Datamine grows 92% pa

Established in Wellington in 1995, Datamine has grown from a one man band to a team of 22 and recently opened an Auckland division.

The company extracts and analyses customer database information. Clients are mainly from financial services, telecommunications and retail sectors.

The Parnell office has four staff and Wellington has 18.

Owner Paul O’Connor says the move was necessary to better serve the company’s Auckland clients which constitute 25-30 per cent of Datamine’s business. Next up could be an office in Australia or Asia where clients are head offices of New Zealand clients or have come on board through word of mouth.

Although Datamine is operating from two sites, the directors are determined to retain the feel and operation of a small business. Co-director Sally Carey says: “That’s where a lot of small businesses struggle. They see an opportunity [to grow] but lose their niche. What our clients get from us is pro-activity and innovation. There are no obstacles to us doing something, no red tape.” Datamine goes to great lengths to ensure its employees don’t end up feeling like numbers. It holds duvet days and lets employees’ choose lunch on their birthdays as well as offers company-funded massages as part of the human resources policy.

O’Connor says: “I started a company that I wanted to work for and have tried to make it like that for everyone.” He believes in offering open, honest communication, providing feedback, always being available and taking the attitude nothing is right or wrong but is just a different perspective. Staff can light-heartedly hand each other orange cards for putdowns during brainstorming sessions. “While it may take more time to involve everyone in decisions and actions, it ultimately makes for a successful workplace” O’Connor says.

Datamine worked with the Department for Courts for its “Phil Fines” campaign that targeted people who hadn’t paid fines. The department was owed a hefty sum in unpaid fines and while it believed the culprits were the people it saw going through the court system, Datamine extracted information showing it was in fact middle class people just not getting around to paying parking or speeding tickets. So Phil Fines came into being and the Courts’ campaign paid for itself within five days, says O’Connor.

Datamine has grown at an average rate of 92 per cent a year during the past three years – and was included in the 2002 Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 list of the 50 fastest-growing companies in New Zealand.