Accenture named Microsoft Managing Director's Partner of the Year
Accenture has been commended for its targeted efforts in South Africa, named by Microsoft as the Managing Director’s Partner of the Year. The title was bestowed on the global management consultancy at this year’s Microsoft South Africa Partner Awards, where Microsoft recognised a number of its most prized partners.
Hundreds of Microsoft Partners were present at the event, which is set up every year to commend those firms that are pushing the innovative boundaries of Microsoft products through their distribution and implementation across the South African market. This was reiterated by Lionel Moyal at Microsoft.
Moyal, who is the Microsoft South Africa Commercial Partners Lead, said at the event, “as we move towards the fourth industrial revolution it is important that we work together, sell together and win together. We are seeing every industry embrace tech intensity as every company is becoming a digital company.”
Most of this, according to Moyal, appears to be in the cloud computing sector. “There’s big demand for cloud services in South Africa. It’s been only six months but already we’ve seen customers moving to the cloud at a rate beyond our expectations. It’s been a real game-changer,” he said.
Moyal’s comments come at a time when an increasing number of South African businesses are taking the leap towards digitalisation. Where cost and risk considerations previously dampened digital enthusiasm in the country, even the small business sector is now embracing the value of tech in their operations.
Accenture has been particularly active in its efforts to drive this transformation in South Africa. Leadership at the firm has repeatedly reiterated the importance of innovation for the South African market to break out of the current cycle of economic stagnation, and integrate with a dynamic global economy.
According to Moyal, Accenture changed its entire business strategy over the last year to better serve clients investing in digitalisation, and has been tremendously successful therein. Not only has the firm been thriving in its consulting practice, but it has also contributed considerable value to the collaborative innovative strategies being developed by Microsoft and Accenture.
A number of other firms in South Africa were recognised at the dinner. Many of the categories were won by the Mint Group, which took home the title of Artificial Intelligence Partner of the Year, Best Go To Market Execution Partner of the Year and Cloud CRM Partner of the Year.
