The scaleup that makes data talk: Augmented analytics and NLP in enterprises
"The Existing Software Paradigm has reached an expiration date, it must be overturned; the software is old".
This is the revolutionary idea that makes the heart of iGenius beat, an Italian scaleup that since 2016 has been reinventing the interaction between people and data. Disruptor in the B2B of augmented analytics, iGenius revolutionizes the concept of software, imagining it no longer as something that people have to get used to, but vice versa, as a reality that adapts to people by giving them the opportunity to find the information they need to do their jobs better.
Founded in 2016 by Uljan Sharka, iGenius was born out of a question, "why not bring a consumer approach to the enterprise?" The answer is crystal, the company's flagship service that we'll analyze shortly.
In just a few years, the team achieved important goals: the company was selected to become part of the Facebook accelerator, was included in the top 9 SaaS companies by Accel, was mentioned by Gartner as one of the disruptors in augmented analytics, and collected almost €20 million from private investors. Currently crystal is used in companies such as The Prysmian Group, ENEL and Allianz.
iGenius: reaching record numbers
The Milanese scaleup made a lot of buzz in 2020, when it raised €10 million with its third round of funding from private investors. A record amount for angel investments, which usually hover around €200,000.
As innovation enthusiasts and aspiring startuppers know, liquidity from informal investors can be crucial if not disruptive in the short and medium term planning of a business. For this reason, the answer of Eugenio Monteleone, Senior VP of Operations at iGenius, seemed surprising to us, as "the objectives and strategies have not changed: one of the constants of iGenius is to think big". Perhaps it is the genuine trust in human resources, the crystal flagship product with its countless potential applications, as well as the passion on which this innovative reality is founded that led angel investors to bet on iGenius last March 2020.
On the other hand, behind every great project there are strong ideals and values to give concreteness to everything. Uljan Sharka, founder and CEO of iGenius, has stated in several interviews that he believes more in the substance than in the form, according to a well-established Silicon Valley paradigm whereby ambitious projects are discussed in a friendly and direct way "with a user-friendly way of doing things<", regardless of whether you have a potential investor or a member of the iGenius team in front of you.
And it is precisely the team that is the key resource of the Milanese scaleup: the latest funding round has only supported the talent acquisition strategy implemented since 2016.
In two words, "People first"
This is precisely the company's motto, because "behind the best AI companies are the best people," as stated on the official page of the iGenius.ai website. In fact, this concise expression hides a great truth, namely that "for a good company you need humility, passion and the strength of the team", as Uljan Sharka stated back in 2016. And apparently this iron conviction years later has not changed, indeed finding full application in the daily management of the business.
About 80% of iGenius' investments are in human resources, reflecting the belief that "the success of a company is based on individual contribution" and that "to achieve this individual success you need to have an ecosystem that gives you the opportunity to shine and leverage the talents you have," Eugenio told us in the interview.
Taking a closer look at the concrete implications of iGenius' vision of valuing human capital, the scaleup recently discussed a new product development methodology that on the one hand will empower managers to define goals, and on the other will allow members of each team to make proposals on the characteristics of the product in question and how to pursue the desired outcome. This would give full autonomy in the process to people, without them necessarily having to play a role in the company hierarchy, but making them fully responsible and capitalizing on everyone's abilities. On the other hand, iGenius makes innovation, and innovation is fueled by creativity, which in turn is not fully expressed without the right amount of freedom. This paradigm shift in the way iGenius works is therefore a tangible demonstration of how central people really are.
In addition, the Learning Development Budget allocated to each team member gives everyone the opportunity to invest in themselves through a variety of cultural purchases. Employees can then talk to supervisors about creating personal or group projects, thus helping to fuel the continuous flow of ideas and energy that is the foundation of this company of the future.
The power of simplicity: crystal
In order to fully understand the real motivations that led several angels to invest in iGenius, it is necessary to introduce crystal, the real spearhead of the company. crystal is the virtual advisor for data intelligence that collects key business performance indicators in a single conversational interface, thus offering effective answers through the aid of AI. It is therefore a conversational platform capable of analyzing, interpreting and illustrating business information data through natural language.
The idea of creating a program with such aims comes from the revolutionary will of its founder Uljan Sharka: to overturn the status quo already mentioned in the introductory phase, creating a software capable of adapting to the demands of its users. The company's mission then becomes sharper: to reduce the gap between the skills needed and the business skills available, so that decisions can be made on the basis of more information.
Crystal is composed of two distinct souls, one reactive and one proactive. Through the first one, it is possible to interact by asking the program relevant information about one's business and, in a few moments, the desired output will be available through graphical representations of the data. This first component not only ensures the retrieval of information, but it is also able to guide the user to the discovery of new indications with a system of recommendation and suggestion tips. In fact, contextually to the user's needs, additional questions will be proposed to help explore the complexities of the data involved.
The second core, on the other hand, stands out for its proactivity, an aspect destined to become revolutionary in the world of Data Science. One of the characteristics that makes crystal essential is precisely that of exploiting all the information in the database to support business decisions. As it is easy to understand, data are mobile entities that need continuous updates and analysis. The software is therefore capable of monitoring them on the basis of specific directives, alerting the user when it notices information that could be relevant.
So, iGenius reduces learning time and increases productivity through the use of Augmented Analytics. Observing with a critical eye, we must be careful not to make the mistake of believing that the added value of iGenius is represented by a superior AI compared to competitors. In reality, the real novelty brought by the Milanese scaleup consists in a different and extremely pragmatic approach to Business Intelligence. The intent is not to replace artificial intelligence with people, but to provide them with the right tools to strengthen decisions.
“La prima ondata di AI è stata un disastro e ha generato una grande diffidenza nei confronti della tecnologia, ma crystal permette di vedere dal giorno uno la differenza, di avere qualcosa di tangibile e di efficace”.
Another big differentiator is the efficient time-to-value taken to produce an app. Through the use of crystal Console software, which allows you to work in "no code low code" mode, the processing time of an app has been exponentially reduced. If the underlying data allows it, then, it is possible to develop a program in a single day, making the advantages of this technology tangible directly from day one.
Finally, iGenius covers the entire Data Integration cycle, from data sourcing to conversational exposure. It is one of the few providers able to meet more than 80% of customer needs, following all the stages that lead to the final product.
“The dream is to see unicorns, listed and with a space software adoption, a new market standard with respect to software interface”.
The ambitions are great, the dreams perhaps even more so. In the eyes of Eugenio Monteleone, SVP of Operations at iGenius, we saw the passion and the flame that is at the base of this incredible scaleup. The foundations are solid, the first plans have been built, the hours of work will still be many, but the sky seems closer day after day.
Written by Allegra Martina Distante, Sergio Finelli, Jacopo Carlo Canale of the VGen MI – Bocconi Students Innovation Hub
