Accenture is investing millions in acquisitions to boost its Accenture Cloud First and banking business units as the IT services powerhouse today unveiled its purchase of financial cloud services specialist Allgemeines Rechenzentrum GmbH along with its 600 employees.
Accenture, which ranks No. 1 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 list, plans to expand Accenture’s cloud-based banking platform-as-a-service with the acqusition of Allgemeines Rechenzentrum GmbH (ARZ), in part, by leveraging the Austria-based company’s technology competence center for innovation and services that target the banking industry.
“Our vision is to develop an innovative cloud-based banking platform-as-a-service offering for new and existing clients across Europe,” said Roland Smertnig, senior managing director of Accenture’s financial services practice in Europe, in a statement. “By acquiring ARZ, we are expanding our digital transformation capabilities to help banks of the future as they look to move more of their core functions to the cloud, enable new business models, and reinvent the services and experiences they provide to customers.”
ARZ is majority-owned by Volksbanken Group and Hypobanken Group as well as other private banks. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Recent Accenture Cloud And Banking Acquisitions
ARZ isn’t the only company Accenture recently acquired to boost its cloudstrategy on a worldwide basis. https://7c9499ab2a4f31c0ac168afad633568f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
In April, Ireland-based Accenture acquired Ergo, a data-driven cloud business that helps customers leverage big data, analytics and artificial intelligence for decision-making. The Argentina-based company had its 200 data specialists join Accenture’s Data & AI team within its Accenture Cloud First organization.
In late March, Accenture also acquired cloud engineering and operational technology capabilities from Trancom ITS, a Japanese logistics technology services provider. Around 200 engineers from Trancom ITS, which focuses on cloud-based logistics systems and optimizing warehouse operations with IoT and sensor technology, joined Accenture’s Industry X business.
On the banking front, Accenture acquired consulting firm Exton Consulting in 2021. The France-based consulting firm provides banking strategy support to financial services clients across Europe.
Accenture also made a strategic investment through its Accenture Ventures capital arm in cloud-based company Imburse, which provides a payments-as-a-service enterprise platform that simplifies the way businesses across the world access the global payments ecosystem.
Accenture’s Banking industry group aims to help retail and commercial banks and payments providers address business, technology and regulatory challenges, as well as improve operational performance to build trust and engagement with customers.
Accenture Acquires Seven Companies In A Matter Of Weeks
The $50.5 billion international IT services giant is known as one of the largest channel consolidators on the planet, consistently growing its headcount and technology capabilities each year via dozens of acquisitions.
Accenture has acquired approximately 225 companies since 2013, with the goal of scaling via acquisitions at a rapid pace.
The now 700,000-strong employee company acquired a whopping seven companies over the span of just six weeks—from late March until early May.
On May 2, Accenture acquired sustainability consultancy firm akzente, a Germany-based company that helps customers in financial services, energy and consumer goods build sustainability into the core of their businesses.
In addition to Ergo and Trancom ITS, Accenture also recently acquired Brussels-based Greenfish, an engineering and advisory services company specializing in sustainability consulting services.
In April, Accenture completed its acquisition of U.K.-based sustainability consultant specialist Avieco, as well as Paris-based network services standout AFD Tech.
Lastly, Accenture kicked off its acquisition spree on March 24 by acquiring Barcelona-based Alfa Consulting, which specializes in operations strategy in capital-intensive industries.
Accenture is one of the largest global solution providers in the world, specializing in professional services and digital, cloud and security technologies. The company now serves customers in over 120 countries.