Fast50 No.8 - Agile Analytics

Agile Analytics is leading the way for the channel partners of the future. The Sydney-based Microsoft Power BI specialist is a company which has grown from humble beginnings to become one of Australia’s fastest growing tech consultancies.

Placing eighth in the CRN Fast50 2020, the company offers consulting, training and support for Microsoft Power BI and has also developed its own software on the platform. The company services more than 70 clients from across Australia and internationally.

Agile Analytics founder Iman Eftekhari is no stranger to running a successful channel partner after founding another company, Intellify, an AWS specialist and 2020 Fast50 number 21.

Intellify’s current CEO, Kale Temple, took out the Young Leader Award for the CRN Fast50 2020 and in 2019 the company was named AWS Differentiation Partner of the Year in data analytics and machine learning.

For Eftekhari, success is about focussing internally, not externally.

“To be honest we don't think much about competition, we only focus on doing our jobs well, maybe that's what sets us apart,” Eftekhari told CRN.

“One thing that I learned from AWS was customer obsession, and to add it to your company culture, so it becomes part of your company's DNA.

“Whatever we do at Agile, you always think about how to add value to our customers, how to help them fix our problems, and how to make it easy for them to deal with us."

This myopic focus led to the company scoring a number of customer wins in 2020 including with the NSW Department of Transport. Agile now has customers in 70 countries.

Agile Analytics has also been recognised by Microsoft in the US and has had its apps featured on the vendor’s AppSource website. The company also runs an Australian Microsoft Power BI meetup group.

“We don't bind ourselves to any specific vertical or industry domains, but it just so happens to be that a lot of our current projects are with the public sector,” he said when asked about industry specialisation.

“We also have clients in different industries from health, financial services, consumer goods retail and real estate.”

Agile Analytics saw early on that it was through intellectual property that it could achieve a competitive edge.

“We began building out some IP by identifying some common needs in different business functions and then trying to build something affordable,” Eftekhari said.

“Those are packaged solutions that are for common industry domains or business functions. We made it very easy and affordable for different companies to use them, as opposed to building everything from scratch. That becomes very costly for customers.”

Looking forward, Eftekhari said Agile would continue on the path which has brought it to this point.

“We will keep our focus on building IP and grow our customer base, specifically in the US market. Our plan is that in 2021, we will have either an office in the US or we will have a channel partner that can help us go in that market.”

“It is very important for startups like us to achieve fast growth and we have our own targets, but what's more important is to have a solid business foundation that can give you long term steady growth. That's what we are focusing on now.”