BearingPoint boosts IoT offerings with relayr alliance
Global consulting firm BearingPoint has agreed a partnership with relayr, a German specialist in the field of connected devices. With the move, BearingPoint bolsters its Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, and will work with relayr to help companies develop new IoT products and solutions.
According to analysts, the Internet of Things, a term used to describe networks of connected devices and related services, represents one of the largest drivers of productivity and growth in the next decade. In a recent study from PwC the advisors estimate that by 2020 the globe will have up to 30 billion connected devices, representing an IoT market value of around $9 trillion. A more forward-looking analysis by McKinsey & Company finds that by 2025 the total economic benefit of the technology could break through the $11 trillion mark.
With the IoT market booming, and demand for advisory and support sky-high, professional services firms are anxiously boosting their portfolio in the domain. Against the backdrop, BearingPoint, with more than 3,400 consultants across the globe one of the larger business and technology consultancies, has agreed an alliance with Berlin-based relayr. As part of the deal, the partners will bundle their IoT expertise to provide more integrated business and tech services. The two companies will also work together to provide IoT acceleration workshops and rapid prototyping services, enabling companies to in an accessible manner experience the potential of the disruptive phenomenon.
“At these workshops, companies can learn how they can easily develop IoT solutions that will increase efficiency and even build their first proof-of-concept solutions, with the help of relayr’s technical and cloud expertise and BearingPoint’s decades long experience in process design and IT integration,” explains Donald Wachs, a Germany-based Partner at BearingPoint. According to Wachs, through using their joint IoT technology the partners are in a position to develop prototypes in “a few hours”, and implement complete solutions in “as little as one business quarter.”
A third component of the alliance is collaboration in the area of SAP. Initially, the joining of forces will focus on integrating the relayr cloud to business processes primarily managed by SAP systems, allowing sensor data to be shared for beneficial new use cases in areas such as customer service and new business offerings. Other areas of benefit include among others remote control and monitoring, and predictive maintenance.
“We’re delighted to be working with BearingPoint on process integration. This partnership will build growth, aid digital transformation and bring companies into the Internet of Things faster and easier,” says Jens Mueller, Vice President Sales & Business Development at relayr.
Consulting partners
For relayr, BearingPoint is the third major consultancy to join its partner network. The fast growing startup, founded in 2013, previously struck alliances with Accenture and A.T. Kearney. "relayr's Cloud, SDKs and WunderBar are rapidly facilitating and bringing us and our customers into the Internet of Things," comments Sebastian Schoemann, Principal Digital Transformation at A.T. Kearney. Frank Riemensperger, Senior Managing Director at Accenture, adds: “Accenture is helping global enterprise and industry customers learn fast how to take advantage of the IoT for the digital transformation of their business processes, but also for their customers. The relayr tech stack - from their Cloud Platform and Data Services down to the connected devices - enables us to take our customers from first prototype to roll-out in a few months."
Last month BearingPoint agreed a partnership with Unit4 in the UK, expanding its Unit4-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) offerings.
