Deloitte to acquire Sydney automation specialist The Eclair Group

Deloitte revealed plans to acquire Sydney-based AI and automation specialist The Eclair Group for an undisclosed amount.

Eclair specialises in robotic process automation, machine learning (ML) and intelligent automation. It has offices in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Sydney.

As part of the deal, the consulting firm will also acquire Eclair’s automation governance and insights platform, "Eve". The platform uses machine learning-powered functions to provide insights on the real-time performance of automation initiatives within an organisation.

Eclair chief executive Alex Moynihan will join Deloitte as its Robotic & Cognitive Automation practice as a partner, with all 22 staff moving to Deloitte’s Sydney office.

“Robotic and Cognitive Automation solutions are an integral part of doing business today. We do not go to our clients stating that we can bring in ML or AI capabilities. We talk to them about their challenges, business processes, operational strategies and methodologies, and the opportunities for growth, cost reduction, compliance, customer experience or other improvement drivers,” Moynihan said.

“For us, Deloitte is not only the industry leader in this space, but also represents the values and culture that we at Eclair have aspired to. We are all very excited to be joining the team at Deloitte.”

Deloitte chief executive Richard Deutsch cited the consulting giant’s recent “Building the Lucky Country” report, saying technology is “changing the very nature” of work, with robots taking over routine tasks to free up people to perform higher-value work.

“This transaction with The Eclair Group further enhances our ability to help our clients plan and govern the delivery of process automation services, enabling them to move towards the future with confidence,” Deutsch said.

The transaction is expected to complete on 1 October. Deloitte said terms of the transaction are confidential.

Eclair is Deloitte's fifth channel partner acquisition in two years. Earlier this year, it bought Oracle analytics and Business Intelligence specialist NeoData and Splunk partner Converging Data. In 2018, AWS partner CloudTrek and Azure integration consultancy Mexia joined the fold.