New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS): Global professional services company Accenture on Friday elevated Manish Sharma as new chief operating officer and Yusuf Tayob has been named Group Chief Executive for Operations, effective from March 1.

Current COO Jo Deblaere will retire after 38-year-long career at Accenture, the company said in a statement.

"Sharma brings enormous expertise and extensive knowledge of what our clients need and how to digitally transform," said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture.

In his new role, Sharma's client centricity will continue to build our shared success with our clients as we help them transform every area of their businesses, she added.

Sharma most recently served as group chief executive—operations, overseeing a comprehensive intelligent operations portfolio.

He also led the development of Accenture's SynOps platform, which orchestrates the optimal combination of human+machine talent, driven by AI, data and insights to deliver targeted business outcomes.

Sharma also founded the Accenture Rural programme, through which Accenture partners with small business process services firms in rural areas in India.

He and his wife also have established a trust that focuses on children's education in India.

Tayob is currently market unit lead for the US Midwest. Before his current role, he ran the Accenture Salesforce Business Group, a team of Accenture people who lead complex digital transformations.

"He brings a broad, diverse set of experiences and skills to one of our most innovative services," said Sweet.

According to Brand Finance, Indian IT services companies have outpaced their competitors from the US in brand value growth over the past two years of digital transformation accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Accenture retained the title of world's most valuable and strongest IT services brand, with record brand value of $36.2 billion, and achieving top Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 87.7 out of 100.