Avanade brings creative design practice Avanade X to Australia
Following a successful launch in the US last year, Avanade is expanding its creative design wing Avanade X to Australia and Europe.
Professional services firm Avanade is rolling out its creative wing to Australia as part of a global expansion, with Joan O’Reilly to serve as the CX and digital design practice’s national business group lead.
The Accenture subsidiary was formed as a joint venture with Microsoft and focuses on the latter’s product suite, with an increasing tilt toward AI technologies, but notably picked up local creative agency Loud&Clear back in 2018.
Established in North America last year, Avanade X sits at the intersection of the firm’s advisory and technology groups, with its offering centered around CX, workplace experience, and digital products & services. The firm contends that the addition of 2,800-plus strategists, creatives and technologists in its simultaneous expansion to Australian and more than a dozen European countries makes it the world’s leading Microsoft-specialised creative consultancy.
“We are dedicated to igniting a passion for brands,” stated US-based Avanade X global leader Jason Hunt. “Personalised experiences have never been more important and businesses that prioritise them while also harnessing the power of artificial intelligence will emerge as leaders in the next decade. Avanade X stands as the bridge, creating digital products and experiences that seamlessly integrate with the rhythms of modern life and work.”
Curiously, while parent Accenture has bought-and-built its creative digital wing Accenture Song into the world’s biggest agency over the past decade, Avanade’s only acquisition of note in the field has been in Australia, with the 2018 pick up of Melbourne-based experience design outfit Loud&Clear. One of the firm’s co-founders, Ben Beath, remains with Avanade X today, as head of the practice’s US northeastern business based out of New York.
Meanwhile, Joan O’Reilly, who joined Avanade from Isobar in 2020 with an earlier director stint at Deloitte under her belt, will oversee the business in Australia; “As leaders prepare for an innovative future with AI, it’s important to have the right mix of expertise that can fulfill not only current business needs but also empower future experiences. The Avanade X team look forward to working closely with local businesses on this transformative journey.”
Avanade already has a previously established full-service digital innovation studio in Melbourne as part of the Loud&Clear bolt-on, its first in the Asia Pacific, with a team of 120-plus serving clients on UX, digital strategy, and marketing automation. The firm, which is headed in Australia by one-time Capgemini and Oracle director Laura Malcolm, has since launched an engineering hub in Adelaide along with a range of sustainability-focused solutions.
