Altimeter and Capgemini Consulting form partnership
Two powerhouses in the digital landscape – Altimeter Group and Capgemini Consulting – have decided to join forces and form a strategic partnership. Together, the two partners will be able to provide clients with a full suite of digital services, from research and strategic advisory to pragmatic implementation.
Altimeter Group, founded in 2008 by Charlene Li, is a research and advisory firm that specialises in Digital Transformation, Social Business, Data Disruption, Content Strategy, and Leadership. The firm, which distinguishes itself from well-known competitors such as Gartner, Forrester and IDC through its ‘open research model’*, has just under 20 employees and is based in San Mateo, California. Capgemini Consulting, the advisory unit of Capgemini, is with more than 3,600 management and IT consultants across the globe one of the top-20 international players in the consulting industry.
By working together, Capgemini Consulting and Altimeter Group will be able to boost their joint service portfolio: Capgemini Consulting will obtain access to deeper research, thought leadership and Altimeter’s strategic frameworks, while Altimeter’s will be able to extend its offerings into execution phases, including transformation implementation and IT services. “Capgemini specialises in working with companies to make sure they are using technology and strategy correctly. We don’t have the people to do that, so we were looking for a partner who could work with us when we have clients who need more of the implementation work” explains Li. As a result of the bundling of services, the partners will according to Li be able to provide a “full-spectrum of digital transformation services, from research-driven visioning and strategy to pragmatic implementation.”
Based on Altimeter’s presence and current focus on the US, the relationship will initially target the North America market, with a focus on the financial services, retail, consumer products, high technology and manufacturing sectors. Once the fundament is in place the partners eye extending their strategic alliance into France, Capgemini’s home-market, and the rest of Europe.
“We’ve already begun collaborating on joint research and plan to deliver that research in the coming months. We look forward to combining our strengths to help companies anticipate and react to disruptive technologies and digital transformation,” says Li, who in her early days worked for consulting firm Monitor**.
Though leadership
For Capgemini Consulting it is the second large partnership in the research space. For over three years now it has been working closely together with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the area of digital transformation, which has resulted in dozens of publications, including the recently released 'Leading Digital' book. The MIT partnership has to date had a major impact on the quality of its thought leadership and overall research reputation – a recent report from Source reveals that Capgemini Consulting currently produces the 2nd best thought leadership in the consulting industry, trailing just IBM. The top five:
* Altimeter releases all its research, from formal reports to presentations and webinars, with a Creative Commons license, allowing readers to use its work freely given the appropriate citations are used.
** Monitor went bankrupt in 2012, and was then acquired for a bargain by Deloitte.