E-Business: A Comparison of Accenture and PwC Websites

This article compares the websites of Accenture and PwC for e-business. It analyzes their business models, goals, attributes, and user experience. The article concludes with a recommendation for potential clients.

Running Head: E-BUSINESS
E-Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University

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Table of Contents
Task A..............................................................................................................................................2
Task B..............................................................................................................................................3
Task C..............................................................................................................................................4
Task D..............................................................................................................................................5
Task F............................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Task A
The chosen business model is B2B, which is very popular and beneficial for the
accounting firms that provide accounting and auditing services to other business organizations.
There are also other business models such as B2C or P2P but they are more suitable for other
business categories rather than accounting services (Qu et al. 2015). This is because, while the
accounting firms function as independent organizations, they provide services to other business
organizations as a whole rather than just a specific entity. For the study of this particular e-
commerce model, two different organizations have been chosen as follows.
Organization 1: Accenture
Home Page URL: https://www.accenture.com/in-en/new-applied-now
Home Page Screenshot:
Organization 2: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

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Home Page URL: https://www.pwc.com/
Home Page Screenshot:
Task B
Accenture belongs to the B2B model because it provides services to various other
business organizations in accounting, auditing, technology solutions and others i.e. the company
takes part in direct commercial transaction with other business organizations. However,
analyzing the services of Accenture, it can be said that it also fits the B2C model as the
organization also provides services to consumers in certain areas of business as well. It is evident
from their existing business policies that have targets to provide services in both B2B and B2C
models (Oliveira and Dhillon 2015). They have also authorized specific projects and initiatives
that will help them invest more in B2C model in spite of being a B2B company. The website also
reflects the same as it displays various plans of the company regarding the development of B2B
and B2C business models.

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PwC is predominantly a B2B company that provides accounting and auditing solutions to
other commercial business organizations. Following the B2B model allowed PwC to grow from
a UK professional organization to one of the world’s largest multinational services organization.
The clients of the company are also large sized commercial business organizations that have built
up strong business relationships with PwC (Rahayu and Day 2015). Various projects and
initiatives of PwC also aim to further promote the use of the B2B business model that helps the
company to continue to grow. The website of PwC is specifically developed for other business
organizations who can view the services provided by PwC so that they can contact the company
regarding a possible business relationship.
Task C
Based on the overall review of the website of Accenture, it is evident that the principal
business goal of the website is attract the new clients with the wide varieties of projects that the
company is associated with. The business clients have specifically chosen for display in the
website that have high business and brand values (Mohtaramzadeh, Ramayah and Jun-Hwa
2017). From the website, some of the business partnerships displayed by Accenture include
Telstra, Rugby Australia and others.
On the other hand, the website of PwC is slightly different in terms of business goal.
Instead of describing about business partnerships and the business partners, PwC’s focus is
mainly on the industry as a whole and also some of the common issues that the industry faces.
The website of PwC also emphasizes how the company wants to use these issues as tools and
solve them in order to grow in the industry (Hamad et al. 2015). The website also focuses on
some social issues like woman empowerment, LGBT community and others and clearly states

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they will continue to promote these developments and communities in order to develop a cultural
and equal environment within the organization.
Task D
Attribute Accenture PwC Comment
How does the website URL relate to the
business name?
5 4 Both of the website URLs reflect the
business names of the organizations.
However, the website URL of PwC
only mentions PwC instead of the
full name and hence, some new users
may find it difficult to find the site.
How easily is the website found using
general internet search engines (e.g.
Google, Ask, AltaVista, Bing, Yahoo!)?
5 5 Both of the websites are easy to find
using internet search engines.
Whenever each of the business is
searched using the name, the search
engines provide the website URL in
the first search result.
Does the website give me all the
organizational information a user could
reasonably require?
3 5 Accenture’s website does not provide
sufficient organizational information
as it is more focused on the projects,
plans and business related
information that are associated with
the organization. However, PwC’s
website provides in-depth details of
each and every aspect of the

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company providing the visitor the
chance to know all about the
company.
Are requirements to provide a user’s
(personal or sensitive) information
appropriate?
5 5 The requirements of user’s personal
information are appropriate for both
the websites. Both of the websites
ask for minimal details that are
essential to create account with the
website.
How well does the website reassure
users about the security and use of their
information?
5 2 The website of Accenture assures the
user about the privacy of his personal
data and information and has also
published a brief data privacy details.
However, PwC website does not
provide such details and has not
published any data privacy policy
document for the users who will
register in the website.
How well does the website foster user
trust in the organisation?
3 4 Accenture website tries to foster user
trust by displaying information about
other clients that have strong
business relationship with the
company and tries to prove that the
company is trusted by large
organizations worldwide. PwC
website tries to foster user trust in the

