Merger and acquisition activity among IT service providers is at an all-time high, particularly as remote work has accelerated cloud migration for many companies. Deloitte is one such provider that has been busy making deals, following the growing trend of acquiring smaller boutique IT firms.

In fact, the company just closed its acquisition of HashedIn Technologies Private, a leading cloud native software engineering and product development firm. The companies will work together to enable clients to deliver and run cloud technologies.

Deloitte has made 14 acquisitions of cloud-technology firms or their businesses since 2017, including software-modernization company innoWake, cloud-management platform startup ATADATA, and technology consultancy Keytree. The company currently has over 50,000 professionals worldwide supporting organizations throughout their cloud journeys.

In a recent interview with VentureBeat, Ranjit Bawa, cloud leader and principal at Deloitte Consulting, spoke about the skills that his company is looking for when it chooses to acquire IT service providers. In the case of HashedIn, the India-based firm already had deep and unique software engineering skills that Deloitte could add to its portfolio.

Furthermore, Bawa confirmed that the growing trend toward consolidation has also played a major role, especially as boutique IT firms offer specialized skills in cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes. “There’s clearly an ongoing acceleration towards consolidation that’s happening because of talent,” Bawa said.

To keep up with this pressing demand for talent, companies like Deloitte have also launched training programs such as the Deloitte Cloud Institute. Nevertheless, Deloitte is wise to continue on its trend of specialized acquisitions. Bawa emphasized, “In certain areas where we think we need to either bolster what we have or accelerate, we will always be on the lookout for attractive options.”