Israeli data startups driving N.Y. ecosystem
Other examples of Israeli companies disrupting the data-analytics and big-data sphere in New York are Taykey, a real-time audience data company; NICE Actimize, using data for financial-crime prevention; Signals Group data analytics for product development; Zebra Medical Vision deep-learning platform for medical imaging; Via analytics to solve transportation problems; and Taboola and Outbrain content-discovery platforms.
“In the world of decision-making our technology challenges the traditional consulting approach,” says Gil Sadeh, CEO and founder of Signals Group, about his company’s platform based on military intelligence methods to analyze external data, connect faint signals and provide valuable insights for new product development.
IoT and beyond
IoT is often considered the most data-dependent field. But Orad, of Sisense, says that in today’s digital world there’s no such thing as a sector that is not data-dependent.
“Today, every business, hotel chain, government agency, tech company, education agency… all of them understand the potential of data,” Orad tells ISRAEL21c. “If you watch Netflix, they know what you’ll want to watch next before you do. If you buy from Amazon, they ship the product to your house before you buy it. If you take an online class, they suggest the next class you’ll want to take.”
Orad says the view of big data has changed in the last few years. “Now analytics is definitely the focus area. Give me data, I’ll give you value.”
Optimove’s Yakuel tells ISRAEL21c that the value comes from smarter methods to digest and make sense of data, synthesize it and provide it context.
A Gartner report tapped 2017 as the year “data and analytics will drive modern business operations, and not simply reflect their performance. … Executives will make data and analytics part of the business strategy, which will allow data and analytics professionals to assume new roles and create business growth.”
“The revolution has been going on for a few years, but it takes time for the market to realize that it’s a revolution and for businesses to understand the importance,” Orad tells ISRAEL21c. “The fact that you can do something doesn’t mean that someone wants you to do it.”
In fact, when Sisense was founded in 2010, its founders “had a totally different way of doing things that was defined as stupid by every professional on the planet, to the point that no one invested in them,” says Orad. “It was not stupid; it just took five years to prove that every single way people approached analytics and BI before can be disrupted.”
Today, says Yakuel, “Businesses definitely welcome us and want to talk about what we do. There’s a greater level of sophistication within the companies we talk to, and the market is better educated about how to buy data analytics products and use them.”
From cybersecurity to advertising, health to education, fintech and beyond, Orad predicts Israeli companies in New York will continue making a mark in the data-analytics arena.
“New York-based Israeli companies that use analytics on big data [have] substantially changed the market,” he says. “There’s no arena that won’t be affected. All companies will use analytics or die.”
Viva Sarah Press reports on the creativity, innovation and ingenuity taking place in Israel. This article is published courtesy of Israel21c.
