The advent of big data analytics, cloud based solutions and related technologies have opened up a massive business opportunity to develop accurate, real-time analysis and rapid response to that analysis. Companies that successfully adopt these technologies and effectively utilize them to make critical business decisions will not only adapt to this new, fast-paced environment more effectively, they will also emerge as the victors against their competitors. Larger companies need to think through how they can create value from a new and different asset class – data. If they don’t, somewhere, in a garage are some folks thinking about to create the next Craigslist, Amazon, LinkedIn, AirBnB or Uber for an industry that has not yet been disrupted by an aggressive, creative start-up with bold ideas and very little fear.
I recently met with Michael Zeller, CEO and Founder of Zementis, to learn more about their solutions and how their relationship with a corporation like SAP has impacted their business. Businesses of any size can undoubtedly benefit from the insights and possibilities that successful startups and their leaders like Zeller can offer.
What does Zementis do in a nutshell?
MZ: Zementis dramatically reduces the complexity, expense and time required for enterprises to deploy and execute sophisticated predictive analytic models and make business decisions based on the output of those models. We have seen large organizations take six months or more to deploy a predictive model to business users after the data science team has done their work and is ready to deploy. Zementis reduces the deployment cycle time to days, hours or even minutes enabling businesses to make decisions on real-time insights. Our innovation in this area along with customer traction inspired Gartner to name Zementis a Cool Data Science Vendor for 2014.
What business outcomes can enterprises expect by leveraging your solution?
MZ: Despite having highly skilled data science teams, many enterprises face a basic challenge– once the data science team has built predictive models, deploying these models into the broader organization requires multiple months. In fast-paced business environments, such durations are unacceptable and create profound competitive disadvantages. Market opportunities go to competitors, potential risks become actual risks and predictive models “decay” (i.e. become less accurate over time). Zementis enables enterprises to generate a higher ROI and get greater utilization from a best-in-class Big Data solution.
What is a lesson that enterprises can take from startups?
MZ: Zementis was founded on the principle that data science teams and IT departments can collaborate seamlessly and efficiently, allowing predictive models to rapidly move from development to deployment, so that businesses and other data-centric organizations can easily incorporate predictive analytics into their routine operations. Agile deployment of predictive solutions is the cornerstone of the Zementis philosophy. Our internal development as well as our work with clients is based on this philosophy.
How has SAP technology served as a competitive advantage for your startup?
MZ: The SAP HANA® platform enables businesses to make smarter, faster decisions through real-time analysis and reporting combined with dramatically accelerated business processes. Zementis developed ADAPA to run on the SAP HANA platform and deliver real-time scoring for high velocity data while reducing the cost and complexity of model deployment with Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML). PMML is a widely supported open industry standard. ADAPA helps clients to extract business value from real-time data and transform it into actionable insights.
In your opinion, why is it critical for businesses today and in the future to “Think like a startup?”
MZ: The advent of big data analytics, cloud based solutions and related technologies is driving an arms race for accurate, real-time data analysis and real time response times. Companies that successfully adopt new technologies and effectively utilize them will emerge as the victors against their competitors. Big data analytics has created disruptive change, and there will be winners and losers. Reuters was founded in 1851 and created great value by monetizing faster data by way of carrier pigeon. Looking at recent history:
Amazon founded 20 years ago
Google founded 17 years ago
LinkedIn founded 11 years ago
Facebook founded 10 years ago
Twitter founded 9 years ago
AirBnB founded 7 years ago
Über founded 5 years ago
The point is that creating business value by processing data faster and smarter is by no means new. What’s changed is the barriers to entry have become so low that one or two people starting with off the shelf laptops can turn entire established industries on their head within a few years. Every company has to answer the question how will the advent of Big Data and immediate 24/7 access to it will change their business in the future.
As Chief Executive Officer, Michael Zeller manages the strategic direction of Zementis. As Co-Founder of Zementis, his vision is to help companies deepen and accelerate insights from big data through the power of predictive analytics.Michael has extensive experience in strategic implementation of technology, business process improvement and systems integration. He strives to provide customers with innovative business solutions tailored to their unique needs.
Hear from Michael Zeller and other start-up leaders at the THINK LIKE A STARTUP FORUMat SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando June 3-5, 2014- Register Now!