Buying a professional service from an existing, trusted provider such as a company’s accounting firm is often easier than onboarding a new supplier. That dynamic has enabled many accounting firms to expand the scope of their client relationships beyond bookkeeping. New York-based EisnerAmper, for example, can not only handle tax preparation and assurance tasks for companies but also manage their IT infrastructure. This month, the firm extended its focus to the marketing services segment with the acquisition of MLCworks. Boardroom Insight caught up with EisnerAmper to get a closer look at the news. Plus, business updates from DSG Global, Coegi and Thoughtworks.

EisnerAmper broadens its marketing capabilities. MLCworks, the agency it has acquired, helps companies run ad campaigns across streaming services, billboards and other channels. It also handles the data management tasks involved in those campaigns. MLCworks puts together dashboards to help executives track ad performance and analyzes audience data to find areas for improvement.

The deal is part of a years-long effort by EisnerAmper to become a one-stop-shop for professional services. In 2022, it launched an outsourced IT business focused on managing and securing technology infrastructure. The firm also helps clients with other tasks such as project management. 

“This move further solidifies EisnerAmper’s philosophy of providing a 360-degree approach to clients’ needs across a variety of industry sectors,” David Plaskow, a director at EisnerAmper’s marketing group, told Boardroom Insight. “Those needs could range from international tax planning to health care business advisory, to now—with the addition of MLCworks talent and expertise—areas such as search engine optimization and digital advertising.”

EisnerAmper says that the deal will also benefit MLCworks’ clients. The marketing agency works with companies across more than half a dozen verticals including the professional services sector. “MLCworks clients will now have access to the vast resources of a global business consulting firm with 475 partners and a staff of 4,700,” Plaskow said.

DSG Global expands its leadership team. The Philadelphia-based executive search firm has appointed Lavonne Moon as its managing director and practice leader for technology, AI and cybersecurity. Her work will focus on helping DSG clients recruit technical leaders such as CISOs. Boardroom Insight reached out to Moon for a primer on what hiring such executives involves exactly. She says that it’s “both an art and a science” because recruiters need to familiarize themselves with the technical aspects of each role, which can be a steep learning curve. 

“The science is ecosystem fluency – understanding the platforms, architectures, threat models, and delivery motions that define each executive-level role, and knowing precisely where leaders with those experiences come from,” Moon explained. “The art is engagement: speaking to what truly matters to these executives in both the role and the platform.”

Moon is joining DSG from Eaton, a publicly-traded supplier of power grid equipment and auto parts. Those are highly technical, mission-critical assets much like the IT systems that technical executives are tasked with overseeing, a parallel which Moon says comes handy in her work. “I’ve led and operated in highly technical environments delivering complex solutions and products, as well as in corporate settings focused on protecting critical assets,” she elaborated. “That background allows me to speak the language, understand the realities these executives face, and help clients shape roles that are both accurate and compelling to the market.”

DSG is active in multiple parts of the consulting market. In addition to providing executive search services, the firm helps clients with tasks such as refining the organizational structure of business units and optimizing supplier networks.

Coegi appoints a new executive vice president of digital operations. Chris Kotyck will lead the Canadian marketing agency’s programmatic advertising and social operations. In addition, he will be tasked with growing its managed services business, which works not only with brands but also other agencies. Kotyck was previously an executive at .Monks, the flagship business of publicly-traded marketing consultancy S4Capital. Coegi is itself a unit of a holding company called True Independent Holdings. The group’s four other agencies provide marketing, public relations and data analytics services. 

Thoughtworks debuts a new AI platform. The software, which is called AI/works, uses machine learning to speed up legacy workload modernization. One of the tasks that it automates is the creation of specifications, technical files that help engineers determine how to rewrite an application in a new language. AI/works can also rewrite certain code modules on its own. According to Thoughtworks, the platform is capable of compressing modernization projects that usually take years into months. The company’s consultants will use it to complete client projects faster. 

Photo courtesy of EisnerAmper