Intelligent Enterprise

Consulting giant Accenture said Tuesday that it will invest $100 million over the next three years to build out the information management services it offers clients, and named a new CEO to its Accenture Information Management Services unit.

The $13.7 billion firm defines information management as the processes by which companies manage structured and unstructured data. Accenture anticipates the market for these types of services to grow by roughly 9 percent annually and surpass $27 billion by 2007.

Accenture can draw on more than 5,000 consultants internationally who specialize in information management, including business intelligence and content management. The firm will help clients view, manage, analyze and store data, text and other information with an eye toward improving decision-making.

Accenture appointed Royce Bell to head the information management practice and named him chief executive officer of the unit. Prior to assuming his new position, Bell was Global Managing Partner on Accenture's work for British Petroleum.

Accenture currently offers services related to business intelligence, content management, enterprise performance management and secure information management. Many of the services are bundled into industry-specific products. Accenture says it has completed 4,000 information management-related projects since 1992 and is engaged in more than 300 currently.