Accenture: System Integration vs Technology Consulting
Accenture is doing OCR at my school (large nontarget). They are doing OCR for System Integration (apparently) but I noticed the entry technology consulting role on the website. They told me to apply to the SI role to be considered for OCR, but the tech consulting role seems to have a much more interesting description, involving IT Strategy, Planning, etc. I'm a graduate computer scientist/engineer (double).
Two Questions.
A: Is the technology consulting role really different than SI? I see SI's referring themselves as tech consultants.
and
B. Should I just apply for the SI role to get picked for the OCR and express interest in the different section, or should I do the Tech Consulting role and hope to be contacted for a phone interview?
also if anyone knows a good firm for a computer security guy (I know Booz Allen, IBM) please share, I hear that is a hot industry and I have a good background for that stuff also.
A: Yes, SI involves implementing SAP, Oracle, or other major tools into an enterprise while migrating data out of other tools or porting data into new tools. You would also sunset (retire) legacy (old) tools (software) after the implementation, the point is to move away from having multiple data sources and to have a 'single source of truth', with that being said, I'd stay away from SI.
TC is a bit more broader, i know people who get to play android devices, ipads, iphones and how that would work within a enterprise. It also involves hardware...servers, infrastructure, etc., a lot more more hardware than software. BUT, if you are talking about IT Strategy at Accenture, then it's one of the more premier practices at Accenture. Accenture is seen as a leader in this practice, bigger than IBM, Deloitte, Cognizant and is on par or better with MBB's IT Strategy's practice. Lots of MBAs from top 20 schools in this practice and more than a half of the people in this practices are considered MCs and not TCs.
B. Apply to both. You can lateral if you network.
As someone that actually works for Accenture, here are my answers:
A. Technology is totally different from SI. The poster above has it completely backwards. SI is the bridge between MC and Tech. It is your "in" for MC if your school doesn't have MC recruiting. If you don't want to do Tech work, you are much better off in SI, and I know people in that group that have only worked on MC Strategy projects.
B. As a computer security guy, you will likely want to end up doing Tech work. But, since your school only has OCR for SI, I would suggest you apply there since you will have a better chance to get in. SI is more along the lines of "choose your own adventure" and you can go towards the direction of only Tech work if you want (contrary to my above example of someone going only non-Tech). Also, SI gets paid quite a bit more since it is more like "real" consulting.
I would always suggest applying to SI instead of Tech, since it gives you the most flexibility. Most of the stories you hear about Accenture being a dead end and a shitty place to be are from people hearing stories about Tech. SI and MC are actually both great places, contrary to what some people may tell you.
The "IT Strategy" that the guy above is talking about doesn't actually exist as a clinically defined area. As a general rule however, because Accenture does a lot of IT work, ACN's IT Strategy recommendations are taken to be quite good.
also from someone who worked for Accenture, i would say this post is the most accurate.
TC is very hands on with the actual technology aspect (e.g. data center migration, coding for tools, etc). SI is generally broader than that. As an SI, you can actually work on roles that are MCs and TCs. As above poster said, SI is the bridge btwn TC and MC.
when i was first applying to accenture, I also had the misconception that TC would be more strategy and the description sounded more like MC roles. but thankfully the HR team placed me in SI even tho i applied as a TC. the "IT Strategy" that they talk about often refers to the actual planning of the specific technology. its VERY technical role, not as business-y as you'd think. but these strategy roles are usually for people with a lot of hands on experience.
Accenture IT Strategy does exist. It used to be called SITE, now I guess it has a new name: http://www.accenture.com/us-en/technology/technology-consulting/it-stra… This group is lot more selective than other IT counterparts, only one to take Top MBA hires outside of MC.
Accenture Consulting used to be divided in two parts, Management Consulting and System Integration & Technology (SI&T of which SI and T are the two we discussing). Then there was outsourcing. Then they decided to call MC only Consulting and renamed SI&T as Technology (not using consulting). SI has a much larger headcount than T, so you have better chance of getting into SI. Just tell the recruiter that you'd prefer to be in T with your background (should be an easy sell if you are techy enough, many SIs never programmed in their life).
As mentioned before, SI works mostly on software integration, T does more hardware stuff.
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the information - this has helped immensely!
Can anyone with prior experience give a few examples of projects for each division? And I was told the salary was the same.
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