Stockton–based eCommerce and digital marketing agency, Visualsoft, has announced the appointment of data scientist Kalvin Tan, as part of the company’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Teesside University.
Visualsoft applied for the KTP, which connects businesses with the UK’s academic resources, earlier this year. The objective of the partnership is to assist with the construction of the ‘VS Analytics’ system, which will collate and interpret big data from the Visualsoft platform and glean valuable insights into the eCommerce market for both the company and its clients. Following a rigorous recruitment process, Kalvin was selected to undertake the project.
He will be based at Visualsoft’s newly-expanded Stockton HQ and joins the company with an impressive academic record – including an MSc in Computer Science, a BA in Applied Computing and a PhD in Computer Science Research. He has held a number of senior research and analytical positions at Northumbria University, working on large-scale projects for Northumbria Police and the university itself.
Kalvin will be supported by Visualsoft’s specialist Platform team and dedicated sponsors at Teesside University.
Established in 1998, Visualsoft counts a team of over 300 staff across three offices, all of whom specialise in the design, build, support and marketing of online stores for retailers. Currently, the company works with over 1,200 UK clients, from Charles Clinkard, Little Mistress and The Lakes Distillery.
Sarah Louise Taylor, Head of Platform as Visualsoft, said: “Visualsoft’s eCommerce platform powers over 1,200 online stores, and over the last year alone, it’s processed over 11.5million orders.
“As such, it offers an incredible amount of insight into customer behaviour, and by working closely with Kalvin and Teesside University, we’re looking to capture, interpret and act on that information to really boost conversion rates for our clients.”
Commenting on his appointment, Kalvin Tan said: “Working with one of the largest eCommerce companies in the UK unlocks a wider range of opportunities for machine learning.
“Utilising data captured by Visualsoft and embedding it with modern digital technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides marketing insights that could potentially provide improvements for e-retailers in areas such as design, stock control, sales prediction and user experience (UX).”
Dr Yingke Chen, Reader (Computer Science) at Teesside University, said: “I am thrilled to be working on such an exciting project in collaboration with Visualsoft.
“The resulting Intelligent Data Analysis platform will enable Visualsoft to offer their clients personalised insights to drive more sales within their eCommerce sites, but also enables us to deliver real world impact for our research around intelligent systems.”