埃森哲 (ACN) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Accenture's Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded.

謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加埃森哲 2023 財年第三季度財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Katie O'Conor, Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給我們的東道主凱蒂·奧康納（Katie O'Conor），她是董事總經理、投資者關係主管。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and thanks everyone joining us today, on our Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Announcement. As the operator just mentioned, I'm Katie O'Conor, Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations. On today's call, you will hear from Julie Sweet, our Chair and Chief Executive Officer; and KC McClure, our Chief Financial Officer. We hope you've had an opportunity to review the news release we issued a short time ago.

謝謝運營商，也感謝今天加入我們的 2023 財年第三季度收益公告的所有人。正如剛才操作員提到的，我是凱蒂·奧康納 (Katie O'Conor)，董事總經理、投資者關係主管。在今天的電話會議上，您將聽到我們的董事長兼首席執行官朱莉·斯威特 (Julie Sweet) 的講話；以及我們的首席財務官 KC McClure。我們希望您有機會閱讀我們不久前發布的新聞稿。

Let me quickly outline the agenda for today's call. Julie will begin with an overview of our results. KC will take you through the financial details, including the income statement and balance sheet, along with some key operational metrics for the third quarter. Julie will then provide a brief update on our marketing -- on our market position before KC provides our business outlook for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2023. We will then take your questions before Julie provides a wrap-up at the end of the call.

讓我快速概述一下今天電話會議的議程。朱莉將首先概述我們的結果。 KC 將帶您了解財務詳細信息，包括損益表和資產負債表，以及第三季度的一些關鍵運營指標。然後，朱莉將簡要介紹我們的營銷情況——我們的市場地位，然後 KC 提供我們對 2023 年第四季度和整個財年的業務前景。然後，我們將回答您的問題，然後朱莉在年底提供總結。稱呼。

Some of the matters we'll discuss on this call, including our business outlook, are forward-looking and as such are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those factors set forth in today's news release and discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the call.

我們將在本次電話會議上討論的一些問題，包括我們的業務前景，都是前瞻性的，因此會受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，包括但不限於今天的新聞稿中提出的以及在我們的 10-K 表格年度報告以及 10-Q 表格和其他 SEC 文件的季度報告。這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與電話會議中表達的結果存在重大差異。

During our call today, we will reinforce certain non-GAAP financial measures which we believe provide useful information for investors. We include reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures where appropriate to GAAP in our news release or in the Investor Relations section of our website at accenture.com. As always, Accenture assumes no obligation to update the information presented on this conference call.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將加強某些非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標為投資者提供了有用的信息。我們在新聞稿中或我們網站 Accenture.com 的投資者關係部分中包含了與 GAAP 相適應的非 GAAP 財務指標的調節表。與往常一樣，埃森哲沒有義務更新本次電話會議中提供的信息。

Now let me turn the call over to Julie.

現在讓我把電話轉給朱莉。

Thank you, Katie, and thank you to everyone joining today, and thank you to our people around the world for their dedication and commitment, which is how we are able to consistently deliver 360 degree value for all our stakeholders: Our clients, our people, our shareholders, our partners and our communities.

謝謝凱蒂，感謝今天加入的所有人，感謝我們世界各地的員工的奉獻和承諾，這就是我們能夠持續為所有利益相關者提供 360 度價值的方式：我們的客戶、我們的員工、我們的股東、我們的合作夥伴和我們的社區。

Turning to the quarter, I will start with the financials. While the macro environment continues to be uncertain overall, in Q3, we delivered solid revenue and sales with very strong profitability and very strong free cash flow while continuing to significantly invest in our business.

談到本季度，我將從財務開始。儘管整體宏觀環境仍然不確定，但在第三季度，我們在繼續大力投資業務的同時，實現了穩健的收入和銷售，具有非常強勁的盈利能力和非常強勁的自由現金流。

Now getting into the highlights. We had bookings of $17.2 billion, including 26 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million, bringing the total year-to-date to 85, which is 11 more than the same time last year. We delivered revenues of $16.6 billion, representing 5% growth, with North America growing 2%, Europe at 7% and Growth Markets at 9%, all in local currency, bringing us to $48.1 billion of revenue at 10% growth fiscal year-to-date.

現在進入亮點。我們的預訂額為 172 億美元，其中季度預訂額超過 1 億美元的客戶有 26 家，使年初至今的總預訂量達到 85 家，比去年同期增加了 11 家。我們實現了 166 億美元的收入，增長了 5%，其中北美增長了 2%，歐洲增長了 7%，增長市場增長了 9%（全部以當地貨幣計算），使我們的收入達到 481 億美元，本財年增長了 10%。 -日期。

Revenues were impacted by lower-than-expected small deal sales, especially in strategy and consulting and systems integration, and lower-than-expected results in the communications, media and high-tech industry group for the quarter. Excluding CMT, our business grew 8% globally, 7% in North America, 9% in Europe and 10% in Growth Markets in local currency.

收入受到小額交易銷售低於預期的影響，特別是在戰略、諮詢和系統集成方面，以及本季度通信、媒體和高科技行業集團業績低於預期的影響。不包括 CMT，按當地貨幣計算，我們的業務在全球增長了 8%，在北美增長了 7%，在歐洲增長了 9%，在增長市場增長了 10%。

[While] expanded adjusted operating margin by 20 basis points, grew adjusted EPS 14% over last year and delivered free cash flow of $3.1 billion. And over the past 11 quarters, we have operated at 91% or higher utilization, leveraging our digital enterprise to connect our sales, staffing, hiring and skill needs to make proactive real-time decisions.

[同時]調整後營業利潤率擴大了 20 個基點，調整後每股收益比去年增長 14%，自由現金流達到 31 億美元。在過去 11 個季度中，我們的運營利用率達到 91% 或更高，利用我們的數字企業將我們的銷售、人員配置、招聘和技能需求聯繫起來，以做出主動的實時決策。

We are on track with the business optimization actions to lower costs in fiscal 2024 and beyond while continuing to significantly invest in our business with 5 acquisitions in strategic areas this quarter, bringing the total investment in acquisitions year-to-date to $1.3 billion.

我們正在採取業務優化行動，以降低 2024 財年及以後的成本，同時繼續大力投資我們的業務，本季度在戰略領域進行了 5 次收購，使年初至今的收購總投資達到 13 億美元。

We invested in cloud, data and AI with the acquisition of Nextira in North America, Objectivity in the U.K. and Einr in Norway. We also invested in sustainability with the acquisition of Green Domus in Brazil and in modern ERP services with Bourne Digital in Australia. We continued to take market share, growing about 2x the market.

我們投資了雲、數據和人工智能，收購了北美的 Nextira、英國的 Objectivity 和挪威的 Einr。我們還通過收購巴西的 Green Domus 投資於可持續發展，並通過收購澳大利亞的 Bourne Digital 投資於現代 ERP 服務。我們繼續佔據市場份額，增長了約兩倍的市場份額。

Now turning to other aspects of the 360 degree value we delivered this quarter. We continue to invest in learning for our people with 9 million training hours in the quarter, representing an average of 13 hours per person, giving them the skills to grow as our clients' needs evolve. We're incredibly pleased that we were recognized as a top 10 place to work in 7 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico, the Philippines and the U.S.. Collectively, these countries represent nearly 70% of our people.

現在轉向我們本季度交付的 360 度價值的其他方面。我們繼續投資於員工的學習，本季度培訓了 900 萬個小時，平均每人 13 個小時，讓他們能夠隨著客戶需求的變化而成長。我們非常高興我們在 7 個國家被評為前 10 名工作地點：阿根廷、巴西、智利、印度、墨西哥、菲律賓和美國。這些國家總共代表了我們近 70% 的人口。

Vibrant communities are important for our business success, and digital skilling helps ensure vibrant communities thrive. In collaboration with L'Oreal and our NGO partner, [Shambhu] Foundation, we are supporting women in India to build digital literacy skills alongside the technical skills needed to access jobs in the beauty industry. Together, we have collectively created sustainable livelihoods for 2,500 women across 10 states in India, accelerating quality, delivering social impact in the community and continuing our commitment to embed diversity and inclusion in everything we do.

充滿活力的社區對於我們的業務成功非常重要，而數字技能有助於確保充滿活力的社區蓬勃發展。我們與歐萊雅和我們的非政府組織合作夥伴 [Shambhu] 基金會合作，支持印度女性培養數字素養技能以及獲得美容行業工作所需的技術技能。我們共同為印度 10 個邦的 2,500 名女性創造了可持續的生計，提高了質量，在社區中產生了社會影響，並繼續致力於將多樣性和包容性融入到我們所做的一切中。

Finally, this year, we are proud to earn the #22 position on BrandZ's prestigious top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list, our highest rank to date.

最後，今年，我們很自豪地在 BrandZ 享有盛譽的全球最具價值品牌 100 強排行榜上排名第 22 位，這是我們迄今為止的最高排名。

Over to you, KC.

交給你了，KC。

Thank you, Julie, and thanks to all of you for taking the time to join us on today's call. We are pleased with our third quarter results. and we are on track to deliver or exceed all aspects of our guidance provided in September on an adjusted basis.

謝謝朱莉，也感謝大家抽出時間參加我們今天的電話會議。我們對第三季度的業績感到滿意。我們有望在調整後的基礎上實現或超過 9 月份提供的指導的所有方面。

Now let me summarize a few of the highlights for the quarter. Revenues grew 5% local currency, driven by single or double-digit growth in 7 of our 13 industries. While we've been highlighting the pressures in our CMT industry group all year, this quarter, the revenue was lower than expected with a decline of 8% in local currency.

現在讓我總結一下本季度的一些亮點。在 13 個行業中 7 個行業實現個位數或兩位數增長的推動下，以當地貨幣計算的收入增長了 5%。儘管我們全年都在強調 CMT 行業面臨的壓力，但本季度的收入低於預期，以當地貨幣計算下降了 8%。

We delivered adjusted EPS in the quarter of $3.19, reflecting 14% growth over EPS last year. Adjusted operating margin was 16.3%, an increase of 20 basis points over Q3 last year, and includes continued significant investments in our people and our business. Finally, we delivered free cash flow of $3.1 billion and returned $1.5 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. Year-to-date, we've invested $1.3 billion in acquisitions, primarily attributed to 20 transactions.

