news

Clarity Resource Group Opens Up BI

Consulting Firm Introduces Big BI Talent at Value-Driven Cost

While program budgets remain frozen in the current economy, Clarity Resource Group is enabling its clients to bring business intelligence out to thaw. The firm’s BI consultancy offers a way for organizations to fulfill their “do more with less” mandate, but as standard business practice rather than a temporary measure in a downturn.

Clarity uses a flexible business model that features immediate project engagement at cost-effective rates, meeting the market’s growing demand for specialized, ready-to-deploy teams. The company also allows its consultants, all senior-level BI practitioners, to pursue projects based on business challenges rather than revenue potential, making BI more accessible to organizations of all sizes.

“Our approach is straightforward and value-centered: we help clients implement BI solutions based on what will bring rapid returns to their businesses, rather than on buzzwords or industry-defined elegance,” said John Papadia, who founded Clarity’s Information Management Practice after years of executive experience at Knightsbridge, the BI market leader acquired by HP in 2006.

The fresh approach has captured the attention of various clients, including large firms guarding bottom lines more closely, and SMBs facing the same data issues as their Fortune 500 counterparts, but without Fortune 500 budgets.

Also taking note are veteran consultants attracted by the culture and work ethic of a smaller company. One such consultant is Mark Hodson, who left his command of HP’s Financial Services Practice, in the company’s global BI Solutions group, to join Clarity in September.

“I’m excited to get closer to clients and get my hands on again, as opposed to following a progressive career in a large company, where leadership can often take you away from customers,” said Hodson, who also led Knightsbridge’s insurance industry vertical.

“The market is ripe for firms who deliver the right talent at the right time, not on a purely transactional basis, but by building relationships with clients,” Hodson said. “Clarity does that very well. Everyone in the IM practice has experience throughout the BI lifecycle, and they are passionate about helping clients achieve results.”

Hodson has 25 years of BI and IT experience, and helped architect BI programs at some of the world’s largest companies. “If you want to work for tomorrow’s superstars, you don’t want to limit yourself to only today’s,” he said. “I enjoy working with companies that have latent opportunity, which is often tied up in their capability to use information wisely.”

Clarity delivers this capability by emphasizing not only current requirements, but future ones yet unknown.

“A failing BI system does only what it was initially built to do,” Hodson said. “A truly successful BI system changes and grows gracefully, supporting innovation in an increasingly dynamic business data environment.”

“We are thrilled to have Mark on board,” said Papadia. “He fully represents Clarity’s value proposition: expert BI talent with the freedom to be creative and to put clients before anything else.”

About Clarity Resource Group: Clarity is a privately held, Inc. 5000 consulting firm with focused practices in information management, including full life cycle business intelligence and data warehousing; and application development, including e-commerce and e-business. With its “clearly different” pledge, Clarity does not vet projects based on size or ownership, and provides committed, executive-level business and technology practitioners quickly and affordably. Its national and international clients include a variety of Fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 2004, Clarity is headquartered in Austin, TX, with an office in Chicago, IL.