Seed Analytics announces winners of University of Pretoria’s final year Computer Science projects

Seed Analytics believes in building a positive future for all. Working with Universities to support students in technology fields is, therefore, a natural component in the execution of this strategy.

The University of Pretoria offers a comprehensive Computer Science curriculum. The final-year Computer Science students must complete a year-long team project in which they showcase the final product at a project day event. The University invited Seed Analytics to participate in the judging of the projects. Students teams demonstrated their final year projects to a Seed Analytics team who, ultimately, selected a winning team for the Best use of Data.

Derek Gardiner, CTO of Seed Analytics, said, "It was an honour to select the best team for the Best Use of Data at the final year project event at Tuks. The students all presented awe-inspiring projects, and our team was very impressed with the deliveries and presentations the students gave during the showcase event. "

The team would like to extend congratulations to Regan Zhao, Andrey Omeltchenko, Tshegofatso Manthata, Christian Devraj and Gabriel Grobler for winning the Seed Analytics Data Science Prize for the best use of data.

We look forward to seeing how these students innovate in the future!

Security is of the highest concern to us

Seed Analytics is proud to announce that we have received our ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification. A big thank you to our team members who have put in the time and effort to make this possible.

As we deal with large amounts of information and data on our client’s behalf, we felt that this was an incredibly important next step for our business. ISO/IEC 27001:2013 is the international standard for information security. The standard addresses an organization’s approach to managing the data that it uses, and its implementation takes people, processes and technology into account.

To receive the certification, our team had to take a good look at what was happening in our business, and how we process and protect information. While we had strong existing security processes, we needed to benchmark those against auditable global standards. We decided to implement an information security management system, or ISMS, and formally monitor how our business implements, operates, reviews, and maintains this system.

Jean-Pierre Mieny, who headed the project for us, says that “Seed Analytics is committed to safeguarding the information entrusted to us by our clients and third parties. Implementing an information security management system to meet ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standards enables us to meet this commitment.”

“The team worked to revamp information systems and business processes across the organization,” says Chief Technical Officer Derek Gardiner. “Seed Analytics has always had strong information security systems in place. We wanted to benchmark ourselves against global security standards and ISO 27001 has done that for us, making sure that we are always offering the best possible service,”

Information security has always been a core part of our DNA and ISO was the next logical step to heighten security awareness and to continue shaping behavior to reach our information security goals

ISO/IEC 27001:2013 has the great added benefit that Seed Analytics can say that we are completely compliant with the following legal and regulatory requirements:

• POPI Act South Africa

• PAI Act South Africa

• Electronic Communications and Transactions Act

Hermione Fry, Head of Delivery and Coordination for Seed Analytics, had this to say about the certification:

“ISO/IEC 27001:2013 means that Seed Analytics has embedded a culture of responsible information security management. This milestone helps fulfill our ongoing commitment to clients and platform providers that we take information security management very seriously and assures them that their client’s personal information is handled securely."

Your business simply cannot afford to compromise on information security. When you choose to work with Seed Analytics, you can rest easy knowing that security is the foundation of everything we do. Contact us for a demo.

How did you spend your time in 2022?

The year is almost at its close. The self-reflection is starting to set in, while at the same time, we’re all trying to just do those last few things before it’s 2023.

2022 has felt like an incredibly hectic year for a number of people. After the last few years, many expected 2022 to be a calmer one. However, the general experience seems to be that this year was more frantic than the last 2 years combined.

A major reason for this is the increased amount of “hustle” people put in to make this year a success.

With that in mind though, how did we spend our time this year?

Take a look back at 2022 and see how well you can describe your time usage. Did you spend enough of it making money and servicing your clients? What would you have done differently?

We often don’t end up spending enough time doing the money making activities within our businesses. As financial advisors, each and every moment you can spend connecting with an existing client (or doing a discovery call with a new client) is what earns you money.

The thing is that there are always other activities that take our focus and time away from our money making activities.

Let’s start with time. How much time did you spend on admin this year? How much of that admin time was spent on creating reports for your clients? Do you feel that your clients received enough information from your reports to know what is happening in their investments?

There is a good chance that the answer is no.

Consider a 2023 where all your reports can take less than 20 minutes of your time per month. Your clients receive up-to-date statements monthly, and you can have longer term planning conversations with your existing client base because they have all the information they need to make decisions.

This reality is incredibly possible with Seed Analytics. Our reporting dashboards allow you a few tools to deliver better customer service. In return what you get is:

• More time in your business to attract new business and service your clients better

• More touchpoints with your clients which can increase conversations and improve retention

• Business intelligence at your fingertips for making stronger internal decisions to support your clients and your business.

• A white labeled dashboard which can showcase your brand, making you look more professional

Your business deserves the best from you, and the easiest way to give it your best is to have the right tools supporting you. Consolidated dashboards open up a host of new possibilities for you and your clients without the need to appoint new staff to keep up with your client book.

Work smarter, not harder, in 2023. Contact us for a demo.