我們本季度的調整後每股收益為 3.19 美元，比去年增長了 14%。調整後營業利潤率為 16.3%，比去年第三季度增加 20 個基點，其中包括對我們的員工和業務的持續重大投資。最後，我們交付了 31 億美元的自由現金流，並通過回購和股息向股東返還 15 億美元。今年迄今為止，我們已投資 13 億美元進行收購，主要完成了 20 筆交易。

With those high-level comments, let me turn to some of the details, starting with new bookings. New bookings were $17.2 billion for the quarter, representing growth of 4% in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.0. We were very pleased with our 26 clients with quarterly bookings over $100 million. Consulting bookings were $8.9 billion with a book-to-bill of 1. Managed services were $8.3 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.1.

有了這些高層評論，讓我談談一些細節，從新的預訂開始。本季度新訂單量為 172 億美元，按當地貨幣計算增長 4%，總體訂單出貨比為 1.0。我們對 26 位季度預訂額超過 1 億美元的客戶感到非常滿意。諮詢預訂額為 89 億美元，訂單出貨比為 1。託管服務訂單額為 83 億美元，訂單出貨比為 1.1。

Turning now to revenues. Revenues for the quarter were $16.6 billion, a 3% increase in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency, reflecting a foreign exchange headwind of approximately 2.5% compared to the approximately 3.5% headwind provided in our business outlook last quarter. Consulting revenues for the quarter were $8.7 billion, a decline of 4% in U.S. dollars and 1% in local currency. We see the same level of consulting decline in Q4. Managed services revenues were $7.9 billion, up 10% in U.S. dollars and 13% in local currency.

現在轉向收入。本季度收入為 166 億美元，以美元計算增長 3%，以當地貨幣計算增長 5%，反映出約 2.5% 的外匯逆風，而我們上季度業務展望中提供的約 3.5% 的逆風則為約 3.5%。本季度諮詢收入為 87 億美元，以美元計算下降 4%，以當地貨幣計算下降 1%。我們看到第四季度諮詢服務出現了同樣水平的下降。託管服務收入為 79 億美元，以美元計算增長 10%，以當地貨幣計算增長 13%。

Taking a closer look at our service dimensions. Technology services grew high single digits. Operations grew double digits, and we expect high single-digit growth in Q4. Strategy and consulting declined high single digits this quarter, and we see declines continuing in Q4.

仔細看看我們的服務維度。技術服務實現高個位數增長。業務增長兩位數，我們預計第四季度將實現高個位數增長。本季度戰略和諮詢業務出現高個位數下降，我們預計第四季度將繼續下降。

Regarding our market share. We extended our leadership position with growth estimated to be about 2x the market, which refers to our basket of publicly traded companies. Now as a reminder, we assess market growth against our investable basket, which is roughly 2 dozen of our closest global public company competitors, which represents about 1/3 of our addressable market. We used a consistent methodology to compare our financial results and theirs, adjusted to exclude the impact of significant acquisitions through the date of their last publicly available results.

關於我們的市場份額。我們擴大了我們的領先地位，預計增長約為市場的兩倍，這是指我們一攬子上市公司的增長。現在提醒一下，我們根據可投資籃子評估市場增長，可投資籃子大約是 2 家與我們最接近的全球上市公司競爭對手，約占我們潛在市場的 1/3。我們使用一致的方法來比較我們和他們的財務業績，並進行調整以排除截至其最後公開結果之日的重大收購的影響。

Turning to our geographic markets. In North America, revenue growth was 2% in local currency, driven by growth in Public Service for our U.S. federal business, health and utilities. These increases were partially offset by declines in Communications & Media, High Tech, Software & Platforms and Banking & Capital Markets.

轉向我們的地理市場。在北美，受美國聯邦業務、醫療和公用事業公共服務增長的推動，以當地貨幣計算的收入增長了 2%。這些增長被通信與媒體、高科技、軟件與平台以及銀行與資本市場的下降部分抵消。

In Europe, revenue grew 7% local currency, led by growth in Banking & Capital Markets, Industrial and Public Service. Revenue growth was driven by Italy, Germany and France.

在歐洲，在銀行和資本市場、工業和公共服務領域的增長帶動下，以當地貨幣計算的收入增長了 7%。收入增長由意大利、德國和法國推動。

In Growth Markets, we delivered 9% revenue growth in local currency, driven by growth in Public Service, Chemicals & Natural Resources and Banking & Capital Markets. Revenue growth was driven by Japan.

在增長市場中，受公共服務、化學品和自然資源以及銀行和資本市場增長的推動，我們以當地貨幣計算的收入增長了 9%。收入增長是由日本推動的。

Moving down the income statement. Gross margin for the quarter was 33.4% compared with 32.9% for the same period last year. Sales and marketing expense for the quarter was 10.5% compared to 10.3% for the third quarter last year. General and administrative expense was 6.5% compared to 6.5% for the same quarter last year.

將損益表向下移動。本季度毛利率為 33.4%，去年同期毛利率為 32.9%。本季度銷售和營銷費用為 10.5%，而去年第三季度為 10.3%。一般及行政費用為 6.5%，而去年同期為 6.5%。

Before I continue, I want to note that, in Q3, we recorded $347 million in costs associated with the business optimization actions we announced last quarter, which decreased operating margin by 210 basis points and EPS by $0.42. This quarter, we also recognized a gain in our investment in Duck Creek Technologies, which impacted our tax rate and increased EPS by $0.38. The following comparisons exclude these impacts and reflect adjusted results.

在繼續之前，我想指出，在第三季度，我們記錄了與上季度宣布的業務優化行動相關的 3.47 億美元成本，這使營業利潤率下降了 210 個基點，每股收益下降了 0.42 美元。本季度，我們還認識到對 Duck Creek Technologies 的投資獲得了收益，這影響了我們的稅率並使 EPS 增加了 0.38 美元。以下比較排除了這些影響並反映了調整後的結果。

Adjusted operating income was $2.7 billion in the third quarter and adjusted 16.3% operating margin, an increase of 20 basis points from operating margin in the third quarter of last year. Our adjusted effective tax rate for the quarter was 24% compared with an effective tax rate of 27.1% for the third quarter last year. Adjusted diluting earnings per share were $3.19 compared with diluted EPS of $2.79 in the third quarter last year. Days sales outstanding were 42 days compared to 42 days last quarter and 44 days in the third quarter of last year.

第三季度調整後營業收入為27億美元，調整後營業利潤率為16.3%，比去年第三季度營業利潤率增加20個基點。我們本季度調整後的有效稅率為 24%，而去年第三季度的有效稅率為 27.1%。調整後稀釋每股收益為 3.19 美元，而去年第三季度稀釋後每股收益為 2.79 美元。銷售應收天數為 42 天，而上一季度為 42 天，去年第三季度為 44 天。

Free cash flow for the quarter was $3.1 billion, resulting from cash generated by operating activities of $3.3 billion net of property and equipment additions of $142 million. Our cash balance at May 31 was $8.5 billion compared with $7.9 billion at August 31.

本季度自由現金流為 31 億美元，源自經營活動產生的現金 33 億美元（扣除財產和設備增加額 1.42 億美元）。截至 5 月 31 日，我們的現金餘額為 85 億美元，而 8 月 31 日為 79 億美元。

With regards to our ongoing objective to return cash to shareholders. In the third quarter, we repurchased or redeemed 2.8 million shares for $789 million at an average price of $279.65 per share. As of May 31, we had approximately $3.5 billion of share repurchase authority remaining. Also in May, we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $1.12 per share for a total of $708 million. This represents a 15% increase over last year. And our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.12 per share to be paid on August 15, a 15% increase over last year.

關於我們向股東返還現金的持續目標。第三季度，我們以7.89億美元回購或贖回了280萬股股票，平均價格為每股279.65美元。截至 5 月 31 日，我們剩餘約 35 億美元的股票回購權。同樣在 5 月份，我們支付了每股 1.12 美元的季度現金股息，總計 7.08 億美元。這比去年增加了 15%。我們的董事會宣布將於 8 月 15 日支付每股 1.12 美元的季度現金股息，比去年增加 15%。

So in closing, we remain committed to delivering on our long-standing financial objectives: Growing faster than the market and taking share, generating modest margin expansion and stronger earnings while at the same time investing at scale for long-term market leadership, generating strong free cash flow and returning cash to shareholders.

因此，最後，我們仍然致力於實現我們的長期財務目標：增長速度快於市場並佔據份額，實現適度的利潤率擴張和更強的收益，同時大規模投資以實現長期市場領導地位，產生強勁的利潤自由現金流和向股東返還現金。

Now let me turn it back to Julie.

現在讓我把話題轉回到朱莉身上。

Thank you, KC. As we look at demand in our larger deals, we continue to see 2 common themes that I've highlighted before. First, the rapid rise of generative AI interest among our clients highlights yet again that all strategies lead to technology, particularly cloud, data, AI and security. And second, companies remain focused on total enterprise reinvention as they execute compressed transformation to achieve lower costs, stronger growth, more agility and greater resilience faster.

謝謝你，KC。當我們審視大型交易的需求時，我們繼續看到我之前強調過的兩個共同主題。首先，我們的客戶對生成式人工智能興趣的快速增長再次凸顯出所有策略都導向技術，特別是雲、數據、人工智能和安全。其次，企業在執行壓縮轉型時仍然專注於全面的企業重塑，以更快地實現更低的成本、更強勁的增長、更高的敏捷性和更強的彈性。

Now let me give you more color on the quarter to bring this to life. Starting with the digital core, our cloud momentum continues with very strong double-digit growth in Q3 as clients prioritize building a strong and secure foundation for reinvention. We have been working with Eni, a global energy company, for more than 30 years. Now we are helping them as they continue their hybrid cloud transformation and embark on a total enterprise reinvention strategy with a focus on sustainability, digital transformation and security. We are managing their IT infrastructure and telecommunications integration and helping implement new operating models, all hosted in the Eni Green Data Center, one of the largest data bunkers in the industry, to securely hold the company's data.

現在讓我為您提供更多有關本季度的信息，以實現這一點。從數字核心開始，我們的雲勢頭繼續保持，在第三季度實現了非常強勁的兩位數增長，因為客戶優先考慮為重塑建立強大而安全的基礎。我們與全球能源公司埃尼集團合作已超過 30 年。現在，我們正在幫助他們繼續進行混合雲轉型，並開始實施全面的企業重塑戰略，重點關注可持續性、數字化轉型和安全性。我們正在管理他們的 IT 基礎設施和電信集成，並幫助實施新的運營模式，所有這些都託管在埃尼綠色數據中心（業內最大的數據倉庫之一），以安全地保存公司的數據。

The Eni Green Data Center houses one of the most powerful nongovernmental supercomputers in the world, enabling the highest use of data across the value chain, from exploration and production to the energy of the future. New operating models will help exploit the full value of data, AI and cybersecurity for faster adoption of new business processes. This transformation is the first step toward creating a secure digital core that will accelerate Eni's energy transition, drive innovation in AI and R&D and build even greater resilience.

