Accenture Enhances Cloud First Capabilities in Australia and New Zealand with Acquisition of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure Specialist Firm Olikka
MELBOURNE; Dec 1, 2020 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Olikka, a Melbourne-based provider of cloud migration and related services, enhancing Accenture’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure capabilities, as well as its broader cloud capabilities across Australia and New Zealand.
Founded in 2011, Olikka is a cloud-native solutions provider with approximately 50 full-time employees, including a robust team of certified professionals with extensive experience in AWS and other cloud platforms. As an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, the company specializes in native cloud-based application development, cloud modernization development and security. Olikka also boasts Microsoft Azure capabilities and strong experience with Windows on AWS.
The addition of Olikka’s team will further enhance the global capabilities of Accenture Cloud First, a multi-service group providing the full stack of cloud services to help clients across every industry become "cloud first" businesses so they can accelerate their digital transformation, innovate faster, and create differentiated, sustainable value. Powered by 70,000 cloud professionals, and a $3 billion investment over the next three years, the group brings together an unmatched depth and breadth of cloud expertise, industry cloud solutions, ecosystem partner capabilities and assets that help clients realize greater value from cloud at speed and scale.
“Olikka’s extensive experience with AWS and Azure, coupled with their strong cloud-native capabilities in high demand areas such as application modernization and security, means we can go straight to the heart of our clients’ most pressing challenges and fully deliver value,” said Karthik Narain, global lead for Accenture Cloud First. “With the addition of Olikka’s talented team of cloud application developers, we’ll be better positioned than ever to help companies in the Australian and New Zealand market deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity.”
Many companies have not yet completed their digital transformation and urgently need to fast-track their innovation journeys. Cloud is the key enabler to complete their transformation, and COVID-19 has further accelerated this mandate. This accelerated transition will shift companies to about 80% cloud in the next three years, and Accenture Cloud First is well positioned to help them achieve the strongest business outcomes possible.
“The addition of Olikka will immediately reinforce Accenture’s position as a leading AWS and Microsoft Azure cloud partner in the Australia-New Zealand market,” said Scott Hahn, technology lead for Australia and New Zealand. “We’re confident it will also accelerate our growth through services complimentary to our Cloud First capabilities.”
Left to Right: Ross Gangemi, Michael Pascoe of Olikka
“Joining Accenture is a remarkable opportunity for our team at Olikka to accelerate our growth and continue the journey we started less than 10 years ago,” said Michael Pascoe, managing director of Olikka. “We’ve always made a difference for our clients, and with Accenture’s resources, scale, and ecosystem partnerships we can now scale-up that impact with cloud transformation projects of any size and type. We look forward to contributing our ingenuity, skills and culture to the Accenture team, and to helping clients in the region use cloud to innovate faster to make a difference.”
Over the past 18 months, Accenture has made a number of strategic investments to expand and enhance its technology capabilities in Australia and New Zealand. These include the acquisitions of cloud solutions technology firm Zag in October 2020; data analytics and supply chain management company Icon Integration in February 2020; business strategy and econometrics firm AlphaBeta in February 2020; specialist government consultancy, Apis Group in December 2019; big data and analytics company Analytics8 in August 2019; and cybersecurity and technology company BCT Solutions in June 2019.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services – all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 506,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Many of the following risks, uncertainties and other factors identified below are, and will be, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture’s results of operations have been significantly adversely affected and could in the future be materially adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; Accenture’s results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture’s business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company’s services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if Accenture is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture could face legal, reputational and financial risks if the company fails to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture’s profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture’s level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; as a result of Accenture’s geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue to expand in its key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; Accenture’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; Accenture’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key alliance partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture’s services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture’s results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; Accenture might be unable to access additional capital on favorable terms or at all and if the company raises equity capital, it may dilute its shareholders’ ownership interest in the company; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.
# # #
Contacts:
Georgia Hewett
Accenture ANZ
+61 417 699 567
georgia.hewett@accenture.com
Mylissa Tsai
Accenture
+1 917 452 9729
mylissa.tsai@accenture.com
Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture, and its logo are trademarks of Accenture.