Wipro buys Belgian Salesforce partner 4C for €68 million

Belgian Salesforce partner 4C has been acquired by Wipro for a total consideration of €68 million. The deal sees over 350 employees in Europe and the Middle East join the Indian IT services giant.

Headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium, 4C was established in 1997 and has since grown into one of the larger independent Salesforce Platinum Partner in the EMEA region with offices in London, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen and Dubai. The firm’s service offerings span sales & marketing automation, customer relationship management (CRM) and business analytics, among others.

Leveraging Salesforce’s Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) and Billion solutions, 4C’s specialty offering is the transformation of Quote-to-Cash processes for clients. Over the years, these solutions have constituted more than 1,500 projects delivered to more than 500 customers across the EMEA region.

In a deal that is expected to conclude in September this year, 4C’s 350-strong team of professionals will join Wipro’s Salesforce practice. Wipro has been steadily expanding its global Salesforce capabilities recently, and the 4C acquisition has a lot to offer according to President for Cloud Enterprise Platforms at Wipro Harish Dwarkanhalli.

“We are excited to have the team at 4C join us. They bring in a rich blend of deep Salesforce expertise across multiple clouds coupled with a team of multi-faceted, multilingual experts with strong regional knowledge. This combination along with Wipro’s reach across the region and industry, will help us become a dominant player in Europe and a leader in Salesforce’s Quote-to-Cash domain,” he said.

The latest move follows on from Wipro's 2016 acquisition of global tech firm Appirio – a Salesforce strategic partner with a broad base of customer-centric services. Just last year, Appirio's fifth European office launched in Porto, signalling Wipro's growing focus on Europe's fragmented but lucrative Salesforce landscape.

Customer-centricity has become a core mantra for business across the globe in recent years, as consumers demand a smooth experience that is personalised, customised, and comes at a low cost. As businesses work to meet these standards, Salesforce capabilities have come into sharp focus, while the consulting sector has rushed to offer support.

Wipro’s major IT rival in India Infosys bolstered its Salesforce capabilities in Europe back in 2018 with the acquisition of Finnish Salesforce Partner Fluido. Big Four accounting and advisory firm PwC upped its Salesforce capacity in the region just last year through the acquisition of Belgium-based ABSI. Global tech services firm Cognizant also flexed its muscles early this year, acquiring French Salesforce consultancy El-Technologies.

With its “strong customer base and unique service” offering, 4C is ideally suited to compete in this vibrant market. According to CEO at 4C Johan Van Genechten, the joining of forces represents a significant opportunity for the 4C team as well.

“Wipro shares the same values as we do. Their global presence, robust digital transformation consulting and delivery capabilities and significant investment in the European market, provides an excellent platform for the growth of our employees. We will now leverage this opportunity to take the next leap in building companies for the future for our customers, not just locally but across EMEA,” he said.