IT firm Accenture to acquire German company Umlaut

NEW DELHI: Global IT and professional services firm Accenture on Tuesday said it will acquire German firm Umlaut to scale its deep engineering capabilities in digital technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence and 5G.

No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

Umlaut is an engineering consulting and services firm headquartered in Aachen, Germany.

The acquisition will add 4,200 engineers and consultants across 17 countries, including India.

"The move will significantly scale Accenture's deep engineering capabilities to help companies use digital technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence, and 5G to transform how they design, engineer and manufacture their products as well as embed sustainability," a statement said.

The acquisition will help expand Accenture's capabilities across a range of industries, including automotive, aerospace and defence, 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.

And, for nearly a decade Accenture has been building the unique capabilities and ecosystem partnerships to combine the power of digital with traditional engineering services," Accenture Chief Executive Officer Julie Sweet said.

COVID-19 has accelerated the need for companies to transform these core operations, and Umlaut's highly specialised engineering services will enhance Accenture's ability to meet the accelerating demand and also continue innovating for clients, she added.

"We are excited to bring our unique engineering and consulting culture, deep industry know-how and subject matter expertise to Accenture Industry X and jointly create the capabilities and scale to help clients successfully transform,” Marc Peter Althoff, Chief Technology Officer at Umlaut, said.

Umlaut will be next in a series of 22 acquisitions Accenture has made since 2017 to build its 'Industry X' capabilities.

More recent acquisitions include operations technology provider Electro 80 (Australia), industrial robotics and automation services provider Pollux (Brazil), operations consultancy Myrtle (US) and technology consultancy SALT Solutions (Germany).

The completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.