Cognizant To Acquire Top Adobe Partner Netcentric To Boost Its Digital Marketing Prowess

Professional services powerhouse Cognizant plans to purchase Zurich-based marketing solutions specialist Netcentric to broaden its interactive and digital marketing services.

Teaneck, N.J.-based Cognizant, No. 7 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, said Netcentric would also expand its Adobe Experience Cloud delivery and increase its footprint in Europe, where Netcentric has established itself as a significant player in the Adobe ecosystem.

"We continue to expand on the digital marketing and experience skills our clients demand, and round out our ability to deliver these services to the market at scale," Cognizant Digital Business president Gajen Kandiah said in a statement.

[Related: Cognizant CEO: Elliott Management Deal Strikes Right Balance Among Digital Growth, Higher Marginsand Larger Returns]

Netcentric's primary area of operation extends from the U.K. to Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, as well as a regional presence in Barcelona, Spain and Bucharest, Romania, where the solution provider has built relationships with major clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Allianz and Swisscom.

The company is the only Adobe Premier Partner in Europe that holds three different specializations from the software vendor (Experience Manager, Analytics and Campaign), according to its LinkedIn page.

The acquisition will send a team of roughly 380 Netcentric digital marketing experts into Cognizant's Digital Business practice, which provides services ranging from analytics and information management services to IoT solutions and cloud-based app development. The business unit's Interactive services portfolio includes two previously-acquired digital solutions firms – enterprise applications specialist Odecee and Malvern, Pa.-based marketing agency Cadient.

Financial details of the deal, which is expected to close during the fourth quarter of the calendar year 2017, were not made available.

Netcentric's array of experience services includes business and technical consulting, personalization, marketing automation and solutions development, as well as business and application operations support.

"The rapid growth of our business is driven by clients who understand that flourishing with the new digital economy requires merging marketing and digital concepts powered by more flexible IT that is delivered globally," Netcentric CEO Elian Kool said in a statement. "By joining forces with Cognizant, we will be able to integrate marketing, technology, analytics and AI to help clients provide personalized experiences across multiple channels and enable their digital transformation."

The deal comes about eight months after Cognizant appointed three new independent members to its board of directors. The move followed a call for change activist investor Elliott Management, which noted in a letter that half of the company's directors had been on the board for nine-plus years. Cognizant also agreed to create a financial policy committee.