Taking the Complexity Out of Data: Pittsburgh-based River Point Technology, an Analytics Consulting Company, All Set to Fly High

“At River Point Technology, our job is to take the complexity out of data”: Jeff Eiben

For several years now, companies big and small have been touting digital transformation as the end-all to staying competitive. In fact, back in 2014, 88 percent of companies surveyed by the marketing research firm Altimeter said they were already on the path to digital transformation, but only 25 percent had managed to fully map out the journey their customers were taking to get to their products. Many businesses have certainly made progress since then, but has it been enough?

As analytics becomes more commonplace in enterprise environments, businesses are gaining a better understanding of how to deliver the experiences customers crave. 

In view of the above mentioned, we are delighted to present River Point Technology (RPT) – dedicated to helping businesses in their digital transformation drive by not only providing a well-rounded business consultation service but also offering a state-of-the-art, 360-degree analytics solution through a subscription-based business model.

RPT was established in 2011and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.

Interview Excerpt: Jeff Eiben, Founder

Why was the company set up? How did you select the vertical and decide to be a part of the global platform?

River Point Technology was initially formed to consult organizations on their journey to the cloud. The public cloud market was in its infancy and organizations were struggling to identify the value for them. We refined our focus to the “Big Data” space in 2012 by building an analytics practice in support of the data explosion. We have taken a data-oriented model to market ever since in order to help our customers make data actionable.

What learning’s helped you to set this company up?

I had a background with technology OEMs that introduced me to using technology for business value. In most companies, however, the technologists and business owners aren’t aligned. It was this gap that we fill and is our value to our customers. I witnessed this disconnect while working for the technology OEMs and helped me when setting up the company.

Tell us about your first product that was launched.

Our core business is technology resale and consulting services. Within the past year, we extended this to build out our own turn-key data platform. The subscription-based service was built to enable companies to generate faster time to value with initiatives such as IOT and Advanced Analytics. 

What were the grounds on which you have expanded your company and its offerings over the years?

We have pivoted our business a couple of times over the years and often the main driver was market timing for the technology that we were selling. Often a technology’s hype far outpaces market adoption; this was something that we have learned over the years. We find about a three year lag on market hype to actual mainstream use. We have seen this with technology such as Cloud, Big Data and IoT. 

What challenges did you face in your initial years? What can your peers learn from it? 

Our challenge in the early years was having too broad of a message and product portfolio. Our niche has always been around emerging technology, however without a crystal ball to predict market winners this has taken us in a number of directions. We found ourselves educating the market more than generating revenue which obviously is a problem. The learning lesson is to refine your niche early on that can be expanded later but getting good at something early will build a stronger base to work from. Outside factors such as market timing around adoption and vendor winners and losers shouldn’t determine your value.

If you have to list four factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why? 

Our strongest assets are technological innovation, strong technical talent, customer success focus, and leading market trends. We have found that being obsessed with our customer’s success has been the strongest identifier of our company. We hire for talent that is willing to do whatever it takes for our customers and to have a desire to continually challenge ourselves. We find the technology side can be taught but those intangibles are not something that can be taught. These traits are why our customers stick with us and we have strong customer loyalty.

What do you feel are the reasons behind:

Your product popularity – Customers are looking for solutions that drive immediate value for their organization. Our product is geared toward that goal as most organizations are resource and budget constrained. We focus on outcomes that have a tangible ROI that can be measured and tracked. It’s all about time to value and that’s what we deliver for our customers.

Your consistence growth as an organization – We have always been able to sustain consistent growth as we have never settled and are always looking to take the next step. We do this by always challenging ourselves to deliver and always be thinking of growth. We have a group of A-players that want to be the best and ensure our customers are successful. It sounds like a cliché but this is the inherent culture of our company and customers pick up on that.

What drives/inspires you to excel in your field of business?

Our culture is a blend of perfectionist, persistence and a refuse to lose attitude. I am inspired by the success others have had before me and realizing that we can achieve this as well. We carry a bit of a chip on our shoulder to ensure we don’t get complacent.

Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

I would say, in a couple of years we may have doubled in size, but more importantly, we will continue to be an exceptional team delivering agile services to our clients.

The Brain Behind The Operation: A Brief Background

Jeff Eiben, Founder: Jeff Eiben’s passion for technology propelled him to launch River Point Technology. After watching businesses struggle to balance daily operations with IT innovation, he committed the company’s resources to break that costly trend. Jeff has more than 20 years of experience working alongside leading-edge technology providers.

Mr Eiben holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University.

“Our team likes to get creative. We consider every option to help our customers drive operational and fiscal efficiency. We are successful when our customers can ultimately use their data to make informed business decisions.”