IT consultancy GFT expands Quebec office following V-NEO acquisition
Stuttgart-based GFT, a technology consultancy focused on the financial services sector, has announced the creation of 100 new jobs in Canada, building on its acquisition of Quebec-based technology consultancy V-NEO.
GFT acquired V-NEO, a digital transformation specialist for the insurance industry, in July 2018. The company provided strategy, design, and implementation of digital solutions for insurance industry clients in Canada, France, and Belgium. V-NEO had 160 employees across offices in Quebec City, Toronto, and Brussels.
The acquisition bolstered GFT’s advisory offering to the insurance industry, while adding to its Toronto office footprint, and adding new locations in Quebec and Brussels.
A major part of the deal was the absorption of V-NEO’s Insurance and Innovation Performance Center in Quebec, which fosters the development of innovative insurance solution using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. It has now been renamed the Centre of Excellence for Insurance, and GFT is expanding it in a “major way.”
The Quebec City offices, including the Centre of Excellence, have been doubled in size to make room for an expanding team of professionals. Owing to an insurance sector facing disruption and a need for digitalization, GFT’s Canada team will add 100 professionals in the short term. Twenty will be hired in Toronto, and 80 in Quebec City – some of which will be assigned to the Centre of Excellence.
The Centre is now a part of GFT’s network of digital innovation labs, which provide emerging technology-based products and services to clients in banking, insurance, and industry.
"The addition of our Centre of Excellence in Insurance to the existing GFT labs will enhance our offering and add expertise to help Canadian and European insurers on their digital transformation journey,” Alain Lamothe, general manager of GFT Canada, France, and Belgium, global insurance, said. “GFT's Canada ambition is to become the global leading partner for insurers in their digital transformation in order to propel them into the future."
