Accenture beefs up AI, big data with purchase of Kogentix

Accenture has added some some weight to its artificial intelligence and big data capabilities with its purchase of Kogentix.

The deal to buy Schaumberg, Illinois-based Kogentix, which was announced Thursday, will bolster Accenture's Applied Intelligence data engineering business, particularly in North America. Kogentix, which was founded in 2015, will add its team of nearly 220 big data engineers, data scientists, machine learning engineers, and software developers into Applied Intelligence’s team of more than 6,000 data and artificial intelligence (AI) professionals when the deal closes. Financial terms and an expected closing date for the deal weren't provided.

Analytics are becoming a big business as companies look to harness open source data and advanced analytics technologies in order to identify revenue growth and cost reduction opportunities. While there are ever increasing amounts of data available, service providers and businesses have struggled to turn that information into meaningful and actionable results.

Accenture has been knee-deep in big data and analytics for sometime. Other major players in the big data space include Capgemini, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Huawei and IBM.

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Kogentix offers a range of assets to move long-standing applications to new open source technologies such as Hadoop, Spark and Python, which can analyze larger volumes of data with more speed and processing power.  Additionally, transitioning legacy analytics applications to the new, open source technologies could help companies reducing their licensing costs.

“Open source big data platforms and artificial intelligence are offering companies more opportunities than ever to become data-driven, intelligent enterprises," said Narendra Mulani, chief analytics officer, Accenture Applied Intelligence, in a prepared statement. "But marrying these new technologies with their old analytics world is becoming a key challenge for them. With Kogentix’s assets and highly skilled team of big data and AI professionals, we are even better positioned to help clients realize the value of open source analytics platforms and embed new intelligence at the core of their businesses.”

Kogentix also has offices in Pleasanton, California, Hyderabad and Bangalore, India, Singapore, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Its clients include technology, high-tech, healthcare, consumer goods, and financial services companies.

Accenture said that Kogentix CEO and founder Boyd Davis and the other co-founders, COO Sanjay Gogia, CTO Jai Malhotra, and President Krishna Nimmagadda, would continue to play key roles in leading the business.

In August 2017, Accenture bought Search Technologies, a content analytics and enterprise search with nearly 200 big data engineers and search experts, for an undisclosed sum. Search Technologies was also folded into Accenture's Applied Intelligence division.