EY welcomes UK team of Australian consultancy Blackdot

The UK organisation of EY has welcomed a team of close to two dozen consultants to its Customer & Growth practice, following the acquisition of Australia-based Blackdot.

Yesterday, Big Four firm EY closed its second deal in just three weeks in Australia, purchasing Blackdot for an undisclosed sum. Headquartered in Sydney, 60-strong Blackdot has a team of around 30 in Australia, 18 in the UK, with the remaining team members operating from bases in Singapore and Canada. 

Founded in 2001, Blackdot is a customer experience specialist, advising clients on customer strategy, design, user experience, digitisation, omni-channel, go-to-market and implementation.

“Blackdot is a great addition to EY consulting teams’ capabilities and we look forward to working with them,” said Alison Kay, Managing Partner for Client Service at EY in the UK & Ireland. 

As part of the integration, company founder Marty Nicholas will join EY as a partner in its Sydney office. The UK team, led by Mark Taylor, join EY’s London office. 

Benoit Laclau, Managing Partner for Consulting UK & Ireland, remarked, “We look forward to welcoming the Blackdot team and clients to the EY organisation at what is an exciting period of ambitious growth and development.” 

Laclau is referring to EY’s ambitious growth strategy for its consulting division, launched to the media last week. Now 5,000 strong, Laclau and his leadership team aim to double the number of professionals to over 10,000 by 2026. A £75 million investment has been freed up to support the journey. 

The deal comes hot on the heels of the acquisition of Irish technology consultancy Client Solutions. Earlier transactions closed by EY’s consulting division in the region include those of: CMA Strategy Consulting, Lane4, Frank Hirth, Pythagoras, Seaton Partners and PeakEPM. 

Internationally, the Big Four has completed several deals in the first quarter of 2022, including two by EY-Parthenon, the firm’s strategy consulting wing (which sits within the Strategy& Transactions division).