Tata Consultancy Services acquires BridgePoint Group
Indian IT consulting giant TCS has acquired boutique financial services consultancy BridgePoint Group. Not to be confused with Bridgepoint Consulting or private equity firm Bridgepoint, the Gainesville, GA-based, woman-led consultancy was founded in 2010.
BridgePoint Group is a boutique management consulting firm based in Gainesville, Georgia, focused on the financial services sector. The firm specializes in supporting clients in retirement services, insurance, and asset management.
BridgePoint’s offerings within those industries range from strategy and transformation to marketing, operations, regulatory & compliance, and customer relationship management. The firm is led by CEO Barbara March, who has 34 years of financial services experience, and 22 years of retirement industry experience. March previously held executive positions at Fidelity Investments, ING, and Invesco Retirement.
The nimble consulting firm has now been acquired by Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT services and management consulting firms. TCS’ workforce numbers 411,000 across 46 countries, posting $19 billion in revenues last year. Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Mumbai, TCS has operated in the US for over 40 years, and currently has offices in 21 US cities. Part of multinational diversified conglomerate Tata Group, in April TCS became only the second Indian company to breach $100 billion market capitalization.
The acquisition enhances TCS’ financial services and insurance consulting capabilities, while adding dozens of staff with extensive experience in US retirement services. "The US retirement business is complex, so BridgePoint's deep industry expertise and team of highly experienced consultants will enable TCS to develop a robust customer-focused retirement services business," said Suresh Muthuswami, President & Global Head, BFSI Platform, TCS. "This move underscores our long-term commitment to this industry, enhancing our ability to provide end-to-end engagements, from strategic consulting to servicing of retirement assets. We welcome the BridgePoint team to TCS."
According to a release from TCS, BridgePoint's entire management team, as well as key experts, will join the company. BridgePoint’s network of customer relationships and industry expertise will help TCS better provide digital transformation solutions to the $1 trillion US retirement services market.
"We are very excited about this transaction, being one that brings benefits to all parties," said Barbara March, Chief Executive Officer, BridgePoint. "Our customers require access to new and innovative solutions, capitalizing on both BridgePoint's broad understanding of the industry's complexities and TCS' expertise in enabling digital transformations. The portfolio of services offered by TCS will offer growth potential and superior service to retirement providers across the US."
In other TCS news, the firm was recently cleared by a jury in California, rejecting claims that it discriminated against American workers in favor of staffing its US offices with Indians. According to Bloomberg, the verdict is a major victory for the Indian outsourcing industry, which employs a business model heavily dependent on the export of engineers to the US.
The ex-employees who brought forward the lawsuit accused TCS of favoring Indian ex-pats and visa-ready workers from India for US positions, resulting in an almost 80% South Asian workforce in the US – far higher than the 12% proportion of South Asians living in America. The suit also alleged that since 2011, the company fired 12.6% of its non-South Asian workers in the US, compared to less than 1% of South Asian employees.
