Being cloud computing-enabled is no longer enough to differentiate a company from its competition. As society reaches the point where the majority of businesses have adopted digital technology, standing out from the crowd calls for new tactics, which global consulting company Accenture PLC aims to provide.

“Here in our flagship hub we have teammates from our research organization that are offering points of view and helping others understand what the future looks like,” said Ashley Miller (pictured), associate managing director of the Accenture Technology Labs and the director of innovation for Accenture’s West Coast region.

Miller spoke with Jeff Frick, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Accenture Technology Vision event in San Francisco. They discussed preparing for a post-digital economy and how Accenture’s new innovation labs are enabling people to explore and learn cutting-edge technologies.

Analytics is old school

DARQ, which roughly stands for distributed ledger technologies (such as blockchain), artificial intelligence, extended reality and quantum computing, is Accenture’s answer to a world in which digital is the norm. Indicating a shift from a focus on SMAC — social, media, analytics and cloud — DARQ Power is about harnessing the technologies that Accenture predicts are the catalysts for future business success.

Accenture is celebrating the opening of the new West region innovation hub, which provides an environment to teach and experiment with the “DARQ arts.” Several floors in the new facility are dedicated to a lab environment for collaboration, innovation and co-creation focused on cutting-edge technological advances.

“We host clients, as well as partners in the community, students and educational groups, people who want to come in and learn about emerging technologies and their potential impact to business and to society,” Miller said. As well as short visits, Accenture offers multiday and multiweek sessions where participants can go in depth to roadmap solutions and build new ideas.

Accenture’s recent investments in research and development within the fields of cybersecurity, AI and quantum computing mean that once a concept is identified, Accenture and its partner ecosystem can assist with building prototypes, testing and eventually delivery. “Once you identify the really game-changing opportunity, and you’ve tested it and understand that it’s a viable solution, well then you can scale it more cost efficiently through our delivery centers,” Miller said.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Accenture Technology Vision 2019:

Photo: SiliconANGLE