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Success Stories
EIC Survive 2024 EIC Survive&&Thrive Thrive 2024
JulyJuly 2024 2024
Story type #scale up (main category)
Tyde Digital
Benefits
Turning the tide on its own value proposition
Key findings
Martyn Cowie Managing Partner How is Tyde Digital thriving? Recognising that it needed to offer more to clients, Tyde Digital set about a root and branch transformation of how it did business. After a long and sometimes painstaking exercise, the company is now looking ahead to its target of breaching the US$2m turnover barrier as it continues to grow at a rapid rate. The challenge - With 16 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, Martyn Cowie and his long-time colleague Malik Mahamoor knew there was a gap in the market for a new service provider to help companies move forwards with technology adoption. Throughout their careers, the pair identified similar pain points in relation to low technology utilisation, inconsistent processes and people development, and limitations in available data to make better decisions. Tyde Digital was born to address these challenges. Not only that, but it was also designed to re-define the digital transformation landscape – up to this point, the only transformation options appeared to be a mix of the expensive ‘big 4’, biased technology consultants or under skilled/over worked internal teams. In the early period of Tyde Digital, the company was focused on providing business intelligence as a service, meaning it was essentially providing real time data to clients that was pulled from their existing systems. The team struggled to build momentum, realising they were essentially providing clients with data, in a quicker way with aesthetic visuals but added limited strategic value. To really kick on and provide an alternative to the established names, the time had come to redesign the service offering. The solution - Cowie and Mahamoor went about it in a somewhat unconventional way, delivering their own services to themselves with subsequent internal interviews helping to develop the technology and processes needed to enact meaningful change. One of the first steps taken was to redefine the “bigger why” and establish exactly what success looked like. Following this, the team mapped out its current operational flow and focused on defining how it worked from demand through to cash in the bank.
▸ First ever seven-figure contract secured. ▸ Tyde Digital expects to hit the US$2m revenue mark in 2024.
The company then mapped out its delivery model – Develop, Deliver, Drive – which also detailed its customers’ journey at a granular level. From here, the team we able to re-develop key messaging and proceeded to generate new content to drive sales activity. They also invested in redefining their marketing strategy to help craft and distribute new messaging to prospective clients which both educated and inspired through thought leadership. Much time has also been spent networking. Although this has required significant attention and investment of time, word of mouth remains a powerful selling tool and has been crucial in helping Tyde Digital build familiarity and credibility across the industry. However the best selling tool will always be the success achieved by clients who have worked with Tyde Digital. These activities have paid dividends on multiple fronts. Tyde Digital is now running numerous projects in tandem and has gained a thought leadership foothold in the market through invitations to speak at key conferences. In the Middle East, such events include the Oman Industry AI forum under the patronage of the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technology. From an employee development perspective, the company is now able to create compelling career plans, enabling it to bring in talented graduates as junior business analysts and data engineers and provide them with a roadmap to managing projects. Attracting and retaining talent will be key to providing best-in-class services to clients for the long term, many of whom are already providing positive feedback on their relationship with Tyde Digital. Common themes include the company’s expertise, meticulous attention to detail, practical approach and commitment to delivering valuable results that feed into digital transformation journeys. Such is the positive momentum being built up, Tyde Digital expects to hit the US$2m revenue mark in 2024 having recently secured its first ever seven-figure contract. In growth terms, this would represent a remarkable 856% increase on 2023, which itself saw turnover rise 243% versus 2022.
For industry ▸ Self-awareness and strong relationship are superpowers. ▸ Focus on delivering value, thought leadership and perspective to the audience rather than pitching products or services. For government ▸ The tendering process could be redefined to open up to new companies that are bringing innovative ideas into the energy sector.
Tyde Digital at a glance: Key products and services: strategy development, process engineering, data engineering, software development, business analysis, coaching & training and consultancy. Main industries served: ▸ Oil and gas – 50% ▸ Others (non-energy): construction, trade shows, banking – 50% Headquarters: Dubai, UAE Year established: 2021 Number of employees: 12 Revenue: £1.4m Revenue from exports: 75%
After making the bold decision to take a big step back and assess its value proposition, Tyde Digital has transformed its prospects in the space of a few short years. There is surely much more to come.