Accenture migrated its data platform and over 50 analytics applications to Google Cloud to modernize its capabilities, increase cost efficiency, and enable insights faster. The migration involved moving hundreds of terabytes of data from the legacy system to Google Cloud's scalable architecture while ensuring no downtime. Applications were reimplemented to use cloud-native components and on-demand resources. This transformation reduced administrative overhead, improved cost efficiency through Google Cloud's pay-as-you-go model, and allowed Accenture to leverage other innovative solutions to meet evolving business needs.

1. STORIES
Using advanced analytics
with Google Cloud
Modernizing
our data
platform
View full case study

2. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Cloud-first
people power
Running a business today is all
about managing dynamic data.
Accenture wanted to make better
use of platform services that could
develop, run and manage
applications in the cloud and make
our data more visible and secure.
Data is what empowers our people
and drives innovation for our
evolving business.
After just three years of use, the
Accenture global IT organization
recognized its analytics platform was
fast becoming obsolete. We were
struggling to stay technologically
current. Our people were spending
valuable time on operations,
troubleshooting and maintenance
instead of generating insights to drive
our business.
In May 2019, the Accenture global IT
Applied Intelligence team made the
strategic decision to move to Google
Cloud’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
model to support our IT strategy to be
platform powered, cloud first and
intelligence driven. The program team
needed to determine how to create a
secure, cost-effective and scalable
architecture in the cloud while also
driving the migration of data and
applications from the legacy system.
Using Google Cloud, we could
modernize data capabilities to unlock
the promise of advanced analytics,
increase cost savings via a pay-as-
you-go model and drive cutting-edge
performance that enables a digital
Accenture.
We migrated our data
platform to Google Cloud
for sustainability and
performance. But the
platform does so much
more—it gives us
enhancements and
capabilities that are
delivering new
business value.
KRANTHI CHILUKA
Managing Director
Global IT
CIO Applied Intelligence
Call for change

3. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Becoming
cloud native
When tech meets human ingenuity
We needed to address how to manage access
within Google Cloud—who could access the
data, and who and how we deploy analytics
into production.
A new data security model, along with project
governance, was created while adhering to our
data compliance and audit requirements. In line
with industry standards, Accenture adopted a
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) model where
teams can build, operate, and run their own
environments and services. Cloud native
services, driven via code, meant that the cloud
could optimize efficiency.
Teams could now use repeatable infrastructure
deployments, avoid manual configuration and
introduce greater consistency. Compliance and
security checks before deployment meant teams
were able to work with a unified set of practices
and tools to deliver applications and their
supporting infrastructure rapidly, reliably, at scale
and while minimizing vulnerabilities to the
systems.
Now, Accenture is advancing our cloud
capabilities with self-service analytics, real-time
integration across various platforms, such as
ServiceNow and Salesforce, and taking us into a
PaaS model with a cloud native infrastructure.

4. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Becoming
cloud native
When tech meets human ingenuity (2
Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
We needed to address how to manage access
within Google Cloud—who could access the data,
and who and how we deploy analytics
into production.
A new data security model, along with project
governance, was created while adhering to our data
compliance and audit requirements. In line with
industry standards, Accenture adopted a Site
Reliability Engineering (SRE) model where teams
can build, operate, and run their own environments
and services. Cloud native services, driven via code,
meant that the cloud could optimize efficiency.
Teams could now use repeatable infrastructure
deployments, avoid manual configuration and
introduce greater consistency. Compliance and
security checks before deployment meant teams
were able to work with a unified set of practices and
tools to deliver applications and their supporting
infrastructure rapidly, reliably, at scale and while
minimizing vulnerabilities to the systems.
Now, Accenture is advancing our cloud capabilities
with self-service analytics, real-time integration
across various platforms, such as ServiceNow and
Salesforce, and taking us into a PaaS model with a
cloud native infrastructure.

5. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Migrating to
Google Cloud
When tech meets human ingenuity (3)
In addition to setting up the new architecture,
Accenture needed to drive and execute a
migration strategy to move hundreds of
terabytes of data from the existing
infrastructure to Google Cloud.
Sitting on top of the existing analytics platform were
more than 50 applications driving insights to users
all over the globe. The team needed to manage a
seamless transition with minimal impact and no
downtime to the 40,000 global consumers of those
analytics applications.
Accenture wanted to take advantage of cloud
native components quickly `and reduce the
administrative complexity, so the migration team
reshaped the current applications to use on-
demand infrastructure concepts and on-demand
resources optimized for cloud computing. In a
phased, targeted approach, applications were
evaluated to reimplement the data ingestion and
store strategy. Processing code remained the
same, but data warehouse interfaces were moved
fully to Google BigQuery and Google Cloud
Composer to run workflows.

6. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
When tech meets human ingenuity (4)
Reduce administrative complexity: We can
reduce the infrastructure that we manage and
pay for, adjusting it to meet our changing size
and scale. Upgrades and patches take time
and effort—our Operations and Architecture
team must investigate, pull systems down,
find fixes and implement upgrades. With the
stability of Google Cloud, our people—and
our operational overheads—are freed up.
Improve cost efficiency: We now have a
platform that is faster and more intuitive—and
cost effective. It’s easy to upscale or
downscale. A pay-as-you-go model gives our
organization cost efficiency and elasticity—
we only pay for the compute time used and
receive discounted process for long-running
workloads.
Enable insights at speed: We can take
advantage of the ecosphere of other
innovative solutions and plan our roadmap
accordingly. We are moving our people to
become skilled on an industry-relevant
platform that can meet the evolving needs of
our business.
Human+ results

7. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Business
value realized
A valuable difference
Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Using the Google Cloud Platform is giving our teams greater freedom.
Now, we can:
Reduce administrative complexity
We can reduce the infrastructure that we
manage and pay for, adjusting it to meet
our changing size and scale. Upgrades
and patches take time and effort—our
Operations and Architecture team must
investigate, pull systems down, find fixes
and implement upgrades. With the
stability of Google Cloud, our people—
and our operational overheads—are
freed up.
Improve cost efficiency
We now have a platform that is faster
and more intuitive—and cost effective.
It’s easy to upscale or downscale.
A pay-as-you-go model gives our
organization cost efficiency and
elasticity—we only pay for the compute
time used and receive discounted
process for long-running workloads.
Enable insights at speed
We can take advantage of the
ecosphere of other innovative solutions
and plan our roadmap accordingly.
We are moving our people to become
skilled on an industry-relevant platform
that can meet the evolving needs of our
business.

8. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved
Analytics
transformed
A valuable difference (2)
The Accenture global IT organization has
completely transformed our analytics
platform—reducing overheads,
decreasing costs in server storage and
providing our people with cutting-edge,
advanced analytics.
Going forward, Accenture intends to continue
to transform and strengthen the big data
insight capabilities we offer, explore the full
value of the cloud ecosystem, and open the
door to more innovative solutions.
US$3B
Accenture investment to
create a new model for
rapid cloud migration.
95%
of Accenture IT
infrastructure operates
in the public cloud.
50
Accenture applications
driving insights to users
across the world.
40,000
global consumers of
Accenture analytics
applications