AnswerRocket boosts AI offerings with Cognitive Spark acquisition

AnswerRocket has acquired Cognitive Spark, a management consulting firm focused on advanced data science and machine learning algorithms for enterprises.

The acquisition brings Cognitive Spark's team into AnswerRocket, strengthening the company's capabilities in transforming complex data science into accessible insights through agentic artificial intelligence (AI).

AnswerRocket stated that the combination of Cognitive Spark's expertise with its consulting practice and agentic Max AI platform will help clients bridge the space between strategic business objectives and technical capacities. Key capabilities highlighted include converting data science from a specialised function into an enterprise-wide resource, developing custom machine learning algorithms, and deploying AI agents that autonomously perform advanced statistical analysis.

Through this integration, decision-makers are expected to see a reduction in the duration needed to gain insights, moving from weeks to minutes, while maintaining enterprise-level governance and security in AI-powered analytics.

Many enterprises, despite significant investments in data science, continue to face difficulties in translating analytical capability into meaningful business impact. The gap between advanced analytical models and business decision-makers often means valuable insights remain siloed within expert teams.

AnswerRocket's expanded services aim to address this issue using agentic AI solutions that automate complex data science processes, making them more accessible for business use. Cognitive Spark's experience will support the creation and deployment of intelligent agents for use cases such as pricing optimisation, demand forecasting, and predictive customer analytics. These solutions may be accessed either through AnswerRocket's Max AI platform or other agentic platforms preferred by customers.

The importance of data quality and reliability was underlined by both companies as critical to successful AI adoption. AnswerRocket and Cognitive Spark plan to offer comprehensive data readiness services, including data engineering, cleansing, and harmonisation. These services are intended to ensure that AI systems function on robust and accurate data, providing executives with trustworthy information for strategic decision-making.

Jim Johnson, Managing Partner of AI Solutions and Consulting at AnswerRocket, commented on the strategic aims of the integration: "Our acquisition of Cognitive Spark directly tackles the 'last mile problem' of data science, where valuable data insights often fail to reach decision-makers. By joining agentic AI and data science, we can make advanced analytics broadly available to business users, enabling them to confidently make critical decisions on a daily basis."

Cognitive Spark has experience in advanced analytics across industries such as retail, financial services, healthcare, and construction. The team will join AnswerRocket under the leadership of Andrew Sweet, formerly CEO of Cognitive Spark, who will assume the position of Vice President, Enterprise AI Solutions.

Andrew Sweet said: "Joining AnswerRocket creates an unparalleled opportunity to scale the impact of advanced data science. Organizations often struggle to bridge sophisticated analytics and practical business applications. By combining our expertise with AnswerRocket's agentic AI services, we're making advanced analytics truly accessible and driving real business impact."