Accenture to acquire “umlaut” to scale deep engineering capabilities

Accenture has announced the acquisition of umlaut to help scale Accenture’s deep engineering capabilities. The move will enable its consumer companies to use digital technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence, and 5G. Together the scalability will transform companies design, engineer and manufacture their products and embed sustainability. According to the company statement, the acquisition will add more than 4,200 industry-leading engineers and consultants across 17 countries to Accenture’s Industry X services. Further, it will expand the company’s capabilities across a range of industries. Some prominent names include automotive, aerospace and defence, telecommunications, energy and utilities.

“We predicted that digital would ultimately be applied at scale to the core of a company’s business; the design, engineering and manufacturing of their products. And, for nearly a decade Accenture has been building the unique capabilities and ecosystem partnerships to combine the power of digital with traditional engineering services,” said Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture. “COVID-19 has accelerated the need for companies to transform these core operations; umlaut’s leading and highly-specialized engineering services will thus enhance our ability to meet the accelerating demand. It will also continue innovating for our clients.”

“Bringing world-class digital engineering and manufacturing expertise to our clients helps them rapidly scale, accelerate growth, improve productivity and safety, and embed sustainability across their operations,” Nigel Stacey, global lead of Accenture Industry X further added. “From consumers to R&D to the supply chain and factory floor, and back again, companies that use the power of data and digital to build value will become - and also remain - relevant, resilient and responsible.”

umlaut’s capabilities span traditional and digital engineering services; testing and validation of smart connected products; strategy, process and organizational consulting; and hardware product development as well as software development.

“Business leaders across many industries face the convergence of the digital and the product world. Thus, they are looking for a trusted partner that understands their language; someone who can really help navigate each step of the journey to bring tangible outcomes in engineering and manufacturing,” said Marc Peter Althoff, CTO, umlaut. “We are excited to bring our unique engineering and consulting culture, deep industry know-how and subject matter expertise to Accenture Industry X and jointly create the capabilities and scale to help clients successfully transform.”

umlaut is next in a series of 22 acquisitions that Accenture has made since 2017. The company aims to build its Industry X capabilities.

Thus, more recent acquisitions by Accenture include:

• Operations technology provider Electro 80 (Australia)

• Industrial robotics and automation services provider Pollux (Brazil)

• Operations consultancy Myrtle (US)

• Technology consultancy SALT Solutions (Germany).

Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions. The company statements have not released the financial terms of the acquisition.