West Monroe investing $250 million into digital capabilities

West Monroe Partners, a Chicago-headquartered management and technology consultancy, this week announced a $250 million investment into its digital capabilities.

The investment will enable the consulting firm to create a global product development unit that designs, builds, and manages digital products for Fortune 1000 and mid-market clients. West Monroe has “aggressive acquisition plans” for product development firms across the globe.

The firm will also invest in training programs to upskill its consultants in digital competencies and in technology and assets that optimize the delivery of its consulting services to clients.

“Our new platform will leverage world-class product developers and managers, regardless of location, to create digital products for our clients,” said Tom Bolger, chief strategy officer for West Monroe. “This is exactly the kind of scale that’s needed to execute the market-leading strategies designed by our product and experiences experts.”

Plowing more money into digital services is just about the least controversial choice a consulting firm can make. Firms that have traded in traditional strategy and operations work for decades are falling over themselves to pivot and rebrand as “digital-first” consultancies.

According to stats from Source Global Research, demand for digital consulting is growing at double the rate of traditional business consulting.

“Our clients increasingly compete and win based on their technology – a trend that existed before the pandemic but was certainly accelerated by it,” said Kevin McCarty, CEO of West Monroe. “With agile development and custom technology playing such a critical role to success, we’re placing big bets to deliver on what we know our clients need to be successful with their digital mandates.”

The boosted digital investment is part of the firm’s wider strategic goal to achieve $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025. The firm has 1,600 people across eight US offices.

West Monroe has made a number of digital-focused acquisitions in the last several years. The firm in 2020 bought Two Six Capital, a San Francisco-based data science consultancy specializing in private equity, and Pace Harmon, a Washington, DC area-based IT and business services transformation and outsourcing advisory firm.

West Monroe in 2019 acquired GoKart Labs, a Minneapolis-based digital product studio.