IBM office in San Francisco. Image: © Sundry Photography/Stock.adobe.com
As part of its new strategy, IBM is snapping up a Milwaukee-based Salesforce consultancy.
IBM has announced its acquisition of Salesforce consultancy 7Summits for an undisclosed amount. The Wisconsin-based firm helps businesses get the most out of Salesforce services.
The deal is part of a major restructuring at IBM. The company announced last year that it would separate its AI and cloud strategy from its IT infrastructure services – a development that sparked reports of job losses across Europe.
“7Summits is part of a broader IBM investment strategy in services and ecosystem partnerships to enable our clients’ digital transformations through hybrid cloud and AI,” said Mark Foster, senior vice-president at IBM Services.
“Salesforce plays a critical role in transforming customer, employee and partner lifecycle processes into intelligent workflows that deliver accelerated business outcomes.”
Tyler Prince, executive vice-president for worldwide alliances and channels at Salesforce, added: “The combination of both companies’ Salesforce consulting and design capabilities will help businesses in any industry keep pace with rapidly changing customer expectations, helping them thrive in an increasingly digital world.”
Collaboration to continue
IBM and Salesforce developed a global strategic partnership in 2017 and have worked together on a series of projects. In December 2020, they integrated the IBM Digital Health Pass with Salesforce’s Workplace Command Center to help businesses verify employee health in the wake of Covid-19.
IBM said that its latest acquisition will help build on its investment in Salesforce services. Over the next three years, IBM Global Business Services will invest in hiring, training and certifications that support key growth areas for Salesforce, including Tableau, MuleSoft and Vlocity.
Founded in Milwaukee in 2009, 7Summits specialises in design capabilities and digital strategy. Boomi, Harvard University, Mitsubishi Electric and Tenable are among its biggest clients.
In an open letter published on the company’s website, 7Summit CEO Paul Stillmank said the acquisition will help his team expand its end-to-end capabilities, industry expertise and audience-centric focus.
“This is a tremendous coming together of two companies with a singular focus on changing the world,” he wrote. “We are excited to leverage AI, machine learning and cognitive computing to delight audiences and drive more impactful business outcomes.”
