Accenture continues its long buying spree with the acquisition of Strongbow Consulting. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is technology M&A deal number 216 that ChannelE2E and MSSP Alert have covered so far in 2023. See more than 2,000 technology M&A deals for 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 listed here.
Accenture, founded in 1989, is based in Dublin, Ireland. The company has 552,867 employees listed on LinkedIn. Accenture’s areas of expertise include artificial intelligence, cloud computing and security.
Strongbow Consulting, founded in 2014, is based in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The company has 59 employees listed on LinkedIn. Strongbow’s areas of expertise include Network Transformation, Operational Efficiency, Network Optimization, Requirements Documentation, Business Case Development, Sourcing and Selection, Solution Design, Negotiation Support, Implementation Planning, and Program Management Office.
Strongbow’s Team to Join Accenture’s Tech Value Group
Strongbow Consulting’s team will join Accenture’s Technology Strategy & Advisory practice, and form a core component of Accenture’s Tech Value practice, which launched last year when Advocate was acquired, Accenture said.
Strongbow Consulting will help expand Accenture’s Technology Business Management (TBM), the company added.
Accenture Acquires Strongbow Consulting: Additional Commentary
Keith Boone, technology strategy & advisory North America lead, Accenture, commented:
“This acquisition reinforces and fuels our ambition of helping clients seek, find and expand value by extracting maximum utility from their technology investments. Strongbow Consulting will assist our clients in architecting, designing and running infrastructure modernization programs that improve speed to market and provide the agility required by today’s digital businesses. In addition to planning and building for the future, Strongbow Consulting’s command of balancing infrastructure stability with cost efficiency delivers the competitive advantage our clients ultimately need to succeed in today’s era of Total Enterprise Reinvention.”
Cathy Horst Forsyth, founder and CEO, Strongbow Consulting, said:
“For nearly a decade, clients have relied on Strongbow Consulting to identify the optimal technology solutions to meet their business needs, while yielding better performing, more reliable global infrastructure that returns significant savings to their bottom line. We are excited to bring our expertise to bear in order to scale and further augment Accenture’s Tech Value capabilities while helping more clients extract maximum value from their technology investments.”
Accenture Layoffs
The acquisition comes approximately one month after Accenture announced a second round of layoffs at its Austin location, with more than 700 people losing their jobs.
Accenture currently employs around 5,900 people in Austin, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Those layoffs followed a wider announcement Accenture made in March in an SEC filing that said the company would be cutting 19,000 employees globally, or about 2.5% of its workforce, over the next 18 months.
Despite the layoffs, Accenture continues to buy businesses - acquiring over a dozen businesses in the last 18 months.
You can see a full list of Accenture acquisitions ChannelE2E has tracked here.
Accenture’s AI Investment
Early in June, the tech staffing company announced a $3 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) in its Data and AI practice department. Accenture plans to “double AI talent to 80,000 people through hiring, acquisitions and training.” According to Accenture, the investment into AI will take place over three years.
Accenture plans to use AI as a way to help clients across all industries. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said that because technology is “changing rapidly” she wants Accenture to use AI to help clients navigate their complex environments “quickly and cost-effectively to make smart decisions.”
