Today, I am pleased to announce that ISG has acquired Alsbridge, creating a new industry powerhouse in technology research, advisory and digital transformation services.
The “new” ISG redefines the IT and business advisory space for the digital age. It combines more than 1,300 experienced advisory and research professionals, along with our proprietary databases and advanced market intelligence to help our buy-side clients—commercial enterprises and government organizations—digitally transform their operations for greater efficiency and faster growth.
We’re also bringing together more capabilities to help our sell-side clients—both traditional service providers and as-a-service technology providers—understand the changing needs of the buyer in the digital age, so they can meet those needs with new and expanded services.
I have long respected Alsbridge and its leadership team, including its CEO Chip Wagner. In bringing our two firms together, Chip and I recognized the compelling opportunity we had to truly reshape the industry. Alsbridge’s outstanding people and client relationships will mesh seamlessly with our core advisory business and add new capabilities that will accelerate our ability to help clients with their digital transformations.
The combined company’s expanded market influence and capabilities in sourcing advisory services, digital, cloud and automation services, network carrier services, managed risk governance services and technology research and analysis will define excellence in our market space.
The “new” ISG is stronger in five key areas:
- Network Carrier Services, an established service line for Alsbridge that provides sourcing, audit and transformation services covering more than $2 billion worth of client spend each year with such major carriers as AT&T, Verizon, BT, Deutsche Telekom, NTT and Telstra.
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Services, an established service line for Alsbridge that provides assessment, strategy, organizational change management and implementation services to help you leverage RPA to make business processes more efficient as part of your overall digital transformation program. Formed two years ago, Alsbridge’s RPA Service line has recruited industry pioneers globally and is positioned today as a market leader.
- Outsourcing Advisory, Alsbridge’s complementary service that expands ISG’s already market-leading sourcing advisory business. Combined, the “new” ISG will advise on more than $17.5 billion of transactions globally, including 70 percent of all advised mega-relationships (contracts valued at more than $100 million).
- Provider Services, a complementary service to ISG’s research and provider advisory services that helps leading service and technology providers identify market opportunities and improve pursuit effectiveness and business retention with a range of subscription-based services and data.
- Enterprise Print Services, a service line specializing in developing a customized strategy that best meets the client’s long-term objectives for their print, postage, document management, Customer Communication Management (CCM) and e-delivery requirements – be it through process efficiency, optimization, vendor consolidation or sourcing strategies.
Clients will clearly benefit from our broader range of services, but so too will our employees. They will be exposed to an even more diverse set of professional development, collaboration and career opportunities as they work together as a global team to serve our nearly 700 combined clients around the world.
ISG and Alsbridge share a common culture and vision focused on integrity, entrepreneurial drive, innovation and teamwork. Most importantly, our people have a client-first attitude with a shared passion for operational excellence and an unrelenting drive to help clients redefine their businesses and achieve long-term success.
Over the past 15 months, ISG has continued to transform itself to meet the changing needs of its clients, developing entirely new digital services and adding critical expertise in research and analysis with our acquisitions of Saugatuck Technology and Experton, and in organizational change management with our acquisition of TracePoint Consulting. Now we welcome Alsbridge into the ISG family—a truly transformational move for our firm, and the largest such transaction since our 2007 acquisition of TPI. The combination of two of the industry’s leading advisory firms brings together the sector’s best portfolio of services, methodologies and tools, market intelligence, and a sharp focus on digital business, all put into practice by the best team in the business.
I could not be more bullish on the future of the “new” ISG and the opportunity we have to continue reinventing our industry and serving our clients with the best resources available today.
About the author
Mr. Connors most recently served as Chairman & CEO of the Media Measurement & Information (MMI) group of VNU, now The Nielsen Company, a leading global information and media company.
In 2001, he led the formation of the MMI group, comprised of VNU’s media information, entertainment, software and Internet businesses, including Nielsen Media Research, NetRatings and Nielsen Entertainment. He also served as Chairman of VNU World Directories business, a leading Yellow Pages Directories company operating in seven countries. Before joining VNU, Mr. Connors was Vice Chairman of ACNielsen Corporation, the world leader in marketing information services, where he helped lead the turnaround of ACNielsen into a profitable company.
During his leadership, ACNielsen’s equity value grew from $893 million, its market capitalization immediately following its spin-off from the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in November, 1996, to $2.3 billion, its sales price to VNU in February, 2001. Mr. Connors also led the integration of ACNielsen into VNU after the acquisition. Earlier, Mr. Connors was Senior Vice President with The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, which owned such companies as Moody’s Investors Service, Reuben H. Donnelley, IMS Health, ACNielsen, Nielsen Media Research, D&B Credit Services and a majority stake in Gartner Group. He played a leading role in D&B’s break-up into three separate publicly traded companies in 1996.
Mr. Connors is a director of both Eastman Chemical and Chubb Ltd. He has appeared on CNBC Power Lunch, CNBC Fast Money and is quoted in the New York Times and other leading publications on media, information services and the Special Purpose Acquisition Company investment vehicle.
