Knoware Blog/News

One of the key pleasures of working in Knoware was the great people we got to work with. We were lucky enough to attract some highly capable, professional, experienced people. And what’s more – they were nice!

Who could not like having morning coffee with Dave Shea? He’d arrive on his bike, in shorts despite all kinds of weather, full of good cheer and humour. He was the only person I knew who could give a little speech at a farewell morning tea for him on a client site, and say he’d be back when they could match up their clients and accounts. I think he was the only person I shed a little tear with after a frustrating talk during the post GFC recession – tough times shared.

At one time it seemed like the sole qualification for working for Knoware was to be called Mark. We had a lot of Marks. But one survived loyally through all those years. The best of people, super skilled technical person, always putting a lot of investment in himself and his skills. He knew what he could bring to Knoware and what Knoware could do for him. I always had the greatest respect for his technical judgement and abilities. An honour to work with Mark Bodt over all those years.

We worked with many good people over the last 21 years. Some of them have come and gone, but some are still working with Knoware to this day. How lucky are we?

I was always grateful for the people who poured their best efforts into Knoware. To me it was my baby, but to them it was just a job. One at which they worked hard and went beyond the extra mile.

Ok, we’re a bunch of people working together. So far so good. Is that a company? Well, no, it takes more than that.

We started off with some planning sessions. We had to find a location for these sessions and ended up in the Lifeguard building in Evans Bay. This was handy, had an upstairs meeting room but with no insulation and little or no heating, it would take more than a few sandwiches for lunch to thaw out.

It soon became apparent that you do indeed need to spend time working on the company not just in it. Somehow this job fell to me with the tenuous question of whether one gets paid for this activity (which is of course done at the expense of doing paid client work). Yes, it does take money to run a successful company, and it takes time to sort through just how this is going to be managed fairly and equitably.

More than just the sum of our parts – I’ve always believed that a good company should be more than the sum of its parts, that more minds are better than one.

Part of the motivation for Knoware was the belief that by working together we can do more and do better. We all have different strengths, and the key is to play to those.

I worked with Colin Harris for many years. He had a degree of technical excellence that was beyond my best efforts. I was good at chatting up people, defining the need and providing strategic advice on the best use of data to get the job done. We still had gaps and as time went on, and with the overhead of doing business particularly with government, we added in an Operations Manager to keep the cogs turning.

We were very lucky to have Nicky Chalker and then later Suzanne Turner in this key role. They were both excellent and I consider both friends to this day.

The Knowledge Warehouse Limited. That was the registered name of the company: eight syllables. That’s not so many you might think. But people would refer to us as KW or Knoware; it just simply saves time. And when you’re asked for your elevator pitch of who you are and what you do it takes quite a bit of time to roll those syllables out. For marketing and branding it can be a pain to fit all those letters onto a promotional cap or whatever.

Our website had always been “Knoware.co.nz” with a redirection from “knowledgewarehouse.co.nz” to our Knoware website. We also trademarked Knoware to keep it our own. After a couple of years of too many syllables we decided to make life simpler: we retained the company name but we would brand ourselves as Knoware.

Did people do a double-take? Ask what the…? Yep sometimes. If you stood up at a function and introduced yourself as Clare from Knoware they could look a bit stunned. But it’s that old story of say it with confidence, like wearing your slippers out in public by mistake. Just do it with panache. So we did. Knoware. In the business of data and analytics.

The Knowledge Warehouse Limited came to life over several good lunches. It was the days of long lunches: well, it was for us anyhow. There were three of us. John L [one of the founders] was an excellent cook easily capable of turning out a sumptuous eight course degustation as a friendly evening meal. He was talking governance and sales. He had been nurturing the company name for a while, thinking knowledge was going to be the next big thing. That was the early to mid-nineties and he wasn’t wrong there. “Is it to be The Knowledge Warehouse or just Knowledge Warehouse” I asked? “Definitely THE Knowledge Warehouse” was the reply.

Clive C [another of the founders] was and still is the cleverest technical person I came across in my career. He would quietly set about knowing exactly how something worked and making sure that he delivered whatever was required. He covered such a wide range of areas that when he suddenly died it took three people to replace his set of skills.

The company was registered in 1996 but Clive’s death put The Knowledge Warehouse on ice for a few years. However seven years later we put together another group of friends and colleagues to stand The Knowledge Warehouse Limited on its feet as a data warehousing and business intelligence consultancy….

A note from Colin Harris: one of the founders.

The Knowledge Warehouse Limited (Knoware) has been delivering world-class data and analytics solutions to the world for 21 years. The turbulent times we are presently faced with including pandemics, job losses and economic headwinds have made this milestone a time to pause and reflect on how much of an achievement this really is.

In New Zealand the 21^st birthday has special meaning and is widely celebrated. Turning 21 signifies coming of age, becoming a fully-fledged adult and a contributor to the world. This is true for Knoware as a company and partner for our valued clients.

Over the past 21 years we have been privileged enough to work on some of the most significant data and analytics projects in the New Zealand landscape. In conjunction with SAS and other partners we have built data warehouses and business intelligence platforms, trained teams to deliver excellence in analytics and driven real world value in helping major government and commercial enterprises be data driven in their decision making.

