Deloitte to take bigger bite of Apple with 5,000-strong team

Dedicated team of iOS advisers across APAC, EMEA and the Americas will push iPads and iPhones to business customers

Deloitte is betting big on Apple by creating a team of 5,000 advisers to flog iPhones and iPads to business customers.

Having rolled out 100,000 iOS devices in its own workforce, the professional services giant is assembling a team of iOS strategists, designers, architects, developers and industry experts that will operate across APAC, EMEA and the Americas.

As part of the partnership, Apple and Deloitte are collaborating on a new offering, exclusively for iOS, called EnterpriseNext, to help customers develop custom solutions "through rapid prototyping".

It will comprise new tools and workshops aimed at speeding the process of "ideation, prototyping and evaluating mobile opportunities for iPhone and iPad".

Despite the iPad initially having been seen as a consumer device, Apple has been keen to woo business customers in recent years by forging partnerships with the likes of IBM and Cisco.

According to figures from Forrester cited in the New York Times, nearly half of all iPads are now bought by businesses and governments.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (pictured right with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty) said the Deloitte partnership will "help even more businesses tap into the incredible capabilities that only the Apple ecosystem can deliver".

Punit Renjen (pictured above with Tim Cook), CEO of Deloitte Global, said: "We know that iOS is the best mobile platform for business because we've experienced the benefit ourselves with over 100,000 iOS devices in use by Deloitte's workforce, running 75 custom apps.

"Our dedicated Apple practice will give global businesses the expertise and resources they need to empower their mobile workforce to take advantage of the powerful ecosystem iOS, iPhone and iPad offer, and help them achieve their ambitions, while driving efficiency and productivity."