Explorium, the External Data platform that automatically discovers thousands of relevant data signals and uses them to improve analytics and machine learning, announced the launch of Explorium Starters.

Designed for organizations with limited or non-existent data, Explorium Starters instantly generates a targeted dataset that can be used to kick off machine learning, analytics projects or sales and marketing campaigns. Procuring and organizing external data through traditional channels can take months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; but Explorium Starters works instantly, and is available through Explorium’s convenient SaaS subscription.

Getting underway with Explorium Starters couldn’t be easier. Explorium prompts users to answer a few questions about their target profile, such as the business type and location, and produces an initial list of potential customers, partners, suppliers or competitors. Users can then enhance this dataset with Explorium’s Signal Studio, which automatically recommends additional relevant “signals” from premium and public external data sources.

Marketing Technology News: Explorium Expands Go-to-Market Leadership to Accelerate Adoption of its External Data Platform

For instance, one global consumer goods firm used Explorium Starters to access a dataset containing all the convenience stores in their target region, then used Signal Studio to enrich that list with data such as foot traffic information, number of nearby competitors and average income. The end result was a 43% growth in net new business and a 20% gain in existing and former customer accounts.

Many CPG businesses have come to rely on external data-enriched models to reach the right consumers during the pandemic, as stores quickly open and close or move to different locations. Previously, when their intel became outdated, consumer goods brands would have to start their lead-scoring efforts from scratch. Now, brands can use Explorium Starters to generate a list of leads whenever they need to refresh their models.

“It used to be that if you didn’t have a foundation of internal data to begin with, you’d have a really hard time building datasets for customer, competitor or supplier analysis,” said David Menninger, Research Director and SVP at Ventana Research. “Explorium Starters flips that narrative on its head — it gives every company an entry point to begin analysis by building datasets from thousands of external data signals. The new capability extends Explorium’s end-to-end business solutions across external data access, enrichment, analysis and feature engineering.”

The launch of Explorium Starters comes at a time when access to external data has become increasingly important — and challenging. A recent survey found that while 79% of organizations consider external data to be “very valuable” for advanced analytics, more than 90% struggle to find relevant data sources. Organizations typically have to sort through hundreds of different datasets, without any way of knowing their relevance and value until the models are in production. This months-long process is resource-heavy, expensive and completely disconnected from analytical programs.

With Explorium Starters, small and medium-sized businesses can pilot a new analytics program in an inexpensive sandbox. Enterprises looking to enter a new market or territory can quickly identify their audiences. Data science teams that constantly need to refresh or build new models can intake data assets without the pain of procurement.

“With Explorium Starters, we’ve further broken down the barrier of entry to machine learning and analytics by providing instant access to relevant datasets,” said Omer Har, Co-Founder and CTO of Explorium. “Whether you have your own internal data or not, the new capability connects you to a universe of potential prospects, customers and partners. It’s never been easier for organizations — of any size and in any vertical — to launch analytics programs that unveil new opportunities and increase revenue.”

Marketing Technology News: Information Management Innovator Archive360 Announces Strategic Investment from Leeds Equity…