Accenture Buys Innovation Specialist ?What If!

In the UK, global management consultancy Accenture has acquired innovation firm ?What If!, for an undisclosed amount.

London-based ?What If!, which also has offices in New York and Shanghai, uses an experimentation-driven approach to help clients develop new products, services, business models and organizational cultures, while offering proprietary metrics that can measure the commercial viability of a project. The firm's more than 150 employees have a wide range of innovation skills, including strategy, insight and research, ideation, design and commercial analytics.

According to Accenture, the acquisition will further enhance its own capabilities that help clients 'ideate', prototype and scale innovative products and services. In addition,?What If!'s experimentation framework and team of experts will complement Accenture's multidisciplinary teams of designers, developers and other technology experts in helping clients bring new ideas to life.

John Zealley, who leads Accenture's Customer Insight & Growth practice, says that together with ?What If!, his firm will help C-suite executives ask the right questions at the front end of their innovation journeys. Dave Allan (pictured),?What If! co-founder, adds: 'By joining forces with Accenture, we can industrialize and scale our frameworks and methodologies, offering our existing client base a broad range of technology-related capabilities. Together, we'll be uniquely positioned to enable companies to imagine new futures and turn disruptive ideas into innovative digital solutions that drive business performance'.

Web sites: www.accenture.com and www.whatifinnovation.com .