NEW YORK, NY — Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired BRIDGE Energy Group (BRIDGE), a Boston-based consulting and systems integration firm that provides grid modernization, analytics and security services to utilities in North America. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
BRIDGE serves North American electric utilities, and its experience and strong relationships with transmission and distribution leaders, managers and subject matter experts bolsters Accenture’s portfolio of end-to-end services for electric transmission and distribution service providers.
“We are excited to welcome BRIDGE to Accenture to better help utilities drive transformation by creating new efficiencies for assets and operations while uncovering new revenue streams,” said Stephanie Jamison, a managing director at Accenture who leads its Transmission and Distribution business. “Similar to our 2015 acquisition of the Structure Group, BRIDGE will help us meet growing demand from our utilities clients for evaluating and applying new and emerging technologies, including advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, the cloud and blockchain, to develop the grid of the future.”
Utilities require new services and innovative thinking to better manage industry pressures, including new regulations, an aging workforce, extreme weather events and the proliferation of distributed energy resources (DER) such as solar, wind power, storage and electric vehicles. BRIDGE excels in helping clients develop, deploy and operate solutions for these challenges, including real-time operations, DER management, transmission renewables integration, grid analytics, and grid security compliance.
“Joining forces with Accenture will provide the scale, career training, ecosystem and other strengths that will further enable our employees to leverage their strong industry skills to achieve even greater success in serving clients and advancing their careers,” said Hugo van Nispen, BRIDGE’s CEO. “It’s very exciting to jointly tackle our clients’ most complex challenges through innovation, especially for grid modernization, reliability and resiliency. I look forward to our clients and our team benefiting from Accenture’s deep industry and technology expertise and its end-to-end innovation capabilities.”
BRIDGE’s employees have joined the utilities practice of Accenture’s Resources operating group.
Founded in 2004, BRIDGE has received multiple notable awards and recognition for its accomplishments in the industry, including six-times on Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list of the fastest-growing American companies in 2010-2014 and 2016, Smart Grid Product of the Year Award from SmartGrid,in 2015 and 2017 and Gold winner of the Global Excellence Awards® in the New Products and Services category in 2018 by Info Security Products Guide.
About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions — underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 477,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives.
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