埃尼綠色數據中心擁有世界上最強大的非政府超級計算機之一，可實現從勘探和生產到未來能源的整個價值鏈中數據的最高利用。新的運營模式將有助於充分利用數據、人工智能和網絡安全的價值，從而更快地採用新的業務流程。這一轉型是創建安全數字核心的第一步，該核心將加速埃尼的能源轉型，推動人工智能和研發創新，並建立更大的彈性。

Clients are also working with us to do multifaceted compressed transformation that utilize all of our deep industry and functional expertise in our S&C services, along with our outstanding technology services. We are helping DuPont, a global multi-industrial specialty products company, with a compressed transformation to standardize their finance processes and achieve operational excellence.

客戶還與我們合作進行多方面的壓縮轉型，利用我們在施恩禧服務中的所有深厚行業和職能專業知識以及我們出色的技術服務。我們正在幫助全球多行業特種產品公司杜邦公司進行壓縮轉型，以標準化其財務流程並實現卓越運營。

Building on our trusted relationship of over 35 years, we are now supporting our client with its strategic pivot to innovation-based growth across electronics, sustainable water and protection solutions, industrial technologies and next-generation automotive. We have been supporting their transformation to an agile cloud-based IT infrastructure to maximize data access, drive efficiency and modernize their landscape.

基於我們超過 35 年的信任關係，我們現在支持客戶的戰略重點是電子、可持續水和保護解決方案、工業技術和下一代汽車領域的創新型增長。我們一直支持他們向敏捷的基於雲的 IT 基礎設施轉型，以最大限度地提高數據訪問、提高效率並實現其環境現代化。

Our work with DuPont is focused on achieving greater resilience, reducing costs and increasing revenue growth and shaping its portfolio through M&A with industry-leading innovation for long-term success.

我們與杜邦的合作重點是實現更大的彈性、降低成本和增加收入增長，並通過行業領先的創新併購塑造其產品組合，以實現長期成功。

[With] companies expanding their digital footprint, and cyber risk widening security continues to rise in importance as a fundamental part of the digital core, with very strong double-digit growth in Q3. We are working with a food and beverage company to strengthen their cybersecurity and prevent vulnerabilities along the supply chain. Building on previous operations transformation work, we are now providing managed security services, which will cover perimeter security, detection and response as well as threat intelligence and monitoring dark web activities. We also will provide day-to-day identity, data and privacy management, helping provide a holistic security approach for our client.

隨著公司擴大數字足跡，網絡風險不斷擴大，安全作為數字核心的基本組成部分的重要性不斷上升，第三季度實現了非常強勁的兩位數增長。我們正在與一家食品和飲料公司合作，加強其網絡安全並防止供應鏈中的漏洞。在之前的運營轉型工作的基礎上，我們現在提供託管安全服務，涵蓋周邊安全、檢測和響應以及威脅情報和監控暗網活動。我們還將提供日常身份、數據和隱私管理，幫助為我們的客戶提供全面的安全方法。

We're helping a global universal bank future-proof their cryptographic landscape and corresponding risks for over 1,000 applications, procedures and data. Based on the analysis, we will develop and implement an end-to-end mitigation strategy, including evaluation of solution vendor strategies, mitigation principles as well as change management procedures. We will also design and implement post-quantum methods and new architecture blueprints which will help scale the solution, all to help the bank achieve post-quantum computing readiness.

我們正在幫助一家全球綜合銀行確保其加密環境以及 1,000 多個應用程序、程序和數據的相應風險。根據分析，我們將製定並實施端到端緩解策略，包括評估解決方案供應商策略、緩解原則以及變更管理程序。我們還將設計和實施後量子方法和新的架構藍圖，這將有助於擴展解決方案，所有這些都有助於銀行實現後量子計算準備。

Our managed services continued to grow double digits in Q3, demonstrating the relevance of our approach to run, digitize and transform our clients' operations. We're providing a global health care and insurance company with managed services to help run its complex claims and membership processes. As part of our long-standing relationship with the company, we will improve the efficiency and quality of these tasks and simplify the customer journey, ensuring members can easily access the support they need when they need it. Its employees will now have more time to focus on boosting customer satisfaction by better serving its millions of customers around the world. A new cost solution has also been introduced to determine fair and accurate pricing for the company when purchasing services and products from vendors to reduce costs across the business.

我們的託管服務在第三季度繼續實現兩位數增長，證明了我們的方法對客戶運營的運營、數字化和轉型的相關性。我們正在為一家全球醫療保健和保險公司提供託管服務，以幫助其複雜的索賠和會員流程。作為我們與公司長期合作關係的一部分，我們將提高這些任務的效率和質量，並簡化客戶旅程，確保會員可以在需要時輕鬆獲得所需的支持。現在，其員工將有更多時間專注於通過更好地服務全球數百萬客戶來提高客戶滿意度。還引入了新的成本解決方案，以便在從供應商處購買服務和產品時為公司確定公平、準確的定價，從而降低整個企業的成本。

We recently worked with a major media brand to launch a streaming platform that will help attract new subscribers, expanding their content portfolio and power-targeted broadcasting and advertising offerings, all while lowering costs. We helped engineer aspects of the new platform from the content supply chain to the player experience, ensuring that customers have a seamless viewing experience across all devices and platforms, and enabling the company to use data insights to continually enhance its platform.

我們最近與一家主要媒體品牌合作推出了一個流媒體平台，該平台將有助於吸引新訂閱者，擴大他們的內容組合以及有針對性的廣播和廣告產品，同時降低成本。我們幫助設計了新平台從內容供應鏈到玩家體驗的各個方面，確保客戶在所有設備和平台上獲得無縫的觀看體驗，並使公司能夠利用數據洞察來不斷增強其平台。

We delivered the program as part of a managed services arrangement, demonstrating the industry and engineering innovation we help to -- that we bring to help clients reinvent their business with cloud, data and AI.

我們作為託管服務安排的一部分交付了該計劃，展示了我們所幫助的行業和工程創新——我們通過雲、數據和人工智能來幫助客戶重塑他們的業務。

As clients continue to reimagine and prioritize customer experience, Song experienced strong double-digit growth again in Q3. We are partnering with Virgin Media O2, a British media and telecommunications company, to reimagine their customer experience. Accenture Song will design a new, more predictive and personalized customer journey, enabled by an AI-powered cloud-based digital core.

隨著客戶不斷重新構想並優先考慮客戶體驗，Song 在第三季度再次實現了兩位數的強勁增長。我們正在與英國媒體和電信公司 Virgin Media O2 合作，重新構想他們的客戶體驗。埃森哲宋將設計一個新的、更具預測性和個性化的客戶旅程，由人工智能驅動的基於雲的數字核心支持。

Customer care journeys will be omnichannel, combining customer calls, chat and instant messaging to increase first-time resolution and upselling, leading to greater customer satisfaction. We also will deploy our managed services capabilities to support contact center activity using AI to provide timely agent assistance and route calls intelligently to drive precision and reduce call volume. Our work will help build brand loyalty, supporting Virgin Media O2's mission to be a more customer-first business.

客戶關懷之旅將是全渠道的，結合客戶電話、聊天和即時消息，以提高首次解決率和追加銷售，從而提高客戶滿意度。我們還將部署託管服務功能，使用人工智能支持聯絡中心活動，提供及時的座席協助並智能地路由呼叫，以提高準確性並減少呼叫量。我們的工作將有助於建立品牌忠誠度，支持 Virgin Media O2 成為一家更加以客戶為先的企業的使命。

We see continued demand for our Industry X capabilities, which grew strong double digits [in Q3]. We are working with one of the world's leading consumer products companies on a transformation of its manufacturing practices to achieve energy savings. We are developing a comprehensive program to collect and analyze energy consumption data from their production plants and use data-driven analytics to identify energy savings and greenhouse gas reduction opportunities. We are also helping to track energy efficiency gains and deliver value through operational improvements in the manufacturing process.

我們看到對我們的 Industry X 能力的持續需求，該能力在[第三季度]實現了兩位數的強勁增長。我們正在與世界領先的消費品公司之一合作，對其製造實踐進行轉型，以實現節能。我們正在開發一項綜合計劃，收集和分析生產工廠的能源消耗數據，並使用數據驅動的分析來識別節能和減少溫室氣體排放的機會。我們還幫助跟踪能源效率的提高，並通過製造過程中的運營改進來創造價值。

As clients progress on their total enterprise reinvestment journeys, talent is at the forefront. We are working with an international consumer goods and services provider in the European market on a digital transformation of its core human resources organization and talent acquisition processes. We will design and implement an approach that includes program management, process design, training and development and additional services. Together, we will create greater efficiencies in the human resources function, leading to a data-driven culture focused on better employee experiences.

隨著客戶在整個企業再投資之旅中取得進展，人才處於最前沿。我們正在與歐洲市場的一家國際消費品和服務提供商合作，對其核心人力資源組織和人才招聘流程進行數字化轉型。我們將設計和實施一種方法，包括項目管理、流程設計、培訓和開發以及附加服務。我們將共同提高人力資源職能的效率，從而形成專注於更好的員工體驗的數據驅動文化。

Now stepping back, our strategy is to be at the center of our clients' business to help them continuously reinvent themselves to reach new levels of performance and to set themselves apart as leaders in their industries, and our clients are at different starting points. All are interested in AI, and particularly, generative AI. But most recognize the work ahead of them to get their data, people and processes ready for AI. To reinvent requires a strong modern digital core. And as they embark on this journey, clients are looking to us for our unmatched global scale, deep industry and functional knowledge, breadth of services, from strategy and consulting, to technology, to managed services.

現在退一步來說，我們的戰略是成為客戶業務的中心，幫助他們不斷重塑自我，達到新的績效水平，並使自己成為行業領導者，而我們的客戶正處於不同的起點。所有人都對人工智能感興趣，尤其是生成式人工智能。但大多數人認識到他們面前的工作是讓數據、人員和流程為人工智能做好準備。重塑需要強大的現代數字核心。當客戶踏上這一旅程時，他們希望我們擁有無與倫比的全球規模、深厚的行業和職能知識以及從戰略和諮詢到技術和管理服務的廣泛服務。

With that context, I want to turn to generative AI and AI more broadly. No previous technology wave has captured the intention of leaders and the general public as fast as GenAI. We are now embarking on the age of AI, and companies will need to reinvent how they operate with AI at the core.

