10 years ago in 2012, our family got a house rabbit. He was young, full of energy and bounded around the house like a spaniel, constantly jumping up on the furniture and demanding attention.
Since then, Murphy has had lots of ups and down. On more than one occasion, vets have thought that he was on his last legs. Over the years, he has “matured” from a jet black into a lighter grey, slowed down a bit and become a lot more strategic (he knows when to seek attention and get that piece of banana he’s after). But he is still going strong.
And people say that pets often mirror their owners…
Or in this case, perhaps their owner’s company. Because also in 2012, Stephen McArthur, Gordon Short and myself started Bellrock Technology.
Talk about a young, excitable animal with a lot to learn!
10 years ago, we burst out of the University of Strathclyde with technology and ideas that we knew could change the world. What we didn’t realise at the time was that we would have to change mindsets first.
Our early traction came from innovation teams within companies. Fellow visionaries who looked for change and opportunities to improve by taking a new approach. Maybe even a risk.
Of course then, we could only see the upsides of these risks. We had no doubt that we could help and that our ideas were a no-brainer.
We found chats about the difficulty of changing organisational culture frustrating. IT governance (not always, but) sometimes felt like box ticking and a way to block innovation. We focused for years on our radical new technology. And, as technologists, we couldn’t work out why others didn’t quite seem to get it.
As a more experienced chief exec now, I have a very different view. I recognise that technology in itself is not the answer. In fact, I find that defining solutions by the technologies that form them can be dangerous. It often misses the key point – actually defining the solution!
I completely understand the challenges that change can throw up – even in a smaller company. But I also see the opportunities that change can bring. Particularly in relation to using data to drive improved performance.
In this regard, I’m not alone. According to Unleash.ai in August 2022, 85% of C-suite say data is tied to revenue. 97% believe the amount of data used within businesses will increase rapidly in the next five years.
In 2012, it was possible to find stats like this, but you had to look a lot harder. And most referred to strategic plans, roadmaps and potential, rather than the here and now.
But 10 years is a long time. Long enough to soft-boil around 1.3 million eggs back to back. Or to walk around the Earth’s circumference 11 times. It’s the difference between The Monkeys and The Clash (chronologically at least)!
In our case, we have used the past 10 years to showcase how data, and more importantly the insights it contains, can help.
We have been fortunate to attract an amazing, skilled and highly-knowledgeable team. That team has supported companies from startups to blue chips: proving value, building long-term partnerships and changing mindsets.
Our proudest moments stem from skeptics (“it’ll never work”) becoming our greatest champions. (Hope retirement is treating you well Eddie ;)).
The belief that data is not just for the innovators (or even the geeks), but an essential to success is now widely held. But 10 years in and it still feels like we are only scratching the surface. The next 10 years are going to be a riot!
Written by Adam Brown, CEO and Co-Founder at Bellrock Technology