Avanade, the Microsoft and Accenture joint venture, has agreed to acquire a pioneering AI and automation specialist whose technology is helping cancer clinicians in Scotland save an estimated 15,600 hours a year.
The companies will take over Robiquity, the Manchester-based tech firm, which worked has with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to digitise the multidisciplinary team meetings where cancer cases are reviewed.
That platform is now being extended to further specialties, with other Scottish cancer networks showing interest.
The deal, announced yesterday for an undisclosed sum, is subject to ‘customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals’, Avanade said in a statement.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) is one of the UK’s largest health boards, with more than 40,000 staff. After NHS Scotland invested in Microsoft Power Platform, Robiquity was brought in to find uses that could scale across health boards.
The top priority was the multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings where clinicians review cancer patients. Referral processes differed from team to team, lacked standardisation and meant clinicians had to work across several disconnected systems. Dr Kevin Burton, a consultant gynaecological oncologist, described seeing “an exponential rise in the number of patients coming through MDTs”.
Working with NHSGGC, Robiquity built a Power Platform solution that brings referrals, collaboration and communication onto a single digital platform. According to the company, it saves an estimated 15,600 hours of clinician time a year across the West of Scotland Cancer Network, or about 20 minutes per clinician.
Versions for dermatology, haematology and breast cancer are in development. Robiquity says other cancer networks in Scotland have shown interest. Andrew Hardy, head of development at NHS Scotland, said work that would normally take months was delivered much faster, with the Robiquity team operating as part of the NHS team rather than as a traditional supplier.
NHSGGC has separately reported that its cancer MDT app is live in three specialties and is being rolled out to MDTs for pancreatic, liver, bile duct and gall bladder cancers.
Avanade’s global headquarters is in Seattle, but it has an office in Edinburgh.
Its largest Scottish public sector contract to date came through its parent Accenture. In 2015, the two companies won a five-year contract from the Department of Health in England and NHS National Services Scotland to deliver a new cloud-based NHSmail service.
The service was designed to give about 700,000 health and care workers across England and Scotland secure email and collaboration tools. It later became one of the world’s largest email migrations to the cloud, and Microsoft Teams was rolled out to its 1.2 million users during the pandemic.
The Robiquity deal adds a team with a track record in Scottish clinical workflows. The news comes as NHS Scotland’s national shared-services landscape is being reorganised, with Public Services Delivery Scotland replacing NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland in April this year.
Robiquity was founded in 2016 to meet growing demand for robotic process automation (RPA). Since then it has moved towards building on Microsoft’s own stack, using technology platforms including Power Platform, Copilot, Azure and, more recently, agentic AI.
Avanade says the acquisition expands its ability to help UK ‘mid-market and enterprise clients apply AI and automation’. It also adds capability in agentic AI, low-code and automation delivery. Robiquity’s team will get access to Avanade’s global reach and wider Microsoft ecosystem.
Avanade CEO Chris Howarth praised Robiquity’s Microsoft expertise and culture. He said that combination is what clients need to “move from AI ambition to real, lasting impact”.
Davies called the deal “a natural next step for our business”. He said it would let Robiquity bring its expertise to more clients and markets while keeping the culture that shaped it.
The acquisition is Avanade’s latest in the UK, following Altius Consulting in 2020 and QUANTIQ, a Microsoft business applications specialist, in 2022.