Exclusive: Glasgow data firm plans to increase headcount five-fold
Edward McGeachie is managing director at procurement analytics and business intelligence company Seaforth Analytical Services, which is in its fifth year of trading and plans to in three to four years’ time have scaled up.
The business has worked with firms such as tobacco giant Philip Morris, tech firm Lenovo and Glasgow-based power specialist Aggreko –as well as drinks giant Diageo, Ofgem and Glasgow and Aberdeen airports. It has also developed a new brand called Accelerated Insight, a tool that helps the likes of chief financial officers harness data to help generate cost savings.
“We can strip data from any system, bridge it in our platform and then give it back to the stakeholders, helping them create a plan to save money,” McGeachie told The Scotsman.
“We believe there’s a real market there to actually help small and medium companies,” he added, expecting Accelerated Insight to be a key growth driver for the firm, which turns over about £500,000 and also offers consultancy services.
Seaforth – part of Scottish Business Network and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce – has four staff and McGeachie is aiming for about 20 in four to five years. By that time, “we will have developed automatic tools for procurement and business day-to-day tasks using machine learning… this is a pivotal point for us”.