As the volume of data continues to explode, the ability to make sense of it becomes more difficult. This is the exact reason why it is so important to have a trusted business analytics advisor, to guide you through the complexities of data and analytics technology to help your business derive meaningful business insights and scale to greater heights.
This issue of The Enterprise World highlights The 5 Best IBM Solution Providers To Watch In 2022. Here we’re featuring Attain Insight Solutions Inc., an analytics solution provider helping companies drive business transformation.
The Company
Attain Insight® is a trusted analytics technology advisor to government and private sector firms, focused on delivering the right data‐driven solutions that elevate decision‐making for better business outcomes.
“We provide specialized software solutions and consulting services for Business Intelligence and Analytics, Software License Compliance, Data and Information Access Control, Data Visualization and Mapping, Enterprise Performance Management and Data Warehousing.”
Attain Insight is proud to be an IBM® Tier 1 Business Partner for Government.
Overcoming Challenges
When Paul started the company, he did so because at the time, he saw an opportunity to support the local government and the emerging mid-market demands for data. As more IBM partners came on board, there was increased competition for the same business. This challenge turned into an opportunity to differentiate Attain Insight.
Government and large private sector firms were looking for advanced security expertise and solutions.
“I saw a need for a security solution that would help customers do more with IBM Analytics, so I invested in a new technology called Attain Insight Security 4X®.”
When Attain Insight acquired the Intellectual Property for this security technology, the team turned this into their security product called Attain Insight Security 4X. This has allowed the company to become uniquely positioned to solve many customer challenges, through IBM Cognos Analytics® and their integrated proprietary technology. No other partner had a similar offering at the time, and it remains a unique world class offering today.
The Products and Services
Attain Insight focuses on products and services that help clients manage their data and analytics to unlock the value of their data in new ways, answer the toughest questions, uncover patterns, and drive business transformation with artificial intelligence (AI). As a trusted IBM® Gold Business Partner, the company deploys and provides training on the full suite of IBM’s Data and Analytics solutions.
Attain Insight offers these IBM product solutions: IBM Cloud Pak® for Data, IBM Cognos® Analytics, IBM Planning Analytics with Watson®, Cognos TM1®, InfoSphere®, DataStage®, Db2® and SPSS®.
“What sets us apart from others in the market, is that we offer products that complement IBM’s solution offering.”
These complementary offerings include Attain Insight Security 4X for enterprise centralized security administration, access control and compliance management and Attain Insight Map IntelligenceTM, a location intelligence platform, plug and play with IBM Cognos Analytics and Esri® ArcGIS®. This allows the customers to derive greater value from their existing technology investments and make quicker business decisions.
“Our products and services benefit businesses by streamlining business processes and removing unnecessary risks.”
Attain Insight puts technology in place that will provide confidence that systems are doing what they’re supposed to and in so doing remove the risk of someone getting unauthorized access to data. The focus here is on critical business issues.
Forging Ahead
The Attain team saw several unmet needs for their clients, so they decided to invest in proprietary technology that complements IBM solutions, including Security 4X and Map Intelligence.
Security 4X is a centralized security administration and compliance management solution, purpose-built to handle complex enterprise security requirements across the full suite of IBM Business Analytics products.
Map Intelligence helps customers discover deeper insights into their data through bringing the geospatial element into IBM Analytics using Esri ArcGIS Maps.
Paul Hulford – Leading the Way
CEO and Founder
From a young age, Paul had a passion for both technology and business and he studied and trained in these areas at university earning degrees in both Computer Science and Commerce. In his professional journey, Paul now has over 25 years of experience in data and analytics of which a decade was spent at IBM/Cognos, managing key initiatives such as mobile analytics, intelligence search and strategic relationships with Google, RIM and global search vendors.
Following his time at IBM/Cognos, Paul worked as a Business Analytics consultant for several years for a small consulting firm. All of his past work experiences were a great training ground and preparation for him and ultimately led him to start his own business – Attain Insight in 2008.
“One of the primary reasons that I started Attain Insight was to address a market need in the Ottawa region for a company that could service the growing need for IBM Cognos professional services.”
Paul brought in a seasoned management team that takes a very hands-on approach in all aspects of service delivery ensuring the highest possible standards of execution.
A Seasoned Management Team
“Our employees are the lifeblood of the company and are treated as such.”
The team strives to find ways to ensure that their employees are not only comfortable and happy with their roles within the organization but also well compensated for their efforts. At Attain Insight, they regularly monitor industry standards for pay to always ensure that the team is paid above industry average.
“I believe that we have created an environment where our employees feel that their contributions are valued and recognized.”
Senior management has a very open policy when it comes to addressing the needs and concerns of its employees. Active, open, and ongoing dialogue with senior management is part of the organizational culture and is strongly encouraged. This approach empowers employees and contributes to Attain Insight’s great track record when it comes to employee satisfaction (and in turn retention).
It is the founder’s strong belief that the entire team is unique in that not only are they technically skilled in multiple areas such as data analytics, location intelligence, security and hosting, but also bring to the table great “people” skills in terms of communication, empathy, and positivity when it comes to working with their fellow team members, partners and clients.
