CRU GROUP and safety , but provide greater availability of data and information to analyse .”
CRU has been operational for just over 50 years . And while the company has always been at the forefront of primary research and analysis , Will explains that the exponential growth of data and innovative technology has led to the company ’ s own digital transformation journey . “ We started as a paper-based publisher that would publish thousands of industry reports each year . And , because we have clients in 90 countries worldwide , we ’ d have to transport that information to them by courier . Similarly , the data collection was also quite a manual process .
“ What ’ s really changed is the accessibility of data ,” he continues . “ Clients used to be happy receiving a report once a year , or once a quarter , but now we ’ re no longer willing to wait for that information – technology makes everything instantaneous , so our whole cycle has had to change in terms of what we produce and how we produce it . It ’ s no longer about pulling information together and presenting it to the customer , people can often find that information easily elsewhere . EXECUTIVE BIO
WILL BLAKE
TITLE : DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY & ANALYTICS
COMPANY : CRU GROUP INDUSTRY : COMMODITIES RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS LOCATION : LONDON
Will has over 12 years of experience in technology across a range of disciplines including data analytics , cybersecurity , digital product development and cloud infrastructure . He is currently Director of Technology & Analytics at CRU and has responsibility for digital development initiatives and global technology services . He is also a member of the CRU executive team and has wider responsibilities across the business including product development and compliance . Prior to CRU , he worked as a geophysicist for a seismic exploration company in the oil industry . He holds a MSc in Geophysics from Durham University and a BSc in Geology from Bristol University .