Accenture buys supply chain firm to expand Oracle business

Accenture on Wednesday said that it was acquiring US-based supply chain management (SCM) software provider Inspirage for an undisclosed amount to expand its Oracle-focused business.

Inspirage will move its 710 employees to the Accenture Oracle Business Group in order to bolster its supply chain management skills and expand its ability to help product-centric clients create interconnected, intelligent and innovative supply chain networks, the companies said in a joint statement.

The Accenture Oracle Business Group helps enterprises implement Oracle technologies such as the Oracle Autonomous Cloud, the human capital management (HCM) suite, the customer experience (CX) suite, and its ERP cloud.  

Currently, Inspirage serves clients in high-growth microverticals within the high-tech, life sciences, manufacturing, consumer goods, retail, and oil and gas industries.

Accenture on an acquisition spree

Accenture, which has been an Oracle partner for more than 30 years, has been on an acquisition spree to expand its Oracle business over the last few years.

In May 2018, Accenture completed the acquisition of UK-based Certus solutions to boost its capabilities to help enterprises move to Oracle cloud, specifically in the health and public sectors. In October 2018, it acquired DAZ systems along with its 300 employees to bolster its Oracle Cloud ERP services business.

In 2021, Accenture acquired Canadian Oracle Cloud Partner, Cloudworks—a startup with 100 employees—to focus on delivering Oracle systems to its customers.

Last week, the company acquired US-based MacGregor Partners. MacGregor is a supply chain consultancy and technology provider specializing in intelligent logistics and warehouse management, and is expected to expand Accenture’s supply chain network and fulfillment transformation capabilities, which is powered by Blue Yonder technology, the company said in a statement.

Supply chain issues dominate industry sectors

The supply chain software market has been gaining importance and momentum as challenges around the pandemic and geopolitical tensions have disrupted logistics for most industry sectors.

In a survey conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of KPMG after the pandemic hit in 2020, about 80% of respondents claimed that making operations and supply chain processes more responsive to change was their biggest digital transformation priority.  

A report from electronic components and semiconductor distributor, Avnet Silica, showed that issues around supply chain, often driven by semiconductor shortages, remain the top concern for most industry sectors despite talk of the pandemic slowing down.

The report, which is based on a study conducted by Avnet consultants after reviewing 30,111 earnings call across different sectors between January 2018 and April 2022, points out that supply chain issues occupied more than 60% of airtime in earnings calls across all industries in 2022, compared to just 47% and 37% in 2021 and 2020, respectively.

All these factors combined have resulted in interest from cloud software providers to digitize supply chain operations for enterprises. A report from Allied Market Research showed that the global digital supply chain market is expected to reach $13.67 billion by 2030 from $3.91 billion in 2020.

Oracle continues push for Fusion applications

Meanwhile, Accenture’s acquisition of Inspirage to bolster its Oracle business comes at a time when Oracle is continuing to invest in expanding its cloud services to play catch up with rivals such as Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft.

Oracle’s Fusion Cloud applications and NetSuite sales have been growing at a steady pace, with CEO Safra Catz saying that these two cloud products accounted for major part of the growth in the last few quarters.

In the fourth quarter that ended in June 2022, Fusion ERP Cloud revenue was up 23% in constant currency terms, with NetSuite ERP cloud revenue showing an increase of 30% in constant currency terms.

In the previous quarter, the products showed an increase in revenue of 35% and 29% (in constant currency) respectively.