A Nuneaton start-up using the power of AI could be set to transform how easily e-commerce businesses analyse their sales and marketing data with the launch of its new software.
Pictured (from left to right): David Patrykowski (founder of Backona), Steve Tipson (business support adviser at Business Ready), and Cllr Martin Watson (Portfolio Holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council)
Backona, founded by David Patrykowski, has created a tool enabling users to effortlessly converse with their marketing data, ask for custom charts and diagrams directly from Google Analytics software, and harness the power of AI for insightful analysis and strategic decision-making.
With the backing of business support programme Business Ready, he received invaluable assistance during the product’s development phase around getting accurate customer feedback and communicating his proposition, and is hoping to launch in July.
David created Backona, partly as a result of his experiences of rescuing a previous business he ran from collapsing, after taking the time to dig into the data about its business practices and finding the right solution.
He said: “Google Analytics is used by so many e-commerce businesses to understand their sales and other data, but it can be a difficult piece of software to use depending on what you’re trying to get out of it.
“With our system, you can simply ask a question like ‘how much revenue did we earn last year?’ and it will immediately give you an answer. You can also ask to display the data, such as ‘can you show me this data in a bar chart?’ and it will do that in seconds.
“The AI can also be used to predict what a business should do next in order to maximise a certain metric, such as revenue or click-throughs, based on the data it has already gathered.
“Unlike other AI systems available, which typically rely on general data sources, our system stands out by allowing users to work directly with their own data. This unique feature ensures more accurate and tailored insights, offering business owners invaluable guidance for their next strategic moves with minimised bias.
“Currently, the software is available to a select group of individuals in beta, undergoing rigorous testing by a team of ten. The goal is to expand this user base to fifty by the end of May, with the official launch set for July.
“Truly understanding the data of your organisation can enable you to make much more informed decisions, as I found out with my previous business. I’m hoping Backona will be able to do the same for many other companies once it launches.”
Steve Tipson, business support adviser at Business Ready, had advised David around his previous business, and continued to mentor him as he began to develop Backona.
He said: “We’ve been helping David take the right steps to have everything ready for Backona to be a success at launch, such as how much testing needs to be done beforehand, and ensuring its marketing plan is clear.
“Real-world testing is crucial to developing a viable product, and we helped David form a strategy around getting real customer feedback around Backona, rather than assumptions around what they might want from the software.
“I was able to introduce David to some of my network who were happy to be guinea pigs for Backona, and helped use their feedback to fine-tune the product and Backona’s proposition to potential investors.”
Councillor Martin Watson, Portfolio Holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council said: “We are delighted that the Business Ready programme was able to support Backona during their development phase.
“Supporting Warwickshire’s businesses is a key priority, and the Business Ready programme can provide businesses in need of support with free, tailored advice, expertise, business workshops and much more to help them grow and develop.”
Business Ready forms part of the Business Growth Warwickshire programme. It is delivered by University of Warwick Science Park on behalf of Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire’s five District and Borough Councils.
Find out what other support is available to your business by calling Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub on 0300 060 3747 or visit the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub website.
Notes to editors
This project has received £2.8 million from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus
