ATIO Corporation, the Infotel company, has acquired the Absolute Consulting Group, a Johannesburg-based information management and knowledge management consultancy, for an unspecified amount in cash and shares. The Absolute Consulting Group will form part of ATIO`s electronic business thrust and will be renamed ATIO Consulting Group.
The Absolute Consulting Group (ACG), says chairman Russell Swanborough, consults to organisations locally and abroad on improving their revenue and cost positions through an enhanced understanding of the use of information.
In collaboration with major universities and establishments such as the CSIR, ACG has developed a formal and innovative approach to defining business intelligence and knowledge in client organisations and using this improved approach to make these organisations more competitive.
"The Absolute Consulting Group fits perfectly into our vision of intelligent business," says ATIO CEO Gary Craul. "There is a worldwide focus on e-business, but this is simply the automation of existing processes.
Intelligent business is about really understanding your core competence.
There is a great groundswell towards the gathering of information around the customer interaction space, as we are seeing with the global emergence of customer relationship management (CRM). This is where the Absolute Consulting Group fits in."
ACG brings a team of 12 consultants into ATIO, which also acquires the full intellectual property and the core methodologies developed overseas by UK-based Absolute Information Incorporated.
ACG performs "radical business process reengineering based on an innovative new understanding of the use of information", says Swanborough. "No one else that we know of has approached information as a pure science, which gives us new insights into its application and a significant edge in the market."
The acquisition of ACG is structured around a two-year earnout deal.
Swanborough says his company was attracted to ATIO because of its focus on telecommunications. "ATIO`s businesses provide effective information pumps; whilst we ensure that the information sent through these pumps has significant business value. Our approaches are wholly complementary. We have products but lacked the significant infrastructure to take them to the world market, whereas ATIO has the infrastructure but lacked our specialised niche products, making this a perfect fit."
Craul expects Swanborough and his team to stimulate the level of thought and discussion in the ATIO customer base, "particularly around the value of information. What Russell and his team have done is assemble a pool of knowledge around both innovation and business best practice in the information space. This perfectly complements our Infotel vision".
ACG has focused for the last two decades on defining information at its most granular level and removing all the vagueness that frustrates traditional approaches. It has applied this research as a foundation for its financially rewarding information management and knowledge management consultancy, and has enjoyed significant success among South Africa`s top corporations, and has also attracted interest from international organisations.
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