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organization by highlighting several
issues related to the business
environment and how the company is
taking initiative to solve them.
How well does the website address legal
issues associated with use of the website
or engagement in transactions?
1 1 None of the websites emphasize on
addressing legal issues associated
with the use of website or
engagement in transactions.
However, for any user activity in the
website, the user needs to agree with
terms and conditions so that no legal
issues arise in the near future.
How well does the website provide for
the accessibility needs of users?
1 1 Both of the websites does not
provide any measures for the
accessibility of the users.
How well does the website address the
language or cultural needs of users?
5 2 Accenture website has the feature for
choosing user location so that when a
region or country is chosen, the
website only shows information and
company details that are related to
that specific country only. For
instance, if the country chosen is
Australia, the website will only show
relevant business information
specific to Australia only. On the
other hand, PwC website acts as a

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global website and does not have
such region specific features.
Does the website contain all the product
information that a user could reasonably
require?
5 5 Both of the websites have in-depth
detail about the product / service
information that the companies
provide and the users can easily find
their requirements in the website.
Does the website allow all the
customisation (user-managed features)
that a user could reasonably expect?
1 1 None of the websites allow all
customisation that the users can
expect from the sites. Rather, the
user has to work on whatever website
template provided to them and fulfill
their requirements.
How well does the website personalise
the experience for users?
3 1 Accenture website personalises the
experience for the users significantly
well. Accenture also provides region
specific content to the users in order
to provide them with better
experience.
PwC website is more focused on the
business aspects and does not invest
much in the personalised experience
for the users.
Does the website identify sufficient
channels for user service/support?
1 1 None of the websites identify
sufficient channels for user service /
support. The user has to go through a

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lot of hassle in order to reach the user
service and support.
How easy is it to find any information
on the website about the organisation,
their products or services?
5 5 In both of the websites, it is
significantly easy to find information
about the organizations, their
products and their services. Both of
the websites emphasize on
displaying suitable amount of
information such that the users can
easily find them as required.
How easy is the information on the
website to read (i.e. is provided
information in appropriate language and
with sufficient detail for most users)?
5 5 Both of the websites ensure that the
information provided in the pages is
easy to read by all the users. The
information is written in clear
English along with suitable use
pictures and graphs so that the users
have a clear understanding on what
the information tries to say.
Is the website easy to navigate (i.e.
move through the website to find
information, products, or services, and
engage in transactions with the
organisation)?
4 5 PwC’s website is relatively easier to
navigate as Accenture’s website
displays too many animated and high
definition pictures that may cause a
lag in the user’s system if it does not
have sufficient hardware support.
How appropriate are the website
aesthetics (e.g. use of layout, colours,
5 3 The website aesthetics of Accenture
are much better than PwC in terms of

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imagery, fonts, etc) for the target
audience?
layout used, colours, pictures, fonts
and others. Accenture mainly focuses
on specific information details rather
than the use of aesthetics.
How well does the website foster
community among users?
2 5 Accenture does not focus much on
fostering communities among users.
On the other hand, PwC website has
strong emphasis on fostering
different communities among the
users.
How quickly does the website load into
your browser and do all website
features, links and embedded objects
(eg: media files or applets) work as
intended?
3 5 The loading of the Accenture website
is much slower than PwC due to the
extensive use of aesthetics like high
quality images, animations,
embedded objects and others.
However, in spite of slow loading,
the parts of the websites work
accurately although the user might
have to go through some minimal
waiting time to load the pages.
How well does the website support
different web-browsers or platforms
(e.g. mobile devices)?
5 5 Both of the websites have full
support for different web browsers
and platforms. However, as
mentioned in the previous point, the
mobile users can face some difficult

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time in loading the website.
Does the website provide a sufficient
range of payment options as could be
reasonably expected?
5 5 Both of the websites provide
sufficient ranges of payment options
in their payment page. The payment
options include various debit and
credit cards like Visa, Mastercard,
PayPal and others.
Does the website provide a sufficient
range of delivery options as could be
reasonably expected?
3 4 Accenture website focuses mainly on
the types of services they provide
rather than delivery options. On the
other hand, PwC basically
emphasizes on how they wish to
deliver their services to their clients.
Task F
Based on the comparison between the two websites, it can be said that the PwC website
much more likely to be successful than Accenture. This is mainly because the PwC website
focuses more on the services and the strategic tools that the company utilizes in order to achieve
success in the market such that potential clients have a clear idea about the company’s operations
and reliability (Alsaad, Mohamad and Ismail 2014). On the other hand, Accenture website
focuses on the existing clients in an attempt to let the new potential clients know about the
profile of the company rather than the company’s services and initiatives taken to prosper in the
market. However, if a potential client wants to choose a service provider solely based on the
company profile, they will find the Accenture website much more attractive (Hoque and Boateng

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2017). Again, based on the ratings provided in the previous table, Accenture is ahead of PwC by
only a single point and hence, it is evident that both the websites have their own advantages and
disadvantages. Hence, in spite of the points, it will be up to the clients whether they will choose
Accenture or PwC for their required services.

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