Accenture Pulls Off Another Digital Business Acquisition

Channel giant Accenture has pulled off its second acquisition of 2016, announcing Tuesday that it has purchased a majority stake in the Japanese full-service digital agency IMJ Corp.

The deal is intended to build on Accenture's digital business in Japan by boosting the resources of the company’s $3 billion Interactive division, which provides digital marketing services for clients.

Details of the purchase were not disclosed.

[Related: Accenture To Acquire Industrial IoT Consultancy]

This acquisition is just one of 18 that Accenture -- No. 2 on CRN's 2015 Solution Provider 500 list -- has executed over the past 12 months, in part because of a goal company leadership established last year to spend as much as $1 billion in acquisitions during its current fiscal year.

From 2013 to 2015, Accenture pulled off 38 acquisitions, spending $2.5 billion.

In the past year, Accenture made five acquisitions to strengthen Accenture Interactive, the division that focuses on providing digital marketing services throughout Latin America, the Baltics, the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S.

At Accenture's investor conference in October, Shelly Swanback, group operating officer for Accenture Digital, said Accenture Interactive is her group's fastest growing division.

"We're growing our talent. We're hiring top designers, experienced architects, marketers and technologists," she said.

During the company's most recent quarterly earnings call, CEO Pierre Nanterme said Accenture Interactive has continued to gain traction in the marketplace.

"Accenture Interactive is clearly one of the strongest growth sectors in Accenture overall," said Brian Whipple, the head of Accenture Interactive.

Whipple said that although AI has been making a streak of acquisitions over the past year, it has been choosing its targets very closely and focusing on acquisitions that will lead to organic growth of the four main focus areas of the business: customer experience, digital marketing, commerce and content.

In June 2015, Accenture added Swedish digital content and commerce solutions specialist Brightstep. The deal added 60 people to Accenture Interactive, improving the company's focus on its content and commerce pillars with digital platform selection services, development, implementation and maintenance for companies in the retail, fashion, telecommunications and resources markets in the Baltic states.

A month later, the company bolstered its holdings in Hong Kong and the U.S., buying PacificLink Group and Austin, Texas-based Chaotic Moon. The acquisition of PacificLink increased Accenture's presence in Asia Pacific with 240 new employees, helping open the expanding Greater China market.

Chaotic Moon, on the other hand, boosted Accenture Interactive's rapid prototyping and creative technology capabilities, simultaneously giving the company a foothold in the talent-rich Texas market.

Most recently, Accenture boosted its digital marketing resources in the growing Latin American market when it acquired digital marketing and commerce services company AD.Dialeto, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Following the closing of the IMJ acquisition, Accenture said it will establish a combined management structure for its new, 600-employee addition.

The move will integrate IMJ's digital marketing strategy, content design and development, campaign management and analytics capabilities with Accenture's own marketing services, helping both firms penetrate the consumer goods, beverage, automotive, telecommunications, financial services, entertainment and retail markets that IMJ already inhabits in Japan.

In a prepared statement, Atsushi Egawa, country managing director at Accenture Japan, said Accenture added IMJ because of the company's insights into the changing Japanese market.

"Through this acquisition, we will combine Accenture Interactive and IMJ capabilities into a unified go-to-market offering that delivers an even deeper and broader set of digital solutions to clients," he said.

Whipple said that with the addition of IMJ, Accenture Interactive is significantly improving its resources in Japan and will be a "significant player in the marketing services space" in that country.