Business

The ever-acquisitive Accenture

Will Accenture’s takeover spree ever slow down?

11 June 2019

There's no doubt that Accenture is one of the most acquisitive technology companies the world has ever known. For example, in the past 30 months, it has acquired over 50 companies, and those are just the publicised ones. As a result of several of the acquisitions made in the past 12 months, Accenture has also become one of the biggest digital agencies in the world. And its appetite doesn't seem to be waning.

For the casual observer, the Ireland-based outsourcing and consulting firm might seem to be randomly buying up companies across the world. But there’s a calculated strategy behind it all, which is very much in line with the way the market is evolving. From a technology perspective, Accenture is involved in three key, well-understood areas: IoT, cloud and cyber security. But it has also identified five other emerging trends it believes will be essential to success in the digital economy. The first, and widely recognised, is AI. The second is what it calls ‘design for humans’, which focuses on how technology can enhance the lives of people and shape technology to act as a guide to reach desired results. The third trend is ‘ecosystems as macrocosms’, which focuses on platform companies that provide single access to multiple services and have broken the traditional rules for how companies operate and compete. The next trend is the ‘workforce marketplace’, which involves companies dissolving traditional hierarchies and replacing them with on-demand labour platforms. The fifth and final trend is what Accenture calls ‘the uncharted’. It says to succeed in the digital economy, businesses must move into uncharted territory, not just focusing on new products and services, but thinking bigger and seizing opportunities to establish rules and standards for entirely new industries. Accenture’s acquisitions tie into one or more of these trends.

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