Presence of IT joins Deloitte's Human Capital consulting arm
Deloitte has acquired Australia-headquartered IT services firm Presence of IT in a move that adds some 600 professionals to Deloitte’s Human Capital practice. The bolt-on is the Big Four accounting and advisory firm’s largest ever consulting transaction in the country.
Presence of IT is based in North Sydney, and has been offering a range of IT services to clients across Australia for two decades. The firm is grounded in the tech sphere, and specialises in the human resources (HR) domain, wherein it offers a broad range of varying services.
These include support with HR strategy, HR operations, HR technology, human capital management and learning, with a focus on cloud transformation projects. Presence of IT is a certified partner of among others Oracle, PeopleSoft, Kronos and SAP.
The deal sees around 600 professionals transfer to Deloitte, where they will be housed in the Human Capital vertical. The 300-strong Presence of IT teams in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth will be integrated into Deloitte Australia, with a further 300 staff joining Deloitte offices across APAC and the US.
Presence of IT co-founders David Brookes and Shaun Flannery and co-CEO Shane Grobler have been appointed Partners at Deloitte. They will report into David Brown, Deloitte Australia's Human Capital Consulting leader. Globally, the division is led by the American Erica Volini.
Commenting on the acquisition, Deloitte Australia’s CEO Richard Deutsch said, “Joining forces with the team from Presence of IT makes us the undisputed leaders in human capital consulting, enhancing our ability to provide our clients with unrivalled value, scale and world-class expertise; in turn giving them peace of mind that their people strategy is in safe hands. Together, we will be able to take advantage of significant market opportunity.”
The Big Four firm already had a strong foothold in Australia's human capital consulting market. Deloitte Australia generates revenues of $2.3 billion in the county, having grown with double digits for five consecutive years, and pre-deal, its Human Capital practice housed over 440 consultants.
Brown: “Now, our clients will be able to use one professional services firm to deliver market-leading strategic advice, and a suite of industry-leading human capital management cloud technologies to transform their talent experience and help their people reach their potential.”
Tech driving talent
As the business environment propels towards digitalisation, many have reiterated the importance of talent development and HR to ensure that the potential of tech investments are fully realised. Deloitte will now leverage its beefed up digital expertise to help drive this transformation.
“The future of work is all about how people feel, defined by the experiences they have when interacting with business and with customers. It is this joint passion for creating unrivalled talent experiences for our clients globally that positions us as leaders across the human capital marketplace,” added Brookes.
The deal comes weeks after Deloitte acquired tech firm The Éclair Group, and earlier this year the professional services giant closed two more digital-related transactions – data management consultancy NeoData and The Terrace Initiative.
