Accenture recently completed the acquisition of SAP-centric consultancy Camelot Management Consultants, seeing out a year of supply chain-centered deals that may see the services giant gain an edge against the so-called Big Four.
Announced in July and completed by November, Accenture’s buyout of Camelot saw it gain a leading SAP partner in supply chain, data and analytics. This year saw Camelot once again be named a SAP Digital Supply Chain Focus Partner within the diamond initiative.
Established in 1996, the Mannheim-headquartered firm is focused on large and midsize companies in the chemicals , life sciences , consumer goods and industrial manufacturing industries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. But while Camelot has offices in the United States, UAE, Poland and Spain, it’s clear Accenture is bolstering its SAP supply chain credentials in the DACH region. This nicely complements its 2023 acquisition of Einr AS, a business consulting company headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Specialized in high volume logistics solutions using SAP to optimize the flow of products from manufacturers to consumers, Einr represents the Nordic footprint for Accenture, especially for Scandinavian retail and consumer electronics industries.
Not that Accenture is solely focusing on SAP for supply chain service dominion – March saw it acquire Flo Group, a leading European consultancy and Oracle business partner specializing in global supply chain logistics. The deal saw 280 people join the Accenture Oracle Business Group from the Dutch firm – although it should be noted the Camelot and Einr deals saw Accenture increase its headcount by almost 800, with 40 from Einr AS specifically joining the Accenture SAP Business Group in the Nordics.
2024 also saw Accenture snap up Boston, USA’s OnProcess Technology, which boasts its own supply chain services platform, alongside Insight Sourcing, an Atlanta, US provider of strategic sourcing and procurement services. The latter, it’s worth noting, provides IT renewals management for vendors including Microsoft, Oracle, Workday, SAP, Salesforce, VMWare, IBM, ServiceNow and Cisco.
Accenture supply chain adventures: What ERP Insiders need to know
For ERP and supply chain management professionals, these moves signal Accenture’s growing dominance in integrating supply chain management with advanced ERP systems, offering comprehensive solutions that span across both SAP and Oracle ecosystems. With a strengthened presence in key regions and a robust service portfolio, Accenture is poised to be a major force in shaping the future of supply chain optimization globally.
With these acquisitions, Accenture is becoming more of a key player in the competitive supply chain consulting space, as it gains an edge against the traditional Big Four consultancies in this crucial area of business transformation.
It may soon be time for the Big Four to become the Big Five as technology services match – or even supersede – the accounting foundations upon which EY, PwC, KPMG and Deloitte made their names. If it hasn’t done so already, that is – and five can always remain four is one of those names doesn’t respond appropriately enough to this decade’s dominant business themes of AI, supply chain and ESG.
