Davies broadens its customer experience and analytics capability through acquisition of Ember Group

Davies announces the acquisition of Ember Group Limited, a leading customer experience (CX) consulting and digital solutions business. Ember provides CX consulting, analytics, training and specialist resourcing to large organisations and major brands operating across a range of highly regulated and international markets, including insurance, utilities and financial services. The transaction will complete during October, subject to customary approvals.

Ember’s 60-strong team of highly experienced professionals will join Davies’ Customer Solutions business, headed up by Mark Grocott, significantly expanding its portfolio and propositions. This will allow Davies to provide its global clients with a broader and deeper range of CX, transformation, analytics and training solutions, alongside its CX digital platform, ServiceTick, and its broader operations skillset across complaints management, and specialist regulatory resourcing. Under the deal all of Ember’s leadership team will join Davies.

Davies Customer Solutions sits alongside the group’s Claims Solutions and Insurance Services businesses, with the wider group now boasting more than 1,400 professionals working across the UK, Continental Europe, North America and Bermuda delivering operations, digital solutions, and consulting to more than 500 highly regulated and international businesses and brands.

The deal marks Davies second deal of 2018 after adding insurance services and captive management capability through the acquisition of R&Q’s services businesses in January this year. In the past year, Davies added more than 100 new accounts from existing and new clients to its growing operations and digital platform, and recently reported strong revenue growth of 41% in the year to 30 June 2018, including 11% organic growth across its platform.

Dan Saulter, Group CEO of Davies said: “Ember has a great track record and incredible reputation for delivering significant value for its clients through deep domain expertise in customer experience, analytics, resourcing and training. By adding Ember’s capability to Davies we can become even more valuable to our clients, providing deeper solutions and staying relevant to their evolving needs in service design and delivery. I am excited to be working with Mike, David and the whole team as we take our broader proposition to the market”.

Mike Havard, Chairman of Ember said: “We are excited by the opportunities presented by the Davies acquisition for our clients, the whole Ember team and our future potential together. There was an immediate sense of alignment and fit with Davies; their client and people focused culture validated Davies as the right partner to support our next phase of growth.

Davies Group is a multi-award winning operations management, consulting and digital solutions provider to organisations in highly regulated markets (including insurance, financial services, utilities, communications, and to regulatory bodies) and to global businesses. Davies’ core service lines include: Claims solutions, Insurance services, and Customer solutions (incorporating ServiceTick and Cynergie). Davies has a 1,400-strong team of professionals across the UK, Ireland & Bermuda, with headquarters in the City of London, and command centre operations in Stoke, Colchester, Birmingham, Peterborough, Witham, Dublin and Hamilton. Beyond the core team, Davies operates a network of specialist consultants that are deployed within clients’ own operations, to execute regulatory and transformation projects. Davies is owned by HGGC and its staff following HGGC’s majority investment in January 2017. Davies’ programme of digital transformation has seen it successfully launch a range of technology-led solutions in to its insurance and highly regulated markets, including the use of video, drones, robotics and its “Disruptive Thinking” innovation lab that places the power of new ideas in the hands of its people. Over recent years Davies has consistently delivered double-digit organic growth through a combination of growing its solutions with existing clients, and adding new partnerships to its business. In the past year Davies has added more than 100 new accounts to its organic platform. In addition Davies has successfully broadened and deepened its operations and digital capabilities via targeted acquisitions. Since the start of 2017 Davies has acquired: Cynergie, CMSL, Ambant, ServiceTick, TLSS, R&Q’s insurance services business.

More information is available at www.davies-group.com.

HGGC is a leading middle-market private equity firm with $4.3 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., HGGC is distinguished by its “Advantaged Investing” model that enables the firm to source and acquire scalable businesses at attractive multiples through partnerships with management teams, founders and sponsors who reinvest alongside HGGC, creating a strong alignment of interests. Over its history, HGGC has completed more than 75 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of more than $16 billion.

More information is available at www.hggc.com.

Ember Group was established in 2010, and is a specialist consulting, analytics and professional services group dedicated to transforming customer engagement and CX strategies and operations for major brands globally. With offices in London and Toronto, they deliver solutions to help organisations realise their customer service vision and increase commercial value from their service operations. The Ember Group has teams of specialists across various practices and disciplines, including service operations, digital, outsourcing, technology, commercial and finance, analytics, recruitment & search, training and L&D.

More information is available at www.embergroup.co.uk/