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Accenture has reportedly begun calling its 800,000 employees “reinventors”, as the consultancy tries to position itself as a leader in artificial intelligence.
The consultancy’s chief executive, Julie Sweet, has already started referring to staff by the new label and the business is now pushing for the term to be used more widely, the Financial Times reported, citing people at the company.
The “reinventor” label came from a reorganisation across Accenture in June, which merged its strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations divisions into a single unit called “Reinvention Services”.
The new tag for the consultants is the latest in a long list of unusual jargon that big businesses have foisted on their staff, and some tech workers are now referred to as “ninjas”, “growth hackers” and “evangelists”.
Curious job titles are also popular in the media and entertainment industries, including at Walt Disney, where technical experts who design and build its theme parks are referred to as “imagineers”.
The “reinventor” push from Accenture comes as it moves to sharpen its focus on its AI capabilities. Sweet told investors in September that the consultancy would “exit” employees who were not getting the hang of using AI at work.
The New-York based group said it was training staff in generative AI fundamentals, but employees for whom “reskilling, based on our experience, is not a viable path for the skills we need” would be shown the door.
The consultancy has also reportedly built a version of its internal human resources website where the staff are called “reinventors” rather than “workers”, the FT reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Accenture, which was spun out of Arthur Andersen, the now defunct accountant, in 1989, works with thousands of companies around the world, offering IT and business strategy consulting and outsourcing.
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The company benefited from huge demand for tech consulting in the aftermath of the pandemic, but its shares, which are listed in New York, have suffered this year after Donald Trump ordered US government agencies to review their spending with large consultancies.
The consultancy reported a 7% annual rise in revenue to $69.7bn (£52.7bn) for its financial year ended in August, but warned investors that US federal spending cuts will probably slow its growth next year. It has lost more than a quarter of its market value so far this year, which now stands at $155bn.
Accenture was approached for comment.
