“The data & analytics market is reaching maturity”

SDG Group has established itself as a provider specialized in analytics and data strategy adoption processes together with a multi-technological offer. And it is that, only last year, it obtained a turnover of 120 M, a figure that is expected to rise this year between 25% and 30%.

Antonio Torrado, managing partner of SDG Group, told Byte TI about the current trends in the data & analytics market in Spain, as well as his position regarding the digital transformation that has taken place after the pandemic.

“The data & analytics market is reaching new heights of maturity. The pandemic has brought about a new awakening on the part of those companies that are lagging behind when it comes to undertaking data projects, data governance, cloud platforms, AI, etc. and it has definitely boosted those companies that had already internalized the benefits of digitization”, explains Torrado.

To what extent has the company been affected by the pandemic?

The situation generated by the pandemic has led to a continuous adaptation effort by the company and by each employee. Both our management model and the company’s level of digitization allowed us to operate immediately in a remote format.

But without a doubt, it has been resilience and the human commitment that all our professionals have shown during this time, which has allowed us to sustain double-digit growth during the toughest year of the pandemic.

How does SDG Group help organizations deploy their D&A projects to support digital transformation?

We are a technology consultancy specialized in data analytics. Let’s say that, due to the digitized universe in which people are immersed, our job as an analytics boutique consists of optimizing the use of technologies to efficiently, ethically and contextually access, process and make available this data, to turn it into business intelligence and insights that enable decision making or process automation based on data.

The Next Generation Funds will allow many more projects to be tackled. What are the expected benefits of these funds?

Without a doubt, the arrival of the Next Generation Funds will mean an acceleration in the European digital agenda and, therefore, a revitalization of the technology market. The objective is that, in five years, at least 25% of companies take advantage of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in the development of their activity.

It is a transformational opportunity that we must face with deep responsibility. The exceptional and urgent nature of the funds requires maximum attention and coherence from all agents. From my point of view as a professional, but also as a citizen, I believe that we have the obligation to make efficient use of European funds and the responsibility to do so with high expectations.

In what state is the data & analytics market at the national level? Are we up to our European namesakes?

The data & analytics market is reaching new heights of maturity. The pandemic has brought about a new awakening on the part of those companies that are lagging behind when it comes to undertaking data projects, data governance, cloud platforms, AI, etc. and it has definitely boosted those companies that had already internalized the benefits of digitization.

SDG Group is a good example of how a Spanish company has made the leap to the global level and how, based on the enormous flow of talent generated in a network of high-quality universities, we can offer our services globally in conditions of maximum requirement. Without complexes, our talent and capabilities are up to the task.

It is also important to point out that from the Public Sector, Spain has recently taken great steps. Among them, the appointment of the government’s first Chief Data Officer (CDO) stands out, who will be responsible for designing the country’s data management strategies and reference frameworks.

What are the Data Analytics trends for 2022?

If we had to summarize the trends, I would highlight two main lines. On the one hand, the innovations and advances in core disciplines of data processing and consumption such as the paradigms associated with Data Mesh and the maturity of the concept of Data Products and Business Oriented Designs, the progress in Data Ops, Data Observability, techniques and technologies of modeling such as DataVault 2.0, and new proposals in the last mile of data consumption, such as Data Activation or the universalization of the semantic layer of data.

“The data & analytics market is reaching new heights of maturity. The pandemic has brought about a new awakening on the part of those companies that are furthest behind”

On the other hand, it is worth noting the enormous effervescence in the area of ​​Artificial Intelligence, which is rapidly accelerating its capacity for industrialized and large-scale adoption; advances in the generation of synthetic data, implementation of Feature Stores and Evaluation Stores, federated and Distributed AI, Explainability, among other areas of great progress.

What is achieved with omnichannel?

Without a doubt, respect and satisfy our customers. With an omnichannel strategy we manage to put the customer at the center and understand their habits and needs at each point of contact. In this way we can micro-segment our audiences, improve loyalty ratios or increase the conversion rate, just to give a few examples.

What we must keep in mind is that such a strategy is possible as long as the data can be crossed and verified. In other words, before considering an omnichannel campaign, we should answer the question: do I have a correct data governance strategy implemented in my company? Do I have a scalable infrastructure?

Innovation and Metaverse, what should we expect?

Forecasts are promising. Without a doubt, innovation and the Metaverse go hand in hand in cases such as Extended Reality, whose market will reach 4,840 million dollars in 2024.

We expect a great boost in the development of devices and hardware -and the consequent reduction in costs- and, also, the integration of new analytical capabilities in real time.

Last year the company invoiced 120 million euros, 15% more than in 2020, what are the short and long term forecasts? Do you plan to expand your headquarters?

We are experiencing an extraordinary momentum that allows us to look to the future with optimism. We are already more than 850 employees in Spain and this year we plan to incorporate more than 300 Data and Analytics professionals into our workforce. In this way we will have a team of around 1,000 people spread throughout the Spanish geography.

In addition to having offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Logroño, we have just arrived in Galicia, officially opening a Center of Excellence in Santiago de Compostela. We are already working on future openings such as Andalusia or Valencia, where we already have a team of more than 30 professionals.