Apple and Accenture announce alluring alliance

Apple and Accenture have jumped into bed with each other to create a new digital agency which will help customers design business solutions for iOS.

It’s a relatively simple idea; the digital economy is growing and people want to make money off it, but they don’t know how. In theory, when you take experts from one of the largest business consultancies in the world, and put them together with Apple employees, they should be able to make your idea more compatible with the iPhone or iPad.

Accenture will create dedicated iOS practices within Accenture Digital Studios, its consultancy unit to capitalize on the digital transformation craze, at several locations around the world offering expertise which the customer may not already have access to. These skills include visual and experience designers, programmers, data architects and scientists, and hardware and software designers.

This is not a complex idea. Accenture knows enterprise IT systems, Apple knows about the iPhone and iPad. Bring them together and they can optimize your apps and business processes for the devices.

It might also be worth noting that this is not a particularly new idea from the Apple team. Similar partnerships, focusing on optimizing business for iOS, are currently in place with the likes of Cisco, Deloitte, IBM and SAP.

“Starting 10 years ago with iPhone, and then with iPad, Apple has been transforming how work gets done, yet we believe that businesses have only just begun to scratch the surface of what they can do with our products,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“Both Apple and Accenture are leaders in building incredible user experiences and together we can continue to truly modernise how businesses work through amazing solutions that take advantage of the incredible capabilities of Apple’s technologies.”

“Based on our experience in developing mobile apps, we believe that iOS is the superior mobile platform for businesses and are excited to be partnering with Apple,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture CEO. “By combining Accenture’s vast digital capabilities and industry expertise with Apple’s market leadership in creating products that delight customers, we are in a perfect position to help our clients transform the way they work.”

The new proposition will be an attractive one for those who want to tap into the fortunes being held by iLifers. But perhaps there is something more here, maybe this is the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend in its most real form.

In years gone, a basic Android operated device, or perhaps even a Blackberry were the options for staff on the go. Now with so many individuals choosing their own devices, and many of them being dedicated iPilgrims, there is of course a need to optimize any apps, processes or functions for the iOS platform as well. After all, if you want your staff to work while on holiday or the toilet, you have to give them the right tools to be able to do so.