It still pleases me, as a founder of Knoware, that we are still as strong and relevant today as we ever have been. It is truly humbling to think of all the support and investment our people and our clients have made in us to get us where we are today. I am extremely grateful for your support both in the past and on-going.

Knoware has been part of the foundational fabric of helping institutions with their people, processes and technology to innovate and push boundaries with complex analytics requirements. We’re excited that our specialist area of data and analytics has become even more important and high profile over the last two decades.

Knoware’s team, many of whom have been on the bulk of this 21-year journey, have risen to the challenges and ensured that even by today’s advancing technology standards our clients are at the forefront of the data and analytics value chain.

We have learnt a lot over these 21 years. We know the things that work, the things that don’t and the things we would like to think we would never try again.

From all of this we have built enduring relationships with a great group of people in New Zealand that trust Knoware and our people by name to deliver pragmatic, relevant and up to date advice on data and analytics.

As we celebrate this milestone we will share some of our experiences with you and showcase some new insights and innovative ways that you can maintain a trusted and reliable analytics capability now and into the ever-changing future.

Keep an eye on our website and LinkedIn as we share our journey to date and the exciting developments we are working on.

Colin Harris
CEO & Technical Director

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – Friday 5^th July, 2024 – Teradata (NYSE: TDC) and Knoware, the New Zealand based data and analytics consultancy, today announced a strategic partnership to empower customers in New Zealand and Australia to innovate and deliver on outcomes with their data and analytics technologies.

Through this partnership Knoware and Teradata will work with customers to; empower their organisations with proven hybrid, AI-ready data solutions that will connect data silos, democratise data access and comply with data sovereignty requirements.

“Our customers are faced with delivering more with less with their existing, and often complex, data environments,” said Josh Abbott, Vice President, Australia and New Zealand, Teradata. “Our partnership with Knoware helps customers use data effectively and securely, leverage AI/ML capabilities in the cloud and deliver value to their organisations.”

Knoware’s team of experts will provide regional customers with full-service delivery of Teradata’s VantageCloud and ClearScape platform including strategic advice, solution design, implementation, training and ongoing support.

“The partnership between Knoware and Teradata provides our customers with the framework and pathways they need to modernise their data and analytics technologies. We have the expertise and skills to help deliver more from their investments whether it is on-premise, cloud or hybrid,” said Colin Harris, CEO and Technical Director, Knoware.

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About Teradata

At Teradata, we believe that people thrive when empowered with better information. Our best-in-class cloud analytics and data platform delivers the harmonized data and trusted AI/ML organisations need for confident decision-making, faster innovation, and impactful business results.

www.teradata.com

For more information contact: Steve Carline, Sales & Marketing Manager, Knoware
Phone: +64 27 283 7440

Download the Media release PDF here.

Knoware are delighted to advise that they have now been confirmed as an approved supplier on Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace for a number of key strategic and transformational data services.

Knoware has now been approved as a supplier for an additional 4 services:

• Data architecture
• Data modelling
• Data strategy
• Change management services.

This now takes our total of Marketplace categories to 8.

What is the Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace ?

The Marketplace is open to all agencies in the New Zealand public sector and radically simplifies the initial primary procurement process, reducing the barriers for suppliers engaging with government – and making it easier for agencies to access innovation.

Why these Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace categories are particularly important

These service categories relate to Knoware’s core expertise in large scale data transformation projects.  They differ materially from the more “operational” categories Knoware was earlier approved for (Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Management Training Services and Data Migration Services).

While delighted to be approved for all current categories on Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace, strategic data transformation projects for large, complex organisations is where Knoware excel.

Why Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace is a natural fit for Knoware

Knoware are ISO certified in both Quality Management and Environmental Management Systems and have extensive experience working on some of the New Zealand Government’s most complex and sensitive technology projects.

With a heritage that stretches back over 25 years, Knoware combine unmatchable expertise with fresh thinking to apply innovative multi-platform solutions to today’s data challenges.

Unmatchable public sector experience and expertise

Access to Knoware’s combination of unmatchable expertise and fresh thinking for today’s data challenges has never been easier for government agencies.  Contact us today to find out more about our big project, data transformation credentials within the public sector.

Knoware are delighted to announce that they have just been confirmed as an approved supplier to registered government agencies on the Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace.

Knoware has been approved as a supplier for the following services:

• Data Analytics
• Data Engineering
• Data Management Training Services
• Data Migration Services.

What is the Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace ?

The Marketplace is open to all agencies in the New Zealand public sector and radically simplifies the initial primary procurement process, reducing the barriers for suppliers engaging with government – and making it easier for agencies to access innovation.

Why Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace is a natural fit for Knoware

Knoware are ISO certified in both Quality Management and Environmental Management Systems and have extensive experience working on some of the New Zealand Government’s most complex and sensitive technology projects.

With a heritage that stretches back over 25 years, Knoware combine unmatchable expertise with fresh thinking to apply innovative multi-platform solutions to today’s data challenges.

As an approved supplier on Marketplace, Knoware will be able to provide faster, easier access to that expertise, fresh thinking and innovation for more government agencies than ever before.