Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced it is expanding its global network of Innovation Centres for SAP® solutions with the opening of a new centre in Centurion, South Africa. Focused on accelerating the development, delivery and commercialisation of business solutions based on SAP technologies, the centre will help clients increase speed to market, enhance flexibility, and improve business performance.

The Accenture Innovation Centres for SAP solutions bring together Accenture’s functional and industry expertise with the latest SAP technologies, including the SAP HANA® platform and mobility and cloud solutions. Supported by teams of professionals from Accenture and SAP, the centres provide clients with process-specific business solutions, thought leadership around existing and emerging SAP solution-based technology, and the industrialisation of the resulting solution, content and delivery methods.

In particular, the Accenture Innovation Centre for SAP solutions in Centurion is focused on innovating new solutions for growth industries, such as telecommunications, utilities, mining, banking, public sector, automotive, consumer goods and retail.

“The new Accenture Innovation Centre for SAP solutions will help our clients in South Africa and the Sub-Saharan Africa region derive even greater value from their investments in SAP solutions and accelerate business results in the highly competitive market environment,” said Willie Schoeman, managing director of Technology, Accenture Southern Africa.

“Through this innovation centre, we’ll bring the best of Accenture’s global experience to our local clients and enable the localisation of solutions to meet their specific business challenges in the region,” said Eliseo Belmonte, lead, SAP Solutions, Accenture in Africa.

The centre will also house a critical skills and training facility, incorporating the Accenture Academy for SAP solutions. Accenture will develop a pipeline of priority technology skills, taking in hundreds of university graduates as interns who will become professionals certified in SAP solutions.

The South African centre joins Accenture’s global network of innovation centres in the U.S., Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, France and India. These innovation centres leverage the skills and expertise at locations across the Accenture Global Delivery Network, Accenture Technology Labs and the Accenture Global Talent and Innovation Network.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

SAP, SAP HANA and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.