THE Philippines will play a major role in the expansion of Accenture in the Southeast Asian region, according to an official of the company covering the region.

In a briefing on Thursday, Accenture managing director for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Shane Ryan said the currrent geographic focus of the company is  in the Southeast Asian region because of the growing economies displayed by the members of the regional bloc. “We developed a new focus because Asean has shown enormous opportunities created by the new businesses,” said Ryan in a media roundtable held at Accenture’s office in Mandaluyong office.

Manolito Tayag, managing director of Accenture Philippines, said the Philippine office will play a vital role in developing the company’s presence in the Asean region. He said Accenture Philippines has responded to the challenge by expanding its delivery centers in Manila and Cebu to a total of 13 facilities. Moreover, two more facilities—situated in McKinley Hill in Taguig and Eastwood in Quezon City—will be opened.  

He also said Accenture opened its second  facility in Cebu in response to the high demand of its services. At present, Accenture Philippines operates a total of 14 facilities in the country.

Ryan said the company is confident it will not experience any problem in searching for the right people because there are a lot of talents in the region. “A part of the strategy is to use Philippine talents for projects overseas,” he said.

Tayag said the Philippine office has ambitious plans because it has a lot of talented people who can provide their clients with the right solutions and strategies for their businesses.

He said governments in the Asean region are also going to be a good source of business for Accenture as they seek to modernize their operations. “[The company] will focus on six Asean members—the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam,” he said.

Stephanie Gault, the head of talent and organization of Acccenture in Asia-Pacific, said the Asean operations of Accenture is at par with Japan in terms of the volume of management consulting projects being handled. Gault said consulting accounts for 16 percent of Accenture’s business worldwide.

Gault said Accenture spends an average of $4,000 per trainee to upgrade skills in management consulting.
Accenture offers a broad range of management capabilities in strategy consulting, operations consulting, business process consulting and change enablement consulting.