By Ramone Param, Director, Equiteq
- Major deals profiled include Cognizant’s acquisition of ATG, AlixPartners’ acquisition of Zolfo Cooper’s US operations and SAIC’s acquisition of Engility.
- Equiteq advised System Partners on its sale to DXC Technology and Mexia on joining Deloitte.
- The Equiteq Knowledge Economy Share Price Index fell modestly over the month.
Cognizant acquires ATG, expanding its capabilities in the rapidly growing cloud-based Quote to Cash consulting space
Target: Advanced Technology Group (ATG) is a US-based provider of advice on planning, implementing, and optimizing cloud-based Quote to Cash (QTC) business processes and technologies for businesses. ATG is a global Salesforce consulting partner.
Buyer: Cognizant is a US-headquartered global technology services firm.
Deal Insight: Equiteq recently published a guide for the Configure Price Quote (CPQ) industry at Salesforce’s Dreamforce 18. CPQ forms part of the QTC space and it was clear from our research that the space is seeing rapid growth, particularly as it relates to cloud-based solutions that are transforming the sales experience for businesses across industries. The following software players are some of the leaders that have received considerable investments and / or expanded into the space via M&A.
- Apttus was acquired by private equity Thoma Bravo in September 2018;
- SAP completed its acquisition of Callidus Software in April 2018;
- Salesforce completed its acquisition of SteelBrick in 2016; and
- Oracle completed its acquisition of BigMachines in 2013.
The acquisition of ATG marks Cognizant’s fourth acquisition in 2018. The deal is its second acquisition in the Salesforce consulting space after its recent acquisition of SaaSfocus – an Indian digital transformation consulting business that leverages Salesforce solutions. Salesforce consulting businesses continue to observe strong demand from buyers, as the industry benefits from the growth in the adoption of the latest Salesforce solutions.