Accenture buys Australian creative consultancy firm 2nd Road

Accenture has acquired Australian-based design consultancy firm 2nd Road. The acquisition boosts the firm’s presence in the design and creative space allowing it to better serve the holistic needs of clients in a rapidly changing business environment, according to the Accenture’s management team.

2nd Road is an Australian strategy, innovation and organisational systems consultancy firm. The firm, which is located in Sydney, mixes design and innovation with wider business consultancy techniques to meet the rapidly transforming needs of clients. The firm employs 22 people, including strategists, designers and influencers.

“I founded 2nd Road because I saw rising demand for something fresh and different to conventional management practices, and I knew that by bringing together the power of analytics and creative thinking, I could fill a gap in the market", said Tony Golsby-Smith, owner and Chief Executive Officer of 2nd Road.

2nd Road, after 13 years of operating independently decided to join Accenture Australia. Accenture Australia is one of Accenture’s largest country organisations bring in approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue. The addition will provide Accenture with additional capacity in the design sphere, which reflects a greater trend in the consulting scene worldwide. The move will provide Accenture with a new set of industry solutions to meet the needs of a disruptive business environment in Australia.

“Business leaders in all industries are facing unprecedented levels of disruption and technology transformation, which is driving a sense of urgency to do things differently. The acquisition of 2nd Road boosts our ability to use innovation to co-create the future state for our clients and design the strategies that will drive real change for them", explains Mark Knickrehm, Group Chief Executive at Accenture Strategy.

Accenture’s will integrate 2nd Road into its Strategy practices, and for the time being, 2nd road will continue to operate from its base in Sydney.

Luca Martini, a Managing Director at Accenture Strategy in Australia, commented on the acquisition, “Combining Accenture Strategy’s global capabilities and deep expertise at the intersection of business and technology, with 2nd Road’s innovation and design thinking powered approach to strategy, will help our clients get ahead of the transformation journey and gain competitive edge.”

Deals in the design space

In a bid to ramp up creative offerings, merger & acquisition activity in the design space has been on the rise in recent years. Examples of deals finished in the past year include, Deloitte Digital’s acquisition of Digital One (Poland); Accenture’s purchase of Chaotic Moon (US) and PacificLink (Hong Kong); Synechron’s purchase of Usable (US); Deloitte’s purchase of Heat (US); the deal between Capgemini Consulting and Fahrenheit 212 (US) and IBM’s acquisition of Resource/Ammirati (US).

Accenture Strategy has had a busy couple of years, recently picking up Kurt Salmon's retail arm and Javelin Group in May last year.