Accenture Scoops Up Another Cloud Provider, Acquiring Top Workday Partner

Solution provider giant Accenture is adding yet another cloud application-focused company as it announced it will acquire Workday partner DayNine.

The deal for the 400-person firm, which is expected to close within the next two months pending customary closing conditions, will bolster Accenture's Cloud First agenda, already augmented over the last two years with five acquisitions.

’We are thrilled about this acquisition, it continues to reinforce and broaden our cloud-first agenda,’ said Saideep Raj, managing director of Accenture’s Cloud First Applications team.

[Related: Accenture Continues On Salesforce Solution Provider Acquisition Path With Deal For New Energy Group]

He said Accenture is focusing on ’pure play’ cloud technologies, having added similar capabilities around the Salesforce, ServiceNow, Google and Workday platforms.

’These acquisitions have allowed us to gain tremendous capabilities across different platforms and across different clouds. It allows us to use different tools and methods to drive stronger outcomes,’ Raj said.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Following the acquisition, Raj said Accenture’s Cloud First Applications team will gain 400 DayNine personnel who hold 1,250 Workday certifications. The Accenture team already has 800 Workday practice employees with 1,200 certifications. The addition of Workday will give Accenture the largest certified workforce in the Workday ecosystem, working across all phases of Workday deployment, Raj said.

Raj added that the acquisition was driven by demand from Accenture’s clients, especially those in the healthcare and financial services industries.

’We see this as a growth opportunity,’ he said, noting that he believes many businesses across the globe are on the cusp of investing in cloud applications.

So, to take advantage of that trend, Raj said Accenture has been adding capabilities across a number of ’pure play’ application technologies.

The acquisition of DayNine, based in Pleasanton, Calif., is Accenture’s 11th in 2016 across all its business lines. Earlier this month, the company, No. 2 on CRN's Solution Provider 500, acquired New Energy Group, a 400-person Salesforce solution provider based in Italy.

Last year, Accenture bought German solution provider ClientHouse, followed by U.K..-based Tquila, and then its largest Salesforce acquisition, CloudSherpas, with 1,100 employees. All have been folded into Cloud First.

Moving forward, Raj said to expect more acquisitions. He said the company has been making a number of investments into what it calls ’the next,’ including acquisitions that boost its cloud security, digital, and cloud applications capabilities.

’Cloud first, and all of the different domains are driving Accenture’s agenda to lead in ’the next,’" he said.