If three do indeed make a trend as the old journalistic saying goes, then Pivotal Software Inc. is now officially on an acquisition streak. The vendor this week made its third strategic purchase in two months and picked up a Singaporean web development studio called Neo Innovation Inc. that caters to large enterprises.

Adobe Systems Inc., eBay Inc. and Time Inc. are among the corporate heavyweights that have hired the services of the outfit since its foundation in 2011. However, the biggest asset that Pivot stands to gain through the deal is arguably not Neo’s clientele but rather its team, which will bring valuable development experience to the table. The EMC Corp. subsidiary’s need for fresh talent was also the main motivation behind its previous two acquisitions: Interface design specialist Slice of Lime Inc. and CloudCredo Ltd., a consultancy that helps organizations with maintaining their platform-as-a-service implementations.

The deals will bolster Pivotal’s fast-growing professional arm, which has quietly become a force to be reckoned with in the professional services space. Its work spans from helping organizations come up with ideas for new software products to handling the design and implementation process. The unit even has a usability testing team that can be contracted to periodically check an application for performance issues and other technical hiccups.

Yet Pivotal as a whole still constitutes only a fraction of EMC’s overall revenue. The company has a long way to go before it can start posing a serious threat to established professional services providers like IBM Corp., which is also working to strengthen its position. The technology giant bought three major creative agencies since the beginning of the year as part of a nine-figure acquisition spree.

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