PwC Belgium and Human Interface Group join forces

PwC and Human Interface Group are announcing that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby PwC has acquired 100% of the shares of Human Interface Group, bringing with it deep expertise in user experience in digital products and services.

This investment reflects the importance that PwC places on user experience (UX) in the context of digital transformation. “Top performing organisations know that creating a new, memorable, meaningful experience – an experience that no one else in the market can offer – creates their biggest business asset,” explains Floris Ampe, Digital Services & Innovation Leader, PwC Belgium. “Our clients look at three things in their transformation agenda — the Business, the eXperience (for users - be it customers, citizens, employees, suppliers, etc.) and the Technology.”

“In addition to our business and technology skills, we have been increasingly working together with our colleagues at Human Interface Group, to complement our skills with theirs around a great customer experience,” explains Floris Ampe. “We’ve worked with various agencies, and found at Human Interface Group people who were not just working on the aesthetics of a mobile solution, or the technical user experience of a service, but people who were true business consultants building genuine insights into the end customer together with their clients. Our clients are telling us that doing this together makes more sense to them, so we decided that joining forces all the way was the right thing for our clients.”

“Bringing business, experience and technology together is what we call BXT,” states Floris Ampe. “It’s a philosophy which helps clients take a step back, think about their relationships with their customers, citizens, employees and partners.” PwC has set up a worldwide network of Experience Centres, dynamic environments in which clients can envision that future state experience - find out more about the PwC Belgium Experience Centre.

Human Interface Group in Mechelen specialises in creating great customer journeys in digital environments of all types. “Since 1992, they’ve been enabling their clients to use UX as a strategic differentiator, and this extensive expertise in how end users interact with an organisation’s products and services is fully complementary to our current digital services,” states Axel Smits, Chairman, PwC Belgium. “We serve our clients from Strategy through Execution, guiding and working with them throughout their entire value chain - and today that means helping them realise the full potential of digital transformation at every stage. Success is heavily dependent on how end users experience these digital environments, and on helping them embrace change. Reinforcing our capabilities with deep and broad UX expertise fits squarely within our strategy of delivering end-to-end support to help our clients transform and grow their business for the future. We’ll be deploying this knowhow in the Experience Centre in Brussels in combination with our core business consulting and technology consulting capabilities, working at the intersection of disciplines to deliver cohesive solutions to clients.”

“We’re delighted to be joining forces with PwC. Firstly and above all, because we share the same values, and believe that success is built on being very close to our clients and our staff,” states Kris Vanstappen, CEO of Human Interface Group. “Secondly, because we see how good the fit is between us. We’ve spent the last quarter-century of rapid technological change delivering end-user experiences for all manner of systems in a wide range of sectors. Now we have the opportunity to integrate our leading-edge UX team into the multidisciplinary BXT approach that PwC uses. Our view has always been that it’s far more positive and easier to promote change by creating what users really want, and by leading them on a journey they’re eager to take. PwC recognises the importance of the human-technology interface for creating the engaging experiences required to support successful digital transformation. Becoming part of PwC will create a range of opportunities and access to knowledge and services for our clients and employees that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. We’re really looking forward to leading our combined teams to help our clients create unique and compelling experiences for their people and customers.”

Human Interface Group is based in Mechelen and employs 23 people. PwC has acquired 100% of the shares of Human Interface Group; financial details of the transaction will not be disclosed.