Global professional services giant Accenture has inked a deal to acquire Tokyo-based Tambourine, an e-commerce CX specialist agency with capabilities in cloud-based technologies. Tambourine will become part of Accenture Interactive, Accenture’s digital agency arm, which provides digital marketing, analytics, and mobility services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.
Tambourine, founded in 2015, uses the Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform to deliver CX for consumer and entertainment companies in Japan’s rapidly growing digital commerce sector, where sales this year are expected to increase 10.5% to $217.5 billion. The Tambourine team of approximately 70 will be providing CX design and engineering, developing web services and applications, and offering consultancy services to optimize customer touchpoints.
Tambourine was recognized last year as the Salesforce International Partner of the Year, and it is among the few companies in Japan with an industry-recognized Level 1 Specialist certification in the business-to-consumer (B2C) domain of Salesforce.
Accenture says the acquisition is part of the company’s strategy to build stronger commerce experiences and will improve its transformation services, including product and platform engineering, as well as omnichannel delivery.
Tatsuya Nakao, CEO of Tambourine, said Tambourine is founded on the premise of achieving excellent outcomes as a team. “Now, as part of Accenture, we look forward to extending our digital commerce expertise across the entire CX and working closely together to create deep impact for our clients.”
Atsushi Egawa, the Accenture market unit lead for Japan, said the close intertwining of digital CX and brand reputation can impact a company’s growth. “In considering ways to deliver the best of commerce experiences, brands are turning to data and the cloud for leverage,” Egawa noted. “By weaving in Tambourine’s unique offerings into Accenture’s, we will continue to help accelerate our clients’ growth.”
Based in Dublin, Ireland, Accenture has a multibillion-dollar portfolio in a broad range of services and solutions encompassing strategy, consulting, digital, technology, and operations. Tambourine represents Accenture’s 110th transaction in the information technology (IT) sector and is also Accenture’s 5th transaction in Japan. Other acquisitions this year by Accenture to more rapidly scale its commerce expertise include Brazil’s Experity and Argentina’s Glamit in October, Italy’s Openmind in July, and Japan’s Businet System in February.
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Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
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