BrazilQuint buys majority stake in big data consultancy Anchormen
Quint, an international consulting firm specialised in digital transformation, has acquired a majority stake in Anchormen, a Dutch firm that helps clients leverage data for better insights.
The deal adds a team of 60 consultants and staff in Quint’s home market of the Netherlands, and lifts its total headcount to over 350 employees. Founded in 1992, Quint is headquartered in Amsterdam and has five international offices across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Quint’s service portfolio is grounded in digital-driven change and modern project management, with key offerings including digital strategy, sourcing advisory, agile working, lean, DevOps, cloud adoption, and IT governance. The firm also has a growing data management practice, which has now been significantly bolstered with the joining of forces with Anchormen.
Anchormen was established in 2000 in the Dutch city of Groningen by co-founders Erik Smit and Martin Schepers, initially as a technology house. In 2008 the firm expanded into Amsterdam, and over the years Anchormen transitioned into a specialist in big data consulting. Today, the firm operates at the intersection of data consulting, data science, software engineering and emerging technologies.
It is this profile which made Anchormen an attractive partner for Quint, said the firm’s long-standing CEO Maurice Boon. “Today, digitalisation is the new normal, and data is a strategic asset for gaining a competitive advantage and innovation. Together with Anchormen, we are better positioned to support our clients with their data-driven transformations.”
The bolt-on also deepens Quint’s capabilities in some of the most in-demand segments of the IT consultancy space, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and internet of things. This is where Quint’s own expertise comes in, “For us, it’s primarily about applying such technologies technology in the business context, while never losing sight of business value.”
Blending the two together, Quint can help clients for instance “increase customer satisfaction and retention” or “dramatically improve supply chains.” And, as part of one of Anchormen’s flasgship propositions, “dramatically reduce maintenance and repair costs,” said Boon.
For Anchormen, the move enables the firm to “deliver more value to our clients,” said Martin Schepers. Among the companies on its roster are Hallmark, LeasePlan, Heineken, FrieslandCampina, Louman, Politie and Vitens.
The co-founder also expressed his delight at joining a company with the reputation and culture of Quint: “They lead the way when it comes to digital transformation.” An award-winning firm, Quint globally is most known for its multiple recognitions as one of the world’s top outsourcing consultants, while from a people perspective, Quint has bagged several awards for being a top employer.
The transactions marks Quint’s first deal since the summer 2018 acquisition of Paphos Group.
Consulting M&A in the data science segment
The news comes at a time of heightened M&A interest in data science consultancies. In the Netherlands, in May this year data specialist Finavista joined Belgium’s Cegeka, while industry majors Atos and Capgemini both beefed up their data science practices this year with transactions in the US (Miner & Kasch) and Sweden (Advectas).
