AUCKLAND: Accenture has acquired New Zealand-based SAP and cloud solutions technology firm Zag, a news release said. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

The acquisition will bolster Accenture’s New Zealand and Australian digital transformation capabilities to meet increased demand from organisations migrating to the cloud and SAP’s next generation products.

Zag has offices in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney and Melbourne with a team of over 200 professionals. The company is a leading SAP specialist provider that offers services including consulting, development, support, testing and cloud migration. Clients include the New Zealand farmer owned cooperative Ballance and Australian energy provider Hydro Tasmania.

“By pairing Accenture’s global expertise with Zag’s local talent and insight, this acquisition will strengthen our ability to help clients accelerate their business transformation using SAP and Cloud technologies delivering more value from the new platforms. This move demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bringing new thinking, talent and innovation to clients across the region,” said Ben Morgan, Accenture’s New Zealand Managing Director.

“Zag has grown from an idea to a thriving business that has helped over 100 organisations to become stronger, safer and more prosperous through the best possible use of technology, tailored to their specifications,” said Nick Mulcahy, CEO of Zag.

“Since 1996, Zag has led the SAP market in New Zealand through our drive to think creatively, the close relationships we build with our customers and our firm belief that our people are our strength. The combination of Accenture and Zag is a great opportunity for our clients and teams, and we look forward to offering an unrivalled SAP offering.”

Scott Hahn, Accenture’s Technology Lead for Australia and New Zealand, said, “Zag’s experience in delivering cloud and SAP solutions for a wide range of complex businesses will be pivotal to the expansion of Accenture’s local technology offerings. Their extensive expertise and knowledge further deepen our networks and capabilities to meet the anticipated growth in demand for SAP and cloud services and we are delighted to welcome them to the team.”

Accenture recently announced the formation of Accenture Cloud First with a $USD3 billion investment over three years to help clients across all industries rapidly become “cloud first” businesses and accelerate their digital transformation to realise greater value at speed and scale.

Accenture’s acquisition of Zag follows other investments across Australia and New Zealand in the past 18 months, including data analytics and supply chain management company Icon Integration in February 2020; business strategy and econometrics firm AlphaBeta in February 2020; specialist government consultancy Apis Group in December 2019; big data and analytics company Analytics8 in August 2019; and cybersecurity and technology company BCT Solutions in June 2019.

Zag (previously Soltius) is trusted by more than 90 organisations across Australasia to provide SAP, Cloud and Spatial solutions, support and consulting. Zag was formed in 1996 as a specialist SAP implementation partner with the aim to build a business known for quality implementation advice and guidance at an affordable price. Since then, Zag has become Asia Pacific’s first certified SAP Partner Centre of Expertise, has delivered more SAP S/4HANA (ERP) projects in Australasia than anyone else and has partnered with AWS, Microsoft and Google for the deployment of SAP on their IaaS platforms. Zag has offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, and Wellington in addition to partners selling its products globally.

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialised skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions — underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 506,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. www.accenture.com