Accenture To Open Innovation Center In Atlanta Next Summer

Global consulting giant, Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN) , yesterday announced its plan of opening an innovation center in Midtown, Atlanta, next year, and creating 800 tech jobs by 2020. As described by Accenture, an innovation hub is a place where its clients “can work side-by-side” with the company’s professionals “to ideate, rapidly prototype and launch solutions”, in order to meet the requirements of the fast-changing digital world.

The center, which will be located at Technology Square’s Centergy building, is likely to open its doors next summer. Accenture already occupies 33,000 square feet of area in this building and with this new development, it will add another 44,000 square feet, making it the largest tenant. Accenture operate several offices and currently employs about 2,800 professionals in the city.

Atlanta has emerged as the best destination for business communities, particularly the tech companies, in the last five-six years due to the availability of relatively less expensive and talented workforce. Apart from Accenture, some other Fortune 500 companies which have offices in Atlanta include General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) , Anthem Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) and Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) .

With the opening of the innovation center, the company will be able to help clients create, manage, integrate and analyze value-focused solutions, thereby giving them “tangible results faster than ever.” Furthermore, the company noted that it intends to create more than 800 jobs over the next three years, across its “Strategy, Consulting, Digital, Technology and Operations” businesses.

The recent move is part of its planned strategy of making $1.4-billion technology and training investment in the United States. Under the planned investment strategy, the company will open 10 innovation hubs and create 15,000 new jobs in the country by 2020. The recently announced innovation center will be Accenture’s second facility under the investment strategy, while the company already opened the first center this February in Houston.

The Accenture stock has returned 17.9% year to date, outperforming 15.7% growth recorded by the industry it belongs to.

Going ahead, the company’s long-term prospects look promising, driven by sustained focus on innovative product roll outs, consistent investments in enhancing digital and marketing capabilities, along with major acquisitions. In addition, we believe regular acquisitions will significantly contribute to the revenue stream.

Currently, Accenture carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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