BSI, the business standards company, has acquired Espion Ltd and Espion UK, the Dublin-based consultancy that manages corporate information. The deal will see Espion become an operating subsidiary of BSI’s Professional Services business and will function under the name, “Espion – A BSI Professional Services Company”.
London-based BSI says that the acquisition expands BSI’s Professional Services business which has grown its consultancy capability globally after recent acquisitions in the US. It also reinforces BSI in information resilience having been the originator of the ISO 27000 series of information security management standards and is a provider of training and certification to ISO 27001, the best practice in Information Security Management Systems (ISMS).
Espion with 80 employees is a multiple winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 since 2006 and a former ICT Company of the Year in Ireland. It offers information management and security services including information governance, risk and compliance, R&D, eDiscovery and digital forensics, with clients in the UK and across Europe. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Howard Kerr, Chief Executive at BSI says: “Confidence in the security and quality of data is a $75 billion market because it is woven into every aspect of business performance. Information Resilience is a crucial element of Organizational Resilience, allowing business leaders to adapt and grow within an increasingly risk-based digital environment. Espion’s world-class consultancy complements BSI’s wider offer and will help further unlock excellence for our clients worldwide. Over the past decade BSI has grown our client base organically, increased our global footprint and expanded our portfolio offering to match today’s business needs. Information Resilience is one of our core strategic domains – along with Supply Chain and Operational Resilience – and this acquisition reinforces our commitment to our overall approach of encouraging Organizational Resilience across our clients. To ensure we remain a resilient organisation – one that is agile, adaptive, robust and competitive – we have even greater ambitions for growth which will include quality acquisitions like Espion.”
Mark Basham, EMEA Managing Director at BSI, says: “As the business world is increasingly conducted digitally, so too has the issue of Information Resilience risen up the boardroom agenda. The digital transformation within business has further intensified the complex security issues and threats organizations face to ensure that their corporate information is protected. This acquisition of Espion expands our information management and security proposition, enabling us to deliver the right solutions – that have a positive impact and help embed excellence – increasing the resilience of the client’s information systems and processes. Espion provides us with immediate growth opportunities in Europe and further strengthens BSI’s commitment to Irish market. Espion has a proven track record in delivering Information Resilience consultancy services to organizations across a wide range of industries spanning government; healthcare; education; banking and finance; legal and insurance. The firm has offices and clients in UK, US and across Europe.”
Colman Morrissey, Managing Director at Espion says: “Over the past few years, managing and securing corporate information has become highly complex owing to increased regulations, growth in the volume of data organizations are generating, as well as the evolving and sophisticated information risk environment. We are very much looking forward to delivering our ambition to develop a global centre of excellence that is at the cutting edge of Information Resilience. BSI shares our vision to realize this ambition through knowledge acquisition, investment in innovation, adherence to leading industry standards as well as enhancing methodologies. The global reach, resources and industry standing of BSI add tremendously to what we expect will be a very promising future.”
BSI now operates in 30 countries.
