Contemporary Analysis (CAN), our October Small Business of the Month, specializes in predictive analytics. Before you ask Google to define that, here’s the simple explanation: The CAN team, including president Nathan Watson and a crew of data scientists, helps businesses sort through their piles of data, find patterns, predict futures and fix problems. Predictive analytics.
“It’s fun to watch our talented people realize we are sincere when we tell them to dream bigger,” Nathan says. “Build the solution that should be built, we will worry about money after we have designed the right path. When they figure out that applies to them and not just our customers, the level of work we get from them, the solutions we get to build for our customers is second to none.”
Founded in 2008 – its 10th anniversary coming up in January – CAN has helped more than 100 companies, including some of the largest in the Midwest, use predictive analytics to find patterns in their business data. In 2016, CAN teamed up with Interface Web School to create the Omaha Data Science Academy, the ultimate goal of which is to train a data scientist for every company in Omaha.
Winning Insights from Our October Winner:
- Providing an Excellent Customer Experience
“We provide access to the data science talent so our clients can ask questions and get technical answers. We also provide business understanding so they can ask the business implementation questions needed to gain traction inside of their company.”
- Empowering Employees and Creating a Culture in which They Can Grow and Succeed
“Our culture is called ‘White Boards and Black Coffee.’ It means we believe in quality (only good coffee), creative binge working (weird hours are encouraged) and having brainstorming sessions anywhere we can get a white board. This culture allows us to hire amazing individuals who need time and space to think, dream and research. We hire for tenacity above all, giving us individuals who view problems as only a speed bump and not a stop sign.
- Best Practice Tip
“Perfection is the enemy of getting things done. We call this philosophy ‘less wrong.’ Less wrong is about understanding there is a point in problem-solving where more time and effort do not give you a measurable increase in productivity. … You should always strive to be better but at some point, you have to start making decisions and doing work instead of continuing to study and philosophically debate.”
- Value of Chamber Involvement
“Community. The Chamber does a great job of fostering the community needed to make a business work. This includes sales and talent, yes – but it also includes advice, mentorship and capital.”
- Prioritizing Community Involvement
“We purposely moved our company into the Startup Collaborative. We aren’t a startup, nor did we need their classes. However, we want to help the community by providing wisdom and a sounding board. … Our MBA owner is available to answer business philosophy questions; our sales person, sales questions; our marketing person, marketing questions; and me, strategy questions. I truly believe this openness helps our burgeoning startup community gain much needed traction.”
Want to learn more about Contemporary Analysis? Check out the company’s website.
United Republic Bank is the sponsor of the Small Business of the Month award. View more information or nominate a small business online.