Data advisory firm Mudano to join Accenture

Global consulting firm Accenture has announced an agreement to acquire Mudano, a strategic data advisory company which supports to UK financial services firms. The news sees Accenture continue its colossal investment campaign, which saw it spend around $1.2 billion on acquisitions globally in 2019.

In the last three years, Accenture has marked itself out as one of the highest-spending consulting firms in the world. In 2017, a drive to rapidly upscale its marketing and design wing led the company to commit to a $1 billion splurge. The spending spree has since propelled its Interactive wing to international success, with its growth hitting 20% in 2019.

Further looking to acquisitions to buoy its performance elsewhere, Accenture put a further $1.2 billion war-chest toward global acquisitions last year. The total of 33 acquisitions globally were used to rapidly acquire critical skills and capabilities in strategic, high-growth areas of the market, amid a time of intense competition for talent across leading markets.

Now, Accenture has kicked off 2020 by signalling its intent to pick up in the new decade from where it left off in the last. The start of February saw the firm announce it has agreed to purchase Mudano, a strategic data consultancy to UK financial services firms, further enhancing its analytics, data and artificial intelligence (AI) transformation capabilities. The deal follows Accenture Applied Intelligence having also acquired Clarity Insights, Pragsis Bidoop and Analytics8 in the past few months, all of which bolstered its ability to meet growing client demand in the US, Spain and Australia, respectively.

Mudan was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in London. Also boasting a presence in Edinburgh, Mudano uses advanced analytics, applied data science and modern data technologies to help the UK’s largest banks, insurers and wealth management firms transform key areas, such as customer behavior analytics, financial crime-prevention and intelligent data management. With 87% of businesses still struggling to scale AI to deliver business value, and with financial services clients also recognising this as a key area of business need, Maduro provides Accenture with excellent opportunities to grow within the space.

Ed Broussard, Mudano CEO, remarked, “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.”

Mudano’s team of industry-focused data professionals will join Accenture’s global Applied Intelligence team of more than 20,000 professionals. Mudano’s data advisory expertise and technology solutions are expected to complement Accenture’s existing capabilities and strengthen its commitment to helping clients generate measurable value and return on investment from large-scale transformation projects. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

George Marcotte, who leads Accenture’s Applied Intelligence group in the UK and Ireland, said, “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.”