PwC builds SAP analytics expertise

PricewaterhouseCoopers has snapped up Sydney-based Avantis Information Systems for an undisclosed sum in a move that will significantly expand its SAP Business Objects expertise.

The consulting giant plans to leave Avantis to operate as a separate company.

However, it will present PwC and Avantis as a combined pool of resources to the market, according to PwC partner Paul McMahen.

"When it gets down to SAP, [PwC's] current skill set is predominately around Business Warehouse with some Business Objects expertise," McMahen told iTnews.

"Avantis brings a significant uplift in our Business Objects implementation expertise."

Avantis has 22 people and saw its consultancy revenues double in the past three years, the firms said in a statement.

McMahen declined to put a price tag or ballpark figure on the purchase.

PwC said it had retained Avantis co-founder David McAmis and services director David Cookney.

McMahen said the buy was part of a broader push into business intelligence and analytics.

"It's very high growth and an increasingly important issue for our clients who are trying to understand the whole thing around Big Data and the endless opportunities that provides to them, which really are mostly untapped at this stage," he said.

"We're seeing much higher demands for better management and prediction of performance within companies.

"[And] I think the technologies are becoming more advanced to allow more usable and practical solutions for deeper insights."

McMahen acknowledged that the maturity of Business Objects under SAP was a contributing factor to the uptick in interest around implementation of the software.

"It's combination of clients adopting new technologies such as BO but it's also a renewed focus in leveraging the investments they've already made in information management, including BI tools, to just get more from the data available to them," he said.

"What's become clear to us and our clients is the technology is very important, but it's really only one factor.

"Getting finance people and change strategy operations and technology aligned to deliver sustainable change is the challenge."