Forth Point are a team of experts who help deliver more efficiency and agility through data. As a collective, we’ve been unlocking the value of data in customer applications for many years. We’ve learnt (and demonstrated) that the skills and techniques we have are all directly applicable to the challenges currently facing Industry 4.0 and Banking 4.0. Hence, we have started Forth Point to connect the right people, processes and technologies to deliver on the promise of Industry 4.0 and Banking 4.0.
Industry 4.0 and Banking 4.0 have made the promise that through the use of Smart technologies, IoT, AI and Machine Learning, processes are going to become faster, more efficient and more flexible. The key to achieving that promise is extracting insight from data. The problem facing the industry is that challenges are not being solved with a value-first approach. This has led to Proof of Concept paralysis and innovation fatigue. To overcome this, you need to focus on the right use cases and deliver them in the right way.
We ensure that clients approach their data projects with commercially focused objectives and value-driving use cases. This is encapsulated in our tried and tested methodology to extract the vale from data: Gather, Refine, Activate, Improve.
We deliver this approach through our three core services:
- Consultancy Services. We enable clients to understand the scale and value of the data opportunity embedded in their business through building roadmaps and business cases.
- Data Services. We are hands on partners with our clients delivering tangible outcomes from Proof of Concepts and production ready solutions through data science, machine learning, AI Ops, cloud engineering and data visualization.
- Platform Managed Services. We help clients make the most out of their technology investments by setting up, calibrating and activating Industry 4.0 focused platforms.
At Forth Point we are big believers in the importance of true partnerships – which we call partnership by design – with technology vendors and complementary suppliers. Partnerships are fundamental to creating the best possible solution for every client’s specific needs. You can be sure working with Forth Point that we bring to the table the knowledge and expertise of the wider analytics community, ensuring that every client has exactly what they need to be more effective and efficient in their use of data.
Data science and data engineering predate the advent of modern computing. The core skills and techniques are well known and proven. But the application of the scientific method to business has lagged significantly behind what can be achieved. While the benefits of evidence-led decision making supported by data science and engineering are clear, the benefits are much harder to deliver in the real world.
It is estimated that 90%+ of data initiatives in business ultimately fail. Common reasons for failure include the people (not delivering the cultural and skills change to take advantage of new methods of decision making), the process (not understanding that ways of working have to change) and the technology (for example, skunkworks proofs of concepts that can’t be productionised without significant rework, or inaccessible data).
Knowing that with a sound methodology and clear understanding of the risks of practical data science and data engineering we could materially increase the likelihood of success, we built one of the most successful data businesses in the UK from the ground up.
We focused on customer and marketing analytics, but we were increasingly drawn into other sectors and functions and discovered that all of the same successes and failures were to be found in energy, in manufacturing, in utilities as there are in consumer facing businesses.
In addition, we realized that the path to value was often significantly shorter in use cases outside of customer and marketing. Being able to connect our models directly to real world sensors and production platforms means that it’s much faster to see and measure the impact of the changes we make.
All of the techniques and principles that apply to Industry 4.0 are also appliable in Banking 4.0. It’s not just about the traditional marketing use cases – it’s about identification and treatment of vulnerable customers; it’s about bring together disparate data from multiple clouds and on premise legacy operational platforms to satisfy regulatory requirements such as BCBS 239; it’s about better servicing of customers and employees and it’s about more nimble approaches to solve supply chain and distribution challenges.
What our clients were telling us was that there was a lack of choice in their sectors – they either had to use niche, academic led, point solution providers or the large global consultancies. What they wanted was an expert services provider who would act as a genuine partner to deliver value – not simply borrow their watches to tell the time.
So we founded Forth Point, a data science and data engineering business focused on realizing the promise of Industry 4.0 and Banking 4.0. We bring all of the experience, skills and scars from our previous lives and work with our clients and partners to deliver practical, evidence led change.
Our aim is to become the largest and most successful provider of practical data science and data engineering services in Europe. We’ll measure success by the difference we make to the clients and partners work with and to society as a whole. Our success will be their success.
Will Boyle – CRO
Marta Portugal – Director of Data Science
Neil Carden – COO