在此背景下，我想轉向生成式人工智能和更廣泛的人工智能。以往的技術浪潮都沒有像 GenAI 那樣快速地抓住了領導者和公眾的意圖。我們現在正進入人工智能時代，企業需要重塑以人工智能為核心的運營方式。

And it is also early. Think of it as the cloud over a decade ago. Foundation models and products based on them are still maturing, with many products announced but fewer at the general availability stage and ready for wide deployment. And with our position as the largest partner with most of the major technology companies, we are at the center of helping our clients navigate their choices in the evolving landscape.

而且時間還早。將其視為十多年前的雲。基礎模型和基於它們的產品仍在成熟，已發布了許多產品，但處於普遍可用性階段並準備廣泛部署的產品較少。作為大多數主要科技公司的最大合作夥伴，我們處於幫助客戶在不斷變化的環境中做出選擇的中心。

We've been investing in AI for years. And so while it is early days, we see generative AI as a key piece of the digital core and a big catalyst for even bigger and bolder total enterprise reinvention going forward. In fact, in a survey of global executives that we completed just last week, 97% of executives said GenAI will be transformative to their company and industry, and 67% of organizations planning -- are planning to increase their level of spending in technology, are prioritizing investments in data and AI.

多年來我們一直在人工智能領域進行投資。因此，雖然現在還處於早期階段，但我們認為生成式人工智能是數字核心的關鍵部分，也是未來更大規模、更大膽的全面企業重塑的重要催化劑。事實上，在我們上周剛剛完成的一項針對全球高管的調查中，97% 的高管表示 GenAI 將給他們的公司和行業帶來變革，67% 的組織正在計劃增加技術支出水平，優先投資數據和人工智能。

Our approach to AI is clear. Just as we have successfully done with cloud, we are investing to take an early lead and position for the opportunity ahead. Last week, we announced a $3 billion investment in AI, a big step to accelerate our clients' reinvention journey, which includes us doubling our data and AI workforce from 40,000 to 80,000-strong, including the expansion of our Center for Advanced AI, that today has over 1,600 generative AI experts; bringing new assets, such as our AI Navigator for Enterprise to life; and developing new GenAI-powered industry solutions. And across this all, we are leading with responsible AI to be the most trusted source in helping our clients mitigate the risks as they drive value.

我們的人工智能方法很明確。正如我們在雲方面取得的成功一樣，我們正在投資以儘早取得領先地位並抓住未來的機會。上週，我們宣布對人工智能投資 30 億美元，這是加速客戶重塑之旅的一大進步，其中包括將我們的數據和人工智能員工數量翻一番，從 40,000 人增加到 80,000 人，包括擴大我們的高級人工智能中心，如今擁有 1,600 多名生成式 AI 專家；帶來新資產，例如我們的企業 AI Navigator；開發新的 GenAI 驅動的行業解決方案。縱觀這一切，我們以負責任的人工智能為引領，成為最值得信賴的來源，幫助我們的客戶在創造價值的同時降低風險。

And this isn't just about tomorrow. We have sold over 100 generative AI products -- projects over the last 4 months. Let me give you a flavor of these across a few industries. We are working with Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a Japan-based subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, to improve customer service by using generative AI and simplify operations for accident response. The generative AI solution will draw from the company's knowledge base, including policy clauses and related laws and regulations, which will generate appropriate response plans in a timely manner, dramatically improving the accuracy and speed of explanations to customers.

這不僅僅關乎明天。在過去 4 個月裡，我們已經銷售了 100 多個生成式 AI 產品——項目。讓我給您介紹一下幾個行業的情況。我們正在與 MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings 的日本子公司三井住友保險公司 (Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance) 合作，通過使用生成式人工智能來改善客戶服務並簡化事故響應操作。生成式人工智能解決方案將藉鑑公司的知識庫，包括政策條款和相關法律法規，及時生成適當的應對方案，大幅提高向客戶解釋的準確性和速度。

We're working with a global broadcast company to explore how generative AI can be used to drive audience engagement and growth through deeper and more personalized customer experiences. Together, we recently launched testing that leverages generative AI and large language models to explore how we can automatically create content for the company's customer-facing platforms. The content will help enhance engagement, grow the consumer base across new coverage areas and challenges -- channels. We believe it will demonstrate how generative AI can be used to create content at scale for a wide variety of experiences and events.

我們正在與一家全球廣播公司合作，探索如何利用生成式人工智能通過更深入、更個性化的客戶體驗來推動觀眾參與和增長。我們最近共同啟動了測試，利用生成式人工智能和大型語言模型來探索如何為公司面向客戶的平台自動創建內容。這些內容將有助於提高參與度，擴大新覆蓋領域和挑戰（渠道）的消費者基礎。我們相信它將展示如何使用生成式人工智能為各種體驗和活動大規模創建內容。

We are working with LyondellBasell Industries, a leader in the chemicals industry, to increase its enterprise data and analytic capabilities and help unlock new value. We will develop a strategic data-led digital transformation program across multiple parts of the business and embed new capabilities in areas like sustainability, customer data, digital manufacturing and generative AI to drive more insightful and predictive decision-making.

我們正在與化工行業的領導者利安德巴塞爾工業公司合作，提高其企業數據和分析能力，並幫助釋放新價值。我們將在業務的多個部分制定以數據為主導的戰略數字化轉型計劃，並在可持續發展、客戶數據、數字製造和生成式人工智能等領域嵌入新功能，以推動更具洞察力和預測性的決策。

Companies are coming to us for help with the strategy and the business case to understand how and where to apply AI, and GenAI specifically, to get their digital shore in cape -- digital core in shape, to help assess which ecosystem partners and models to use, to rewire their processes to be AI-driven, to upgrade and reskill their talent with new ways of working and to navigate the risks and challenges responsibly.

公司向我們尋求戰略和業務案例方面的幫助，以了解如何以及在何處應用人工智能，特別是 GenAI，以使其在海角的數字海岸——數字核心成型，幫助評估哪些生態系統合作夥伴和模型使用，重新連接他們的流程，使其由人工智能驅動，通過新的工作方式升級和重新培訓他們的人才，並負責任地應對風險和挑戰。

In short, we believe clients need our full range of services, and we are well positioned to be the leading, trusted AI partner for the enterprise as they move from exploration, to experimentation, to reinvention.

簡而言之，我們相信客戶需要我們的全方位服務，並且在企業從探索、實驗到重塑的過程中，我們有能力成為值得信賴的領先人工智能合作夥伴。

Over to you, KC.

交給你了，KC。

Thanks, Julie. Now turning to our business outlook. For the fourth quarter of fiscal '23, we expect revenues to be in the range of $15.75 billion to $16.35 billion. This assumes the impact of FX will be about flat compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal '22 and reflects an estimated 2% to 6% growth in local currency.

謝謝，朱莉。現在轉向我們的業務前景。對於 23 財年第四季度，我們預計收入將在 157.5 億美元至 163.5 億美元之間。假設與 22 財年第四季度相比，外彙的影響大致持平，並反映出當地貨幣預計增長 2% 至 6%。

For the full fiscal '23, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now expect the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately negative 4% compared to fiscal '22. For the full fiscal '23, we now expect revenue to be in the range of 8% to 9% growth in local currency over fiscal '22, which assumes an inorganic contribution of about 2%.

對於整個 23 財年，根據過去幾週的利率趨勢，我們現在預計，與 22 財年相比，外匯對我們以美元計算的業績的影響將約為負 4%。對於整個 23 財年，我們現在預計收入將比 22 財年（假設無機貢獻約為 2%）以當地貨幣計算增長 8% 至 9%。

We continue to expect business optimization costs of $800 million in fiscal '23 to reduce EPS by $0.96. The gain on our investment in Duck Creek Technologies will increase EPS by $0.38. Our guidance for full year '23 excludes these impacts.

我們仍然預計 23 財年的業務優化成本將達到 8 億美元，每股收益將減少 0.96 美元。我們對 Duck Creek Technologies 的投資收益將使 EPS 增加 0.38 美元。我們對 23 年全年的指導不包括這些影響。

For adjusted op margin, we now expect fiscal year '23 to be 15.4%, a 20 basis point expansion over fiscal '22 results.

對於調整後的運營利潤率，我們現在預計 23 財年的業績將為 15.4%，比 22 財年的業績增長 20 個基點。

We now expect our adjusted annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 23.5% to 24.5%. This compares to an effective tax rate of 24% in fiscal '22.

我們現在預計調整後的年度有效稅率將在 23.5% 至 24.5% 的範圍內。相比之下，22 財年的有效稅率為 24%。

We now expect our full year adjusted earnings per share for fiscal '23 to be in the range of $11.52 to $11.63 or 8% to 9% growth over fiscal '22 results.

我們現在預計 23 財年全年調整後每股收益將在 11.52 至 11.63 美元之間，即比 22 財年業績增長 8% 至 9%。

For the full fiscal '23, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $8.7 billion to $9.2 billion. We now expect property and equipment additions to be approximately $600 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $8.1 billion to $8.6 billion. Our free cash flow guidance reflects a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.1 to 1,2.

對於 23 財年整個財年，我們繼續預計運營現金流將在 87 億美元至 92 億美元之間。我們現在預計財產和設備增加約為 6 億美元，自由現金流將在 81 億至 86 億美元之間。我們的自由現金流指引反映了非常強勁的自由現金流與淨利潤之比，為 1.1 至 1.2。

Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.1 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we committed -- as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to our shareholders.

最後，我們仍然期望通過股息和股票回購實現至少 71 億美元的回報，因為我們仍然致力於將大部分現金返還給股東。

With that, let's open it up so we can take your questions. Katie?

現在，讓我們打開它，以便我們回答您的問題。凱蒂？

Thanks, KC. (Operator Instructions) Operator, would you provide instructions for those on the call?

謝謝，KC。 （接線員指示）接線員，您能為通話中的人員提供指示嗎？

(Operator Instructions) We'll go to the line of Lisa Ellis with MoffettNathanson.

（操作員指示）我們將前往 Lisa Ellis 和 MoffettNathanson 的隊伍。

Let's dive in on the strategy and consulting. I know it was a high single-digit decline this quarter. That -- just looking back at your comments from last quarter, I think that came in a little bit softer than you expected. But then you also called out many new projects coming in related to GenAI and other technologies. Can you just talk a little bit about kind of what's changed, what that evolution looks like? And kind of what's your confidence level in the time horizon that we'll see strategy and consulting improve over the next couple of quarters?

讓我們深入了解戰略和諮詢。我知道本季度出現了較高的個位數下降。回顧一下您上個季度的評論，我認為情況比您預期的要溫和一些。但隨後您也提到了許多與 GenAI 和其他技術相關的新項目。您能簡單談談發生了什麼變化嗎？演變是什麼樣的？您對我們將在未來幾個季度看到戰略和諮詢改進的信心程度如何？

Sure. Thanks, Lisa. So I'll first give some color on that. So the big difference in our expectations from last quarter and where we ended up, really was all in the small deals. And we saw further -- they came in lower than expected, and we saw that extend to Europe and the Growth Markets. Now that was both in S&C and systems integration, but that's the big reason that we have a difference in sort of where we thought where we would be this quarter.

