Technology giant IBM has announced it is to acquire Brussels-based Salesforce Consulting Partner Waeg.
Founded in 2014 and with seven European offices, Waeg offers extensive consulting services for the CRM platform, including marketing automation and customer experience design through to implementation and managed services.
“Salesforce continues to play a critical role in companies’ digital transformations as they adapt to the conditions created by the pandemic. Trust is the new currency of customer and employment engagement, and every touchpoint is an opportunity to personalize the relationship,” said Mark Foster, Senior Vice President, IBM Services and Global Business Services. “Waeg’s strength in Salesforce consulting services will be key to creating intelligent workflows that allow our clients to keep pace with changing customer and employee needs and expectations.”
IBM said the purchase fit into its hybrid cloud and AI strategy, building on its investment in Salesforce consulting services as demand for new AI and data-backed customer engagement strategies increased.
“Our partner ecosystem is an important growth channel for Salesforce, and IBM continues to expand their capabilities across the world, most recently with the addition of Waeg,” said Tyler Prince, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels, Salesforce. “The combination of IBM and Waeg’s Salesforce consulting capabilities and assets will help give customers across Europe the capabilities to create streamlined, automated experiences on the Salesforce platform.”
The news builds upon IBM’s acuisition of US Salesforce consultancy 7Summits in January. IBM itself serves as a Global Strategic Partner of Salesforce, and Waeg will join the Salesforce business within IBM Global Business Services.
“Waeg’s growth was built on the simple notion of helping our clients successfully navigate constantly changing customer demands,” said Chris Timmerman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Waeg. “Now, as we join forces with IBM, we are excited to leverage our collective Salesforce capabilities to accelerate that growth across Europe.”
A Focus on Cloud and AI
IBM further framed the acquisition as part of an expansion of its cloud and AI consulting offerings for experience transformation for enterprise. The company said it was deepening its investments in this area in order to manage increasingly complex integrations of people, processes and technology.
Details of the deal were not disclosed, other than that it is expected to close within this quarter, subject to the usual customary closing conditions.
