Big data is not a buzzword. It’s a reality. By the year 2020, about 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every human being on the planet, according to EMC Corporation. Every search query, every Facebook post or YouTube video, contributes to this accumulation. To compete in today’s marketplace, businesses of all sizes need a way to analyze a staggering amount of information.
Enter CompassRed Data Labs, founded in 2012 to focus on social media data. The Wilmington-based company, which has a presence in San Francisco, then added data related to the Internet of Things (a system that transfers data between devices, objects, machines, people and even animals.) Today, CompassRed works with a variety of data from a multitude of sources.
“We’ve found that the combination of various data types gets at the real meat,” says founding partner Patrick Callahan, who also founded The Archer Group.
CompassRed is comfortable with algorithms, predictive analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. “We believe that in complex data lies fascinating insight and ideas,” he says. “We work with some of the most passionate and creative data scientists, data visionaries and data storytellers to help find this insight.”
CompassRed’s custom platform uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to help customers find solutions. “Because this mature approach leverages new advances in technology, we see it as world-shifting and not hype,” Callahan says.
Clients include companies in the financial service sector and the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. CompassRed has developed an algorithm to predict the demand for a global beverage company’s product, and it has helped a client predict the type of customer who will purchase a product. With CompassRed’s help, one client now has a more precise view of its customer base.
With so much available data, a company also needs a plan for how to obtain and use it. CompassRed can help clients define a strategy moving forward.
Located in The Mill, a co-working community, CompassRed has 11 employees. The area offers easy access to the Northeast corridor and the major cities on the East Coast. “Delaware has a level of accessibility that is far greater than many of the traditional metropolitans that one would equate to tech and data,” Callahan says. “The technical infrastructure is here, and critical to our business.”
