Information technology (IT) services provider
Accenture plc
(
ACN
) is set to strengthen its long-standing business relationship with
the ace cloud vendor
Salesforce.com Inc.
(
CRM
). In an attempt to expand its breadth of cloud offerings (which
will be developed by Salesforce) via its global delivery network,
Accenture recently announced that it will open new Cloud Centers of
Excellence across the U.S. and U.K.
The relationship between Accenture and Salesforce goes way back
to 2004, when the former identified the relevance of cloud
computing for businesses and tried to deliver suitable services in
conjunction with Salesforce. Accenture delivers various
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions developed by Salesforce.
The duo's combined capabilities produced a number of
management-oriented solutions that have helped organizations to
achieve business excellence and cost optimization in the areas of
customer service and support, sales force automation, and supply
chain and human resources management.
Accenture and Salesforce.com has transformed the way of handling
customer service through salesforce.com's "Service Cloud 3." This
application helps organizations to identify and solve customer
issues on a timely basis. Not only this, but respective customers
are provided with the option of communicating their problems via
phone, email, or even via popular social networking platforms such
as Twitter and
Facebook
(
FB
).
Accenture affirmed that Salesforce's solutions drive most of the
growth at its SaaS business. There is no doubt that the new cloud
centers will attract new businesses through the development of
advanced solutions.
Apart from this, the company announced its intention to open an
Innovation Center in London, which will showcase any upcoming
solution jointly developed by the two. This would boost
cloud-consciousness and create a prospective market for the
solutions, in our view.
Accenture's cloud venture is appreciating, which shows that the
company's fundamentals will remain solid even in the face of
economic uncertainty. We notice that Accenture is keen on expanding
its business in Europe too.
In its second quarter 2012 ending February, Accenture generated
roughly 40.0% of its revenue from Europe. In fact, the contribution
from European increased 8.0% year over year. The statistic is quite
encouraging, especially at a time when Europe is in the midst of
economic turmoil.
This apart, we see continuous product launches and deal wins as
positives. However, low-margin government deals, foreign exchange
fluctuations and stiff competition from
IBM Corp.
(
IBM
) keep us on the sidelines.
Currently, Accenture has a short-term Hold rating, denoted by
the Zacks #3 Rank.
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