The 10 Most Interesting Accenture Acquisitions Of 2021 (So Far)

‘The needs of our clients are driving strong momentum in our business, with an acceleration of continued strong double-digit growth across applied intelligence, cloud, Industry X, operations and security,’ said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet.

With more than 35 acquisitions since January, Accenture is moving full steam ahead and has already surpassed the number of companies it brought under its belt in 2020.

Continuing with a laser focus on scale, experience, industry knowledge and trust, Accenture is moving businesses ahead by helping them digitally transform into cloud-based platforms so they can deliver valued products and services to their clients.

“We invest in acquisitions to scale in areas where we see a big market opportunity to add skills and new capabilities and to further deepen our industry and functional expertise,” Accenture CEO Julie Sweet in the firm’s most recent quarterly earnings conference call Thursday. “We now expect to invest about $4 billion in strategic acquisitions this fiscal year, with 39 acquisitions close or announced year to date. Our level of investment demonstrates how scale, experience and trust matters.”

Here’s a sampling of some of the more interesting companies Accenture has acquired so far in 2021. The financial terms of the all the deals were not disclosed.

Core Compete

With the acquisition of Core Compete, a Durham, North Carolina-based cloud analytics services firm that enables cloud-native solutions, delivering AI and machine learning-infused business outcomes, Accenture is expanding its talent in AI-powered supply chain, cloud and data science.

Powered by data science, data engineering and cloud engineering consultants, Accenture believed that Core Compete is well-positioned to meet a growing demand in the market. Accenture research found that two-thirds of chief experience officers are planning to increase spending on AI and more than 60 percent will invest more in cloud-based technologies.
“Over the past year we’ve seen cloud adoption increase, enabling organizations to unlock the enterprise value from data and AI strategy at speed,” said Sanjeev Vohra, global lead for Accenture Applied Intelligence in a statement. “Core Compete’s approach to cloud analytics transformation helps us further accelerate time to value for our clients, giving them the right tools, strategy and talent to reap the full benefits of being data-driven.”

Imaginea

With the acquisition of Imaginea, a California-based cloud native product and platform engineering firm, Accenture drives to expand its global cloud first capabilities. Imaginea helps companies push innovation through disruptive technologies in turn transforming their businesses digitally and capturing new opportunities.

With offices in London and India, Imaginea advises more than 200 clients globally to deliver cloud-first transformations. The acquisition adds about 1,350 cloud professionals to Accenture, bringing a cloud native, full stack engineering team with cloud data and cloud modernization expertise across Amazon Web Services, Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

“Cloud is an even more critical enabler as companies are increasing their focus on enterprise-wide transformations and rapidly moving to digital and cloud-powered models,” said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet in a statement.

Industrie&Co

In late May, Accenture acquired Industrie&Co, a Sydney, Australia-based technology consultancy that designs and creates cloud native solutions for enterprises and cloud-based companies. The acquisition expanded Accenture’s Cloud First capabilities in delivering cloud native services for clients, such as those in financial services, as they transform into digital-based businesses.

With offices in Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore, Industrie&Co brought expertise to cloud infrastructure engineering and design and delivery of cloud products and platforms.

“Cloud is the foundation for digital transformation and success in the next decade will be defined by the new experiences, products and services that cloud makes possible,” said Karthik Narain, global lead for Accenture Cloud First, in a statement. “Industrie&Co brings even more cloud-first skills to help Accenture clients innovate with speed, predictability and holistic value as they shape, move and operate their businesses in the cloud.”

Infinity Works

Accenture acquired UK-based cloud and digital transformation consultancy Infinity Works which strengthens and expands cloud delivery and engineering capabilities of Accenture Cloud First in the UK.

Headquartered in Leeds, England, Infinity Works brings experience to retail, financial services and digital-led projects in national government. It provides a range of services including cloud, data, design and research, mobile and full-stack engineering. It brings to Accenture about 440 employees including software engineers, data engineers, cloud architects and cloud certified specialists.

Linkbynet

Accenture acquired Linkbynet, a French cloud services provider which specializes in cloud optimization and managed services, cloud transformation and cloud security. The acquisition enhances Accenture Cloud First’ support for clients’ cloud migrations and business transformations.

