Accenture to Acquire CAS
Last week, Accenture announced plans to acquire CAS, an international provider of customer relationship management (CRM) and mobility software focused on retail execution and trade promotions for the consumer products industry.
The acquisition is expected to enhance Accenture’s ability to help consumer products companies improve in store strategies through more effective and efficient retail execution. It also will build on the growing list of offerings of Accenture Software, which focuses on the development, maintenance and support of industry-specific, software-based solutions with more than 40 software products today.
Accenture intends to continue to use the CAS software product name and will manage the product suite within the Accenture Software business. CAS’ headquarters and development center in Kaiserslautern, Germany, will continue to focus on software solution development for the consumer goods and services industry. CAS has additional locations in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia.
Following the announcement, CGT caught up with Adrian Goodliffe, Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing, CAS, to ask about the deal’s implications for the consumer goods technology market:
CGT: Will current and future clients of the CAS product line be free to buy services from other system integrators?
Goodliffe: Yes. Accenture will offer clients the benefits of their extensive systems integration experience and knowledge of the software. However, if customers choose to use another third party integrator to implement CAS software, they can do so.
CGT: How will this impact Accenture’s relationship with SAP?
Goodliffe: Accenture remains deeply committed to its relationship with SAP and will continue to support the SAP TPM solution and work as an integration partner with SAP in the broader CRM space for consumer packaged goods and beyond. In addition, it is worth noting that CAS and SAP have an alliance agreement -- SAP’s mobility solution offers areas where CAS can complement SAP.
CGT: Is there a particular product interest behind the acquisition? TPM/TPO versus Mobility?
Goodliffe: It’s about all elements of CAS software. The acquisition will significantly enhance Accenture’s ability to help clients in the consumer products industry achieve high performance with the application of CAS’s leading-edge CRM, mobility and trade promotion management software. It also will enhance the growth of Accenture Software, a dedicated business that focuses on the development of differentiated software-based solutions.