Achieving Strategic Social Impact: Accenture’s Skills to Succeed Initiative

Developing an intentional strategy informed by what matters most to your business and stakeholders is crucial to achieving meaningful social impact – and it is only through measurement that businesses can understand whether such strategy is being effectively delivered. This is why the foundation of B4SI is our framework and targeted measurement, which enables companies to monitor, review, benchmark, and strengthen activities and their resulting impact. The case study below provides a practical example from Accenture’s Skills to Succeed Initiative.

Case Study: Accenture’s Skills to Succeed Initiative

Accenture’s global Skills to Succeed (S2S) initiative supports and empowers people as they prepare for and navigate their career journeys. Rapid technological advancements continue to transform work and daily life, necessitating that jobseekers acquire essential skills to remain competitive. S2S leverages technology like Accenture’s S2S Academy, a free, interactive online training programme that helps learners build the skills and confidence they need to make smart career choices and find and succeed in employment. NGO partnerships scale reach into underserved communities around the world.

Impact in Fiscal 2023

In fiscal 2023, the academy, in collaboration with its partners, skilled approximately 80,000 people globally. In line with B4SI’s Framework, S2S has been tracking input as well as two of B4SI’s three ‘depth’ of impact categories: Connected and Improved.

• Primary Inputs: $150 million USD of cash, in-kind, and employee time from Accenture and Accenture Foundations.
• Connected: 7.8 million people reached in fiscal 2023.
• Improved: 4.3 million people equipped with skills towards employment or entrepreneurship in fiscal 2023.

Future Goals

In fiscal 2025, working with B4SI, S2S will start to capture impact in the ‘Transformed’ category by tracking how many people secure jobs or self-employment. This will provide true end-to-end measurement of the initiative’s impact.

Conclusion

The collaboration between B4SI and Accenture’s Skills to Succeed initiative exemplifies how strategic planning, effective implementation, robust measurement, and continuous reporting can drive significant social impact. By leveraging the B4SI framework, Accenture is able to ensure that their efforts are not only reaching and improving lives but also transforming them in a sustainable manner.

Discover the Social Impact Compass

Not sure where to start? Consider exploring the B4SI Social Impact Compass. Created by businesses for businesses, the Compass was designed to assess a company’s maturity across its four pillars and provide a tangible overview of strengths and areas for improvement. It offers actionable insights to address gaps and helps companies understand their strategic intent, prioritise actions, and enhance their social impact efforts with strategic thinking, team engagement, and effective change management.