Business Insider
- PwC acquired the cloud-transformation servicer EagleDream, it announced Tuesday, in a move that boosts the firm’s digital-transformation offerings.
- The deal comes as clients now want cloud transformation across all business lines — from marketing to finance to operations — instead of just technology, Mohamed Kande, PwC’s US and global advisory leader said.
- “The cloud is how companies operate today. It’s not just a tech problem, it’s a business problem,” Kande told Business Insider.
- EagleDream also has multiple AWS Partner Network ambassadors, a selective group of 200 global experts of Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s dominant cloud-computing business.
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Cloud technologies and services have exploded in recent years, and experts say they’re now bleeding beyond their original technology arena into every other aspect of business. Professional-services firms like PwC are listening and bulking up their rosters of cloud experts to provide more solutions to clients.
PwC has acquired EagleDream, a leading cloud-native-transformation company that helps clients use cloud technologies to digitally transform their businesses, it announced Tuesday. The firm provides cloud migration and support, software and application design, cloud management, and more.
The Rochester, New York-based company also has multiple AWS Partner Network ambassadors, a selective group of 200 global experts of Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s dominant cloud-computing business.
Cloud technologies and digital transformations are top of mind for PwC clients, Mohamed Kande, PwC’s vice chair and US and global advisory leader, told Business Insider. While the behemoth consulting firm has offered cloud services since 2007, acquiring EagleDream was an opportunity to bring to the table a specialized group of experts to round out the firm’s overall business offerings.
“No big outcome in tech can be delivered without the cloud,” Kande said. “And it’s not just our job to implement tech or provide advice, but to deliver outcomes.”
PwC already has a cloud-transformation group with 6,000 cloud-related service-delivery specialists in 163 countries as part of its consulting services, but EagleDream’s 100 employees will be folded into PwC’s global advisory group to bring existing clients new ways to solve existing business problems. There will also be opportunities for EagleDream’s cloud clients to meet with groups at PwC to strategize solutions beyond just the cloud.
This crossover is just one example of the future of the cloud, which Kande and Bob Moore, EagleDream’s CEO and founder, say is an important component of serving clients’ business needs holistically.
Cloud-service clients used to be mainly chief information officers who had tech-specific problems. Today the cloud drives every single business decision of a company, from marketing to finance to operations, and involves both customer-facing and back-end work. That’s why it’s important to include cloud experts when strategizing outcomes for more and more business decisions, they said.
“This is not just a tech business; this is how we compete now. We are bringing people together in a natural way to give the best outcomes to clients,” Kande said.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Kande said the two companies have been in discussion since the summer and plan to be fully integrated and operational by the beginning of 2021.
A sign of more consolidation of small cloud consultancies to come
Though professional-services firms like PwC, Deloitte, and Accenture offer some cloud solutions, the space has been dominated by smaller boutiques like EagleDream that handle a smaller volume because of their size but whose highly experienced professionals have driven cloud-computing innovation to what it is today.
Companies worldwide spent an estimated $36.5 billion on cloud services between July and September, up $9 billion from the same period in 2019, according to the market-research firm Canalys.
By partnering with a larger consulting firm, many of which have about 300,000 employees, a company like EagleDream can bring its depth of expertise to new levels and push innovations in cloud technologies even further forward, Moore said. In his case, he and his small team will be joining forces with 276,000 professionals at PwC.
“There will always be boutiques, but now you’re starting to see a consolidation happening,” Moore said. “We realize cloud transformation is just in the second inning of a nine-inning game: Lots more will happen, and bigger organizations will all be going through it. It’s important to have the focus, scale, and experience PwC brings to the table both nationally and globally.”
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