Accenture Acquires Product Design & Innovation Firm Altitude, Enhancing Ability to Help Companies Harness the Internet of Thi...
January 09 2017 - 3:01PM
Business Wire
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has acquired Altitude, a privately held
product design and innovation firm based in Boston that uses its
expertise in consumer insight, design and product engineering to
help companies innovate and develop new physical products and
services.
Serving clients across a wide range of industries – including
consumer goods, healthcare, industrial and high-tech – Altitude has
created award-winning products for many leading brands, including
Anheuser-Busch, DeWalt, ThermoFisher Scientific and Under Armour.
Altitude’s key areas of expertise include consumer insights, where
teams identify new opportunities and determine how an organization
can commercialize them; and product creation, where teams design
new physical products and services that create meaningful
experiences.
The acquisition will result in a unique combination of
Altitude’s innovation, design, and engineering expertise with
Accenture’s industry knowledge and full range of consulting,
technology and digital capabilities including artificial
intelligence, cybersecurity and Internet-of-Things (IoT). The
combination will enable the creation of an integrated set of
connected-product services, better positioning Accenture to help
companies rapidly develop IoT business models and capture new
revenue streams in the high-growth, connected products and services
market.
The Altitude team will enhance Accenture’s Connected Product
Lifecycle Services practice in North America. Accenture will
also use the acquisition to establish a Connected Products Studio
in Boston, which is an emerging hub for IoT innovation. Accenture
has been building its ability to deliver design for new services
and products for clients. This includes a suite of capabilities
including Fjord, with 24 studios around the world, which are
focused on service design and the delivery of digital products. The
acquisition of Altitude strengthens Accenture’s ability to help
clients design and create physical products.
Research by Accenture shows that only 27% of businesses have a
strategy for IoT and many lack the capabilities needed to pivot
their business models at speed and scale to harness IoT
innovation.
“Disruption introduced by connected products and the IoT is
re-writing the old rules of a product-based business model, forcing
manufacturers to transform to deliver value-added services and
deliver meaningful outcomes for consumers,” said Brian Doyle,
Accenture’s managing director for Connected Product Innovation in
North America. “The addition of Altitude strengthens Accenture’s
position as a premier innovation partner for companies looking to
seize the opportunities in the new connected world. Together we
will provide the vision and end-to-end capabilities to help clients
become disruptors and innovate at the speed of a start-up, but with
less risk.”
Brian Matt, Altitude’s Founder and Chairman, said, “Altitude has
helped companies invent and change the way they deliver goods and
services for the future, such as integrating robots into homes,
redefining mobility for aging populations, personalizing consumer
experiences, and turning an industrial equipment company into a
service provider. Together with Accenture, we can amplify our
impact and help clients realize a new future, one they wouldn’t get
to on their own.”
“Designing and building connected products requires entirely new
competencies to redefine the business or product strategy, customer
experience and ecosystem, along with the underlying technologies
that Accenture has built, such as cybersecurity or machine
learning,” Doyle said. “This acquisition will enhance our ability
to help clients drive more successful innovation and create growth
platforms that harness the Internet of Things.”
Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Boston, Altitude has filed
more than 96 patents and has won more than 100 awards for
innovation, including the prestigious Edison award. Altitude’s
capabilities span the full range of design and development, from
ethnographic research, opportunity identification, growth strategy
and innovation strategy to product design and development, digital
design, technology development, experience design and brand design.
The company has close links to the innovation ecosystem and leading
universities in the Boston area, including MIT, Harvard, Tufts and
Northeastern.
About Accenture
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 specialized 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 more than 394,000
people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives
innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us
at www.accenture.com.
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AccentureCaroline Douglas, + 353 87 680
0074caroline.douglas@accenture.com
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