'Data is the new oil' - Rosslyn Analytics looks to woo channel

11-year-old British vendor claims it is holding its own against industry giants

British analytics vendor Rosslyn Analytics is looking to significantly beef up its channel presence by convincing partners they can cash in on customer data becoming "the new oil".

The firm – which has a London office, as well as three bases in the US – was set up in 2005 by a British duo, and trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. It specialises in the analytics space and it claims its RAPid Platform allows end users to improve data quality as well as search, filter and edit it.

The company launched a channel push last year, and about 10 per cent of sales currently go through that side of the business. But it wants that to grow "massively", according to its chief marketing officer Lance Mercereau, who told CRN that the company is in the process of convincing partners of the benefits of analytics.

"People talk about [data as being] the new currency or the new oil – absolutely!" he said. "Traditionally it was labour, property and cash, but data is the new oil, or the new value, or asset. But organisations don't know where to start.

"There's so much value in the data in Excel, but Excel is on a desktop somewhere and [organisations] have to bring that data together into one single place. Once that's there, you can add extra contextual data."

For the year to 30 April 2016, revenue at Rosslyn is expected to be between £3.9m and £4m, up 40 per cent on the previous year. Over the same period, is expects to make a loss before income tax of "no more than £2.4m", compared with a loss of £3.5m, excluding exceptional items, the year before.

The company claims it has made "significant inroads" with Microsoft, adding that it is "actively engaged" with its sales teams across Europe and the US.

When asked if the likes of Microsoft and other big vendors which have begun looking into the analytics and big data space are posing a threat to Rosslyn, Mercereau said: "Our platform is on Azure, so that's a win-win."

"If you're a partner of Microsoft and you want to drive value to your customers, we've got the tools. I don't think Microsoft, or any of these large organisations, can do everything. Successful companies are the ones which focus. At the moment, as far as I know, they're not doing what we're doing."

Tony Lock, distinguished analyst at Freeform Dynamics, told CRN that although the market is competitive, there are still opportunities for smaller vendors – and their partners – to make big money in the space.

"This isn't a new area; analytics has been around since I was a boy," he said. "From the software vendors' point of view, the big gorilla in this space is still Excel. That's the big thing: they have to say 'Excel can do a lot, but here's where we can help you with things which are complex to do or you've got to work hard at. Everyone has spreadsheets – [new vendors] need to point [out] how they are different and how partners can help make the most of what they've got."

Lock added that every survey he has ever done shows that end users and IT departments know they could do more with their data, which he said proves the technology's worth. He added this could be good news for the channel.

"The big challenge for organisations is that many people are not comfortable around numbers or analysis more generally, so they need tools to help them make sense of the data," he said.

"In the past, too much emphasis has been placed around the tools themselves, not around helping the end users use the tools. I would argue that there's huge potential for the channel to help their customers exploit the tools they're selling them. Just the basics in training them how to use the tools. If anyone tells you 'our software is so intuitive, a cat could pick it up just by looking at it', don't believe them. Even if your cat [could use it], it doesn't mean they would be doing it effectively."