Wipro said that its digital arm Wipro Digital has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cooper, a design and business strategy consultancy based out of San Francisco for $8.5 million. Cooper will become part of Designit, Wipro Digital’s strategic design arm, strengthening its design and innovation capabilities, expanding its reach in North America and adding capabilities in professional design education. Increasingly, global enterprise clients recognize that design is a critical part of any digital or business transformation. By adding Cooper’s skills and expertise, Wipro will be better positioned to support its clients’ digital programs, said company.
“Our combined capability across design, strategy and technology gives us a unique platform for working side-by-side with clients on the entirety of their digital initiatives. With Cooper, an acknowledged leader and pioneer in the design community with roots on the East and West coast, we will now be the preeminent firm for world-class UX (User Experience) and interaction design. This coupled with Designit’s global strategic design services and our world-class engineering capability, will allow us to support the complete digital journey for our clients, helping them transform their businesses for the future”, said Rajan Kohli, Global Head and Senior Vice President, Wipro Digital. Wipro Digital and Designit serve clients from 16 offices around the world.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Cooper has been a leading brand in interaction design, UX and professional design education for more than 25 years. Founded by Sue Cooper and Alan Cooper, the ‘Father of Visual Basic,’ the consultancy is credited with inventing many tools and approaches used in design, including the Goal-Directed Design method and personas as a practical interaction design tool. Cooper employs 35 people in offices in San Francisco and New York and provides consulting and training services to top brands including Fortune 500 companies, leading non-profits and government agencies.
“Designit and Cooper are a perfect match. Both companies are passionate about creating products, experiences, and systems that matter and are high-impact and strategic. As a combined force with Wipro, we’ll take our clients to new places, and help them think like a startup again,” said Mikal Hallstrup, Designit’s Founder and Global CEO.
“Designit and Cooper share a strikingly similar culture and a shared passion for turning complex problems into solutions people love. Both companies are characterized by unparalleled craftsmanship, real-world practicality, and a humanizing approach to technology. As a combined force, we will continue to shape the future of business,” said Alan Cooper, Co-Founder of Cooper.
Cooper is a user experience design and strategy consulting firm headquartered in San Francisco with an office in New York. Cooper is credited with inventing several widely used design concepts, including goal-directed design, personas, and pair design. It was founded by Sue Cooper and Alan Cooper in 1992 in Menlo Park, CA, under the name ‘Cooper Software,’ then changing the name to ‘Cooper Interaction Design’ in 1997. Cooper was the first consulting firm dedicated solely to interaction design. Its original clients were mainly Silicon Valley software and computer hardware companies.
The company uses a human-centered methodology called “goal-directed design” that emphasizes the importance of understanding the user’s desired end-state and their motivations for getting there.
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be closed in the third quarter of fiscal 2017-18.
