IBM Acquires Waeg to Deepen Expertise Across the Salesforce Platform in Europe

ARMONK,N.Y.,May 18,2021 --IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced plans to acquire Waeg,a leading Salesforce Consulting Partner in Europe,to extend IBM's portfolio of Salesforce services and advance IBM's hybrid cloud and AI strategy. The acquisition builds on IBM's continued investment in Salesforce consulting services to meet the rising client demand for experience-led business transformation and new customer engagement strategies backed bydata,AI and machine learning.

"Salesforce continues to play a critical role in companies' digital transformations as they adapt to the conditions created by the pandemic.Trust is the new currency of customer and employment engagement,and every touchpoint is an opportunity to personalize the relationship," said Mark Foster,Senior Vice President,IBM Services and Global Business Services. "Waeg's strength in Salesforce consulting services will be key to creating intelligent workflows that allow our clients to keep pace with changing customer and employee needs and expectations."

"Our partner ecosystem is an important growth channel for Salesforce,and IBM continues to expand their capabilities across the world,most recently with the addition of Waeg," said Tyler Prince,Executive Vice President,Worldwide Alliances and Channels,Salesforce. "The combination of IBM and Waeg's Salesforce consulting capabilities and assets will help give customers across Europe the capabilities to create streamlined,automated experiences on the Salesforce platform."

Waeg provides a full spectrum of Salesforce consulting services,fromdigital strategy advisory,business-to-business commerce,marketing automation and customer experience designto implementationand managed services. Founded in 2014 with offices in seven European countries,Waeg is a leader in the thriving Salesforce ecosystem,working with leading global brands across industries,with deep expertise in manufacturing,healthcare and life sciences.

This news complements IBM's acquisition of leading U.S. Salesforce consultancy 7Summits in January,and significantly bolsters global IBM Salesforce talent with strategic consulting expertise and multi-cloud capabilities across Europe. With over 400 Salesforce certifications,Waeg holds expert distinctionsin Salesforce's Navigator program in Manufacturing,Pardot,Salesforce B2B Commerce andis a specialist across all clouds and the Healthcare and Life Sciences industry.

"Waeg's growth was built on the simple notion of helping our clients successfully navigate constantly changing customer demands," said Chris Timmerman,Co-Founder and Managing Partner,Waeg. "Now,as we join forces with IBM,we are excited to leverage our collective Salesforce capabilities to accelerate that growth across Europe."

The worldwide CRM consulting and systems integration services market is estimated to reach nearly $21 billion by 20241.As a Global Strategic Partner of Salesforce,IBM fuses AI,data and analyticsacross enterprisesto automate workflows and change howclientsdo business. Waeg will join IBM's fast-growing Salesforce business within IBM Global Business Services to accelerate growth across Europe and offer enhanced capabilities and world-class skillson the Salesforce platform.

IBM is expanding its cloud and AI consulting offerings to deliver experience-led digital transformation for enterprise clients. Over the last several months,IBM has made a series of acquisitions to deliver on this strategy by boosting its hybrid cloud and AI technology skills to expand its offerings,including Nordcloud,7Summits,Taos,Expertus and Truqua. With the acquisition of Waeg,IBM is deepening its investments in hybrid cloud and AI to manage complex integrations and unify people,process and technology.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. It is expected to close this quarter.

Salesforce,and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com,inc.

About IBM

To learn more about IBM Global Business Services,please visit:https://www.ibm.com/services.

About Waeg

Waeg is a leading Salesforce Consulting Partner with several offices across Europe: Belgium,Denmark,France,Ireland,Netherlands,Poland and Portugal. Waeg refers to its global network of member firms and their related entities.

Media Contact:

Jeannine Kilbride

IBM External Relations

jkilbri@us.ibm.com

1 IDC Worldwide and U.S. Systems Integration Services Forecast,2020–2024. Doc #US45198620,May 2020

Logo - http://cusmail.com/res/2023/07-23/22/6216d984e0c204b3f00f4ef1fa220dc7.jpg