- Data and analytics have become one of the major IT trends of the past few years
- Stockland has invested $2.5M into ‘Data-as-a-Service’ (DaaS) provider
- smrtr technology looks at actual consumer purchase data
Data and analytics have become one of the major IT trends of the past few years, and many major companies are cottoning on to this, hiring big data analysts.
Diversified property company Stockland (ASX: SGP) has gone one better investing $2.5M into ‘Data-as-a-Service’ (DaaS) provider smrtr, a compoany they were already using as a supplier.
Based in Sydney, smrtr is run by Dr. Boris Guennewig (CTO) and Georgie Brooke (CEO), who have decades of experience working with data in the business and medical fields.
Previously, Mr Brooke ran a company called Greater Data, which was merged with Dr Guennewig’s company smrtr in October 2020, after an investment from Stockland.
One reason for the interest might be to make better use of the data collected through consumers visiting their large format shopping centres and turning that information into useful intel.
smrtr’s data universe utilises high volumes of actual transactional data, rather than ‘intent to purchase’ survey or web activity data which is seen as weaker information.
“Data is usually created and made available in silos, meaning users only get a single view of the world,” said smrtr CEO and co-founder Georgie Brooke. “However, the true picture only emerges from connecting several different views which is what smrtr is able to offer.
“Within our smrtr data universe of 16 million Australians, we have close to 50 billion transactions and data points on mobile usage and location, purchasing behaviour, financial transactions, property insights and automotive buying behaviour,” he said.
“By analysing and overlaying this data, or utilising our audience segments, we enable our clients to see the bigger picture leading to better decision making and outcomes.”
This kind of tech could be very useful for a company such as Stockland. Other major smtr clients include Network 10, NewsCorp, NBN Co, AMP, Miele and Budget Insurance.
“We are thrilled to have the investment and support from Stockland, which will help to expand the insights we can provide to a range of Australian businesses across all industries,” said Brooke.
Stockland’s share price was up to $4.59 at close of trading today, a 5-day high, giving the company a market capitalisation of $10.6 billion.
