BrightTower Advises Procurement Spend Management Firm ClearEdge Partners in Sale to Accenture

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired ClearEdge Partners, Inc., a firm specializing in procurement spend management, to help clients accelerate technology-led business by better managing digital transformation spend. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

BrightTower, a premier investment banking and M&A advisory services firm, served as the exclusive financial advisor to ClearEdge Partners in this transaction.

ClearEdge Partners brings proprietary methodologies, deep expertise and solutions for information technology (IT) spend management and software asset management. These capabilities with Accenture's SynOps platform will give Accenture the ability to extend insights and purchasing expertise to strengthen spend management and improve ways of working, ultimately generating cost savings and top-line value for clients.

Expanding digital transformation agendas continues to drive rising IT spending among enterprise organizations. Industry forecasts by Gartner® projects worldwide IT spending to reach $4.1 trillion by the end of 2021, up 8.4% from 2020¹. However, Accenture estimates, as much as 30% of value from IT spending gets lost to licensing complexities and lack of spending controls.

"While the pandemic accelerated the speed of digital adoption, organizations are now at an inflection point where sustaining growth will be defined by those that create value faster and maximize the impact of those investments," said Manish Sharma, group chief executive of Accenture Operations. "We're delighted to welcome ClearEdge Partners to our team, adding significant IT category expertise to our procurement business while extending our ability to help deliver breakthrough value for our clients."

Headquartered in the Boston area, ClearEdge Partners brings approximately 100 professionals to Accenture Operations, along with deep category expertise, advanced analytics and software asset management, providing category strategy, sourcing support and IT spend management.

Jack Garrahan, co-founder and chief executive offer of ClearEdge Partners, added: "Since starting ClearEdge Partners 15 years ago, we've built unrivaled expertise and capabilities for helping clients maximize the value of their digital transformation spend. Together with Accenture, our shared vision of the future and combined capabilities will accelerate our ambition and enable us to have an even bigger impact."

About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services—all powered by the world's largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 624,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com. 

About BrightTower
BrightTower is a premier investment banking and M&A advisory services firm specializing in software, tech-enabled marketing, business/IT services, and information. Primarily focused on accelerating the growth of tech-enabled, data-driven and subscription companies, BrightTower is helping support clients as they stay ahead of quickly evolving markets. Visit us on LinkedIn.

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¹ Gartner Press Release, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Reach $4 Trillion in 2021, April 7, 2021  GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

SOURCE BrightTower