A Global Company, A Global Language

Globalization has contributed significantly to its success; Accenture operates in 50 countries worldwide, 58% of its revenues come from outside the United States. Accenture’s strongest revenue growth comes from the BRIC countries. In the last three years, employee headcount has increased by almost 40% in emerging markets.

Functioning at peak efficiency in a globally integrated enterprise requires employees to be proficient in their standard common language: English. To be successful, employees need to understand complex business situations, work together efficiently, and communicate confidently and accurately. With a workforce spanning the globe, business at Accenture is often conducted virtually; without a common language, employees and teams can't collaborate, innovate, and serve customers effectively.

Early efforts to address this skills gap were local and fragmented, resulting in inconsistencies and cost inefficiencies. Accenture had multiple classroom providers for this critical skill area without uniform measurement, cost analysis, or benchmarking. Additionally, classroom training didn’t deliver an ongoing, long-term benefit, with just-in-time performance support, and could not scale to the organization's growing needs. Accenture needed a flexible solution to meet a broad spectrum of needs and could scale to address the tremendous growth projected in the very markets where English language skills are short supply.

Through a strong partnership between Accenture and GlobalEnglish at the strategic level and at the local level, the program has achieved great success. User survey results show that 82% of Accenture learners have used what they’ve learned from the service in their jobs. And participants like GlobalEnglish—91% of learners rate GlobalEnglish positively.

As a result of Accenture’s investment in the GlobalEnglish service, Accenture learners report saving an average of 2 hours per week because of their improved English skills, translating to $34 MM+ in annual productivity gains. Improved communication accuracy means less rework and waste; employees are also driving greater revenues through increased efficiency and an improved ability to meet customers’ needs. Further, key employees can now be considered in the succession-planning process, as future leaders are developing the English proficiency required to accept new responsibilities.

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