當然。謝謝，麗莎。所以我首先要對此進行一些說明。因此，我們的預期與上季度和最終結果的巨大差異實際上都在於小交易。我們進一步看到——它們的表現低於預期，而且我們看到這種情況延伸到了歐洲和成長型市場。現在這既涉及施恩禧，也涉及系統集成，但這就是我們對本季度的預期存在差異的重要原因。

Now our job is to continue to pivot to higher -- where there is higher growth, and we're working on that in digital manufacturing, supply chain, data and AI. But that will take a little time. And what we're seeing is that there's a lot of extensions going on in small deals, but it's the newer small projects. While at the same time, we continue to have very strong bookings and interest and huge opportunity in transformation. So I think our clients are kind of holding back on the small stuff and doing the bigger stuff, which obviously converts to revenue differently.

現在，我們的工作是繼續轉向更高的方向——更高的增長，我們正在數字製造、供應鏈、數據和人工智能領域努力。但這需要一點時間。我們看到的是，小交易中有很多延期，但都是較新的小項目。與此同時，我們仍然擁有非常強勁的預訂和興趣以及巨大的轉型機會。所以我認為我們的客戶有點克制小事而做大事，這顯然會以不同的方式轉化為收入。

But you see where strategy and consulting makes a big difference there, like in the DuPont example that I gave in the script, where you have to have so much expertise in the industry, as well as the functions, as well as technology. What that means is that it is going to take a little while for the turnaround, and we're not going to go to next year because we really want to see how Q4 evolves, and KC will give a little bit of color on how we are thinking about our Q4.

但你會發現戰略和諮詢在那裡發揮了很大的作用，就像我在腳本中給出的杜邦公司的例子一樣，你必須擁有行業、職能和技術方面的豐富專業知識。這意味著扭轉局面需要一段時間，而且我們不會等到明年，因為我們真的想看看第四季度如何發展，KC 將就我們如何發展提供一些信息。正在考慮我們的第四季度。

And what I would also say is that things like GenAI are a big opportunity, but it is early. So we did, in the last 4 months, 100 projects. That represents about $100 million in sales. That's kind of the average size of those projects, where it is. And so we're going to continue to pivot there, but it just takes a little bit of time.

我還要說的是，像 GenAI 這樣的東西是一個很大的機會，但現在還為時過早。所以我們在過去 4 個月裡做了 100 個項目。這相當於約 1 億美元的銷售額。這就是這些項目的平均規模。所以我們將繼續轉向那裡，但這只是需要一點時間。

So why don't I let KC give you a little color on how we're thinking about Q4?

那麼，為什麼我不讓 KC 告訴你我們對第四季度的看法呢？

Yes. Great. Thanks, Julie. Yes. So let me just kind of maybe step back and look at Q4 and the overall guidance for the full year. So first, I did mention this, but I just want to just reiterate that we are on track for our business optimization actions. So we're going to do about $800 million of cost for the full year '23. Additional color is that, for Q4, as we look at bookings, we think they will be about the same as what we did in Q3 of this year and have about the same complexion.

是的。偉大的。謝謝，朱莉。是的。因此，讓我退後一步，看看第四季度和全年的總體指導。首先，我確實提到了這一點，但我只想重申，我們正在採取業務優化行動。因此，我們將在 23 年全年花費約 8 億美元的成本。額外的色彩是，對於第四季度，當我們查看預訂時，我們認為它們將與今年第三季度的情況大致相同，並且膚色大致相同。

Julie talked a bit about small deals. What I will tell you in terms of our revenue guidance for Q4, which is 2% to 6%. At the top end of our revenue guidance, that reflects some improvement in small deal performance, while the bottom end allows for some further deterioration.

朱莉談到了一些小額交易。我將告訴您的是我們第四季度的收入指導，即 2% 至 6%。在我們收入指引的上限，這反映了小額交易業績的一些改善，而在下限則允許進一步惡化。

And we commented also in our scripts about CMT. And so within our overall range of 2% to 6%, we do allow for CMT to get a little bit worse.

我們還在腳本中評論了 CMT。因此，在 2% 到 6% 的總體範圍內，我們確實允許 CMT 變得更糟。

And then lastly, to bring it on home as it relates to North America, because these 2 factors do impact North America performance in the context of our overall 2% to 6% range for the quarter. North America, which was 2% growth this quarter, it would likely be flat around the midpoint of our guidance range, and it would reflect a slight decline at the bottom of our range.

最後，我們要回到與北美相關的問題，因為這兩個因素確實會影響北美地區的表現，而本季度的整體增長率為 2% 至 6%。北美地區本季度增長率為 2%，但可能會持平於我們指導範圍的中點附近，並且會反映出我們指導範圍底部的小幅下降。

And as Julie mentioned, obviously, we will give you more color, as I always do, on next year when we get into September. And we'll see how Q4 plays out.

正如朱莉提到的，顯然，明年進入九月時，我們會像往常一樣為您提供更多色彩。我們將看看第四季度的表現如何。

Terrific. And then maybe for my follow-up, maybe a more strategic question. I mean, Julie, you talked a lot about GenAI in the prepared remarks, particularly around the revenue opportunities that you're seeing in your clients. But can you give your view on how you see GenAI impacting the IT services industry overall?

了不起。然後也許對於我的後續行動，也許是一個更具戰略性的問題。我的意思是，朱莉，您在準備好的發言中談論了很多有關 GenAI 的內容，特別是圍繞您在客戶中看到的收入機會。但您能否談談 GenAI 如何影響整個 IT 服務行業？

Like a lot of people make an analogy to sort of the impact of offshoring on the industry and sort of other big sort of step-function changes to the operation and the kind of composition and the way IT services is done. Can you kind of give your latest perspective on that, how you see it affecting Accenture and your industry more broadly?

就像很多人對離岸外包對行業的影響以及對運營、組成類型和 IT 服務完成方式的其他重大階躍功能變化進行類比一樣。您能否給出您對此的最新看法，您認為它如何影響埃森哲和您的行業？

Sure, yes. And I think another good analogy, actually, maybe even less so than the offshore, is more about like SaaS, right? Because you remember when we talked about when SaaS came, what would be the opportunities. And there was a lot of worry about how SaaS would interrupt IT services. And obviously, it's been just a huge opportunity.

當然，是的。我認為另一個很好的類比實際上可能比離岸還要少，更像是 SaaS，對嗎？因為你還記得當我們談到 SaaS 到來時，會帶來什麼機會。人們非常擔心 SaaS 會如何中斷 IT 服務。顯然，這是一個巨大的機會。

So I think, Lisa, if you think about this. So obviously a big opportunity for us to help our clients. We see it as 2 other areas of opportunities. So the first is help our clients, big opportunity. The second is the opportunity for us to improve the delivery of services to our clients, right? Now what is -- and that, we think, is a huge opportunity for us.

所以我想，麗莎，如果你考慮一下這個問題。顯然，這對我們來說是幫助客戶的絕佳機會。我們將其視為另外兩個機會領域。所以首先是幫助我們的客戶，這是一個巨大的機會。第二個是我們改善為客戶提供服務的機會，對吧？現在我們認為這對我們來說是一個巨大的機會。

So think about it first in context of managed services. Every year, right, we have to find at least 10% of productivity. So we talk a lot about our platform, things like myWizard and that. That's all AI-enabled. Like just year-to-date in operations, not using GenAI, right, we have automated 13,000 jobs and then we've reskilled those people and redeployed them.

因此，首先在託管服務的背景下考慮它。每年，對吧，我們至少要找到10%的生產力。所以我們談論了很多關於我們的平台，比如 myWizard 之類的事情。這都是人工智能支持的。就像今年迄今為止的運營情況一樣，在不使用 GenAI 的情況下，我們已經自動化了 13,000 個工作崗位，然後我們對這些人員進行了重新培訓並重新部署。

Our business model requires us to get at least 10% productivity year in and year out. As we're kind of getting to the maturity of automation and AI, before generative AI, we see generative AI as our ability to continue to give at least that 10% productivity year in and year out. So in the managed services area, we see that more as the ability to continue doing what we have to do as kind of the next generation of technology.

我們的商業模式要求我們年復一年地提高至少 10% 的生產力。隨著自動化和人工智能的成熟，在生成式人工智能出現之前，我們將生成式人工智能視為我們能夠年復一年地繼續提供至少 10% 的生產力。因此，在託管服務領域，我們更多地將其視為下一代技術繼續做我們必須做的事情的能力。

Where we're super excited is in software development that is more around our systems integration and our big transformations around platforms because while we do automate there, we think GenAI may provide a real opportunity to do even more. And remember, our strategy is to deliver compressed transformation. So the more that we can find ways to deliver faster and less costly, that's going to be a big differentiator. So we're leaning in hard.

我們超級興奮的地方在於軟件開發，它更多地圍繞著我們的系統集成和圍繞平台的重大轉型，因為雖然我們在這方面實現了自動化，但我們認為 GenAI 可能會提供一個真正的機會來做更多的事情。請記住，我們的戰略是實現壓縮轉型。因此，我們越能找到更快、成本更低的交付方式，這將成為一個巨大的差異化因素。所以我們正在努力。

At the same time, these technologies are really early. And so for example, we're doing a lot of experimentation now. It's really good for things like documentation. But complex integrations, being able to use them for highly architectured systems, which is what our large enterprises do, GenAI isn't there yet, right? So think it's going to take some time.

同時，這些技術確實還很早期。例如，我們現在正在進行大量實驗。它對於文檔之類的東西確實很有用。但是複雜的集成，能夠將它們用於高度架構的系統，這就是我們大型企業所做的，GenAI 還沒有實現，對吧？所以認為這需要一些時間。

We also don't yet know the cost. And one of the things we are really -- a lot of clients are looking at for is to help them with the business case, because most of the studies, including our own, are all about what potentially uses of it. But because these products aren't out yet, we know that -- it's much more expensive to use GenAI, it's much more energy efficient. And so the actual ROI, so there's the art of the possible, but what's actually the return, it's still really early days.

