An Italian customer services specialist has snapped up an Ipswich company for an undisclosed sum.

Ipswich Star: The IG Group team, with centre, in the foreground, Enrico Donati, executive chairman on Assist Digital, and Matthew Ellis, IG Group managing director Picture: TOM OXLEYThe IG Group team, with centre, in the foreground, Enrico Donati, executive chairman on Assist Digital, and Matthew Ellis, IG Group managing director Picture: TOM OXLEY (Image: Tom Oxley)

Fast-growing management consultancy IG Group UK, which moved into its purpose-built headquarters at Martlesham Heath in 2017, has now been acquired by Assist Digital, a large consultancy specialising in customer experience.

The £100m turnover Italian company, which employs around 1500 people working for blue-chip clients, plans to take advantage of the growing digital transformation sector to boost the Ipswich business, which currently employs 20 staff.

MORE – IG Group poised for growth following move to new HQ near BT’s Adastral ParkAssist Digital, an international customer experience management company, combines human and artificial intelligence (AI) with user experience design, technology and customer operations.

IG Group boss Matthew Ellis described the deal as a “defining moment” for the Ipswich business, and one which it had been building towards for the last decade. In the longer term, the hope is that the UK operation can build to a like-sized business to its new Italian owner, which already has a strong presence in France and Germancy and wants to extend its reach in the UK.

IG Group’s expertise spans a broad range of complementary skills, including data analytics, business transformation and customer experience.

Enrico Donati, co-founder and executive chairman of Assist Digital, said IG Group’s “signficant” global cusotmer base, knowledge and strength in analytics “gels perfectly with our existing skill sets”. “Our focus as a company is on the whole customer experience management process. The complexity of today’s digital and multichannel reality requires ever greater design capabilities to offer customers simple, effective and intuitive solutions.”

IG Group boss Matthew Ellis said their focus was on enabling clients to make strategic sense of their data.

“This exciting acquisition enables us to make our proposition even more tangible and current, helping clients to realise the potential of their organisation. It clearly strengthens both companies and provides the springboard we need to move to the next level and dominate the market still further, allowing us to create more jobs in Ipswich and beyond.”

Assist Digital’s latest acquisition follows closely on the heels of its purchase of Attoma, a French agency specialising in user research, service and UX (user experience) design.