OCF gets Intense about analytics
HPC integrator claims analytics projects are failing due to scattergun approach, as it buys way into sector
High-performance computing (HPC) integrator OCF has claimed many analytics projects are failing to meet their goals - and is aiming to put this right after acquiring its way into the market.
OCF this morning revealed to CRN that it has made its inaugural acquisition in the shape of Intense Computing, a data and analytics consultancy co-founded by former IBM bigwig Cliff Brereton.
OCF has snagged an 80 per cent stake in the firm, which will now be known as OCF Data, with Brereton retaining the remainder.
"Shared risk, shared reward - it's a model we're not scared of."
Julian Fielden, managing director at OCF, said his company had been looking to move deeper into the analytics space for about two years because analytics is a "natural extension" of HPC.
"Our approach has been somewhat scattergun and I felt we needed a lot more focus on how we approach the data analytics market," he said.
"A lot of [analytics] projects are failing, or not succeeding, because they're not properly defined in the first place, so it becomes a bit more of a shotgun rather than a rifle," he added.
"You're not clearly defining where you want to be before you set off. That's the reason why we invested in Intense Computing - we could see that methodology is the right one and avoids waste."
Brereton set up Intense Computing in 2015. It currently offers a handful of tailored solutions, including around health and safety in the construction industry, filled infrastructure analysis for utilities companies, and student retention analysis in higher education.
Citing analyst reports from the likes of Forrester, IDC and Gartner, Brereton said it is acknowledged that analytics has reached a "tipping point", but said lots of projects in the sector to date have failed to meet their aims.
"They often start by looking at the data and seeing if there are patterns, or they start with the technology and point it at something that doesn't have a major impact on the business."
Instead, OCF Data looks initially at what measures of business success clients want to boost, before then going on to look at the technology and data science element, Brereton explained. This means it fulfils the role of the business consultancies like Deloitte and Accenture, the technology providers like IBM, Tableau and SAS, and the data science specialists, he added.
"We very much talk to our clients about an RoI sell and our proposals are written that way - if you invest a pound here, this is what you expect to see coming back," he said.
"For the right deal we will buy into a shared revenue model. We'll say ‘if you have access to this insight, and you act upon it, it's going to move your needle five per cent in the right direction, and we want one or two per cent of that'."
Fielden echoed this: "Shared risk, shared reward - it's a model we're not scared of."
OCF's revenues dipped from £20.6m to £16.6m in its year to 31 March 2016 and Fielden (pictured) said building an analytics business would help safeguard against the peaks and troughs of the project-based business it has traditionally conducted.
"OCF is a project-based business," he said. "One of the nice features of the analytics business is we are hoping to become far less projects based and far more relationship based, and based more on a service than on delivering big amounts of tin. That's not against delivering big amounts of tin; we do it all the time and will continue to do so. But this is a different business model."
He added:"I've known Cliff for a number of years when at IBM, and latterly the Hartree Centre. He's put a lot of work into developing a proper approach to these solutions: if you don't start an analytics assignment in the right way, you're not going to get to the right place."