Data-crunchers put their hearts into it

By ELLEN READ

For a company whose business is numbers, Datamine goes to great lengths to ensure its employees don't end up feeling like one.

Duvet days, navel gazing, choosing lunch on your birthday and paid-for massages are all part of the marketing analytics company's policy.

Founding director Paul O'Connor knew he wanted a job that combined his skills of marketing, database management and analytics. He also wanted a fun but challenging environment.

The result is Datamine, which specialises in extracting and analysing information from customer databases.

Put simply, it helps a business to gain a clearer understanding of its customers, business and market.

"I started a company that I wanted to work for and have tried to make it like that for everyone," O'Connor says.

He thought a lot about the culture he wanted, deciding the aim was to make people feel part of a family and have a balanced working environment in which they would play and work hard.

Open, honest communication, providing feedback, always being available and believing nothing is right or wrong - just a different perspective - are at the heartof the company philosophy.

While it may take more time to involve everyone in decisions and actions, it ultimately makes for a successful workplace, O'Connor says.

This doesn't mean the company has a slapdash approach to its business, though - plans, budgets, meetings and reviews are all part of the process.

O'Connor says his biggest lesson has been to communicate the dream and involve the team.

Established in Wellington in 1995, Datamine has grown from a one-man band to a team of 20 and is in the process of setting up an Auckland division. To match the trendy Wellington character office, a Parnell villa is being renovated and readied.

While Datamine will be facing the challenges of operating from two sites, the directors are determined to retain the small business feel.

Says fellow director Sally Carey: "That's where a lot of small businesses struggle. The see an opportunity [to grow] but lose their niche.

"What they get from us is proactivity and innovation. There are no obstacles to us doing something, no red tape," she said, explaining why the small company is successful with big clients.

Telecom, Foodstuffs and Inland Revenue are just some Datamine has worked with.

One campaign example is the Department for Courts "Phil Fines" concept that targeted people with unpaid fines.

The department was owed a hefty sum and while it believed the culprits were the people it saw going through the court system, Datamine extracted information showing it was in fact middle-class people just not getting around to paying parking or speeding tickets.

So Phil Fines came into being and O'Connor said the campaign paid for itself within five days.

Datamine has grown an average 92 per cent a year in the past three years - growth recognised by its inclusion on the Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 list of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the country.

www.datamine.co.nz