KPMG Portugal SGPS, S.A, announced today the signing for the planned acquisition of SAFIRA Consultadoria em Informática, S.A. (“SAFIRA”), a leading provider of business process management technology services, a transaction which is expected to close in the near-term. SAFIRA focuses on building innovative enterprise systems leveraging, in particular, IBM BPM and ODM (Business Process management and Operational Decision Management) software for large multi-nationals around the world.
The transaction is central to KPMG firms’ strategy of working with clients to understand their issues and provide technology enabled solutions which help deliver real business benefit. Business Process Management (‘BPM’) is a holistic approach which promotes business effectiveness, control and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology.
“The arrival of the SAFIRA team enables us to offer end to end services for our clients’ business transformation programs, from strategy through to implementation” said Sikander Sattar, KPMG Portugal Senior Partner.
“The SAFIRA acquisition provides KPMG with a leading capability in business operations solutions for firm clients. Together we can help firm clients unlock new business opportunities, increase revenue and drive tremendous efficiencies. We are very pleased to welcome Safira’s extremely talented team of professionals to KPMG.”
Financial terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.
The pace of change in business today means that there is a real need for technologies which can accelerate business benefits. Over the past two years, KPMG in the UK’s BPM Centre of Excellence have developed a new patent pending software called BPM-O which Safira have helped to deliver on KPMG’s IBM BPM private cloud platform.
BPM-O rapidly manufactures automated processes, empowering clients to accelerate the delivery of business benefits. Business analysts can now radically transform business processes in iterative steps reducing development effort by more than 75 percent. KPMG in the UK has worked with SAFIRA to help a major UK bank deliver £500m in savings over the last two years leveraging this technology platform. As a result, KPMG in the UK was recognized as runner-up in the EMEA Gartner Business Process Management Excellence Awards 2014.
“With our combined skills and experience, KPMG firms will now become some of the top BPM services providers globally, with the ability to deploy deep subject matter expertise and technology implementation capability to deliver real business outcomes. Together, we are uniquely positioned to deliver business transformation – strategy to solution deployment – to help accelerate our firms’ clients’ growth“ said Aidan Brennan, KPMG Global Head of Management Consulting.
KPMG in the UK’s BPM Solution Architect, Sha Ali, was the winner of The Times Award for Consultant of the Year in the 2014 Management Consultancy Association Awards, and Technology Consultant of the Year in the same awards.
This acquisition further strengthens KPMG’s strategy of bringing technology and the business together to drive value for clients. Last month KPMG in the US announced the acquisition of Cynergy Systems, a leading mobility services business company. In December 2013, KPMG in the U.S. also announced the expansion of its data and analytics capability to help clients drive growth with the acquisition of Link Analytics.
