Trend Spotting
How intelligent is your data? That’s
the question posed by Robert S. Orf,
president of Tampa’s DataMentors Inc.
With three decades of tech experience
and a stint in the FBI before that, Smith
sees several trends regarding changing
data into knowledge and gaining
the competitive advantage.
“Data drives every company,” says
Smith, who in 1999 founded DataMentors (www.datamentors.com).
“First, a company must be able to act on its data in real time. In a typical
organization, business intelligence is a read-only operation with limited
access by a handful of individuals to study metrics. But they have no
way to act on the data. Customer relationship management has to trend
toward being more real time so someone can immediately act upon
what is found.”
Another trend, Orf says, is developing the capacity to scan large
amounts of transactional data in order to predict future events. “‘Event
pattern recognition’ software does just that,” he says. “That type of
software will be a key piece to the real-time puzzle.”
Suppose, for example, a customer makes an unusual bank deposit.
“In the interactive customer management relationship of the future, the
teller will know that person’s annual income; products and services that
person likes; and what the deposit could possibly mean,” says Orf. “It
could be significant in terms of an investment opportunity.”
The third trend is finding ways to analyze a company’s unstructured
data. “Free-form recognition software can pick up on what types of
things are important to a company’s strategies,” Orf says. “The challenge
for all companies is to get from data to possibilities.” Given the
right intelligence tools to access the data, he says, a company will have
the ability to act upon that information in real time and analyze trends
seen in transactional patterns.
“Businesses that address these issues will be successful in the future,”
Orf says.
Trick, Treat or Merge
On Halloween night 2005, Martin Schaffel, founder of Audio Visual
Innovations (AVI), sat on his front porch talking merger plans with
the top exec of Signal Perfection LTD. (SPL) – in between visits from
candy-seeking fairies and ghouls. The merger closed in April and now
Schaffel is executive chairman of AVI-SPL, a $500-million audiovisual
technology services company with more
than 1,200 employees and 40 offices
in the U.S., Mexico and Dubai.
Not
bad for a guy who started out in his
garage in 1979. With a staff of 800,
AVI was the largest firm in the audiovisual
(AV) industry and SPL was
the second biggest with a staff of
400. Both provided a wide range of
AV technology services, from videoconferencing
set-ups to sport arena
sound systems. “The next largest
company in our industry is about
one-fifth our size,” Schaffel says.
Chad Gillenwater, former president
of Columbia, MD-based SPL,
is now vice chairman of the combined firm headquartered in Tampa
(www.avispl.com). Venture capital firm Silver Lake Partners invested in
80 percent of the company; Schaffel retained 20-percent ownership.
“With this investment, we’ve joined a family of world-class companies
(such as Avaya, Nasdaq and Travelocity),” says Schaffel. “We’ve
moved into a whole new league.”
Stars and CEO’s
STAR Technology Enterprise Center (STARTEC) recently celebrated
five years as an accelerator to foster the growth of fledgling high-tech
firms. It’s grown to 30,000 square feet at the Young-Rainey STAR
Technology Center in Largo, and the
latest newcomer to the fold is Field
Forensics. “They do disposable trace
explosion detection for the FBI and
airline and cruise industries,” says
Tonya Elmore, STARTEC’s executive
director.
Other recent additions include ID
Rank Security Inc. and Tattle Trail Inc.
Alaka’i Consulting & Engineering
Inc., a sensor manufacturer for the
defense and security industries, is set
to graduate from STARTEC in October.
“This is one of our biggest success stories,” Elmore says. “They’ve
grown from two to twelve employees.”
To expand its support services, STARTEC (www.startecflorida.com)
has partnered with the CEO Council of Tampa Bay Inc. (www.ceotampa.com) so entrepreneurs can mentor execs at the accelerator. CEO Council
execs head companies of at least 25 employees and $3 million in revenue.
In 2007 STARTEC companies raised more than $7 million in capital and
grants, and received seven new patents with another 12 pending. “The average
wage of companies here is more than $60,000 annually,” says Elmore.
“That’s more than the average in this county.” It Is Rocket Science
At first glance, the architectural and engineering services of BRPH
Companies in Melbourne sound rather humdrum. But then, consider that
the firm was instrumental in the design of NASA’s launch pads and facilities
since the space center’s start. “Our founding fathers were working (at
Kennedy Space Center) in the early days of NASA and its facility buildup,”
says Arthur Waite, PE, the firm’s director of aerospace (www.brph.com).
Due to the cyclical nature of the aerospace industry, the firm needed to
diversify. Now it’s a full-service A&E firm that ranked No. 3,915 on the Inc.
5000 last year. With six offices, 240 employees and revenues of $60 million.
Says Catherine Gettes, director of business development: “We’re on
track to grow 20 percent this year.” BRPH is involved with the Constellation
Project, which plans to send manned missions to the moon and Mars.
From Thin Air
Actually, the prototype for technology that turns air into water requires not
thin air, but humid air. The AquaVentus unit can generate 20 gallons of water
in 24 hours, says CEO James Hill. “This water is very clean, and designed
for standby water production or for areas that have no water supply.”
Priced close to state-of-the-art water filtration units (roughly $2,000), the
system works by cooling air that condenses into drops of water that accumulate
in a holding tank. The St. Petersburg firm (www.aquaventus.com) plans
to develop units that generate five gallons and 100 gallons of water.
Hill intends to market the product in the southeastern U.S. as an emergency
supply for water when natural disasters occur, and to the Caribbean.
Tech Bytes
Tampa’s Pilgrim Software Inc. (www.pilgrimsoftware.com) was named
2008 North American Enterprise Compliance & Quality Management
Co. of the Year by Frost & Sullivan … Sarasota’s Property Maps (www.propertymaps.com) secured bridge funding from Merrick Capital and
plans a $10-million Series A offering in the third quarter … Tampa’s Sypris
Electronics LLC (www.sypriselectronics.com) received certification from the
U.S. government for its KIV-19M encryptor, making it ready for deployment
to defense agencies.
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