Accenture to Acquire Cloud Sherpas, Accelerating Its Cloud First Agenda
SAN FRANCISCO; Sept. 15, 2015 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has entered into an agreement to acquire Cloud Sherpas, a leader in cloud advisory and technology services specializing in Google,Salesforce and ServiceNow. The move will further strengthen Accenture’s position as the leading enterprise cloud services provider and enhance its ability to provide clients with unparalleled cloud strategy, technology consulting, and cloud application implementation, integration and management services.Following the completion of the acquisition, more than 1,100 professionals from Cloud Sherpas are expected to join the newly created Accenture Cloud First Applications team, which delivers cloud services for Google, NetSuite, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday and other “pure play” 
technologies. Combining with Cloud Sherpas will further expand Accenture’s ability to create differentiated cloud services across leading and emerging application platforms.“We’ve reached a tipping point in cloud as our clients rapidly adopt cloud solutions,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology officer. “Accenture’s Cloud First agenda is a game-changer that offers transformational cloud services to help clients move their businesses to the cloud and achieve significant business results more quickly. I look forward to welcoming the talented professionals of Cloud Sherpas to Accenture.”David Northington, Cloud Sherpas’ chief executive officer, said, “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Accenture. Cloud Sherpas was born in the cloud and we are perfectly aligned with Accenture’s Cloud First agenda. The combination of our capabilities and experience with Accenture’s scale, broad industry expertise and global cloud application capabilities represents a unique and compelling opportunity for our clients, for our people and for the future of cloud technology.”
“The combination of two strategic partners is exciting for our ecosystem and proof positive of momentum around our Customer Success Platform,” said Keith Block, vice chairman and president, Salesforce. “This move further highlights how our world-class platform is helping ecosystem partners like Accenture and Cloud Sherpas innovate and deliver phenomenal levels of transformation and success for our customers.”
Founded in 2007, Cloud Sherpas has grown from start-up to a global cloud advisory and technology services leader, providing cloud strategy, implementation and integration services to thousands of clients around the globe. Today, Cloud Sherpas is one of the top cloud service providers for Google, Salesforce and ServiceNow. They are a Salesforce Global Strategic Consulting Partner, one of only four ServiceNow Master Partners and a four-time Google for Work Partner of the Year.Accenture was one of the first global companies to establish a strategic alliance partnership with Salesforce and today has leading capabilities in Salesforce with more than 2,700 unique certified professionals. After combining with Cloud Sherpas, Accenture will add another 500 certified professionals to its team.Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Completion of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.Goldman Sachs & Co. is acting as financial adviser to Accenture with regard to the transaction.
