Accenture, Microsoft Team Up to Help Businesses Use Copilot More

Accenture is expanding its joint venture with Microsoft to help businesses with increasing Copilot adoption.

The professional services giant and software behemoth are working together via their Avanade partnership to launch a new Copilot business transformation practice. The practice will consist of 5,000 professionals supported by Microsoft product specialists working to provide the required technology and industry experience that clients need to accelerate and expand the use of Microsoft Copilot across their businesses. This includes working together to make new templates, extensions and plug-ins that will help organizations use their internal data in tandem with generative AI to reduce cost, improve efficiency and drive growth. These tools will help companies leverage Copilot in their security software and ensure clients can make better, faster decisions.

Accenture's Julie Sweet

"The investment we are making with Microsoft takes our longstanding partnership to the next level, helping our clients accelerate and integrate AI at scale as a catalyst for reinvention,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture. “The powerful combination of Microsoft Copilot, agentic and generative AI technologies, and Avanade’s and Accenture's deep industry and functional expertise will help enable enterprises to reimagine their processes and operations, discover innovative ways of working, strengthen their security and open up new pathways to value.”

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Some of these "new pathways" mentioned include new Microsoft 365 Copilot solutions, such as a readiness assessment and a value accelerator. These new tools are already being used by the multi-energy company Repsol, Accenture claims and a four-month study of the results bears several positive outcomes. The company's employees are saving over two hours of work per week, which is increasing the productivity and quality of outputs by 16%, the study claims. 61% of the employees also said that they prefer the AI-enhanced workflows.

Microsoft's Judson Althoff

“We are pleased to deepen our collaboration with Accenture to help our mutual customers develop AI-first business processes responsibly and securely, while helping them drive market differentiation,” said Judson Althoff, EVP and chief commercial officer at Microsoft. “By bringing together Copilots and human ambition, paired with the autonomous capabilities of an agent, we can accelerate AI transformation for organizations across industries and help them realize successful business outcomes through pragmatic innovation.”

Microsoft, Accenture Functions Improve Copilot Adoption

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The two companies have created Copilot functions that can serve a number of different industries and functions in the finance, manufacturing, supply chain, retail and consumer goods, and health-care industries. For example, there is a Manufacturing Copilot powered by Microsoft Manufacturing Data Solutions in Fabric that helps change how clients work on the shop floor.

The company is also creating custom Copilots and agents to serve the particular needs of certain clients.

Accenture and Microsoft intend to continue expanding their collaboration in the days and weeks to come. This includes establishing four new Microsoft Co-Innovation Labs that will develop blueprints for AI-led design as well as pilot programs for future uses.

Accenture has significantly invested in how organizations use agents. The company partnered with Nvidia in October to create a new Nvidia Business Group that will help companies understand and adopt AI and agents at a faster rate.