:29:29] So just because I am going to go way back here, Neil, for you.

[00:29:32] I would maybe thank firstly my mom and my dad.

[00:29:36] And I think coming from Ghana, West Africa, and the experience we had in sort of a mixed-race family,

[00:29:43] they instilled this concept of this sort of foundation of curiosity and sort of a lifelong learning.

[00:29:51] And I think that foundation is so, so critical to my success and has been ever since

[00:29:58] in terms of how I've sort of pushed myself to learn new stuff and reinvent myself and sort of try as best as I can

[00:30:05] to stay on top of the fast-paced world.

[00:30:08] The other group, maybe beyond mom and dad, is perhaps at this point former colleagues who sort of,

[00:30:14] at one point in time, believed in me and pushed me and gave me early responsibilities and watched me fail and still held me up.

[00:30:22] So the likes of Liz Tinker, who's out there, and Patrick Austen, who I'd lose out there as well.

[00:30:28] There's a whole group of them.

[00:30:30] And then current colleagues who walk with me every single day and really school me up.

[00:30:36] There's this concept of reverse mentorship.

[00:30:37] And so I'm somewhat fearless now in asking the generation that is coming forward to school me up on certain areas.

[00:30:45] And I thank them as well.

[00:30:47] Most important, perhaps, though, are our clients who sort of entrust in us their journeys.

[00:30:53] And then, of course, the wider Accenture team every single day supporting and pushing and pulling me to what I hope is of value to them as well.

[00:31:01] But I really am thankful to every single person, as well as all my teachers and schools and universities who saw me fail exams and quizzically look at me like,

[00:31:11] what are you on about?

[00:31:12] But we've made it thus far.

[00:31:15] I love that.

[00:31:16] What a beautiful answer.

[00:31:17] And I love that journey that you've been on from Ghana, West Africa, your parents giving you those foundations of curiosity, continuous learning.

[00:31:25] To Liz and Patrick that you mentioned there, to the people that the next generation that you walk and talk with,

[00:31:31] they school you up on things equally as do your clients.

[00:31:34] And another big thing you mentioned there was failure throughout that journey, but learning from those mistakes and pushing forward.

[00:31:40] So much gold advice in that.

[00:31:43] And I think it's so important that we recognize these people that have been a part of that journey,

[00:31:47] who are many times blissfully unaware on the impact that they've had on you.

[00:31:51] And just giving them that name check will mean a lot.

[00:31:54] So hopefully they get to listen to this.

[00:31:56] And for everyone listening that just wants to find out more information about what we talked about today,

[00:32:01] maybe dig deeper on that report, et cetera, where would you like to point everyone listening?

[00:32:06] Neil, thank you closely for having me.

[00:32:08] I think you can find our research and a whole host of ideas at Accenture.com slash Cloud First.

[00:32:18] Excellent.

[00:32:19] Excellent.

[00:32:19] I will add a link to that so people can find you nice and easily along with your LinkedIn.

[00:32:24] And we discussed so much today from tailoring digital core advancements to specific needs,

[00:32:30] re-engineering systems for AI operations,

[00:32:33] and arguably most important of all, balancing technical debt with investments for the future.

[00:32:38] It's been a pleasure to have you on as always.

[00:32:41] Love to get you back on in 2025.

[00:32:42] But thanks for sharing the details from this report and your incredible insights.

[00:32:48] As always, Neil, thank you so much.

[00:32:49] Travel safe.

[00:32:50] I think we uncovered today in our conversation with Andy the essential elements of building a strong digital core,

[00:32:58] one that can propel companies in new heights of profitability and innovation,

[00:33:03] from re-engineering systems for AI operations to tailoring advancements to meet those specific business needs.

[00:33:12] I think it's clear that a strategic approach to digital transformation is more crucial than ever.

[00:33:18] And as businesses look to not only adapt but lead in their industry,

[00:33:23] the world of robust digital core in supporting sustainable growth and driving operational excellence just can't be overstated.

[00:33:31] But what steps will your organisations take to strengthen your digital foundation

[00:33:36] and seize the opportunities that are out there right now?

[00:33:39] This is where I encourage you all to join the dialogue,

[00:33:43] share how you envision leveraging these insights into your strategic initiatives.

[00:33:48] That's where the magic happens.

[00:33:50] So please, email me, techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:33:53] Connect with me on LinkedIn X, Instagram just at Neil C. Hughes.

[00:33:57] And we'll keep this conversation going.

[00:33:59] But that's it for today.

[00:34:00] I will be back bright and early tomorrow.

[00:34:02] So thank you for listening today.

[00:34:04] And I will speak with you all tomorrow.

[00:34:06] Bye for now.