Accenture will acquire London data consultancy firm Mudano

4 Feb 2020

London's financial district. Image: conceptualmotion/Stock.adobe.com

With the acquisition of Mudano, Accenture aims to strengthen its analytics, data and artificial intelligence transformation capabilities.

On Monday (3 February), Accenture confirmed that it has agreed to acquire strategic data consultancy firm Mudano.

Based in London, Mudano offers consultancy services to financial services firms. The company was founded in 2014 by Andrew Mantilas, Ed Broussard, Jon Summers and Sandi Chanda.

Mudano’s team of data professionals will now join Accenture Applied Intelligence, which employs more than 20,000 people worldwide including 6,000 data scientists, data engineers and AI professionals who help Accenture’s clients scale AI.

The multinational professional services company said that the acquisition will further enhance its analytics, data and artificial intelligence transformation capabilities.

In a statement, Accenture said: “Mudano’s data advisory expertise and technology solutions will complement Accenture’s existing capabilities and strengthen its commitment to helping clients generate measurable value and return on investment from large-scale transformation projects.”

Scaling AI for business

Mudano has extended its presence beyond London and into Edinburgh. At its two UK hubs, the company uses advanced analytics, applied data science and modern data technologies to help some of the UK’s largest banks, insurers and wealth management firms transform key areas such as customer behaviour analytics, financial crime prevention and intelligent data management.

George Marcotte, a managing director at Accenture’s Applied Intelligence group in Ireland and the UK, said: “Our research shows that UK businesses are struggling with how to scale technologies like artificial intelligence to deliver business value – and financial services is no exception.

“Mudano’s focus on helping clients build a ‘data culture’ aligns perfectly to Accenture’s Applied Intelligence strategy. By creating a strong data foundation – supported by the right skills, stakeholders and technologies – our clients can transform at speed and scale and fuel real change for their business.”

Accenture Applied Intelligence

Broussard, who is CEO of Mudano, added: “Accenture’s reputation for excellence and large-scale delivery will enable us to help clients realise the benefits of data transformation – from setting the strategy and building the culture to leveraging the game-changing insights that data analytics can bring.

“We are excited to become part of one of the world’s leading companies and look forward to the opportunities this will bring for our employees and clients.”

Accenture is expanding its expertise in this area. In recent months, the Applied Intelligence arm of the business has acquired Clarity Insights, Pragsis Bidoop and Analytics8.

Athina Kanioura, chief analytics officer and global lead of Accenture Applied Intelligence, said: “Our acquisition momentum in Applied Intelligence over the past six months enables us to deliver AI at scale to clients around the world across a range of industries.

“By bringing new talent and capabilities into our business, we complement our ongoing organic growth strategy and increase our speed to market.”

Elsewhere, Accenture also announced plans this week to acquire Workday, Salesforce and US MuleSoft practices from IT service management company Sierra-Cedar, in an effort to strengthen its position in the Workday ecosystem.

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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