Data analysis specialist Advise is spending €1.8 million on a move into the UK market after growing the business domestically.
The Dublin-based firm uses artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline data analysis for companies that make consumer goods, including food and health products. This allows them to quickly identify action needed to boost sales or turn declines around.
Advise confirmed this week that it plans a full-scale launch in the UK after working there for a year with one customer, food producer G’s Fresh.
Advise is hiring 10 people to spearhead the expansion into a market it says is worth up to €2 billion.
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John Phelan, a co-founder and commercial director of the business, said the company was “getting good engagement” with potential customers.
He noted that moving into the UK was a first step in international expansion following its experience at home.
Advise has recruited Kerry, Tirlán, Tayto and Dr Oetker as customers here.
Mr Phelan explained that the company’s technology could be applied to many businesses, but it felt consumer goods offered the best opportunity.
“So that is food, health or personal care, basically anything with a barcode that sells in a supermarket,” he said.
According to Mr Phelan, Advise’s systems remove most of the burden of data analysis for its customers.
He argues that when it comes to data analysis, businesses spend 80 per cent of their time trawling for insights and 20 per cent doing something with the information.
“We save 80 per cent of people’s time,” he said.
G’s Fresh, Advise’s existing UK customer, cultivates 17,500 hectares, producing everything from vegetables to salad leaves.
Matt Godbold, its category marketing director, said Advise’s technology allowed his department to shift focus from “manual analysis to driving real business growth”.
The size of the UK market and its appetite for innovation will allow Advise grow customer numbers, Mr Phelan predicted.
The company calculates that there is a potential market for its services worth €2 billion. That figure is likely to grow as more consumer goods businesses turn to AI.
Companies face growing pressure to cut costs while increasing efficiency, but struggle to identify the right AI to meet their needs, according to Mr Phelan.
