Salesforce specialist Cloudwerx adds data consultancy Lightfold

Building on a long-standing strategic relationship, Brisbane-based data consultancy Lightfold has joined Salesforce advisory Cloudwerx of Sydney.

Sydney-based Salesforce consultancy Cloudwerx has beefed up its data analytics and AI capabilities through the purchase of Brisbane specialist Lightfold.

The consultancies already share a long-standing strategic relationship, with both tracing a heritage back to Accenture acquisition Cloud Sherpas. The acquisition follows a $7 million investment from private equity firm CVC Group into Cloudwerx in 2022, while figures for the latest deal remain confidential.

“The acquisition complements our strategic investment in data analytics and AI technologies. The combination of the two businesses will enable Cloudwerx to unlock operational efficiencies and deliver insight that our customers had never thought possible, as one highly specialised team,” stated Cloudwerx chairman Roger Burgess, who founded the firm alongside COO Miha Remec and CTO and former Accenture and Cloud Sherpas senior Chris Baldock in 2018.

Led by CEO John Cosgrove, Lightfold meanwhile spun out of GrowthOps in 2020, its Salesforce practice having been earlier poached from Accenture, with Cosgrove having originally joined the global giant after serving as cloud data and intelligence lead for Cloud Sherpas Asia Pacific business. Lightfold CTO Robert Houston and general manager Robert Rymer followed the same path, while Cloudwerx CEO Toby Wilcock also shares a background at Accenture/Sherpas.

“The future of competitive business advantage lies in the ability to utilise cloud-based systems that integrate customer information to surface insights and inform decisions," Cosgrove said. “At the heart of this transformation are pioneers like Cloudwerx and Lightfold, whose complementary strengths open up new possibilities. We believe that Lightfold’s tools combined with Cloudwerx’s team of expert consultants will offer the most advanced business solutions on the market.”

Lightfold describes itself as a specialist in the deployment of the ‘modern data stack’ – building dashboards and AI and customer data models to replace legacy intelligence tools and power CX for clients in the financial services, telecom, and retail and consumer goods sectors among others. The merged entity will continue to focus on the mid-market post-integration, backed by Cloudwerx’ offerings in strategic advisory, cloud implementations and managed services.

“This partnership is set to redefine the landscape of tech consulting,” stated Wilcock. “Cloudwerx’s acquisition of Lightfold unlocks new and exciting opportunities for our clients, who can now access AI and customer data tools to drive organisational improvement and maintain a competitive edge. Both companies share a vision for driving business transformation through advanced technology, making this partnership a natural fit.”