Accenture boosts AI learning offering with Udacity deal

Accenture has agreed to acquire Udacity. The purchase of the personnel development firm has been accompanied by the launch of Accenture LearnVantage – a learning platform to boost digital skills in response to demand for technology and generative AI services.

“We are passionate about helping our clients become ‘talent creators’ – with people at the centre of their reinvention using technology, data and AI – and a critical part of that is investing in industry-specific training and technology skills development,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture. “We are scaling Accenture’s deep capabilities as a world-class learning organisation to help our clients meet their business growth objectives and enable their people to develop the relevant skills they need to make the most of the opportunities that technological change is bringing.”

Founded in 2011, Udacity is a US-based company which aims to help create “digital talent at scale”, according to its online mission-statement. To that end, its solutions look to address the global talent shortages surrounding digital skills, which businesses say is impacting growth, productivity, and innovation. Udacity provides its clients with a curriculum including personalised mentor support, with a focus on the in-demand competencies.

Through its highly regarded network of more than 1,400 experts and a vast library of exclusive content co-created with industry leaders, Udacity has served more than 21 million registered learners in 195 countries, providing localized course offerings in multiple languages, including English, Arabic, Korean and Spanish. Udacity’s team of more than 230 professionals will now join Accenture, to help its clients with comprehensive technology learning and training services that will help them reskill and upskill their staff.

“As we join forces with Accenture, we are thrilled to embark on this next chapter of our journey. Together, we are dedicated to delivering impactful and cutting-edge tech education that enables individuals and organisations to unlock their potential,” said Kai Roemmelt, CEO of Udacity. “This combined with Accenture’s world-class expertise and global footprint will allow us to reach even more learners and amplify our impact, empowering millions to thrive in the digital economy.”

This move will form a key component of Accenture’s new LearnVantage offering. The company will invest $1 billion in Accenture LearnVantage over three years, and acquiring Udacity to build on and scale the service for clients, presenting them with access to Accenture’s deep experience in learning and training and meet rising demand for technology skills, including generative AI.

Accenture LearnVantage aims to provide its clients with comprehensive technology learning and training work. This includes delivering highly personalised learning experiences for a wide range of technical and business users, from specialised AI and data science, cloud and cyber security training for IT professionals to Gen AI training for board and C-suite members and business leaders. It will work with technology ecosystem partners, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft, to provide generative AI content, industry-relevant technology training and cloud certifications for their joint clients – as well as learning partners, such as Pluralsight, Coursera, Workera and Skillsoft.

“The rapid rise of generative AI has grown our clients’ need for training and upskilling their people in cloud, data and AI as they build their digital core, which is essential for reinvention,” said Kishore Durg, global lead of Accenture LearnVantage. “Accenture LearnVantage will help our clients not only advance their business goals but also help their people build the skills they will need for the next waves of technology change.”