Wipro Digital, the digital business unit of IT major Wipro Limited on Friday said that it has acquired U.S.-based Rational Interaction, a full-service digital customer experience (CX) company for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2009, Seattle-headquartered Rational Interaction has more than 300 employees worldwide with offices in Washington, Dublin and Sydney. The privately-held company has no plans to reduce its current staff strength as it integrates with Wipro Digital, the Bengaluru-based IT firm said in a statement, adding that “Together, the companies will provide bespoke and effective solutions for the marketing suite. Rational Interaction helps brands create sustained CX programme success with core offerings that include strategic advising, customer acquisition and lifecycle management”.
“This acquisition comes at a time when companies increasingly compete solely on CX, and the market for CX spending is growing exponentially,” said Rajan Kohli, president and head, Wipro Digital.
Commenting on the acquisition Nitin Parab, senior vice-president and global head, technology business unit, Wipro Limited said that “capturing customer sentiment in real time and using AI to engage with customers in more meaningful ways will drive higher engagement, purchase and loyalty”.
In December 2018, Wipro took over the team at Syfte, an Australian design agency for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its digital business and expand its reach in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. Syfte’s team was integrated with Designit, Wipro’s strategic design arm.
In late 2018, rival Cognizant acquired New York-based Mustache, a privately-held creative content agency to boost its digital content offerings, video content and programming. At the same time, larger player Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) acquired London-based W12 Studios, a design firm to grow its digital portfolio. It was TCS’s one of the first acquisitions in the digital space.
In the last few years, Indian software-services companies have focused on building niche digital capabilities and reach to boost its revenue growth from the digital business, one of the biggest bets for the Indian IT outsourcing industry today. However, the trend has picked up more momentum in the last two years.
In an export-heavy and highly commoditised industry where players clone each other’s offerings, Indian IT companies are looking to create a differentiating model backed by newer technologies and services.
Analysts point out that for the Indian software-services companies traditional businesses such as application development and maintenance, verification of software, business process outsourcing services, and others are hardly growing mostly recording a single digit growth. While revenue from digital business is growing at 20-30% year-on-year according to reports.
