IBM grows Oracle Consulting capabilities with two major acquisitions

IBM has had a very busy and prolific acquisition season. It acquired two Oracle consulting firms within the last five months.

Applications Software Technology LLC (AST)

On January 16, IBM announced its intent to acquire AST, a global Oracle consultancy. This strengthens its state, local, and education (SLED) presence, as AST specializes in delivering Oracle Cloud application implementation and digital transformation services, with a focus on the public sector, including local governments and K–12 education. Financial details of the transaction haven’t been provided, but it’s set to close in the first quarter of 2025.

AST is a full-service enterprise systems integrator that has served clients in the public and commercial sectors for over 26 years. It focuses on implementations and transformation programs for Oracle Cloud applications: enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management, enterprise performance management (EPM), customer experience (CX), supply chain management (SCM), sales and service cloud, configure/price/quote (CPQ), and marketing. It also covers JD Edwards, NetSuite, and Salesforce solutions. Core implementation services are paired with cloud platform and technology support and managed services.

Accelalpha

In November 2024, IBM closed its acquisition of Accelalpha, a global Oracle services provider with deep expertise helping clients digitize core business operations and accelerate adoption of Oracle Cloud applications. This acquisition expands IBM’s Oracle consulting expertise in supply chain and logistics, finance, EPM, and customer transformation.

Accelalpha was founded in 2009 and is a leading global provider of Oracle Cloud applications consulting across advisory, implementation, and managed services. It serves clients across North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America, with a focus on distribution, industrial, and financial services sectors. Accelalpha’s core expertise across Oracle Cloud applications includes Oracle SCM and Logistics, Oracle Cloud ERP, Oracle Cloud EPM, Oracle Cloud CX, and Oracle CPQ. Accelalpha has one of the largest Oracle logistics practices globally. Notable past acquisitions include Frontera Consulting, Key Performance Ideas, LogistiChange, and Prolog Partners.

Both of these acquisitions will help IBM:

  • Broaden and expand Oracle Cloud consulting expertise, particularly in high-demand areas such as supply chain management, logistics, and financial services.
  • Address a growing demand for Oracle Cloud solutions.
  • Increase geographic reach and industry depth. Accelalpha’s global team and strong presence in industries like distribution and finance will help IBM expand its reach in key markets and sectors. Plus, AST’s presence in Canada, India, North America, and the UK complements IBM’s global delivery.
  • Increase breadth and depth in the public sector. AST has a strong track record in the public sector, especially in local governments and educational institutions. This puts IBM’s capabilities in an industry with unique challenges that’s still stuck in legacy on-premises systems.

Moving forward, IBM can better position itself when competing with several other leading Oracle service providers, but it should be noted that, since neither of these acquisition transactions were officially closed prior to the end of October 2024, Forrester was unable to consider and add capabilities and quantitative/qualitative data from either Accelalpha or AST during its recent evaluation of IBM for the Forrester Wave™ on Oracle services.

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