Accenture has acquired London-based customer intelligence firm Sagacity, adding more than 140 specialists to Accenture Song in the UK and Ireland. It gives operators in banking, retail, utilities and telecoms a consultancy with added delivery capacity for turning customer data into retention and revenue programmes.

Accenture is a professional services group, and Accenture Song is its marketing and customer division.

Sagacity was founded in 2005 by Anita Dougall, Malka Townshend and Harry Dougall, and works on customer data, analytics and technology for organisations with large customer bases and complex service relationships.

Sagacity’s team will join Accenture Song’s UK and Ireland operations, extending its reach from customer strategy and design to implementation and ongoing operations.

Sohel Aziz, senior managing director of Accenture Song in the UK and Ireland, said: “Our clients are increasingly looking to connect data, AI and operations to drive growth and reinvent customer experiences.”

Aziz said: “Sagacity’s deep expertise and outcome-focused approach will enhance our ability to help clients turn insight into action and achieve measurable results through intelligent customer operations.”

Anita Dougall, chief executive and co-founder of Sagacity, said: “Joining Accenture represents an exciting opportunity to accelerate the impact of our people, data and technology.”

Dougall said combining Sagacity’s expertise, data and know-how with Accenture’s scale and innovation capabilities would help more organisations deliver meaningful business results.

The deal fits a wider pattern. Pulse 2 reported that Accenture has increasingly focused its acquisition activity on areas where AI, data, technology and business operations can be combined to produce measurable outcomes.

Stocktwits reported that the transaction follows a year of significant acquisition spending as Accenture expands in AI, cybersecurity and other technology services.

For the sector, a consultancy buying a data specialist to run customer operations signals that clients want insight and execution delivered by one team, not separate advisory and delivery contracts.

Source: IT Brief UK / Pulse 2 / Stocktwits