Ixio's fresh new look

The Akan people of West Africa attach great importance to names. They believe that a name is much more than what a person or entity is called. For the Akan, a name is a signpost to the child’s place and mission in the world.

When an Akan child is born, a naming ceremony is held seven days after the birth. The elders of the family gather at day break and in an elaborate ritual replete with symbolism, exhort the newborn to always distinguish between truth and falsehood, to work hard and be a principled member of the community.

Our name Ixio, as some of you will know, is a fusion of the fynbos genus name Ixia and symbols familiar in the tech world like I/O and the binary digits 0 and 1. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen feverish interest in data science coupled with a glut of online courses in machine learning. There’s been a surge in data science related conferences in verticals ranging from financial services to retail.

So with clients on the one hand clamouring for data science solutions and every second person claiming to be a data scientist, why is the industry littered with so many failed data science projects? Why do so many well-intentioned decision makers and data science practitioners talk past each other? And why do executives too often find themselves adrift in a sea of jargon and misconceptions about data science, which cripples their ability to make informed decisions? This led us to think very hard about our role in the data science industry and the impact our work has on our clients and on society at large.

Since Ixio was established in 2012, we’ve helped our clients apply rigorous science to their businesses, and often with remarkable results. But organisations need more than a series of once-off projects. They need a new relationship with data, where joined-up data initiatives inform all aspects of their business decision making, from sales and marketing to people operations. And they need to build their own internal capacity in data science that sees them come to wield data as a competitive advantage.

Unparalleled opportunities to grow

With this in mind, we’ve decided to change our branding and to reset our purpose. In keeping with the advanced nature of our work, our previous branding emphasised the inexorable logic of the algorithm. The new Ixio however, and as depicted by our re-designed logo, is one that nurtures organisations with data aspirations, and helps them to grow. We work with in-house analytics teams and support them every step of the way as they put meaningful runs on the board. We guide executive teams to make sense of this daunting world of data science and artificial intelligence and accompany them on the journey to derive real and sustainable value from their data science initiatives.

At the end of an Akan naming ceremony, the child is presented to the community with much joy and celebration. For the very first time, the child is addressed by its name in what is effectively a bold declaration of the child’s intended purpose in the world.

We believe that data science offers organisations unparalleled opportunities to grow while bringing new insight to seemingly intractable problems that plague our society. So while It may not be daybreak where you are, it’s nonetheless with a great sense of excitement and responsibility that we present the new Ixio to the world.

Predict. Better. Grow.

Now let the work begin.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash