IFS, Bearing Point launch services joint venture Arcwide

With demand for technology services and enterprise spending on IT on the rise, Sweden-based ERP software provider IFS and Dutch technology consulting firm Bearing Point have combined to launch a professional services joint venture named Arcwide, which will become operational from April as a standalone entity.

Headquartered in Europe, Arcwide will push IFS solutions as part of a portfolio that includes services associated with business transformation such as training and change management.

“The joint venture is the result of the synergy we have built with IFS since 2017. We are starting with Europe as the relationship with IFS started in Europe. We hope to start operations in the US by 2022-end and launch in Asia by 2023,” said Philippe Chaniot, partner at Bearing Point and the CEO of Arcwide.

The company, which is targeting revenue of US$100 million by the end of 2025, will focus on nine countries in Europe — Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK, Chaniot said, adding that Arcwide will start with 160 employees before closing the year with around 300 staffers.

Arcwide is expected to build on the strength of IFS and Bearing Point and will look at the manufacturing, aerospace, defence, services and public sector industries,  said Michael Ouissi.

Technology market research firm ETR chief strategist Erik Bradley said that the joint venture will act as a “cross-sale opportunity for both companies,” especially into the EMEA industrial, materials and manufacturing sector.

“ETR’s most recent survey demonstrated that EMEA-based IT decision-makers (ITDMs) have more than doubled their forward-looking spending intentions for IT Consulting since last year,” Bradley said, adding that remote work, staffing shortages and increasing security needs are accelerating the IT consulting market which will act in favour for Arcwide.

Last March, IFS launched a new, cloud-native version of its suite of ERP applications with significant extensions for field service management (FSM) and enterprise asset management (EAM), all based on the same data model via its IFS Cloud platform. This will allow it to do updates every six months, rather than every three years, which was the update pace from 2012 to last year.