Cognizant to acquire second analytics firm in a row, to boost presence in Oceania

Cognizant on Monday said it will acquire Servian, a Sydney-based enterprise transformation consultancy that specialises in data analytics, artificial intelligence, digital services, experience design, and cloud.

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

The acquisition, Cognizant said, expands its integrated, end-to-end digital transformation capabilities in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) to help clients move to the cloud, build digital products and services, and modernise enterprise applications. 

"With Cognizant's deep industry expertise and global scale, we will be able to apply our strengths in strategic advisory, engineering delivery, and managed services across an even broader spectrum of challenges and opportunities presented by the digital economy,” Servian founder and CEO Tony Nicol said.

Post deal, set to close in the first quarter of 2021, Servian's over 500 technology and consulting professionals, based primarily in Australia and New Zealand, will join Cognizant, doubling the size of Cognizant's cloud and data team in ANZ, a statement said.

In December, Cognizant acquired Inawisdom, an Ipswich, Suffolk-based privately-held consultancy firm that specialises in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics.

Cognizant, with its workforce of 1,200 employees in Australia, serves over 110 clients including banks, insurers, retailers, and communications companies.

Founded in 2008, Servian has worked with over 190 companies in ANZ in the banking, telecommunications, insurance, retail, and government sectors. It provides services across data and analytics, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, UI/UX, customer engagement, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and IoT. 

Servian operates offices across Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Auckland, Bengaluru, Hobart, and London, as per its website.

The company marks Cognizant's 10th acquisition since January 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), across the globe.

The company, in recent years, has invested over $1 billion in acquisitions to support its priorities. 

Separately, Cognizant entered 2021 with a new go-to-market strategy and leadership to streamline business. 

On Wednesday, CEO Brian Humphries told employees that the company will combine two of its service lines -- Digital Business (DB), and Digital Systems and Technology (DS&T) -- into a new one called Digital Business & Technology (DB&T).