Infosys Gains Product Design & Engineering Capabilities with Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope Bridges Product Design to Engineering
Infosys made a rare acquisition in the world of ER&D with Kaleidoscope Innovation. Kaleidoscope has its headquarters in Cincinnati, OH. The company provides product design services, from UX research, product development, and product visualization/storytelling. The company provides staffing along with project services. Kaleidoscope services the medical device market, along with consumer and industrial firms. It has a headcount of 60. and revenues of USD 21m in calendar 2019.
Infosys is paying a high price (~USD 42) for Kaleidoscope. However, Kaleidoscope has a precious profile. It bridges product design to product engineering. Kaleidoscope brings more specialized engineering skills than UX digital agencies bring around mobile apps and websites. Kaleidoscope complements the core ER&D capabilities of Infosys Engineering Services nicely.
A Rare Acquisition in Engineering Services
We rarely talk about Infosys’ Engineering Services unit, and we probably should. Engineering Services is a significant vendor in the ER&D industry and has a headcount of – we estimate – 13,000. The unit has lately expanded from its core engineering capabilities to industrial IT (think MES and shop floor automation) and convergence offerings such as IoT/digital manufacturing.
Under the leadership of Salil Parekh and, to a lesser extent, Dr. Vishal Sikka, Infosys has accelerated its M&A strategy of tuck-in firms bringing specialized services. The company has been active in Salesforce services and also design (Wongdoody) but never in ER&D. HCL Tech, in particular, has been the most active