Accenture has invested in Interos, an operational resilience, supply chain risk management and security company. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
Accenture has been very active worldwide acquiring and/or investing in cybersecurity and risk management companies, and more general IT consulting firms. We’ve compiled a full list of Accenture-related deals here.
Interos’ platform uses AI and machine learning to monitor and analyze supply chain issues in real time across multiple risk categories, including financial, operational, governance, geographic, and cybersecurity. The company’s Operational Resilience Cloud contains more than 30 million unique entities sourced from public, academic, government and commercial data sets.
Interos has a current valuation of more than US$1 billion. The company is the latest to join Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, “an engagement and investment program that connects emerging technology software startups with the Global 2000 to fill strategic innovation gaps.”
The program provides access to Accenture’s domain expertise and its enterprise clients.
Accenture’s Interos Investment: Understanding Risk
Kelly Bissell, global lead, Accenture Security, commented:
“Organizations need a better way to understand not only their own cybersecurity vulnerabilities, but potential risks across the entire scope of their supply chains. With Interos, we can help our clients see the typical ‘blind spots’ in their global supply chains. Through a holistic, real-time view of global business relationships and developments, they can review, monitor and anticipate cyber threats and other risks to their business that might normally go unnoticed until it’s too late.”
Jennifer Bisceglie, CEO of Interos said:
“The ongoing disruption to the global supply chain, which continues to escalate, has brought the issue of risk and resilience from the backroom to the board room. Our research has shown that large companies are losing an average of $184 million annually because of supply chain disruption. There has never been a stronger case for automated and continuous supply chain monitoring which can only be accomplished with AI and machine learning capabilities. This investment from Accenture will allow us to plug into new markets across the globe and bring real-time, effective insight and operational resilience to companies urgently trying improve their supply chain management.”
Kris Timmermans, Accenture’s supply chain and operations global lead, added:
“Supply chain visibility is one of the biggest issues in business resiliency today, and as corporate relationship networks continue to grow, this problem will only become more and more complex. Accenture Ventures’ investment in Interos will transform the way our clients see into their own ecosystems and will help safely accelerate their growth. From a whole new angle, clients will get clear picture of their supply chain and potential threats to their business operations, including cyber risks they should prioritize and address.”
The Global Supply Chain Crisis
The announcement comes at a time of incredible upheaval in the global supply chain, caused in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The supply chain is the name for the many steps that bring a product to consumers. In recent months, bottlenecks at various points throughout the process have caused delays, which has, in turn, led to higher prices.
The crisis has had an impact on everything from the holiday shopping season to the hiring recovery following the pandemic.
