Meet Datacove, a dedicated supporter of Silicon Brighton and the driving force behind the thriving Brighton Py and Brighton R groups. Discover what awaits at their eagerly anticipated EARL conference this September, and uncover some of the unique team practices that make Datacove a fantastic place to work.

Tell us a bit about your company…

Datacove are a Brighton based Data and analytics consultancy, founded by Jeremy Horne during the middle of the global pandemic in 2020. In over three years, we have grown to become a recognised brand in the city, not least through our technology community initiatives bringing together coders in both the R and Python languages, but also through solving business challenges using data and analytics.

What problem do you solve or what difference do you make for your clients?

We specialise in three core areas, specifically:

• Customer analytics to unearth your most valuable customers and tell you where you can find more of them
• Marketing analytics to unlock insights and help maximise campaign impact
• Process automation taking your most time commanding tasks and removing that time and effort forever

We are also a firm believer in sharing knowledge and training analysts of the future with our bespoke R and Python courses and free online tutorials.

How would you describe the culture within the business, and how does this contribute to its success?

We are a small, but close team and the culture is built around empowering people to do their best work at a time that suits them. We work hours, not days and these hours can bit fit around your life, rather that fitting your life around your work. This was one of the biggest drivers to me setting up my own business and I’ve always been keen on passing that same level of autonomy down to the entire team. Ultimately, if people are putting in the hours when they’re at their best, the outputs will always be better – so everyone wins!

How do you invest in the development and wellbeing of your employees? What makes your company a great place to work?

Wellbeing is important to us at Datacove. We all work remotely, so checking in with each other is important – we do this daily and always make sure no-body is drowning in deliverables for that day. We also start our week by sharing something we’ve done in the past week to improve our mental health. We have regular 1-2-1s to focus on the individual – what do they need to make them the best versions of themselves at work?

Moreover, we have a lot of fun. We might not get together that often, but when we do, we try to make something of it. Whether its a team lunch, smashing some boundaries at Sixes or painting pottery, we love getting together for an activity and letting our hair down (not much of it in my case!)

What are the top achievements and successes you’re most proud of?

There are so many to choose from, from just registering the business at companies house, to taking on our first employee and making it through the first year.

But I would say it’s the past few months that we’ve really been in overdrive. We’ve taken over the biggest R & Python conference in Europe, which we’ve been to as attendees since it started – and it’s now OURS! We’re so looking forward to bringing this from London to Brighton in September.

Is there any other work you’re doing in the community that you’d like to share?

We’re kind of community crazy at Datacove – as well as running both BrightonR and BrightonPy (with Silicon Brighton of course), we also run R user groups in London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Portsmouth – oh, and of course that big conference.

We also love inspiring the analysts of tomorrow and have created a series of bite-sized training modules, which we make affordable to all – whether that’s businesses, freelancers or even students!

Are there any upcoming projects, goals or ambitions that you are particularly excited about?

Did I mention the conference? You can probably tell I’m very excited about it by now!

When did you first come across Silicon Brighton? What’s the relationship and how do you benefit?

We’ve been involved since day 1. In fact, Silicon Brighton started at the very time we wanted to launch BrightonR – and I believe that was one of the first meetup groups they supported – and look what’s happened since!

Considering your involvement in Silicon Brighton and community-building, what does the concept of ‘community’ mean to you? How important is it for the tech industry?

Community has always been important for me. When I first moved to Brighton, I longed for the similar buzz to some of the tech communities I was part of in London, but it took a few years for it to really kick off (thanks to Silicon Brighton).

For me a community is a safe space for you learn, grow and flourish. It’s somewhere for like-minded individuals to come together, share experience and ultimately have fun! In tech, this is vital because we’re all encountering similar challenges daily – and this provides a forum to talk those through with others that may have experienced something similar in the past.

Anything else you would like to promote to our community? (Hiring, socials, website)

We’d love to see as many Brighton tech people as possible at EARL – our big R & Python conference – from simply just attending, to sharing your story by giving a talk – or even sponsoring an aspect of our conference, we’d love you to be part of it – find out more on our website.

Want to become a Silicon Brighton Supporter or Sponsor? Sign up using this link, or contact grace@siliconbrighton.com