我們還不知道成本。許多客戶真正尋求的一件事是幫助他們完成商業案例，因為大多數研究，包括我們自己的研究，都是關於它的​​潛在用途。但由於這些產品尚未推出，我們知道——使用 GenAI 的成本要高得多，而且能源效率要高得多。實際的投資回報率，所以有可能的藝術，但實際上的回報是什麼，現在還處於早期階段。

So we're very excited that we can get new kinds of productivity, particularly on things like consulting and systems integration. But it's early days yet. And we are leaning in because we think it's a big opportunity for us to differentiate. And that's why we are investing $3 billion over the next 3 years because we think this is like another cloud-first moment where we were out early, we invested at scale.

因此，我們非常高興能夠獲得新的生產力，特別是在諮詢和系統集成等方面。但現在還為時尚早。我們之所以做出努力，是因為我們認為這對我們來說是一個脫穎而出的絕佳機會。這就是為什麼我們在未來 3 年投資 30 億美元，因為我們認為這就像另一個雲優先的時刻，我們很早就退出了，我們進行了大規模投資。

The last thing I would say is there's also an opportunity for us to use it in our own enterprise. And of course, we like -- part of our strategy is to be our own best credential. And we're prioritizing it, using it wherever we think we can use it for us, and then take it to market to help our clients.

我要說的最後一件事是我們也有機會在我們自己的企業中使用它。當然，我們喜歡——我們戰略的一部分是成為我們自己最好的憑證。我們正在優先考慮它，在我們認為可以為我們使用的任何地方使用它，然後將其推向市場以幫助我們的客戶。

So overall, we think that, like prior big changes, right, first, the change to cloud, right; and before that, to servers. That it always creates new opportunities as long as you have the ability to invest, like we do; you've got leading partnerships, we've just announced yesterday expanded partnerships with all of the 3 big cloud providers; and you have that agile innovation mindset that says embrace change and move fast.

總的來說，我們認為，就像之前的重大變化一樣，首先是雲的變化，對吧；在此之前，到服務器。只要您有能力像我們一樣進行投資，它總會創造新的機會；您擁有領先的合作夥伴關係，我們昨天剛剛宣布擴大與所有三大雲提供商的合作夥伴關係；您擁有敏捷的創新思維，即擁抱變革并快速行動。

We'll go next to the line of Ashwin Shirvaikar of Citi.

我們將沿著花旗銀行 Ashwin Shirvaikar 的隊伍行進。

I guess -- can you hear me?

我想——你能聽到我說話嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Okay, sorry. I was hoping that you could provide a little bit more information. I know you said that you'll comment specifically on fiscal '24 after -- in September, as you normally do. But that seems to be one of the primary questions that people are asking. So more about the framework of how you're going about the planning process for that, just given that there are so many moving parts, when we kind of think of macro, when we think of AI, when we think of headcount trends, the tough comps in the first half. Maybe just kind of framework that for us, and that would be quite helpful.

哦抱歉。我希望您能提供更多信息。我知道您說過您將像往常一樣在 9 月份之後對 24 財年發表具體評論。但這似乎是人們提出的主要問題之一。因此，更多關於如何進行規劃過程的框架，考慮到有如此多的移動部件，當我們想到宏觀時，當我們想到人工智能時，當我們想到員工人數趨勢時，上半場的比賽很艱難。也許對我們來說只是一種框架，這將非常有幫助。

Sure. So just a few things, Ashwin. So first of all, most important thing right now just as a framework is stay close to our clients, right? And really understand. And the thing is our clients do need ways to get value in the short term as well as to transform. And so we're working hard on finding new ways to get value to them faster. That's where the GenAI, for example, comes in. And so over the next quarter, we're going to be developing new opportunities, new campaigns, new ways of pushing out our investments in GenAI to help us address the small deal pressure that we're seeing.

當然。所以只有幾件事，阿什溫。首先，作為一個框架，現在最重要的事情就是貼近我們的客戶，對吧？並且真正明白了。問題是我們的客戶確實需要在短期內獲得價值並進行轉型的方法。因此，我們正在努力尋找新的方法來更快地為他們創造價值。例如，這就是 GenAI 的用武之地。因此，在下個季度，我們將開發新的機會、新的活動、新的方式來推動我們對 GenAI 的投資，以幫助我們解決我們所面臨的小額交易壓力。正在看到。

We don't have a crystal ball that is going to say what the economy is going to do, how fast clients are going to get comfortable. Because remember, we saw this over this quarter beat some more industries, including industries that are doing well. There's just a level of caution right now. And so how we're looking at it is certain things we can't control. Focus on not only doing the big, large transformational deals, but finding new ways to develop returns faster, which is why the work we're doing on GenAI is so important. And you're seeing that kind of early focus with 100 projects in 4 months. So we're going to keep doing that.

我們沒有水晶球可以預測經濟將會發生什麼，客戶會以多快的速度感到舒適。因為請記住，我們在本季度看到這一點擊敗了更多行業，包括表現良好的行業。現在只是一定程度的謹慎。因此，我們如何看待它是我們無法控制的。不僅要專注於進行大型轉型交易，還要尋找新的方法來更快地獲得回報，這就是為什麼我們在 GenAI 上所做的工作如此重要。您會看到這種早期關注在 4 個月內完成了 100 個項目。所以我們將繼續這樣做。

Secondly is stay focused on the large transformational deals, right? This provides a base level of resilience in our business. So we've got to absolutely try to do -- maximize the small deals, but it is really important that we continue to be the transformation partner of choice. And that is where bringing together all of these services and making sure that we've got the right proposition is super important. So that is a core part of our strategy. And so that's really how we're thinking about it.

其次是繼續關注大型轉型交易，對吧？這為我們的業務提供了基礎水平的彈性。因此，我們必須絕對努力做到——最大限度地擴大小額交易，但我們繼續成為首選的轉型合作夥伴非常重要。這就是整合所有這些服務並確保我們得到正確的建議非常重要的地方。所以這是我們戰略的核心部分。這就是我們的想法。

And I guess the next question is with regard to hiring expectations. And there's a near-term aspect to that and a longer term, so let me ask both.

我想下一個問題是關於招聘期望的。這有一個近期的方面和一個長期的方面，所以讓我同時問一下。

Near term, just kind of given what you said with regards to macro and so on, and of course the headcount cuts announced a couple of quarters back, what should we expect in the next 1 or 2 quarters?

短期來看，考慮到您所說的宏觀等方面的內容，當然還有幾個季度前宣布的裁員計劃，我們對未來 1 或 2 個季度應該有何預期？

And the longer-term question is, with AI, do you think that headcount growth dissociates from rev growth trends over time?

更長期的問題是，對於人工智能，您認為隨著時間的推移，員工人數增長是否與收入增長趨勢無關？

Let me just take the second one first, right, is, again -- and we've been talking about this for years, right, because AI has been such a big part of our strategy in automation, right? Is that we will continue to manage it just like I talked about in my last answer, like where we've already automated 13,000 jobs this quarter and we've reskilled.

讓我先談談第二個問題，對吧，我們已經討論這個問題很多年了，對吧，因為人工智能一直是我們自動化戰略的重要組成部分，對吧？我們將繼續管理它，就像我在上一個答案中談到的那樣，就像我們本季度已經自動化了 13,000 個工作崗位，並且我們已經重新培訓了技能。

And so we will continue to manage that headcount as a result of AI in the way that we've been doing it for years. So no real change in that because we have a digital enterprise system that looks at what we need and sales. And what's really core is that we can reskill people as they are being freed up, and then we can adjust how much we have to hire. And of course, with attrition that in our industry is high relative to other industries, it gives us a lot of flexibility over time to get that people-hiring right. So that's how I would think about it.

因此，我們將繼續以多年來一直採用的方式通過人工智能來管理員工人數。所以這並沒有真正的改變，因為我們有一個數字企業系統來關注我們的需求和銷售。真正的核心是，我們可以在人員被解放時重新培訓他們，然後我們可以調整我們必須僱用的人數。當然，由於我們行業的人員流失率相對於其他行業較高，隨著時間的推移，這為我們提供了很大的靈活性來正確招聘人員。這就是我的想法。

And then for the way that we're going to hire, we saw a year-over-year increase of about 3% over last year. 11 consecutive quarters of 91% utilization. So you should just expect that, every quarter, we're going to manage carefully that headcount based on where we see the growth and to do that well. And I think we've proven our ability to do that.

然後就我們的招聘方式而言，我們看到比去年同比增長了約 3%。連續11個季度利用率達到91%。因此，您應該期望，每個季度，我們都會根據我們看到的增長情況仔細管理員工人數，並做好這一工作。我認為我們已經證明了我們有能力做到這一點。

That's right. And I would just add just maybe on Q4 in particular. As Julie talked about, we did not add any heads really between -- any people between Q2 and Q3, which is what we expected. And then just Q4, we don't really see a need to grow our overall headcount as we continue to focus on the automation and reskilling that Julie talked about.

這是正確的。我想特別補充一下第四季度的情況。正如朱莉所說，我們並沒有在 Q2 和 Q3 之間添加任何人，這正是我們所期望的。然後就在第四季度，我們確實認為沒有必要增加我們的整體員工人數，因為我們繼續專注於朱莉談到的自動化和再培訓。

We'll go next to the line of Tien-Tsin Huang with JPMorgan.

我們將沿著黃天欽與摩根大通的路線走。

I just want -- I think you went through the small deal outlook to Lisa and Ashwin's questions. So how about large deals? Can that momentum continue? I think you're up from, what, 17 to 26 large deals year-over-year. So just curious about the outlook...

我只是想——我想你從小額交易的角度來回答麗莎和阿什溫的問題。那麼大額交易呢？這種勢頭能否持續下去？我認為您的大型交易同比增加了 17 至 26 筆。所以只是好奇前景...

Yes, large deal momentum is continuing. Yes. sorry, Tien-Tsin.

是的，大宗交易勢頭仍在持續。是的。對不起，田津。

Yes. So yes -- no, I was just going to ask that, how does that look going into the fourth quarter here? And are signed deals converting on time? My follow-up to that.

是的。所以是的 - 不，我只是想問，第四季度的情況如何？已簽署的交易是否能按時轉化？我的後續行動。

Yes. So as KC said earlier, our bookings are going to be about the same, and that includes a lot of momentum in large deals, right? So we saw 26 clients with bookings over $100 million this quarter. We're ahead of last year by 11 at this point. We can see -- continue to see that momentum.

是的。正如 KC 之前所說，我們的預訂量將大致相同，其中包括大型交易的強勁勢頭，對吧？因此，本季度我們看到 26 位客戶的預訂額超過 1 億美元。目前我們比去年領先 11 個。我們可以看到——繼續看到這種勢頭。

And we're actually really excited about the demand there, right? Because as you can imagine, things like GenAI are just accelerating the ability to say, "Hey, we have to do bigger deals." And by the way, that may be impacting some of what we're seeing on the smaller deals because we do see more excitement about -- because the thing is the problem with GenAI for most companies is, if you don't have the data, you can't use it. And so that gets you right back to the big transformations of your digital core.

