Accenture has begun referring to its global workforce of nearly 800,000 people as “reinventors” as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at positioning the consultancy as a leader in artificial intelligence.
Chief executive Julie Sweet has already adopted the new terminology in internal communications, and the company is encouraging the label to be used across the business. The shift stems from a June reorganisation that merged Accenture’s strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations arms into a single entity called Reinvention Services.
The rebrand is the consultancy’s second major identity overhaul in three years, following the 2022 transformation of its interactive division into Accenture Song — a move widely mocked across the advertising and marketing industries.
Damon Collins, co-founder of the agency Joint, was scathing about the latest effort. “From the people that brought you Accenture Song now come the ‘reinventors’. Staff are going to cringe,” he said. “If they think this is going to win favour with employees or clients, they have another thing coming.”
Accenture’s terminology joins a growing corporate lexicon of unconventional job titles: Disney’s engineers are “imagineers”, Apple’s in-store support teams are “geniuses”, and MediaMonks staff call themselves “monks”.
Industry branding experts warned that recasting the title of every role risks creating confusion. Gonzalo Brujó, global chief executive of Interbrand, said the reinvention label applies meaningfully only to a fraction of employees. “To be a real reinventor is a name for just a few people,” he said. “Pushing it across all 800,000 will raise expectations internally and cause pushback.”
Accenture’s shift comes as the New York–listed consultancy sharpens its AI focus and signals a tougher stance on employee skills. Sweet told investors in September that the company would “exit” staff unable to adapt to using AI tools at work. Accenture has already laid off 11,000 workers, leaving a global workforce of 791,000.
The company has also reportedly updated internal HR systems to refer to its workforce as “reinventors” instead of “workers”, according to the Financial Times.
Accenture’s move reflects the pressure on major consulting firms to reposition themselves amid rapid advances in generative AI. But the company is navigating a complex backdrop: its shares have fallen more than 25% this year after Donald Trump ordered US government agencies to review their spending on large consultancies.
Accenture posted 7% revenue growth to $69.7bn (£52.7bn) in the year to August but warned that US federal spending cuts are likely to weigh on its performance next year. Its market value has dropped to about $155bn.
Accenture declined to comment.
