On Wednesday, Bain & Company formed a strategic alliance with Ashling Partners, a leading global provider of automation consulting and implementation services and an industry-recognized expert in these fields.

Bain is also directly investing in Ashling to deepen its collaboration with a key partner in Bain’s vector digital practices. Ashling is backed by THL, a private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies.

With their expanded collaboration, Bain and Ashling said they will help clients develop, build and scale their automation programs faster and more effectively to deliver full potential and value.

Officials explained Ashling’s extensive technical capabilities and managed services will augment Bain’s deep strategic and operational expertise in implementing world-class automation, which was recently recognized by HFS Research as market leading.

“Automation has become a top priority for our clients, across all industries. These transformations are now touching almost every element of customer experience and business functions, with profound impact. At this time of far-reaching change, our Bain Enterprise Technology and broader Vector teams are very excited to be partnering with Ashling,” said Stephen Phillips, head of Bain’s global enterprise technology practice.

Automation is among Bain’s fastest expanding capabilities within its wider Vector practices. The partnership with Ashling will further strengthen and scale Bain’s automation expertise for clients, delivered as part of its comprehensive suite of Vector digital services. Bain’s Vector team has advised on more than 6,700 digital projects across industries worldwide, delivering end-to-end capabilities in automation, advanced analytics, innovation & design, software engineering and enterprise technology.

“We are very fortunate to collaborate with Bain’s global thought leadership and Vector digital delivery platform for a truly end-to-end automation journey for our collective clients. I am very excited about the expanded conversations we can now have with clients and the value we will deliver because of this partnership,” said Don Sweeney, co-founder and co-CEO of Ashling Partners.

“With the backing and support of THL and now the partnership and investment with Bain, companies can feel confident that we bring the best resources globally to any business challenge or discussion,” Sweeney continued.

Bain noted that its partnership with Ashling comes at a time when automation is booming as a critical business need across all industries, fueled by developments in generative artificial intelligence, inflation and need to improve business resilience following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Recent developments in generative AI have accelerated companies’ drive to automate business processes.  Our extensive research shows that many automation programs unfortunately fall short of potential with companies under-utilizing capabilities and under-estimating challenges,” said Michael Heric, leader of Bain’s global automation capability area within the firm’s vector digital practices.

“By combining our capabilities at Bain with Ashling’s, we will help our clients avoid these missed opportunities and achieve the most effective automation programs and most powerful results,” Heric continued.

Marshall Sied, co-founder and co-CEO of Ashling Partners, said: “We are very excited at what this partnership with Bain means for our clients, partners, and our people.  We have always believed in aligning to outcomes and driving those outcomes into reality using intelligent automation and continuous improvement techniques.

“Bain’s approach and reputation as the leading global strategy firm will help us connect value streams in an even more meaningful way leveraging automation and AI as our vehicle,” Sied went on to say.