Accenture adds 900-strong Linkbynet to Cloud First division

Accenture has closed its largest deal of 2021, with the acquisition of Paris-headquartered Linkbynet in a move that adds a 900-strong team to its Cloud First division.

When Accenture launched its Cloud First division in September last year, the firm simultaneously announced ambitions growth plans for the unit, backed by $3 billion war chest over three years. As often is the case for Accenture (the firm has closed 34 acquisitions in its 2020 fiscal year), turning to deals forms an integral part of the growth strategy. 

The bolt-on of Linkbynet adds 900 professionals to Accenture’s offices in France, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Singapore and Vietnam. Founded in 2000, Linkbynet is a cloud consulting and implementation partner that works across a number of technology platforms, including Alibaba, Amazon, Google and Microsoft. 

“Linkbynet’s team brings deep cloud and engineering specialisation, managed services, sophisticated technology tools and cybersecurity intelligence to our capabilities,” said Karthik Narain, global leader of Accenture Cloud First. 

Olivier Girard, market unit lead for Accenture France & Benelux, added, “The Linkbynet team brings critical skills that will help Accenture clients adopt emerging technologies and scale them across their enterprise for agility in a challenging business environment.”

Previous cloud focused deals of Accenture include Gekko in France (2020), Edenhouse and Infinity Works in the UK, and Cygni in Sweden (2021). 

Commenting on the deal, Linkbynet co-founders Patrick and Stéphane Aisenberg said, “The combination of Accenture’s and Linkbynet’s unique working culture, values, and technical expertise will enable us to better support our customers’ digital projects across multiple sectors. We are excited with the joining of forces.”

The acquisition still is in the intent phase, pending approvals from the relevant authorities and works councils.