EY acquires Australian analytics firms

'Big Four' professional services firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) is moving to quickly grow its technology operations via the acquisition of two Australian analytics providers.

EY announced it would take over predictive analytics firm ISD Analytics - whose platform models human behaviour - for an undisclosed sum.

Just two weeks ago EY moved to take over C3, an Australian provider of business intelligence and advanced analytics.

The deal resulted in around 100 C3 staff joining EY's enterprise intelligence team to form the Asia-Pacific centre for advanced analytics and enterprise intelligence. 

The ISD Analytics acquisition, announced today, is further evidence of EY's intention to substantially grow its technology advisory practice.

All five ISD Analytics staff will be invited to join EY, the firm said. EY declined to provide the purchase price of the acquisition or ISD Analytics' annual turnover.

The acqusition is expected to be completed this month.

"Continuing to build our analytics business is critical to achieving EY’s growth aspirations," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"And this acquisition is one part of the many investments we are making in the new and emerging technology ecosystem."

It claimed the takeover would make it the first professional services firm to offer a predictive analytics solution that models human behaviour.

“ISD Analytics’ unique cognitive simulation approach goes beyond predicting human behaviour of populations. It enables our clients to explore scenarios and identify competitive strategies to influence consumer behaviour," a spokesperson said.

“Bringing an entirely new service offering to the professional services industry is going to be a game changer for EY."

ISD Analytics' technology - which is integrated with Census and/or customer data - allows clients to model complex human behaviour and decision making in order to design ways to influence activities, a spokesperson said. 

The simulation allows customers to learn how individuals reason and respond to new marketing, pricing, policies or environmental cues.

Potential scenarios for its use include predicting the uptake of electric vehicles and how it will effect the electricity network, or forecasting energy and water demand in order to minimise infrastructure costs.

Customers access the cloud-based tool through their web browser.