With offices in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Singapore and Vietnam, Linkbynet brings along more than 900 professionals who hold 400 certifications from major cloud providers such as Alibaba, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

“Entire industries have been challenged to not only reinvent their customer experience, but also their core offerings, while imagining new business models for the future,” said Olivier Girard, market unit lead for Accenture France & Benelux, in a statement. “With advisory and digital transformation experience across cloud implementation, security, management and optimization, the Linkbynet team brings critical skills that would help Accenture clients adopt emerging technologies and scale them across their enterprise for strategic agility in a challenging business environment.”

Novetta

In early June, Accenture Federal Services, a subsidiary of Accenture, acquired Novetta, an Arlington, Va.-based analytics company that serves U.S. federal organizations associated with machine learning, cyber and cloud engineering platforms.

Novetta applies insights and disruptive technologies to transform how defense, intelligence and law enforcement organizations could use data to better their missions.

“Novetta will bring expanded capabilities, broad client relationships and unique assets that complement our work in the national security sector and add greater scale to our digital capabilities,” said Accenture Federal Services CEO John Goodman in a statement. “By joining forces, we will help clients in all government sectors become leaders in using sophisticated analytics and emerging technologies to solve problems in new ways and transform how they meet their missions.”

Pollux

With acquiring Pollux, a Brazil-based provider of industrial robotics and automation solutions, Accenture expanded capabilities for clients in consumer goods, pharmaceutical and automotive industries. It was Accenture’s first acquisition of an industrial robotics solutions provider.

Pollux’s more than 290 professionals joined Accenture’s Industry X, a group that works to provide intelligence in how clients run factories and plants, as well as design and engineer connected products and services.

“The needs of our clients are driving strong momentum in our business, with an acceleration of continued strong double-digit growth across applied intelligence, cloud, Industry X, operations and security,” said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet in a statement. “With interactive and intelligent platform services returning to strong double-digit growth this quarter, these strategic priorities are multi service and are powered by our unparalleled technology ecosystem relationships.”

REPL Group

REPL Group, a UK-based technology consultancy, was acquired in March and specializes in solutions for supply chain, workforce management, store operations and retail customer experiences.

The acquisition helps expands Accenture’s capabilities to help clients across retail and adjacent industries by transforming supply chains and operations and delivering uninterrupted customer and employee experiences. REPL uses retail expertise and cutting-edge technology skills to help global businesses deliver sustainable value.

“With COVID-19 permanently disrupting the retail landscape, businesses need technology more than ever to embrace change and deliver products to customers where and when they want them,” said Doug Blyth, a managing director at Accenture Technology in the U.K. and Ireland, in a statement. “With REPL now part of Accenture, we have significantly grown our capabilities to help clients reimagine their supply chains, people and store technologies to become more efficient and meet new customer needs.”

umlaut

The engineering consulting and services firm, headquartered in Germany, was acquired in June and will help Accenture meet the demand to apply data and digital platforms to the design, engineering and manufacturing of products for leading international companies.

The acquisition will add more than 4,200 engineers and consultants across 17 countries to Accenture’s Industry X services, which will expand capabilities across multiple industries, including automotive, aerospace and defense, telecommunications, energy and utilities.

“We predicted that digital would ultimately be applied at scale to the core of a company’s business – the design, engineering and manufacturing of their products,” said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet in the earnings call on Thursday. “For nearly a decade Accenture has been building the unique capabilities and ecosystem partnerships to combine the power of digital with traditional engineering services.”

Wolox

Early in the year, Accenture acquired Wolox, an Argentinean cloud native and development company that provides digital solutions to help clients achieve successful business outcomes.
Founded in 2012, Wolox has more than 280 experts in digital business design, product creation and agile squads. The acquisition will help Accenture drive cloud first and digital transformation capabilities in Argentina and South America.

“The acquisition of Wolox brings differentiated skills to Accenture, as the team uniquely blends cloud native development with design and state-of-the-art technologies for business transformation,” said Karthik Narain, global lead for Accenture Cloud First, in a statement. “Wolox has multidisciplinary teams of industry and business experts, UX/UI designers, software designers, architects and engineers and, together, we’re now more equipped to help clients tap into the technology expertise and human ingenuity that powers how Accenture innovates.”