Publicis Sapient

Publicis Sapient is a digital business transformation company.

Publicis Sapient

Formerly	Publicis.Sapient, SapientRazorfish, Sapient Consulting, SapientNitro, Razorfish, Sapient Global Markets, Sapient Public Sector, Sapient
Type	Public
ISIN	US803062108
Industry	Consumer Products Energy & Commodities Financial Services Health Public Sector Retail Telecommunications Media & Technology Transportation & Mobility Travel & Hospitality
Founded	1990
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Key people	Nigel Vaz (CEO)
Services	Strategy & Consulting Customer Experience & Design Technology & Engineering Marketing Platforms Data and Artificial Intelligence Innovation & Digital Product Management Digital Business Transformation
Revenue	$1.305 billion (2013)[1]
Operating income	$125.22 million (2013)[1]
Number of employees	20,000+ (February 13, 2019)
Parent	Publicis
Website	www.publicissapient.com

Sapient was founded on November 6, 1990 by Jerry Greenberg and Stuart Moore.

On October 17, 2006, Greenberg and Moore appointed Alan Herrick President and CEO of Sapient.

On February 6, 2015, Sapient became a fully owned division of French advertising giant Publicis, in a deal valued at $3.7bn (£2.3bn).[2]

On November 17, 2016, Publicis.Sapient announced that SapientNitro was merged with sister agency Razorfish to form SapientRazorfish, which would be led by former SapientNitro CEO Alan Wexler. Publicis.Sapient consisted of both SapientRazorfish and Sapient Consulting, and was co-led by Alan Wexler and Sapient Consulting CEO Chip Register from this date.[3]

On February 13, 2019, SapientRazorfish and Sapient Consulting were merged into one brand, Publicis Sapient,[4] led by Nigel Vaz, who was appointed CEO on February 6, 2019.[5]

History

Early years

Sapient was founded on November 6, 1990. The two founders, Jerry Greenberg and Stuart Moore, met at Cambridge Technology Partners, an IT services company located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The co-founders recognized the need for a different type of mindset in the IT consulting world. Sapient chose to use a fixed-term, fixed-price model for pricing projects, rather than charging on a time and materials basis. In addition, Greenberg and Moore relied on their own resources instead of venture capital to fund the company's operations. This allowed them to keep control of the organization and set long-term strategic goals. During this period, Sapient was also an early adopter of internet-based technology, and internet-based work grew to over 70% of total revenue by 1999. Both client satisfaction and the pioneering use of the internet led to rapid growth in the period from 1992 to 2000, with revenue growing from $950,000 in 1992 to $503 million in 2000.[6]

International expansion

After a period of contraction after the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, Sapient looked overseas to grow a substantial portion of revenue, rising over 30% in only 3 years. This growth was driven by a strategy called "Global Distributed Delivery," which sought to capitalize on the quickly growing tech market in India to grow Sapient's software development capabilities. The operations in India would supplement project teams globally.[6] As Sapient has sought to expand its business as a leader in an emerging market, the company has made several strategic acquisitions in its history. Sapient's first high-profile acquisition was of Planning Group International (PGI) in 2006, which greatly expanded Sapient's experiential marketing and UX capabilities. Another important acquisition was DCG group in 2008, which augmented its existing capital markets offerings.[7] In 2009, Sapient announced its largest acquisition; the $50 mil acquisition of The Nitro Group, which added 300 employees. This acquisition also helped define three separate business units within Sapient.[8]

History of acquisitions

Year	Name	Division	Refs
2016	Vertiba	Sapient	[9]
2014	Campfire	SapientNitro	[10]
2014	OnPoint	Government Services	[11]
2014	La Comunidad	SapientNitro	[12]
2013	iThink	SapientNitro	[13]
2013	(m)PHASIZE	SapientNitro	[14]
2012	SecondStory	SapientNitro
2011	DAD	SapientNitro	[15]
2011	CLANMO	SapientNitro	[16]
2009	Nitro	SapientNitro	[8]
2008	Derivatives Consulting Group (DCG)	Global Markets	[7]
2008	iChameleon	Sapient	[17]
2006	Planning Group International (PGI)	Sapient	[18]
2005	Business Information Solutions	Sapient	[19]
2000	Human Code	Sapient	[20]
2000	The Launch Group	Sapient	[21]
1999	Adjacency	Sapient	[22]
1999	E-Lab	Sapient	[23]
1998	Studio Archetype	Sapient	[24]
1997	Exor	Sapient	[25]

