Infolytics to help firms get the competitive edge

by Marlon Madden

The difference between being a more profitable company and remaining stagnant could be the gathering and mining of data.

With this in mind, Quinn Weekes, 25, has embarked on a mission he hopes will result in more Barbadian firms becoming more competitive.

The founder Chief Executive Officer of the three-months-old data consulting firm Infolytics, has introduced an online data analytics course aimed at just about anyone interested in learning the science.

Weekes told Today’s BUSINESS he believed data analytics will become an even greater contributor to the success and growth of companies worldwide, and he did not want to see Barbados being left behind.

“Right now, if you have any company that means you are creating data. So from the time you are planning your company and doing ads to try to sell your products you are generating data all that time . . . So basically, once you have a business you need someone who can understand it.

“You need someone with data analytics skill set to help take it to the next level to help put you above your competitors,” said Weekes.

The St Philip resident said he decided to start www.infolytics.tech in December last year after realising there was a growing need for data analytics on the island. His company offers a full range of analytical services and data science to assist firms.

“I am someone who was always interested in data from the time I was at school, I would play around with data in the financial market, analysing stock market data and trying to predict stocks. I also dabbled a little bit in investing in trading stocks,” he said.

The former central bank economist said people have been asking him for advice over the years and that was a major part of what prompted him to introduce a course.

“The thing is that right now there are a lot of courses globally that you can take, but the problem is a lot of them are really very vague or they are hands-off, so there is a lot of theory, so a lot of persons don’t get that one on one interaction with the experts in the field. It is actually a much needed skill set in the region. If you look at a lot of developing countries this is what they are using to push ahead,” he said.

“I really care about helping my country and this is a field I believe our country should really start to advance in. Persons have been asking me about the course and I am an expert in the field so I think it is my responsibility to help guide people through the best way.

“So I particularly design this courser to guide people on the path to actually become a data analytics professional,” said Weekes.

The course, which will begin on March 16 and run for four weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is open to anyone, from novices to more seasoned data analysts who just require a sharpening of their skills.

Weekes said he was concerned that if Barbados did not get more involved in this space it could
be left behind.

“The world is moving towards more digital and what is happening is that you are creating more data. And in order for businesses to be able to answer the problems they have and remain competitive, they need to understand this data and be able to turn this data into information. That is where data analytics comes in,” he explained.

Throughout the four-weeks course people will be solving real life problems using data from real businesses. At the end of the course participants will receive a certificate. Weekes said he was in the process of getting his course certificates recognised by the Barbados Accreditation Council.

“The good thing about it is the fact is that when you come out of the course you are going to have actual projects that you can display your skills. That is way better than just having a certificate from any university. You can show that you have actually built projects
that solve problems using data from actual businesses,” he said.

“The goal of the course is to take persons who are interested in building that skill set of data analytics from beginners’ level to a level where they can actually go into a business and solve problems. So in the course you are going to actually solve real problems, build real projects that you can show and you will be getting a certificate at the end,” he added.

Weekes studied economics and finance at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, before working at the Central Bank where he published some of his research.

Shortly after starting a job at a major manufacturing company here, Weekes was promoted to being the lead data scientist.

In addition to the online course, Weekes said he has also reached out to government to assist in analysing data in the area of education, and he was keen on offering his services to help in other sectors.

“I believe that Barbados and other countries in the region need to start taking data a little bit more seriously and create initiatives to start collecting this data. Once you have this data you have a lot more visibility in being able to solve problems. We also have a lot of data publicly that isn’t being used. So that data can also be integrated to help,” he said.

He advised anyone who is interested in data analytics not to be intimidated.

“I know one of the things that really stops persons is numbers. You usually hear persons say ‘I am not good at Maths’, but you don’t need to be good at Maths or coding to start data analytics. If you want to solve problems on a daily basis even choosing what to wear to a particular event you are using data to solve a problem . . . We all solve problems on a daily basis with data without even realising,” he said.

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