Deloitte expands Converge platform to consumer and financial services markets

In 2014, Deloitte launched ConvergeHealth, as part of a multimillion-dollar investment in life sciences and health care analytics that included a set of new platforms and informatics services. The purported goal of the project was to help Deloitte’s health care and life sciences customers apply “data-driven insights” to support “value-based,” and “personalized” care, according to the company. Several years later, Deloitte expanded ConvergeHealth with ConvergeHealth Connect, a product suite powered by Salesforce Health Cloud designed to support tracking and sharing data to “new channels of care.” Building on this growth, Deloitte today announced Converge by Deloitte, which brings ConvergeHealth to the consumer and financial services sectors in an investment worth roughly $750 million.

Deloitte’s reinvigorated push into new markets comes as enterprises express a willingness to pilot AI and analytics solutions across their organizations. In a recent NewVantage survey, 99% of firms said that they’ve invested in data initiatives and 92% report that the pace of investment is accelerating. But these companies are also experiencing blockers. According to the same survey, companies’ principal challenge to becoming data-driven are talent, business process, and cultural aspects.

“As industries continue to transform and converge at an increasing pace, our clients — should and do — expect more from their consultants,” Deloitte CEO Dan Helfrich said in a statement. “This investment represents our ongoing commitment to their success. It also supports our goal of attracting and retaining the world’s best talent across industries and areas of expertise like data science, engineering, and design.”

The new additions to the Converge family, ConvergeProsperity and ConvergeConsumer, aim to apply Deloitte’s learnings from ConvergeHealth to other, adjacent industries. ConvergeProsperity combines cloud software with consultants to ostensibly improve customer experiences, expand product offerings, and acquire customers while reducing customer acquisition costs. As for ConvergeConsumer, it’s focused on “understanding the consumer, predicting future demand, and optimizing decision-making,” leveraging first party, client, and external datasets and predictive analytics to achieve this.

Kohl’s and Western Union are among the first customers to use the new Converge offerings.

“Deloitte and ConvergeConsumer’s solutions have accelerated our journey to becoming a sense-and-respond, data-driven operation where we are better able to effectively meet our customer’s needs,” Kohl’s chief technology officer Paul Gaffney said in a press release.

As a part of the expanded Converge, Deloitte is also rolling out new capabilities in ConvergeHealth, including cost transparency, clinical trial management, and data access tools. The enhanced ConvergeHealth also features better patient and physician dashboards and support for the delivery of emerging cell, gene, and other “next-generation” therapies, according to Converge GM Brett Davis.

“Deloitte is making this investment because the lines between traditional industries, competitors, and collaborators, customers and suppliers, and even human and AI are becoming not just increasingly blurred — they are converging,” Davis said in a press release.

Broader landscape

London-based Deloitte, which has offices in more than 150 countries, is one of the “Big Four” accounting organizations and already the largest professional services network by revenue and employee headcount. But it recognizes the massive growth opportunity presented by AI and machine learning, as well as the related field of big data analytics. The retail AI market alone is anticipated to be worth $19.9 billion by 2027, while the global AI in banking market could grow to $64.03 billion by 2030.

Laying the groundwork for growth, Deloitte recently acquired Madras Global, which bills itself as a content studio that combines expertise with automation and technology. At the time, it was perceived as complementing other Deloitte purchases centered on automation, including the AI platform Magnetic in 2018 and data management company Web Decisions in 2017.

Financial services organizations in particular have expressed enthusiasm for analytics technologies, with 24% respondents to a recent Statista poll claiming that AI technologies at their financial services firm delivered significantly more value than expected. On the other hand, a 2021 poll from KPMG found that 75% of financial services business leaders believe AI is more hype than reality — underlining the work left be done.

“This convergence is why we are focused on supporting our clients as consumer centricity becomes central to all industries, embedded financial services become part of our daily digital lives, health care is increasingly delivered in retail settings, AI is woven into how organizations fundamentally operate, and we collectively look to address health and financial equity,” Davis added.