In our regular series, we interview new arrivals and members at Sussex Innovation about their business, why they joined and their plans for growth. Today Catalyst team member, Busola chats with Graham Spicer, country head for Splash BI UK.

Can you please introduce yourself and tell me a bit about Splash BI.

My name is Graham Spicer, I am the country head for the UK at Splash BI. We’re a global company; some people would call us a software company, some would call us a data company, and others might call us a business intelligence company. To be honest we are a bit of all three. For 20 years we have produced reporting solutions for our customers.

We have spent the last seven years developing a series of solutions for when a customer says to us, for example, I want to do people analytics, I want to look at and analyse my headcount, my diversity and inclusion data. We have a solution called Splash HR that delivers exactly that. 

We are a bit of everything, providing solutions that enable our customers to get at and analyse all their data to make better-informed decisions. 

What is an exciting project you are working on, that you’d like the Sussex Innovation community to know about? 

This would have to be one that we worked on last year with the Government of Dubai. That was implementing a reporting platform on their Oracle solutions. They are called Digital Dubai and it was quite an exciting project. Another one the US side of the business is currently working on is probably the largest project the company has ever won. It is with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), and we are helping create a completely new reporting solutions platform for them.  

Who is a dream client you would like to work with? 

A dream client, I don’t know that there is one to be honest, I would say any customer for us would be a dream client to work with. 

What has been your biggest success story?

I have been doing this now for 43 years, and I joined Splash BI in 2015. And I would say there’s different ways of looking at what success is. I think because the technology industry is so huge now, it is even harder to measure… it covers lots of other industries. In total, we have over 450 customers around the world. At the last count those 450 customers are spread around 61 different industries. So, for our company that would be the biggest success: having clients all over the world and in a wide variety of industries. 

What is one of your more challenging stories? 

We started a project with a company in the pharmaceutical sector for a proof of concept. Two days before Christmas, we were told officially by the project manager that we had won it. Then a week into the new year, we were told that we had not won it, and our competitor had. We had put so much effort, and cost into the project that it was really disappointing. But you win some, you lose some. So we try to take the rough with the smooth.  

Why did you choose Sussex Innovation?  

It provides everything we need. It is a lovely setting; you can bring visitors to the building. Another reason is being able to use the different types of rooms, the pods, you’ve got the café, you can go for a good walk. With all the facilities and different places you can go to, it gives you everything that anybody might require. 

What does the future hold for Splash BI? 

We’ve grown the business every year since we started it, and our goal for the UK market this year, despite the current economic situation is to grow by 300%, without increasing our staffing levels. And our remote delivery model gives us exactly the opportunity to be able to do that. The year has got off to a good start, so hopefully, we’ll achieve that.