Building an EMEA Data Practice From a Boutique Acquisition
40+ data professionals trained, mentored, and operational; EMEA data practice serving FMCG, automotive, and healthcare clients.
In brief
Situation. A global digital-transformation consultancy had acquired a London-based digital transformation boutique. The strategic intent was to expand the consultancy’s data practice across the EMEA region using the boutique as the seed.
Complication. Post-acquisition integration is the corporate equivalent of a marriage. The acquired team brought talent and existing client relationships; the acquiring company brought scale and operational discipline. Without deliberate intervention, the two cultures would either fight or run on parallel tracks indefinitely.
Resolution. I built fully operational data product development teams in the UK and Portugal, scaling to over 40 data professionals. I led talent acquisition, training, and mentoring, transforming data scientists into skilled data product experts. I also developed the EMEA data business proposition, integrating a solid scientific approach with agile digital transformation methodologies and (later) intensive use of AI.
Impact. Robust EMEA data practice established. The business proposition built around it allowed the consultancy to effectively serve FMCG, automotive, and healthcare clients in Europe. Forty-plus data professionals trained, mentored, and operational.
The longer story
Acquisitions are bought on spreadsheets and made to work by people. The single biggest predictor of whether the acquired talent stays is whether the first six months feel like a promotion or a demotion.
If they feel like a promotion (bigger projects, more resources, real career growth), people stay. If they feel like a demotion (endless meetings, redundant approvals, lost autonomy), the best people leave inside a year, taking the value of the acquisition with them.
My job was to make the first six months feel like a promotion. We pushed acquired team members into bigger roles, gave them mentoring, paired them with the global consultancy’s network of clients. Forty people, three years later, were still building data practice across EMEA.
The integration was not a software problem. It was a people problem disguised as an org-chart problem disguised as a software problem.