Akkodis’ consolidation accelerates its presence in the digital engineering market

The combination of digital and software engineering solutions is the new sweet spot for service providers. Rapidly evolving and competitive marketplaces are pushing industries to strategically digitalize their products and services at an increasingly fast pace and engage the connected ecosystem. We are seeing larger digital consulting and technology solutions deals and new opportunities for service providers who can deliver integrated end-to-end solutions.

To achieve synergies, service providers are consolidating to strengthen their digital transformation capabilities. One such organization, Akkodis, was formed in early 2022 when Modis was merged with AKKA Technologies. This move enabled the merged entity to better meet the evolving needs of digital-hungry enterprises.

Adecco Group merged two well-established companies with complementary capabilities to create an entity with a larger global footprint

Adecco Group is a global talent advisory and solutions company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Adecco acquired Modis in October 2009 from MPS group for its staffing solutions across IT, engineering, and life sciences. In March 2022, Adecco Group purchased a closing stake in AKKA Technologies for its engineering and R&D services. These acquisitions were merged to form Akkodis.

Modis has more than two decades of experience in IT and engineering solutions. It has a global presence in 20 countries, with 30,000+ consultants and approximately 10,000 customers. AKKA, founded in 1984, is a Europe-based engineering consulting and R&D services company with a unique position in mobility. It has a global footprint with 20,000 employees and a comprehensive portfolio of digital solutions and digital technologies.

The combined entity, Akkodis, brings experience and technical know-how in mobility, software and technology services, robotics, testing, simulations, data security, AI, and data analytics to deliver what it calls “Smart Industry Solutions” to its global client base. We rated it a market leader in our HFS Horizons: Digital Engineering Service Providers, 2023 study.

Akkodis is poised to help enterprises make headway with digital engineering

“Digital engineering” refers to creating, capturing, and integrating data into digital tools to support the design, development, deployment, and sustenance of products and solutions. It includes agile frameworks, modeling and simulation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, 3D printing, and augmented and virtual reality. For example, digital engineers develop what’s known as a building information model (BIM), which is a digital twin representation of a physical asset that includes data about its design, construction, and future function. The digital twin is leveraged to support and inform critical changes, innovations, and improvements across the asset lifecycle.

This rise in demand for digital engineering was evident in a recent HFS study. We queried Global 2000 leaders on their budget plans for various IT services. A whopping 54% indicated they planned to increase their budget for digital engineering services by 10% or more in the coming year (see Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1: Despite macroeconomic headwinds, software and digital engineering budgets will increase

Sample: 200 survey participants
Source: HFS Research, 2023

Akkodis is well-positioned to support enterprises’ evolving digital engineering needs. It offers expanded capabilities to support enterprises across industries through the full life cycle of their products, including design, pre-production testing, and production optimization, helping it become more sustainable and efficient. Akkodis cross-pollinates expertise from IT and engineering, training, talent management, and project delivery to build relevant solutions by embracing a digital-first mindset and driving digital transformation. It develops solutions with a human-in-context, design-led, and agile approach.

Upskilling and reskilling resources addresses the talent shortage

Talent scarcity is organizations’ top digital-engineering-specific challenge (see Exhibit 2). To help address this challenge, Akkodis differentiates itself with its Talent and Academy services, a natural complement to the Adecco Group’s portfolio as a leading talent advisory and solutions company. Akkodis Academy acts as a digital talent incubator and skill accelerator. It also has a digital talent management platform that helps build a talent pipeline of digital engineers and upskills and reskills talent aligned to evolving technologies and client initiatives, offering expertise on demand and talent as a service.

Exhibit 2: Companies are encountering a shortage of skilled digital engineers

Sample: 25 reference surveys, HFS Horizons: Digital Engineering Services, 2023
Source: HFS Research, 2023

Akkodis has built in-house research labs to enable technology innovation and an ecosystem to enhance value for enterprises

To strengthen technology innovation, Akkodis fosters communities of experts and an in-house network of research labs that enable data-centered intelligent business and innovative customized solutions. Additionally, Akkodis’ partner ecosystem comprises hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft, industry-specific partners like Mercedes AMG, and academic institutions such as MIT. The company has plans to build a more holistic partner ecosystem that includes new-age start-ups to enhance value creation and efficiency.

The Bottom Line: Akkodis has been purpose-built to meet the digital engineering needs of enterprises. Savvy buyers looking for skills at the intersection of digital, IT, engineering, and talent management will not waste their time if they get to know Akkodis.

Akkodis is fostering operational efficiencies while remaining laser-focused on innovation and timely delivery, which will strengthen its project pipeline. There is, however, an opportunity for more co-development and co-innovation along with building a more holistic partner ecosystem to effectively address the evolving needs of customers experiencing technological disruptions. Its growth-oriented mindset, diverse solutions portfolio, and global presence will help it get there.