According to Deloitte, this move – on top of its absorption of the teams from five other specialist companies – will make it the leader in AI, data and ML.

The Intellify team will join Deloitte's consulting operation later this month.

"The sky really is the limit when it comes to AI, data and ML, and technology's potential to drive improved productivity and deliver hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy and future prosperity," said Deloitte national AI leader Dr Kellie Nuttall.

"Deloitte research shows that over 90% of Australian executives view AI as crucial to remaining competitive, and from supply chain optimismation to hyper personalisation of customer and citizen experience, Australian organisations are getting serious about the critical role that AI, data and ML technologies will play in unlocking new sources of value and driving the next evolution of business transformation in our country.

"The pandemic has encouraged the accelerated adoption of AI technologies as businesses and governments transition from experimenting with AI to embedding and scaling AI across all areas of operation. But it only delivers value when it is put into production and operated as a core system of the organisation.

"The arrival of the highly credentialed Intellify team will add greater scale and depth of capability to our offerings, given their deep understanding of the entire AI management lifecycle, and we're excited to be bringing them into Deloitte."

Deloitte national data and AI leader Stuart Scotis added "Intellify has been successfully delivering high value solutions for a number of years, and our teams coming together will offer clients both deep technical experience and sector solutions addressing opportunities like personalisation, value chain optimisation and workforce optimisation.

"As the leader in this space, the move also positions our firm as an even stronger supporter of Australia's significant investment in unlocking the country's AI opportunity."

The Intellify team of more than 40 certified AI/ML developers will join Deloitte's existing 600-strong AI, data and ML professionals who serve business and public sector clients. Intellify has been addressing the banking, insurance, energy, government and retail sectors.

Intellify co-CEOs Matt Alamdari and Kale Temple will become Deloitte Consulting partners.

Alamdari said "By simplifying the complexity of creating value from data, we build competitive advantage for our clients by delivering smarter, faster and more scalable decisions through AI and ML.

"With Deloitte, it's very much a meeting of minds. The firm has a strong existing market presence in Australia and globally, and our being part of this investment in the future is a logical next step for us and our people."

Temple added "Our team has achieved a great deal in a short time – in terms of market presence and the value and opportunity we know we provide to our clients.

"Joining a bigger consulting business, and one so strong as an alliance partner of both AWS and Databricks, is the right move, at the right time, for us."

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.