The team of Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Avanade has won the 2008 Microsoft Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year Award, it was announced today. The companies were chosen from an international field of top Microsoft partners who deliver market-leading customer solutions built on Microsoft technology.
This marks the fourth time that Accenture and Avanade have jointly won the award, more than any other Microsoft Enterprise Alliance Partner. They were also selected in 2006, 2004 and 2001.
“We are honored to once again receive this prestigious award from Microsoft, which recognizes our shared commitment to delivering innovative business solutions to enterprises and public institutions around the globe,” said Don Rippert, Accenture’s chief technology officer.
Mitch Hill, Avanade’s chief executive officer, said: “This award is testament to the particularly successful year the Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft alliance has enjoyed in terms of collaborating and delivering Microsoft-based solutions that meet the needs of organizations worldwide.”
Accenture and Avanade were selected as leading across Microsoft’s 13 major geographic regions, with each region’s enterprise team selecting and ranking its top five partners. The Microsoft worldwide industry managers also participated in the voting to select the winning partner.
“Accenture and Avanade were selected for a fourth time as the Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year because of their shared commitment to delivering business solutions that increase revenue, reduce costs and enable global organizations, regardless of size or distinction, to gain competitive advantage through ingenuity,” said Simon Witts, corporate vice president, Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. “Microsoft is excited to recognize them again this year.”
Accenture and Avanade differentiated themselves in a competitive field by:
- Developing joint solutions in areas such as workforce collaboration while working closely with Microsoft’s geographic subsidiaries to deliver these solutions.
- Launching the Accenture and Avanade Solutions Showcase at Microsoft –a unique venue located at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center (EBC), a high-tech facility in the heart of the Microsoft Redmond Campus. The Solutions Showcase provides a forum to demonstrate joint innovative solutions and expose joint customers to the alliance’s best practices.
- Building a portfolio of asset-based solutions that leverage emerging Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Online Services and Microsoft Surface.
- Offering more than 38,000 Microsoft-skilled resources worldwide, one of the largest aggregations in the marketplace.
All three companies bring unique capabilities to delivering enterprise-class business solutions on the Microsoft platform. Accenture offers business and technology acumen combined with industry expertise focused on helping clients become high-performance enterprises. Avanade brings deep architecture, technical and business solutions capability. Microsoft provides product knowledge and a comprehensive platform for enterprise computing. Together they have collaborated on developing and implementing more than 4,500 projects for more than 1,600 clients. In addition, more than 110 industry-specific and cross industry solutions have been created.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With 178,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About Avanade
Avanade is a global IT consultancy dedicated to using the Microsoft platform to help enterprises achieve profitable growth. Through proven solutions that extend Microsoft technologies, Avanade helps enterprises increase revenue, reduce costs and reinvest in innovation to gain competitive advantage. Avanade consultants deliver value according to each customer's requirements, timeline and budget by combining insight, innovation and the talent of our global workforce. Avanade, which is majority owned by Accenture, was founded in 2000 by Accenture and Microsoft Corp. Avanade has more than 8,000 professionals serving customers in 22 countries worldwide. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.
Contacts:
Ed Trapasso, 917-452-3555
ed.trapasso@accenture.com
or
Avanade
Inc
Charlie Zaragoza, 206-239-5893
charlie.zaragoza@avanade.com
