Current Projects

Nicky’s main responsibilities to date have involved the implementation of a new help desk tool for our outsourcing centers which deliver services like HR operations and finance and accounting capabilities to clients. The tool is used to track and report on work requests received from clients to ensure we’re meeting the conditions agreed in their contracts. For example, technology problems are resolved within a specified number of hours. She project managed the implementation of the tool in Accenture’s Shanghai centre which involved organizing all stages from planning through to launch and writing and presenting training courses for all the teams who’d be using it. Now she’s doing the same in Mauritius, which will go live soon.

Working on Global Teams

Nicky says that the variety at Accenture is great: within management consulting, one effectively starts a new job every six to twelve months. This means flexibility is very important—but that suits her perfectly. Whenever new projects come in, Accenture matches one up with one according to one’s skills and development needs. “If you don’t want to be restricted, it’s a fantastic career,” she says.

Putting Skills to Work

Nicky studied Management Sciences at Warwick in the United Kingdom, joined Accenture as an analyst in the Mobilization team in August 2003, and currently works in Business Process Outsourcing. “The training here really hones one’s skills: the two weeks in Chicago gave me a great sense of how global Accenture is. Because I wasn’t as technically strong as some of the others, it also gave me a chance to learn from everyone else there. Currently I’m working within the Mobilization team which is the consulting arm of outsourcing—made up of people who are highly experienced in setting up complex outsourcing deals for clients across a wide range of industries and countries,” Nicky says.

Personal Satisfaction

Nicky says: “Accenture’s also given me opportunities to do a lot of charity work, such as painting a half-way house for teenagers and gardening for a local community project—which also lets you catch up with colleagues you don’t generally see during the week.” There are challenges—lots of early mornings and late nights, because she communicates with people in different time zones. It soon sinks in that business operates globally, when one’s working with people from so many different countries. “There are other levelers too, in that you come in here having spent all that time studying for your degree only to find that there is still so much to discover. However the wide range of people that you meet and the variety of projects you work on mean that you’re constantly encouraged to learn new things.” Nicky adds.