Accenture buys boutique US analytics consultancy OPS Rules
Accenture has acquired OPS Rules, a boutique US analytics consulting company that specialises in the application of data science in the field of supply chain and operations. OPS Rules will be integrated into Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital, and will also be a part of Accenture’s Data Science Center of Excellence.
Founded in 2012, OPS Rules has offices in Waltham, Massachusetts and Richardson, Texas. The company applies machine learning and optimisation techniques to support clients gain fresh and analytics based insights into their complex business challenges in the fields of supply chain, procurement risk and dynamic pricing. OPS Rules is led by David Simchi-Levi, a Professor of Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and renowned supply chain and operations analytics expert.
Accenture’s pickup of OPS Rules – terms of the deal have not been disclosed – bolster the firm’s operational analytics capabilities and its ability to advise on and support data-driven transformations. The added entity will join Accenture Analytics in the US. “Our mission is in total alignment with Accenture Analytics – meaning every day we are focused on helping clients identify and capture hidden opportunities in their data,” says Simchi-Levi. “By joining Accenture, we will be able to tap into its global footprint, ability to deliver at scale, and deep industry knowledge to collaborate on advanced and operational analytics strategies that can empower even greater change.”
Within Accenture, OPS Rules will focus predominantly on the North American market, although Simchi-Levi will be freed up to also meet with Accenture’s key clients around the globe.
Michael Svilar, Managing Director of Accenture Analytics, says that OPS Rules will focus on ideas that are two or three steps away from becoming a finalised offering, and will seek to identify ways to bring machine learning to the Internet of Things space. The focus will be on clients in the retail, high-tech, life sciences and industrial verticals, although Svilar points out that in the coming month synergies with other industries will be explored.
The move is one of a series from Accenture in the wake of the growing importance of analytics and machine learning to (digitised) operations. Within the past year, Accenture launched the Accenture Insights Platform, a cloud-based analytics-as-a-service solution designed to simplify analytics and deliver real-time actionable insights, and the Accenture Cyber Intelligence Platform, a security solution that uses machine learning and streaming analytics to help organisations identify network-born cyber threats. Accenture also acquired Gapso, an analytics services and solutions provider based in Brazil.