Corporate affairs

In April 1996, Sapient went public with a price of $21 a share. In the subsequent four years, share prices in the technology sector increased substantially. Sapient was no exception and its shares soared to a split-adjusted price of $550. However, the dot-com bust in late 2000 hit Sapient shares hard and they declined to a low of $0.75/share. Over the next few years, growth picked up and the share price recovered accordingly, hitting a high of $17.95 in 2014.[26]

Office space

All Publicis Sapient offices have open layouts, where it is difficult to decipher any hierarchy. Whiteboards dominate the office space and are used frequently for meetings and work plans.[27] These two characteristics of Publicis Sapient office spaces are considered a way to support the core values of the company.[28]

References

1. "Annual Report FY13" (PDF). Sapient. March 14, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
2. "Publicis Completes Sapient Acquisition". 2015-02-06.
3. http://adage.com/article/agency-news/publicis-merges-sapientnitro-razorfish/306823/
4. "Teresa Barreira on Publicis Sapient's rebranding and positioning". www.consulting.us. 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
5. "Nigel Vaz appointed Global CEO of Publicis Sapient". Media Marketing. 2019-02-08. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
6. Khurana, Rakesh, and Joel Podolny. "Sapient Corporation." Harvard Business School Case 405-045, September 2004. (Revised October 2005)
7. "Sapient to buy DCG". 2014-04-15.
8. "Sapient to Buy Nitro for $50 Mil". 2009-06-16.
9. "Publicis.Sapient Acquires Vertiba, a Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner". 2016-03-02.
10. "SapientNitro Moves Further into Interactive Film with Addition of Groundbreaking Creative Shop Campfire". 2014-03-28.
11. "Sapient Expands Government Services Footprint Through Acquisition of OnPoint". 2014-02-10.
12. "Award Winning Creative Agency La Comunidad Joins SapientNitro". 2014-01-15.
13. "SapientNitro Expands into Latin America with Acquisition of iThink". 2013-01-16.
14. "Sapient Acquires (m)PHASIZE, Providing Marketers with Mix Modeling Expertise to Enable Better Investment Decisions in a Fast-Changing Media Landscape". 2013-01-10.
15. "SapientNitro Acquires DAD". 2011-09-08.
16. "SapientNitro Acquires CLANMO, a Leading Mobile Agency in Europe". 2011-07-19.
17. "Ad Age - IChameleon Founder Will Oversee Digital Campaigns Across Asia". 2010-06-02.
18. "Sapient Buys Marketing Agency". 2005-12-13.
19. "Sapient Completes Acquisition of Business Information Solutions". 2005-06-07.
20. "SAPIENT TO BUY HUMAN CODE, A MEDIA DEVELOPER".
21. "Sapient kauft sich in Deutschland ein". Computerwoche. 200-11-17. Retrieved 2018-02-27. Check date values in: |date= (help)
22. "S.F. Net shop deal shatters price record". San Francisco Business Times. 1999-05-16. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
23. "Sapient to Acquire Leading Experience-Based Research Firm E-Lab; Combination Sets the Standard for Strategies to Shape Customer Interactions on the Internet". 1999-09-27.
24. "Sapient Corp. Buys Studio Archetype". AdvertisingAge. 1998-08-26. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
25. "Sapient Corporation to Acquire EXOR Technologies, Inc.; Acquisition Will Accelerate Sapient's Growth in Rapid Delivery of ERP Solutions". 1997-12-05. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
26. "Yahoo Finance". 2014-04-15.
27. "The Art of Whiteboarding". 2011-05-23.
28. Nagy, Andrea, Jaan Elias and Joel Podolny. "Sapient: Defining Success was both the Challenge and the Opportunity." Yale Case 06-017, November 17, 2006.