Australia-based analytics consulting firm BusinessMinds joins Qvartz

Nordic-headquartered management consultancy Qvartz has integrated boutique firm BusinessMinds into its analytics practice. The move marks the Scandinavian firm’s first step into Australia’s lucrative consulting market and sees 20 consultants across offices in Sydney, Manila and Copenhagen join Qvartz as it continues a campaign of global expansion.

BusinessMinds and Qvartz have merged in a deal that has shaken the Danish consulting industry. The Sydney-headquartered firm will be incorporated into Qvartz’s ranks alongside its offices in Copenhagen and Manilla.  

The international business intelligence (BI) and advanced analytics and management consulting firm was founded in 2000 by Danish duo Hanne Breddam and Philip Parslov. BusinessMinds’ philosophy is to deliver value through its end to end BI, advanced analytics and business partnerships, working with clients to build their business value by optimising business processes based detailed insights.  

Placed side-by-side with Qvartz values it’s hard to spot a difference. The two firms – aside from being both of Danish origin – have also worked on a number of projects together in the recent past, and BusinessMinds even has its own Copenhagen branch. 

As a result, the merger comes as a natural step to both parties, and is seen as an excellent cultural fit. The consulting firm will now be integrated into Qvartz Analytics, operating under the branding of the arm established in 2016, bringing 20 professionals from its three offices.

The move will help the Scandinavian strategy and management consulting firm to further grow its presence throughout Asia Pacific. Prior to the deal, Qvartz’s presence was centralised across the Atlantic, running offices in New York, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Hamburg, and Amsterdam with Singapore representing their first step into APAC. 

“QVARTZ operates on top management level across a wide range of industries, tying analytics to the strategic business agenda. We bring in deep knowledge about data and advanced analytics. Together, we have a unique offering and a unique client network,” commented Hanne Breddam on joining Qvartz Analytics. 

Qvartz is on a sustained roll of mergers and strategic partnerships pushing it further into new territory. Qvartz first penned an agreement with Boer & Croon, a corporate finance and management firm based in Amsterdam, before striking a similar deal with Mumbai-headquartered UC Strategy, one of India’s premier strategy consultancies.

Now, as the firm further strives to build momentum, and its global client-base, it is looking to its analytics wing - taking inspiration from the most prestigious firms including BCG and McKinsey with their respective analyitics-focused divisions BCG Gamma and McKinsey Analytics. It’s easy to see that the firm’s ambitions are sky high, and Qvartz Analytics acting as a knowledge hub with specialists aplenty only further solidifies their position on the management consulting checkerboard.  

For example, many employees at Qvartz have former MBB background, perhaps accounting for this similarity in approach. The merger will see BusinessMinds partners Hanne Breddam, Laura Prophet and Philip Parslov join Qvartz’s Jens Friis Hjortegaard and Rahul Shah as partners with QVARTZ Analytics.

“BusinessMinds has a unique track record in developing and deploying advanced analytics while we specialise in applying analytics to create tangible business impact and insights.” 
_{– Qvartz's Jens Friis Hjortegaard}

BusinessMinds has recently completed work for a number of big names and global entities, including, among many more, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia – whom BusinessMinds helped increase sale conversion rates by some 20% – and Dong Energy, the largest energy supplier of Denmark, which it supplied new reporting mechanisms to.

Qvartz Partner Jens Friis Hjortegaard, who heads the current analytics team, said; “BusinessMinds has a unique track record in developing and deploying advanced analytics while we specialise in applying analytics to create tangible business impact and business insights. We believe this to be a strong combination that will further build our position in the market as well as our ability to deliver world-class analytical insights and actionable strategic recommendations to clients around the globe.”

The move taps into the massive rise of analytics consulting in recent years. In 2017 the world’s largest corporations spent $43 billion on analytics, a multi-dimensional and evolving field that harnesses statistics, AI and other tools to identify meaningful patterns in large data-sets. This shows no signs of slowing, either, with more than two thirds of the executives expecting their organisation to increase analytics consulting spending in 2018-19.

Earlier this month, Qvartz acquired a stake in 2021.AI, a specialist provider of artificial intelligence services.