Accenture Federal Services expands its digital studio in the District

This Arlington, Va.-based IT firm is back at it again expanding on its tech offerings.

Accenture Federal Services (AFS) announced Tuesday that it has expanded its Accenture Federal Digital Studio in Washington, D.C., nearly doubling its size to more than 20,000 square feet, while expanding its diverse team of designers, developers, data scientists, technologists and other digital experts. The firm said in a press release that it made the expansion to meet the growing demand from federal agencies for digital services.

“Our newly expanded Studio will help government leaders gain new perspectives, embrace new technologies faster, adopt successful approaches from the private sector, and activate them for the good of our society and our nation,” John Goodman, AFS CEO, said in a statement. “The response from clients has been tremendous. It’s powerful when we work together to reimagine what is possible and create new opportunities for impact.”

AFS hosted a launch event on May 14 to commemorate the updated studio. D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) was present to support:

“Nearly 85% of jobs in 2030 haven’t been envisioned yet. It’s programs like the @AccentureFed Digital Studio that will innovate and expose DC residents (including the @MBSYEP we met today) to those unknown jobs of the future.”
– @LindseyVParker

Thank you @timkaine + @OnRampsTC! pic.twitter.com/xLcvLFSY9f

— DC Office of the CTO (@OCTODC) May 14, 2019

Located at 1201 New York Ave NW, the studio launched in 2016 with a design from service design consultancy Fjord (a company that Accenture acquired a few years back). The studio features AI, analytics and other advanced technologies to help federal agencies better connect with their customers and workforces digitally. The studio started out by providing digital solutions to these federal agencies, but with the expansion, there’s two more additions to its capabilities:

• The Discovery Lab: a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) certified platform as a service. It brings together leading data science and modeling capabilities to help federal customers solve their biggest challenges.
• The AI Innovation Hub: Working with data scientists, designers and engineers, clients can use proven commercial AI solutions and human centered design practices to test how they can redefine what they do and how they work.

“By integrating and accelerating advanced technology solutions and experiences — using mixed reality, applied intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and quantum computing — the Studio helps clients move digital projects quickly from vision to roadmap to real-world deployment while advancing their IT modernization and innovation agendas,” AFS CTO Dominic Delmolino said in a statement.

This digital studio is a part of the Accenture Innovation Architecture, a network of research, design, innovation and delivery centers serving the company’s clients. Accenture has studios across the U.S., including locations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Houston, New York and San Francisco.

The studio expansion comes after AFS recently conducted a study finding that federal agencies are falling behind on the digital process automation front, Technical.ly DC previously reported. To combat that, the studio’s team is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Care group to move its key processes online, so customers can submit documents electronically. Accenture has also engaged the studio to work with the U.S. Navy over six months to update its service and business processes.

AFS also recently expanded in Texas with a cybersecurity center in San Antonio and is offering cybersecurity-as-a-service to the Department of Defense and other government agencies.