Accenture Partners with Hortonworks to Expand Big Data Capabilities

Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company, is partnering with Hadoop contributor and provider Hortonworks. Following Accenture's recent partnerships with Cloudera and DataStax, this alliance is the latest in a series of collaborations that Accenture has pursued in order to marry old and new approaches to data management. Together, the companies plan to improve client accessibility to both structured and unstructured datasets, which include operational, sensor, and video data.

"The partnership is aligned with Accenture's overall big data strategy, which is aimed at helping our clients leverage existing technology while staying up to date with technology that is emerging," Jason McIntyre, managing director of alliance management at Accenture Analytics, says.

As data technologies expand and improve, organizations are finding it difficult to keep data easily accessible and usable, especially as it becomes increasingly challenging to fit unstructured data into traditional data silos. By working with Hortonworks, Accenture will be able to support clients looking to integrate the Hortonworks Data Platform, an open-source certified Apache Hadoop data platform, with their own IT infrastructure to build hybrid solutions. The customized data ecosystems will, in turn, enable users to manage and analyze data at scale with more efficiency, and gather insights quicker.

"This isn't about leaving old technology behind," McIntyre says. "A lot of our clients are interested in continuing to extract return from their existing architecture, but inject new technology and leverage the combination to maximize return," he adds.

Hortonworks was a logical partner for Accenture because of the role that Hadoop plays when it comes to storing and processing unstructured data, McIntyre says. "Hadoop will be a transformational technology in the big data space, and Hortonworks is a leader in that market," he explains. The two have already been working together since 2012 on a project aimed at making Accenture's consulting and delivery services available on the Hortonworks Data Platform, but the formalized alliance will take the partnership a step further.

"Through this new alliance, Hortonworks is able to bring Enterprise Hadoop to Accenture's highly respected client base via new big data offerings," Herb Cunitz, president of Hortonworks, said in a statement. "Accenture's deep industry knowledge, analytics expertise and global delivery capability combined with Hortonworks' Hadoop leadership, offers a compelling value proposition for companies seeking to capitalize on the real benefits of a data-driven approach to business," he added.

Moving forward, the formal relationship will add predictability to the way the two companies will go to market together, and will continue to build trust among clients through more efficient governance, McIntyre explains. The two also promise to look for opportunities to "be more proactive" when it comes to improving or delivering new services, rather than just responding to client requests. "We're going to continue trying to anticipate client needs across the board, and deliver tools to meet those needs. That's consistent with Accenture's approach to all of its alliances," McIntyre says. "Ultimately," he adds, "we're excited to help our clients take their infrastructure into the future with confidence."

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