Wipro Acquires Cloud Company Appirio (HITS)
IT consulting and business services company Wipro acquired Indianapolis-based cloud services company Appirio Oct. 20, paying $500 million for a company that already counts Coca-Cola, eBay, Facebook, Home Depot and PlayStation among its customers. Once the acquisition is complete, Wipro expects to be one of the world’s biggest cloud transformation companies, offering new as-a-service and digital offerings. Along with offices in San Francisco, Dublin, London, Jaipur and Tokyo (and 1,250 employees) Appirio’s Topcoder, a crowdsourcing marketplace connecting a million designers, developers and data scientists with customers, is also included in the deal.
“In an increasingly digital world, as consumer behaviors and expectations continue to be reshaped by experiences, companies are recognizing that they need to transform how they engage with customers and employees by leveraging the power of cloud,” said Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala. “[We’re] coming together to unlock transformational synergies in the applications space and help enterprises create new business models.”
Wipro’s existing cloud applications practices with Salesforce and Workday will be consolidated under the Appirio brand, with. Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio, leading the expanded business.
“When you combine Wipro’s global scale and deep digital focus with Appirio’s transformative worker and customer experience expertise, and best in class team, brand, and partners, you create a formidable force in the industry,” Barbin said. “Together, our aim is to dominate the market and claim the top spots in industry Net Promoter Score, market share, and best places to work.”
Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, added: “Chris and his team have spent the last decade building Appirio into a global leader delivering amazing customer experiences with Salesforce. I couldn’t be more proud of Appirio as it joins Wipro, where together they will continue to drive customer success on a much larger scale.”
Aneel Bhusri, co-founder and CEO of workday, added: “As one of our earliest partners, Appirio has played a key role in the Workday community, and we’re thrilled to see such a great opportunity for the team’s continued growth. With Appirio, Wipro gains an organization with deep industry expertise and a strong commitment to customer service, dedicated to helping companies take their businesses to the cloud.”
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year.