IBM has announced plans to acquire Waeg, a Salesforce consulting partner in Europe. IBM says the purchase will extend its own portfolio of Salesforce services and advance its hybrid cloud and AI strategy. The acquisition builds on IBM's continued investment in Salesforce consulting services to meet the rising client demand for experience-led business transformation and new customer engagement strategies backed by data, AI, and machine learning.
"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."
In addition, said added 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."
Waeg provides Salesforce consulting services, ranging from digital strategy advisory, business-to-business commerce, marketing automation, and customer experience design to implementation and managed services. Founded in 2014 with offices in seven European countries, Waeg is a key vendor in the Salesforce ecosystem, working with global brands across industries, and providingexpertise in the manufacturing, healthcare, and life sciences fields.
IBM says the purchase complements its acquisition of the U.S. Salesforce consultancy 7Summits in January, and also bolsters global IBM Salesforce talent with strategic consulting expertise and multi-cloud capabilities across Europe. With over 400 Salesforce certifications, Waeg holds expert distinctions in Salesforce's Navigator program in Manufacturing, Pardot, Salesforce B2B Commerce, and it is a specialist across all clouds and the healthcare and life sciences industry.
Waeg will join IBM's Salesforce business within IBM Global Business Services to accelerate growth across Europe and offer enhanced capabilities and skills on the Salesforce platform. With the acquisition of Waeg, IBM is deepening its investments in hybrid cloud and AI to manage complex integrations and unify people, process and technology to support deliver digital transformation for enterprise clients. Over the last several months, IBM has made a series of acquisitions to deliver on this strategy by boosting its hybrid cloud and AI technology skills to expand its offerings, including Nordcloud, 7Summits, Taos, Expertus and Truqua.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. It is expected to close this quarter.