Avanade Agrees to Buy Robiquity for UK AI Automation

A cancer referral arrives with information that several clinicians need to use together. In Robiquity's work with NHS Scotland, bringing those referrals and team communications into Microsoft Power Platform became a way to give specialists more time for the patient discussion. That kind of assignment helps explain the expertise now attracting a larger owner.

Avanade agreed on November 10, 2026, to acquire Manchester-based Robiquity, adding UK delivery capability in AI, intelligent automation and low-code development. The proposed acquisition connects a specialist team with a broader Microsoft services network serving mid-market and enterprise clients. Financial terms are undisclosed, and completion remains subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

The commercial logic sits inside the customer's working day. Avanade is seeking more capacity to turn Microsoft technology into useful operating changes, while Robiquity would gain access to more markets and expertise. For buyers choosing an AI services partner, the agreement raises a practical question about how specialist knowledge can travel through a much larger organisation.

What Avanade has agreed to buy

The acquisition announcement identifies Robiquity's experience with Microsoft Power Platform, Copilot and Azure as part of the attraction. Robiquity was founded in Manchester in 2016 and developed from robotic process automation into a wider AI and low-code services business. That history gives the transaction a longer foundation than the arrival of any one agent-building tool.

Chris Howarth, Avanade's CEO, has framed the combination around technical expertise, delivery and client outcomes. His appointment took effect in February 2026, according to Accenture's leadership announcement. Robiquity CEO Tom Davies has described access to a larger client base and wider markets as an opportunity for the business and its people.

The transaction would put those ambitions under the same ownership, with Microsoft technology as the shared foundation. There is no disclosed purchase price, consideration breakdown or exact completion date to turn into a valuation argument. The useful evidence concerns the capabilities changing hands and the customers those capabilities are intended to reach.

How Robiquity developed alongside its market

Growth Capital Partners invested in Robiquity in 2022, partnering with founder Jack Rimmer, Tom Davies and the leadership team. GCP says its support included building management capacity, developing a public-sector practice and deepening the company's Microsoft relationship. The investor has now signed an agreement to realise its investment, subject to regulatory clearance.

That account describes a services company changing its mix of work as the technology changed. GCP points to the move from traditional RPA into AI-led services and positions on NHS and Crown Commercial Service frameworks. Its reported tally of more than 200 Microsoft certifications describes professional credentials; it should not be read as an employee count.

For a services acquirer, this development matters because tools and client requirements keep moving together. A delivery team has to learn new capabilities while retaining an understanding of the processes already in use. The proposed deal gives Avanade access to a business that has been doing that work within the Microsoft ecosystem, and gives GCP a proposed route out of its investment without disclosing the economics of the exit.

The customer work behind the AI description

Robiquity's Evri case study offers a concrete explanation of its approach. Customer-service staff received a Power Apps interface accessible through Teams, while Power Automate flows updated the existing CRM in the background. The project worked around the system the operation already depended on, simplifying how people interacted with it.

The supplier-published study reports a reduction in average handling time from 3.5 minutes to 1 minute. That is a reported result from a particular deployment, rather than a performance promise for another customer. More revealing for the acquisition story is the connection between interface design, automation and the existing records staff still needed to maintain.

A separate Durham Police case study describes Power Platform systems for Clare's Law, Sarah's Law and multi-agency risk assessment applications. In that setting, access controls, case visibility and the timing of a disclosure all sit close to the purpose of the work. The people building the application need to understand that context as well as the software.

The NHS Scotland example brings another kind of specialist user into the picture. Robiquity describes working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on cancer multidisciplinary-team referrals, with a design intended to support adoption elsewhere. Across these examples, the commercial offering includes learning enough about the institution to make the technology useful inside it.

What the combination asks of both companies

Low-code development can reduce some of the effort required to build an application. It also leaves a substantial assignment around choosing the right process, understanding the data and fitting the result into an organisation. Robiquity's own service description spans discovery and design through build, testing and operation, often alongside internal teams. That breadth helps explain why implementation specialists remain relevant as platforms gain capabilities.

Avanade's scale could put Robiquity's experience in front of customers and industries the Manchester business would take longer to reach alone. Robiquity's specialists could also draw on a wider network when an assignment extends beyond their existing expertise. These are opportunities described by the companies, with detailed integration arrangements still undisclosed.

For an existing customer, continuity will have a very local meaning: who understands the application, who knows its exceptions and who answers when the process changes. A larger organisation can supply more kinds of help, while the relationship with the delivery team remains part of what the customer values. Keeping that relationship useful will be an operating task for the combined business after closing.

The proposed acquisition brings Avanade closer to work that already runs through a parcel carrier's service desk, a police disclosure team and a cancer referral process. As Robiquity's expertise reaches further into Avanade's client network, those assignments will keep requiring someone who can sit with the customer, understand the next change and carry it into the system people use tomorrow.