This year, Qrious celebrates a decade of innovation through products, solutions and consulting services that have successfully driven transformation and initiated change across several of New Zealand's major organisations and industries.
By harnessing the power of data and artificial intelligence, they have been at the forefront of creating impactful advancements that underscore a commitment to excellence and innovation.
Unlocking the value trapped in data
The acceleration of AI and data transformation across New Zealand organisations has transformed operations to enhance efficiency, scalability and innovation; but this widespread transformation always comes with significant challenges.
“There are still many businesses making critical decisions without the right access to, or insights from data; and if they do have a tech stack, it’s usually riddled with jargon, tied to legacy hardware and demands a steep learning curve with constraining licensing and interoperability issues. From completely reimagining and rebuilding legacy systems; to upgrading and future-proofing an organisation’s digital processes, Qrious is committed to developing solutions that accelerate data-driven intelligence and enabling businesses to unlock the value trapped in their data, powered by AI which we’ve invested in from inception,” says Stephen Ponsford, CEO of Qrious.
An impact mindset
“The mindset at Qrious isn’t about implementing solutions; but about creating value. We’re united in this approach on how we design and deliver for our customers. Does it add value? If the answer is no, we’re not doing that,” adds Martin Norgrove, Head of Professional Services, who has been an integral part of the team from day dot.
He adds that consulting is all about being in service to customers. “They call us to help them do the hard things they can’t do on their own. That purpose and expectation must come first. When it does, their success is our success and even the hard climbs are easier.”
Evan Wilson, the company’s Head of Customer and Advisory, adds “To us, ‘impact’ runs deeper and further than just the ‘bottom line’. It means delivering pro-bono solutions to ambitious and influential charities, and growing a diverse and inclusive data and AI industry. This has included launching a program that helps create more accessible pathways to tech for women and minority talent.”
Qrious in action
The team is resolute about stepping into transformation projects that others would label ‘impossible’ because to get where others haven’t gone, you need to do what others haven’t done.
One of its most memorable projects includes helping Zespri to unlock its data to get the highest quality of fruit possible onto consumers’ plates. Our kiwifruit industry is one of the country’s largest exporters and Zespri has thousands of orchards both in New Zealand and overseas. Consistently delivering a high-quality product is central to its success. To continue to meet high standard, Zespri needed to replace an unwieldy legacy system with modern, future-proof technology to help automate its maturity clearance system (MCS). The MCS ensures the kiwifruit is picked at the right time, graded correctly and calculates the quality grades used for payments to growers. Partnering with Qrious, it has seamlessly transitioned to a cloud-based platform that delivers insights using valuable data from across the business. In line with Zespri’s ambitions, the solution has the ability to scale, globally.
Qrious also developed one of the most advanced data analysis platforms in world cricket for New Zealand Cricket to provide New Zealand’s top teams with a competitive advantage - they can now analyse more data than any team in the world to inform selection and tactics. The predictive models have also been extended to understanding fan behaviours and interests across the entire cricket ecosystem, including identifying under-representation in different communities by overlaying participant data with census data. This information allows NZC to focus its efforts on specific regions and demographics, ensuring a targeted approach to grow cricket participation.
Most recently, Qrious developed an AI solution for a massive global biosecurity challenge. In partnership with Ingenum, Qrious created an AI-powered, world-first disease detection technology that combats a $600B problem. Built for frontline animal health professionals and industry stakeholders, the platform uses what it learns to predict disease outbreaks so that countries can react before a problem spreads, saving animal lives and billions of dollars in a groundbreaking leap forward in animal health.
Setting a new standard for NZ business
“Reflecting on our ten-year journey, we have come a long way in AI and data innovation as part of Spark Business Group. I am extremely proud of our exceptional team and strategic partnerships with clients and technology partners. Our team is passionately advancing AI and data-driven transformations across New Zealand, with a clear mission to empower organisations pursuing great causes to transform today, by delivering data-driven innovation that redefines their tomorrow.
“As we look ahead, we're excited by what's to come including the broader opportunities of converged technology coming to life, promising a future where organisations are universally powered by AI and driven by data,” concludes Stephen.
To mark this milestone of a decade at Qrious, we sat down with some of the original #TeamQrious members who have journeyed with us from the beginning. Watch the full video below!