Award-winning data science specialist Intellify has been acquired by Deloitte, in a move the Big Four professional services firm says will make it a market leader in the domain.
The bolt-on of the Sydney-based data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning consultancy adds a team of more than 40 data scientists and developers to its 600-strong Data & AI practice.
An Amazon Web Services and Databricks specialist, Intellify was founded at the beginning of 2018 by Kale Temple and Matt Alamdari, Nikzad Rizvandi and Iman Eftekhari, with Temple and Alamdari joining Deloitte Consulting as partners later this month, and Rizvandi joining as a director.
Having delivered over 150 projects across the banking, insurance, energy, government, and retail sectors since its establishment, Intellify was in 2019 named AWS Partner of the Year for Data, Analytics, and Machine Learning, reclaiming the title once again last year alongside Deloitte’s nod for Global Systems Integrator Partner of the Year. In addition, Intellify has been named ANZ Partner of the Year by Databricks for the past two years.
“Our team has achieved a great deal in a short time – in terms of market presence and the value and opportunity we know we provide to our clients. Joining a bigger consulting business, and one so strong as an alliance partner of both AWS and Databricks, is the right move at the right time for us,” said Temple.
Co-founder Alamdari added that joining with Deloitte will enable both firms to “change the data science and machine learning landscape across Australia.”
For Deloitte, the firm said the acquisition would see it become the local leader in the artificial intelligence and machine learning business space, combining both deep technical experience and sector solutions to serve clients in areas such as personalisation and value-chain and workforce optimisation.
The move follows the firm’s launch of a dedicated AI research institute in Melbourne last year, headed by Deloitte Consulting partner and national AI lead Kellie Nuttall.
“The arrival of the highly credentialled Intellify team will add greater scale and depth of capability to our offerings, given their deep understanding of the entire artificial intelligence management life-cycle, and we’re excited to be bringing them into Deloitte,” said Nuttall.
“The sky really is the limit when it comes to artificial intelligence, data and machine learning’s potential to drive improved productivity and deliver hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy and future prosperity.”
Nuttall continued; “Deloitte research shows that over 90% of Australian executives view artificial intelligence as crucial to remaining competitive, and from supply chain optimisation to hyper-personalisation of customer and citizen experience, Australian organisations are getting serious about the critical role that data and machine learning technologies will play in unlocking new sources of value and driving the next evolution of business transformation in our country.”
The latest acquisition follows that of health sector-focused elite ServiceNow partner Entrago last month, and the splash it made in February with the simultaneous purchase of a trio of digital experience consultancies; Blended Digital, New Republique and Venntifact. Other recent acquisition include sustainability tech consultancy OCT Emissions Solutions, and digital healthcare specialists The Checkley Group.