事實上，我們對那裡的需求感到非常興奮，對吧？因為正如你可以想像的，像 GenAI 這樣的東西只是加速了說“嘿，我們必須做更大的交易”的能力。順便說一句，這可能會影響我們在較小的交易中看到的一些情況，因為我們確實看到了更多令人興奮的事情——因為對於大多數公司來說，GenAI 的問題是，如果你沒有數據，你不能使用它。這樣您就可以立即回到數字核心的重大轉變中。

KC, anything to add?

KC，有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, I think that's it.

不，我想就是這樣。

So on the AI front, you did mention, I think, the cloud-first. As you draw that parallel when you guys -- I think that was 3 years ago, you did a $3 billion cloud-first investment. That's paid off very well for you. So I'm curious, do you expect a similar return here on the $3 billion you're putting into AI? How should we measure that? Or is it going to perhaps convert differently in terms of the returns?

因此，在人工智能方面，我認為您確實提到了雲優先。當你們進行類比時，我想那是 3 年前，你們進行了 30 億美元的雲優先投資。這對你來說得到了很好的回報。所以我很好奇，您在人工智能領域投入的 30 億美元是否期望獲得類似的回報？我們應該如何衡量呢？或者它的回報率可能會有不同的轉換嗎？

Tien-Tsin, that's a great, clever way to try to get us to talk about more of the future. But what I would say is we've got a great track record of investing and getting a great return. And so we think that it's going to pay off well.

天進，這是一個偉大而聰明的方式，可以讓我們更多地談論未來。但我想說的是，我們在投資和獲得豐厚回報方面擁有良好的記錄。因此我們認為這將會帶來良好的回報。

Yes, no, I like to bet, and the coincidence of the similarity there.

是的，不是的，我喜歡打賭，而巧合的相似之處就在那裡。

We'll go next to the line of Jason Kupferberg of Bank of America.

我們將前往美國銀行的賈森·庫普弗伯格 (Jason Kupferberg) 的隊伍旁邊。

Just wanted to start actually picking up a little bit on Tien-Tsin's question around the larger deals. It sounds like that's going to persist, the strength there, in Q4. And I think that will be at least a few quarters in a row at that point of those larger deals showing relative strength. Can you just talk just qualitatively about to what extent those provide a foundation for top line growth in fiscal '24? I would assume that those deals generally ramp to full run rate within, what, 2 to 3 quarters or so?

只是想開始真正了解田津關於較大交易的問題。聽起來這種勢頭將在第四季度持續存在。我認為，那些規模較大的交易至少會連續幾個季度表現出相對實力。您能否定性地談談這些在多大程度上為 24 財年的營收增長奠定了基礎？我認為這些交易通常會在 2 到 3 個季度左右的時間內達到滿負荷運轉？

So in terms of what you should think about on our larger deals, they really do -- it really does vary in terms of how they fill in over the quarters going into next year, and sometimes depending on what the work is, particularly in managed services. And those larger deals, they can go out -- they can go into another fiscal year.

因此，就您應該考慮我們的大型交易而言，它們確實如此——在進入明年的幾個季度中，它們的填補方式確實有所不同，有時取決於工作內容，特別是在管理方面。服務。而那些規模較大的交易，它們可以退出——它們可以進入另一個財年。

So -- but that's no real change in what we have experienced in terms of how the bookings fill in by the, what I would say, the sales category size. What you're seeing is that we do have a good foundation as we look out, right? And we've had a good foundation throughout this year for everything that we've been booking in the transformational deals. But what really does also matter, as you get into the year and then into -- closer to the quarters, is how do you fill in with some of the smaller bookings?

所以，但就預訂如何填補（我想說的是，銷售類別規模）而言，我們所經歷的並沒有真正的變化。您看到的是，我們確實擁有良好的基礎，對嗎？今年我們在轉型交易中預訂的一切都奠定了良好的基礎。但真正重要的是，當你進入這一年，然後進入接近季度的時候，你如何填補一些較小的預訂？

If said another way, if small deals don't come back, we're going to have -- that's an important part of sort of understanding, which is why we want to see how Q4 works out before we look at next year.

換句話說，如果小額交易沒有回來，我們將會——這是理解的一個重要部分，這就是為什麼我們希望在展望明年之前看看第四季度的情況如何。

Totally understand, totally understand. Let me switch over to bookings just for a follow-up. And by the way, thank you for the level-set on AI. It's not too surprising that it's just a tiny fraction of your total bookings given how it's still early days.

徹底明白了，徹底明白了。讓我轉而進行預訂以進行後續跟進。順便說一句，感謝您對人工智能的級別設置。考慮到現在還處於早期階段，這只是您總預訂量的一小部分，這並不奇怪。

But I wanted to actually ask on the managed services bookings. Just curious, versus your internal expectations, how those came in, in the quarter. I know they can be pretty lumpy. But it does seem like, looking ahead to Q4, the managed services bookings will slow a bit on an LTM basis just based on some of the commentary that you provided around Q4 bookings mix.

但我實際上想詢問一下託管服務預訂。只是好奇，與您的內部預期相比，這些預期是如何在本季度實現的。我知道它們可能會很凹凸不平。但展望第四季度，僅根據您提供的有關第四季度預訂組合的一些評論，託管服務預訂似乎會在 LTM 基礎上有所放緩。

Yes. So let me just talk about overall managed services. Yes, we're very pleased overall with our managed services bookings, right? They were up 9% this quarter and they're up 22% on a year-to-date basis. So we're very pleased with the bookings overall and the result of revenue, which continue to be very strong. We also have a very strong book-to-bill with the trailing of 1.1. And when I talked about Q4, Jason, we'll have about the same complexion of bookings in terms of the breakout of type of work.

是的。那麼讓我談談整體託管服務。是的，我們對託管服務預訂總體感到非常滿意，對吧？本季度增長 9%，年初至今增長 22%。因此，我們對整體預訂量和收入結果非常滿意，收入仍然非常強勁。我們的訂單出貨比也非常強勁，尾隨為 1.1。傑森，當我談到第四季度時，就工作類型的突破而言，我們的預訂情況將大致相同。

And I would -- and I will highlight just the continued strength within our bookings of our operations business, which, again, Julie had a lot of great examples in her script. It really is around when clients are focusing on digitizing their core, cutting costs, our operations business is a differentiator and obviously very strategic.

我會 - 我會強調我們的運營業務預訂的持續優勢，朱莉在她的劇本中再次提供了很多很好的例子。當客戶專注於核心數字化、削減成本時，我們的運營業務確實是一個差異化因素，而且顯然非常具有戰略意義。

We'll go next to the line of Bryan Keane with Deutsche Bank.

我們將前往布萊恩·基恩 (Bryan Keane) 與德意志銀行 (Deutsche Bank) 的隊伍旁邊。

Also, just kind of a follow-up on generative AI and the understanding and timing. I get that it's early, but the big question everybody is asking is how long will it take before it moves the needle in bookings and revenue? Is that a couple of years out, still? Or is that the time frame and the rapidness of the use of the technology should push it earlier than a normal technology wave?

另外，這只是生成式人工智能以及理解和時機的後續。我知道現在還為時過早，但每個人都在問的一個大問題是，需要多長時間才能在預訂和收入方面取得重大進展？那還是幾年後的事情嗎？或者說，技術使用的時間框架和速度是否應該比正常的技術浪潮更早地推動它？

Well, Bryan, I think in general, we think GenAI is going to go faster than, say, cloud went, right? Which took more like a decade. I would focus on -- so first of all, we're being very rigorous when we talk about GenAI because we're really saying like what are the actual GenAI. The big growth, we think, is going to be in all the companies that then have to get their data done faster. And we're not lumping that together.

布萊恩，我認為總的來說，我們認為 GenAI 的發展速度會比雲的發展速度更快，對嗎？這花了大約十年的時間。我會重點關注——所以首先，當我們談論 GenAI 時，我們非常嚴格，因為我們實際上是在說什麼是真正的 GenAI。我們認為，巨大的增長將出現在所有必須更快地完成數據的公司中。我們並沒有把它們混為一談。

And so I don't know what others are going to do, but we're really being very pure in saying like, "Hey, this is pure GenAI." And if you think about where companies are, our research shows like only 5% to 10% of companies are mature right now with data and AI, and they're the ones that are really going to be able to use GenAI at scale. About -- we just had this research done that came in last week that hasn't even been published yet. About 50% of companies have not started on their data or AI journey. And everything in between, is some are good in data but not AI, they're having a hard time to scale.

所以我不知道其他人會做什麼，但我們真的很純粹地說，“嘿，這是純粹的 GenAI。”如果你考慮一下公司的情況，我們的研究表明，目前只有 5% 到 10% 的公司在數據和人工智能方面已經成熟，而他們才是真正能夠大規模使用 GenAI 的公司。關於——我們上周剛剛完成了這項研究，但尚未發表。大約 50% 的公司尚未開始數據或人工智能之旅。介於兩者之間的一切，是有些擅長數據，但不擅長人工智能，它們很難擴展。

So where we think growth is going to come, particularly next year, the bigger growth is going to be not in like the pure GenAI, but it's going to be in helping companies finish getting their end-of-life data migrated to the cloud. Because you need your data in the cloud, right? It's going to come in the data strategy and the -- all the governance and getting it architected while some of the stuff around GenAI gets sorted out.

因此，我們認為增長將會到來，尤其是明年，更大的增長將不會像純粹的 GenAI 那樣，而是會幫助公司完成將報廢數據遷移到雲端。因為您需要將數據存儲在雲端，對嗎？它將出現在數據策略和所有治理中，並對其進行架構設計，同時解決 GenAI 周圍的一些問題。

So for example, like cost is not there yet. And how do you take data from one cloud, and there's cost to take it and put it in another cloud. All of that, we're going to be working with our clients and our technology partners to really create the right business cases. But the growth, we think in the near term, is going to be from accelerating the digital core. And that's why we feel really good about the bigger transformational deals continuing next year because there's so much work to do.

例如，類似的成本還沒有出現。如何從一個雲中獲取數據，將其放入另一個雲中需要成本。所有這些，我們將與我們的客戶和技術合作夥伴合作，真正創建正確的業務案例。但我們認為，短期內的增長將來自於數字核心的加速。這就是為什麼我們對明年繼續進行的更大的轉型交易感到非常滿意，因為還有很多工作要做。

No, that's helpful. And then just as a follow-up, are there M&A opportunities of scale to grow in generative AI? Or is it still early in the days there, so there's not really a lot of M&A you can do?

