Recognized with the Red Herring Top 100 Award, the Inc. 5000 List Ranking, and Tableau Strategic Partner of the Year, USEReady has carved a niche for itself as a reputable data and analytics firm that provides the strategies, tools, capabilities, and capacity that businesses need to turn their data into a competitive advantage.
With deep expertise in the enterprise technology landscape combined with global delivery from offices in Canada, the U.S., Singapore, and India, USEReady serves Fortune 50 customers in Banking, Capital Markets, Health Life Sciences, and High Technology. And with partners such as Salesforce, Snowflake, and Amazon Web Services, USEReady’s goal is to make companies future-ready through a data-driven approach to achieving operational excellence.
We spoke with co-founders, Uday Hegde (CEO) and Lalit Bakshi (President), on the organization’s values as a people-first corporation, the team’s future-ready approach, and USEReady’s launch in Mississauga – a valuable contribution to the Toronto Region’s innovation ecosystem.
Tell us about the USEReady mission.
Our mission is to empower organizations, giving people the ability to harness the language of data and to apply intelligence to solve everyday problems.
How does data support your mission?
Today, data is an asset that helps a business differentiate in a highly competitive market. As the world is emerging through technology, digitalization efforts and modern data tools deployed across industry verticals and functions have democratized the process of data generation and analysis. As a result, the humongous data volume requires a sophisticated approach for the collection, homogenization, and extraction of business value from the data.
Enterprises started appointing a new custodian for the data asset by creating Chief Data/Digital Officers, who need a new category of vendors that are competent in the world of data analytics rather than traditional system integrators. To tackle this problem and deliver a comprehensive solution, USEReady has taken a path of developing proprietary, innovative solutions that automate the journey of modernization for our customers.
What are USEReady’s values as a people-first organization?
USEReady’s core values are client centricity, community, continuous improvement, integrity, and humility – we always put people first in every decision.
“Many of our newcomers appreciate the advantage of having a mentorship program where they can benefit from a continual learning environment. People are encouraged to experiment and discover new areas and different geographies. Furthermore, having locations all over the world allowed us to develop mobility programs for our employees seeking career transfer and transformation,” explains Bakshi.
USEReady expanded into new territories and practices successfully by purely following people’s needs rather than P&L-centric decisions. “USEReady has become a preferred employer, serving as a breeding ground for bright people who collaborate to solve complicated data challenges and offer intelligent outcomes,” says Hegde.
Why did USEReady choose to land in Mississauga?
During our research for an expansion location, we discovered that Canada offers a strategic geo-political advantage and regulatory environment for firms in sensitive data and data processing needs. Canada’s friendly immigration laws and business policies make it easy for foreign firms to operate and execute with agility.
As we work with major banking firms in the U.S. and all over the world, Mississauga just made sense. “We couldn’t be happier with the support we have received from Toronto Global and local government offices. With Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s enthusiastic support, such active involvement from elected members is a huge boost to our expansion business development,” says Hegde.
How has this expansion enhanced your company culture?
As a remote workplace, we conducted internal polls to gauge employee feedback in moving and working in Canada. Almost 40 per cent of employees signed up, showing an incredible amount of interest in living in a friendly environment that offers cultural diversity and multi-racial communities. As USEReady employees moved to the Toronto Region, many of them expressed how rewarding and fulfilling the move was for themselves and their families.
“We heard the most incredible personal anecdote from a USEReady employee. Their child needed special medical care, and they were thrilled that not only did Toronto offer this care, but the multi-ethnic doctors and medical professionals with specialized expertise spoke their language, giving their family comfort and security,” says Bakshi.
As an organization, we were able to offer this unique opportunity to our staff, thus improving our talent retention and guarding our pipeline from competitors. Furthermore, we are seeing longevity, higher performance, and positive feedback from people – an astounding win!
What does USEReady have planned for the future?
We are currently growing in the organic internal promotion-based model, combined with consolidating boutique data analytics consulting vendors. We have also received a growth investment from Boston, U.S.-based private equity firm Abry Partners, a proven investor with an excellent track record encompassing over three decades.
Going forward in Canada, our plan is to reach 500 new jobs in Mississauga over the course of the next few years. We already have many of our Mississauga-based employees buying homes, growing families, and investing in real estate – a true testament to the welcoming and safe environment that the Toronto Region offers to people from all over the world. Our team is ecstatic about the success of our expansion to the region and excited for what’s to come.
If you’re interested in learning more about joining USEReady on their mission, check out their careers page.