Accenture invests $1 bn in learning platform, to buy edtech firm Udacity

Udacity's team of more than 230 professionals will join Accenture LearnVantage

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Accenture has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI)-native learning platform to provide clients with comprehensive technology learning and training services that will help them reskill and upskill employees in technology, data and AI.

Accenture will invest $1 billion in LearnVantage over three years and will acquire edtech company Udacity to build on Accenture’s existing experience in learning and training to meet the rising demand for technology skills, including generative AI.

With the help of an AI recommendation engine, the LearnVantage platform curates the “best learning content” from Accenture and third-party providers to offer a personalised learning journey that aligns with priority areas of learning.

The Udacity acquisition will bring to Accenture the company’s capabilities in integrating proprietary content, expert services and scalable learning technology and aligns with Accenture’s approach to learning. Udacity provides localised course offerings in multiple languages, including English, Arabic, Korean and Spanish. Udacity’s more than 230 professionals will join the Accenture LearnVantage business.

Accenture LearnVantage’s full set of services will be available later this year following the closing of the acquisition.

Accenture LearnVantage will work with technology ecosystem partners, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft, to provide generative AI content, industry-relevant technology training and cloud certifications for their joint clients. It will also work with additional learning partners, including Pluralsight, Coursera, Workera and Skillsoft.

“The rapid rise of generative AI has grown our clients’ need for training and upskilling their people in cloud, data and AI as they build their digital core, which is essential for reinvention,” said Kishore Durg, global lead of Accenture LearnVantage.

The new platform is designed to help leaders across industries and governments quickly identify gaps in relevant skills being created by advances in technologies and then provide the industry-specific training needed to fill those gaps.

“We are passionate about helping our clients become ‘talent creators’—with people at the centre of their reinvention using technology, data and AI—and a critical part of that is investing in industry-specific training and technology skills development,” said Julie Sweet, chair and chief executive officer, Accenture. “We are scaling Accenture’s deep capabilities as a world-class learning organization to help our clients meet their business growth objectives and enable their people to develop the relevant skills they need to make the most of the opportunities that technological change is bringing.”

According to Accenture research, the foremost challenge business leaders face is their inability to upskill their workforces, with 51 per cent of organisations starting to see negative impacts from worsening IT skills shortages. In addition, 94 per cent of workers said they want to learn new skills to work with generative AI, but only 5 per cent of organisations provided gen AI training at scale.

Accenture invests more than $1 billion per year in learning and training initiatives for its more than 700,000 people, delivering approximately 40 million training hours annually. For example, training is helping Accenture achieve its goals to double its Data and AI practice professionals to 80,000, and the company is rolling out training for 250,000 technology professionals by the end of fiscal 2024. Accenture has already trained more than 600,000 of its people in the fundamentals of AI.