Accenture Completes Acquisition of PCO Innovation

NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2013 /CNW/ - Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has completed its acquisition of PCO Innovation - a leading independent international consulting and systems integration group that specializes in product lifecycle management (PLM) software technologies. The acquisition enhances Accenture's deep industry capabilities and the full range of services it provides clients in the design, building and management of systems and processes essential to driving their large-scale PLM transformation programs.

PCO Innovation's employees focus on supporting clients as they organize, develop and manage new products and services throughout their lifecycle, helping them bring them to market more quickly and efficiently.  This acquisition follows the completion of another PLM-related acquisition by Accenture of PRION Group in October, and announced plans to acquire the industrial and embedded software development and services business of evopro group.

"Accenture's experience with clients has shown that PLM can get products into the market faster and more efficiently, increasing the speed of product launches by up to 55 percent and reducing operational and product development costs by 10-30 percent," said Jean-Laurent Poitou, senior managing director, Accenture.

Accenture has successfully served more than 250 clients across a wide range of industries since 1989. It draws on a range of alliances with top-tier product lifecycle management vendors, and a worldwide network of solution centers.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013.  Its home page is www.accenture.com

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the company's ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; the company might not be successful at identifying, acquiring or integrating businesses or entering into joint ventures; the company's profitability could suffer if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful, and the company may not be able to improve its profitability through improvements to cost-management to the degree it has done in the past; many of the company's contracts include payments that link some of its fees to the attainment of performance or business targets and/or require the company to meet specific service levels, which could increase the variability of the company's revenues and impact its margins; changes in the company's level of taxes, and audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in the company's treatment as an Irish company, could have a material adverse effect on the company's results of operations and financial condition; if the company is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; 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SOURCE: Accenture

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Luc Levasseur
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Anthony Hatter
Accenture
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