不，這很有幫助。接下來，生成式人工智能領域是否存在規模化的併購機會？或者說現在還處於早期階段，所以實際上還沒有很多併購可以做？

It's really early. I mean, there's a lot of companies popping up, as we know, and we're going to continue to scan. But one of the great things that we have is the ability to train, right? We've already trained in the last quarter another 1,000 people in GenAI. And by the way, since 2019, we have been requiring all of our 700,000 people to take a course on AI, so we have a really good baseline. And so we think that it's going to be a lot like when we moved digital, a lot of organic. And this is where we're so competitively well positioned because we have great credentials in how we have trained our own people to rotate.

確實還早啊我的意思是，據我們所知，有很多公司湧現，我們將繼續進行掃描。但我們擁有的最偉大的事情之一就是訓練的能力，對吧？上個季度我們已經在 GenAI 中培訓了另外 1,000 名人員。順便說一句，自 2019 年以來，我們一直要求所有 70 萬人參加人工智能課程，所以我們有一個非常好的基線。因此，我們認為這將很像我們轉向數字化時的情況，很多是有機的。這就是我們在競爭中處於有利地位的地方，因為我們在如何培訓自己的員工進行輪換方面擁有豐富的經驗。

We'll go next to the line of Rod Bourgeois of DeepDive Equity Research.

接下來我們將討論 DeepDive Equity Research 的 Rod Bourgeois 的觀點。

You sometimes comment about pricing and contract profitability, so I wanted to ask if you could provide an update on pricing and contract terms, particularly on a like-for-like basis, in both consulting and outsourcing.

您有時會評論定價和合同盈利能力，所以我想問您是否可以提供定價和合同條款的最新信息，特別是在諮詢和外包方面的同類基礎上。

Yes. Rod, so let me just comment on pricing and what we're seeing. So just let me start with as a reminder. When we talk about pricing, is we define that as contract profitability or the margin on the work that we sell. And so what we're seeing in pricing is, after 5 quarters of consecutive improvement in pricing, we mentioned last quarter that it's stabilized. And this quarter, we see the pricing is lower in some areas of our business.

是的。羅德，讓我評論一下定價和我們所看到的情況。讓我先作為一個提醒。當我們談論定價時，我們將其定義為合同盈利能力或我們銷售的工作的利潤。因此，我們在定價方面看到的是，在定價連續五個季度改善之後，我們在上個季度提到它已經穩定下來。本季度，我們發現我們業務的某些領域的定價較低。

I continue to be very pleased with how we are managing pricing, particularly navigating the more challenging wage environment that we've experienced over the last few years. So very pleased with how we're performing in pricing and our overall contract profitability that we have this year.

我仍然對我們管理定價的方式感到非常滿意，特別是在過去幾年我們經歷的更具挑戰性的工資環境中。我們對今年的定價表現和整體合同盈利能力感到非常滿意。

Okay. Great. And then maybe just to wrap up, as the consulting business has slowed some here, can you talk about what demand themes have slowed the most? And maybe the outlook for those themes, I mean, maybe across your various solution areas, like cloud and ERP and security and data. Are there certain of the themes that have slowed the most?

好的。偉大的。最後，也許只是總結一下，由於諮詢業務已經放緩了一些，您能談談哪些需求主題放緩最多嗎？我的意思是，也許這些主題的前景可能跨越您的各個解決方案領域，例如雲和 ERP、安全和數據。是否有某些主題增長速度最慢？

Yes. Look, on our consulting on the systems integration side, it's really more a tale about the small deals, right? So what we're seeing is that sort of some of the small things versus the bigger, so a lot of the big transformations are continuing. So that's -- we're not seeing -- I mean, basically anything around the digital core, moving to cloud, all of that's going really well at the bigger levels. It's more about starting new projects right now, and so -- which is why we expect that demand to come back when people are less cautious.

是的。看，我們在系統集成方面的諮詢，實際上更多的是關於小交易的故事，對吧？所以我們看到的是一些小事情與大事情的對比，所以很多重大轉變仍在繼續。所以，我們沒有看到，我的意思是，基本上圍繞數字核心的任何事情，遷移到雲，所有這些在更大的層面上都進展順利。現在更多的是關於立即啟動新項目，所以——這就是為什麼我們預計當人們不那麼謹慎時需求會回來。

Operator, we have time for one more question, and then Julie will wrap up the call.

接線員，我們還有時間再問一個問題，然後朱莉將結束通話。

Thank you. And that will come from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

謝謝。這將來自摩根士丹利的詹姆斯·福賽特 (James Faucette) 家族。

Just a couple of follow-up questions from me here. First, on AI and AI-related projects. How do you envision pricing project constructs, terms and statements of work to change with the introduction of and adoption of generative AI generally?

我在這裡只是提出幾個後續問題。首先，關於人工智能和人工智能相關項目。您如何看待隨著生成式人工智能的引入和採用而改變的項目結構、條款和工作說明書的定價？

I mean, we're not anticipating any big changes in those areas.

我的意思是，我們預計這些領域不會發生任何重大變化。

Got it, got it. And then you mentioned, in reference to generative AI, like the B&A opportunities are pretty small right now and really nascent. But how are you thinking about B&A more generally going forward? Should we expect ongoing sustained and pretty stable levels of inorganic contribution? And -- or should we expect there to be some changes as expectations and emphasis shifts a little bit more to AI?

明白了，明白了。然後你提到，關於生成式人工智能，B&A 的機會目前非常小，而且還處於新生階段。但您如何看待 B&A 的整體發展？我們是否應該期待無機貢獻持續持續且相當穩定的水平？或者說，隨著期望和重點更多地轉向人工智能，我們是否應該預期會出現一些變化？

Well, no, a couple of things. So first of all, no shift in how we view inorganic, which is a core part of our business model, right? So we expect to get about 2% of our revenue growth from -- this year from inorganic, and this has been a stable part of our strategy.

嗯，不，有幾件事。因此，首先，我們對無機的看法沒有改變，這是我們商業模式的核心部分，對嗎？因此，我們預計今年收入增長的 2% 左右將來自無機業務，這一直是我們戰略的穩定部分。

And I just want to be clear that the shift to AI is just -- let's go back to total enterprise reinvention. What are clients doing? They are reinventing every part using tech, data and AI. So when you look at our growth priorities, cloud, both the move to the cloud, but also cloud-based platforms, all growing very significantly, right, at the top level overall. And so it's about building a digital core.

我只想明確一點，向人工智能的轉變只是——讓我們回到全面的企業重塑。客戶在做什麼？他們正在利用技術、數據和人工智能重塑每一個部分。因此，當你看看我們的增長重點時，雲，無論是向雲的遷移，還是基於雲的平台，所有這些都在整體頂層顯著增長。所以這是關於構建數字核心。

And then the opportunity to take AI is to then reinvent the processes and the ways of working, which is, by the way, a huge opportunity for Accenture because we're not just about the technology. Our strength is in being able to do all of that.

然後，採用人工智能的機會就是重新發明流程和工作方式，順便說一句，這對埃森哲來說是一個巨大的機會，因為我們不僅僅關注技術。我們的優勢在於能夠做到這一切。

So I think it's really important that it's not an emphasis shift on AI. It's a rapidly accelerated opportunity because companies who were kind of resistant or not focused on it are now focusing on it. So I think that's important.

所以我認為重要的是不要將重點轉移到人工智能上。這是一個迅速加速的機會，因為那些曾經抵製或不關注它的公司現在開始關注它。所以我認為這很重要。

Then the last piece is we will -- our focus is not going to, suddenly in M&A, be around just data and AI. And in fact, we think that there's going to be much more organic because there isn't a lot out there. But we use AI, right, to scale things like consulting, industry expertise, digital expertise. We've done that for digital manufacturing, supply chain. We also use it to get into new areas.

最後一點是我們將——我們的重點不會突然在併購中僅僅圍繞數據和人工智能。事實上，我們認為將會有更多的有機產品，因為那裡的東西並不多。但我們使用人工智能來擴展諮詢、行業專業知識、數字專業知識等內容。我們已經在數字製造、供應鏈方面做到了這一點。我們還用它來進入新領域。

So I'm super excited that yesterday, we announced that we acquired Anser Advisors, which is a primarily U.S.-focused, North America-focused, company in capital projects. That's a really small business today in the U.S. and we just acquired a great company with 900 professionals in a market that has an $88 billion addressable market in North America, growing really well. That's a whole new area of net new growth for our North America business.

所以我非常興奮，昨天我們宣布收購 Anser Advisors，這是一家主要專注於美國、北美的資本項目公司。在今天的美國，這只是一家規模很小的企業，而我們剛剛收購了一家擁有 900 名專業人士的偉大公司，該公司在北美擁有 880 億美元的潛在市場，並且增長得非常好。這是我們北美業務淨增長的一個全新領域。

So we use our ability to invest, right, to scale great things and continuously seed new areas of growth for Accenture. And you've seen us do that over and over again. We did it with Song, we did it with Industry X and digital manufacturing. We're now in supply chain and we're moving into capital projects. So that is just a huge advantage as you think about, not just the next couple of years, but growth over the decade for Accenture.

因此，我們利用我們的投資能力來擴展偉大的事業，並不斷為埃森哲培育新的增長領域。您已經看到我們一次又一次地這樣做。我們通過 Song 做到了這一點，我們通過 Industry X 和數字製造做到了這一點。我們現在已經進入供應鏈，並且正在進入資本項目。所以，正如你所想，這是一個巨大的優勢，不僅是未來幾年的優勢，而且是埃森哲未來十年的增長優勢。

Great. Well, thanks, everyone. In closing, I want to thank all of our shareholders for your continued trust and support, and all our people for what you are doing for our clients and for each other every day. Thanks, everyone, for joining. Look forward to being back together in a quarter.

偉大的。嗯，謝謝大家。最後，我要感謝我們所有的股東一直以來的信任和支持，感謝我們所有的員工每天為我們的客戶和彼此所做的一切。謝謝大家的加入。期待一個季度後再次聚在一起。

Thank you. And this conference will be available for replay beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern Time today and running through September 28 at midnight. You may access AT&T replay system at any time by dialing (866) 207-1041 and entering the access code of 4564655. International participants may dial (402) 970-0847.

謝謝。本次會議將於東部時間今天上午 10 點開始重播，一直持續到 9 月 28 日午夜。您可以隨時撥打 (866) 207-1041 並輸入接入碼 4564655 訪問 AT&T 重播系統。國際參與者可撥打 (402) 970-0847。

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Event Conferencing. You may now disconnect.

我們今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與和使用 AT&T Event Conference。您現在可以斷開連接。