Tim Cook - CEO, Apple
Apple has taken another step closer to cementing its position as a leading player across the enterprise, after striking an iOS partnership with Accenture.
Terms of the deal will see the professional services firm create a dedicated iOS practice within Accenture Digital Studios in select locations around the world, helping customers write and build applications on the Apple platform.
Aided by experts from Apple - which will be co-located within the teams - the practice will house experts such as visual and experience designers, programmers, data architects and scientists, and hardware and software designers.
In a move designed to threaten Microsoft’s long-held dominance of the operating system market, the combined entity will launch a new set of tools and services capable of helping enterprise better utilise iPhone and iPad capabilities.
“Starting 10 years ago with iPhone, and then with iPad, Apple has been transforming how work gets done, yet we believe that businesses have only just begun to scratch the surface of what they can do with our products,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
“Both Apple and Accenture are leaders in building incredible user experiences and together we can continue to truly modernise how businesses work through amazing solutions that take advantage of the incredible capabilities of Apple’s technologies.”
According to Cook, the new iOS tools and services will take advantage of the latest Apple technologies, while tapping into Accenture’s expanding digital and analytics capabilities.
Specifically, the partnership will provide new ecosystem services to help customers address iOS integration requirements to connect to back-end systems, leveraging Accenture’s system integration expertise and Apple’s strategic alliances with SAP and Cisco.
Furthermore, Internet-of-Things (IoT) services featuring new tools, templates and predesigned code will also be available, allowing customers to leverage data from IoT platforms within iOS apps.
Rounding off the practice, migration services will allow businesses to transfer existing legacy applications and data to modern iOS apps, with the first practice to be established in San Francisco.
“Based on our experience in developing mobile apps, we believe that iOS is the superior mobile platform for businesses and are excited to be partnering with Apple,” Accenture chairman and CEO Pierre Nanterme added.
“By combining Accenture’s vast digital capabilities and industry expertise with Apple’s market leadership in creating products that delight customers, we are in a perfect position to help our clients transform the way they work.”
The partnership comes less than three months after Dimension Data launched a dedicated Apple practice across the world, with the solutions provider leveraging its Cisco partnership to drive deeper levels of iOS adoption across the enterprise.
As reported by ARN, the new service aims to simplify the secure deployment and management of iOS devices, allowing businesses to access enterprise-grade apps and data across Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch.
Built to capitalise on Apple’s recent push into the corporate market, the offerings will address configuration, control, support, and security, while including support from installation throughout the life of the product.
Delving deeper, Apple also signed a corporate IT agreement with Deloitte in September 2016, designed to further accelerate efforts to secure larger enterprise customers.
Joining together under the banner of a service called Enterprise Next, Deloitte created a first-of-its-kind Apple practice, with over 5,000 strategic advisors consulting businesses on iOS device usage across a range of industries.
As reported by ARN, the practice spans customer-facing functions such as retail, field services and recruiting, to research and development (R&D), inventory management and back-office systems, with Deloitte Consulting working with organisations using the iOS ecosystem of hardware, software and services in the workplace.
