Cognizant buys UK data analytics firm Inawisdom

Cognizant on Monday said it acquired Inawisdom, a Ipswich, Suffolk-based privately-held consultancy firm that specialises in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics.

The Teaneck, New Jersey headquartered company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Inawisdom, founded in 2016, helps its clientele arrive at faster business decisions that improve outcomes. It delivers cloud-native, full-stack solutions that combine consulting methodologies and an analytics and machine learning platform built using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The company is also an AWS awarded “premium” consulting partner.

Inawisdom marks Cognizant's ninth acquisition in 2020. The nearly 27-year-old information technology services firm looks to chart its future growth by expanding its key focus areas to include data and artificial intelligence, cloud, digital engineering, and internet of things (IoT).

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“Cognizant has invested more than $1.1 billion this year alone for acquisitions in these areas,” a statement from the company said, adding that Inawisdom's skilled team will further accelerate its innovation on data modernization and intelligent decision-making.

"Businesses succeed or fail by the speed and quality of their decisions, ­and the best business decisions are informed by data and AI… Cognizant and Inawisdom's clients will benefit from our shared, deep relationships with AWS and our combined expertise with AI, machine learning, cloud, and data analytics,” Malcolm Frank, president of digital business at Cognizant, said.

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Inawisdom, the statement said, has developed a rapid analytics and machine learning platform (RAMP), based on AWS cloud technology, to provide a continually evolving and reusable code repository and accelerate AI-driven business outcomes.

The technology’s use cases include enhancing supply chain efficiency, improving customer service, and reducing operating costs. Inawisdom’s clients are spread across industry verticals throughout Europe and the Middle East.

"Being part of Cognizant provides access to a wider, global network of AI and machine learning professionals, and a wealth of new capabilities that will expand our joint service offerings for successful data transformation," Inawisdom CEO Neil Miles said.

The acquired company has operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. It will join Contino, another company in Cognizant's digital business group.

London-based Contino, acquired by Cognizant in 2019, helps clients accelerate transitions to modern digital businesses with enterprise DevOps methodologies, a cloud-native development approach, and data platforms.