Accenture makes belt-tightening moves

According to a source from the inside, Accenture has been doing some belt-tightening rounds lately especially in their solutions division.

Security detail has been cut by 50%. There used to be one roving guard for every floor and now there’s only one for every 3 floors. Same goes with City Service.
Out of country assignments by developers have been postponed or canceled. Offshore clients must have made some adjustments.
Free flowing juice and iced tea have been pulled off the shelves. Only the coffee machine remains.
Probationary employees have been let go. Though this is within protocol, the volume of people who don’t make it as regular employees after 6 months has increased dramatically.
Company Christmas Party has been canceled. I am told the Christmas Party is pushing thru.

Accenture’s BPO and call center divisions are growing strong. It’s just the solutions division that’s having problems getting new projects. Apparently, this isn’t an isolated case as competing firm, HeadStrong, is also letting go of several project consultants and developers starting this November.

Accenture operates about 9 offices in the Philippines, eight of them in Metro Manila and one in Cebu which is a call center.

Update:I’ve been receiving several private emails and confirmations from people I personally know working inside Accenture. One of them is about the Christmas Party pushing thru. Some of the statements need to be qualified too as they could be taken out of context.

Again, I’ve highlighted several times that Accenture is very liquid and some of these belt-tightening could be just a knee-jerk reaction to the financial crisis.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

22 Comments

charles says:

16 years ago

Kuya, pde patulong sa paypal account? Gusto ko sana bumili ng domain at host.

Choice ko godaddy. Kc maliit pa nman yung visitors ko.. 250+ UV a day pa sa blogspot.. Gusto ko transfer sa own host..

Salamat,
Charles
- Reply
butinalang says:

16 years ago

daym..buti na lang..wala na ako sa Accenture.
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Patrick says:

16 years ago

This is disturbing news. Makes me want to go back to the call center industry.
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calvin says:

16 years ago

ouch. walang christmas party. binigay na lang sana yung matitirang budget para sa party sa mga employees.
- Reply
Gwapito.com says:

16 years ago

The title should Accenture makes “further” belt-tightening moves…

They’ve always been doing budget tightening, like peanuts for a salary.
- Reply
B eau says:

16 years ago

Good read
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itpinoy! says:

16 years ago

yeah the rumor’s out and i have friends from within and outside acn to prove this, but some of the details you posted are new to me…
if indeed this is true, then it’s a sad thing, esp to us who were once been part of this organization and to see how it became one of the biggest it companies in the phils.
but that’s life and this is business.
i pray that not only for accenture but for all companies that we be able to survive this volatile economic crisis.
btw, im a friend of pao z and he mentioned me about you getting tips on blogging. hope you could help me and provide guidance. :)

thanks!
http://itpinoy.blogspot.com
- Reply
Edge says:

16 years ago

It has been confirmed that the Christmas party was not canceled. However, the rumor about firing probationary employees is true.

http://blog.edgelacorte.com
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Miguel Paraz says:

16 years ago

Accenture Java developers looking for a career upgrade… email me, mp****@****.*** :)
- Reply
Jonas Diego says:

16 years ago

Company Christmas party has been canceled?

I can understand the other cost cutting measure but canceling the Christmas party is really going to send the message that the company’s in trouble.
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mr nice ash says:

16 years ago

Laying off probationary employees could be true, but I don’t have a strong evidence about this. Cost-cutting of other freebies like juice and iced tea is true indeed.

Christmas party is pushing thru on December 8. There would be tiangge, mini-concerts, raffles, and more. But still, not as big as the previous years when we always have rockbands like Bamboo, Rivermaya, Freestyle, and more and more, hosted by Mark Nelson and Amanda Griffin.
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mel says:

16 years ago

hindi naman call center lang yung nasa cebu. get ur facts right
- Reply
Abe Olandres says:

16 years ago

@mel, I got my facts from 2 independent Accenture employees. Will ask the PR firm for additional info just in case.
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Mojacko says:

16 years ago

It’s happening everywhere, and it just somewhat like a big deal right now for some people that Accenture has to do some cost-cutting because it’s one of the prime IT companies here, and almost everyone knows somebody working at Accenture hehe.

Been part of Accenture for almost 6yrs before leaving the company earlier this year. I started there with Accenture having offices mainly on MSE and 6750 buildings, and they’re just targetng to have around 1.5K total headcount for the next fiscal year (ie. around year 2003) and now they’ve blown up to more than 15K employees.

IMHO cost-cutting should have been made even the previous years, mass-hiring of people a few years back has already started pinching the finances even early 2007, especially that many people are staying on the bench longer because they can’t be deployed, either due to lack of skills yet because an employee still needs to be screened before rolling in to a project OR mainly due to lack of projects coming in, given that Accenture India is taking a lot of the development-related projects.

Accenture can still recover within the next few years, it has been through many global recessions. And the punchline still will hold true that it will be “just another day in the office for a Tiger”
- Reply
Jean says:

16 years ago

Initiate Change!
Join A Canadian telecom leader.
Send your cv at raven****@****.***
- Reply
Noogy says:

16 years ago

Why is this even worthy of a page in your blog? If you ever worked with an MNC, this is no longer a big deal. Gone are the days when employment is permanently stable. Today, real talents know they must compete internally, and when things turn sour inside, externally. I/T is a field of uncertainty in itself. Let’s not forget that probably 10-15% of the employers out there don’t even pay correct wages. If you’re doing this to attract readership into your blog, I call that a cheap-shot. This is not news, there is no shred of journalism in spreading rumors of this nature. You contribute to the overall immaturity of your readership by doing so.
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