Accenture buys Certus Solutions to further Oracle capabilities in the UK

Accenture has signed an agreement to acquire Oracle Cloud implementation partner Certus Solutions for an undisclosed fee. The deal is aimed at strengthening Accenture’s ability to help clients with their Cloud transformations and to become intelligent enterprises.

Global IT and consulting firm Accenture has teamed up with Oracle for more than two decades, with more than 54,000 Oracle-skilled consultants around the world working to help accelerate digital transformation by implementing Oracle-based business solutions and new business processes that develop and evolve as their digital business. The firm is a Global Cloud Elite and Platinum level member of the Oracle Partner Network, as well as an Oracle Cloud Excellence Implementer, and was recently awarded the 2018 Partner of the Year for Oracle ERP Cloud in the UK & Ireland by Oracle. Such are the synergies between Accenture and Oracle, that Oracle even reportedly hired a consulting team to moot an acquisition bid for the firm. While that ultimately did not amount to anything, the relationship between the companies remains a keystone element of Accenture’s business.

Now, expanding its Oracle offering, Accenture has completed a deal of its own to acquire Certus Solutions, one of the UK’s top Oracle Cloud implementation service providers. Subject to customary closing conditions being met, the deal means Certus Solutions will subsequently become part of Accenture’s Oracle practice, an occurrence which further strengthens its capabilities in delivering digital transformation on Oracle Cloud.

Certus Solutions has extensive experience in the government and health and public services industries, in addition to clients in the financial services, logistics and telecommunications sectors. Together, Accenture and Certus Solutions will combine deep cloud experience, transformational expertise and industry knowledge to better serve clients on their journey to Oracle Cloud. Accenture and Certus Solutions have a track record of working together on a range of projects, including one of the largest Oracle Cloud roll-outs for a UK government department to-date.

“Accenture is focused on delivering the latest innovations in cloud, analytics, and intelligent automation and artificial intelligence to help clients become intelligent enterprises,” said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture Technology Services. “With the addition of Certus Solutions, we’re further expanding our Oracle Cloud services and capabilities that help organisations accelerate their digital transformation and achieve better business outcomes.”

Mark Sweeny, founder and CEO of Certus Solutions said, “Accenture is at the forefront of positive transformational change, but what’s truly exciting is what Certus Solutions can add that will benefit our clients. There is a tremendous opportunity to do some great work and we’re looking forward to taking that on together. We have gone from being one of the first Oracle Cloud Partners to become one of the most successful, and a big reason for that is the quality of our people. This is a market that needs specialists with broad experience, which is rare in this highly demanding and competitive market.”

Zahra Bahrololoumi, head of Accenture Technology for UK & Ireland, added, “This acquisition brings a team with highly respected Oracle Cloud expertise and extends the capabilities of our market leading Oracle practice. By joining together we can add scale to provide excellent solutions to our joint clients and expand Certus Solutions into more areas of the Oracle ecosystem.”