IBM has announced it will be acquiring Spanish hybrid cloud consultancy firm Bluetab Solutions as it continues to flesh out its new hybrid cloud and AI strategy.

The financial details of the deal have not been revealed, but it’s expected to be completed by Q4 of 2021.

Bluetab will become a key part of IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI strategy as a data services consulting practice. The firm, which is based in Madrid, was founded in 2005 and has brand partnerships in banking, telecommunications, and energy and utilities industries across Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.

It works with enterprises by migrating their on-premise systems to hybrid multi-cloud data platforms using a combination of public cloud providers and technologies, such as Red Hat OpenShift.

“The outside-in digital transformation of the past is giving way to the inside-out potential of using company-owned data with AI and automation to generate business value and create intelligent workflows,” said Mark Foster, senior vice president of IBM’s Services and Global Business Services.

“Our acquisition of Bluetab will fuel migration to the cloud and help our clients to realise even more value from their mission-critical data.”

Bluetab’s expertise in data and cloud migration services includes specialised data strategy, data fabric, and advanced analytics, according to IBM.

The firm’s data experts will also be joining IBM’s Global Business Services to capitalise on opportunities in the rapidly growing market for data services, which is estimated to reach $232 billion by 2024, according to Gartner. That’s double the $123 billion it reached in 2020.

“The key to solving data challenges for our clients has been the exceptionally talented and experienced team we have been able to build as well as the value-added accelerators we have developed,” said José Luis López, co-founder of Bluetab. “We could not be more excited by the opportunity that IBM offers us to continue to grow our team, to build on our accelerators and to help more clients achieve leadership positions by leveraging their data.”