Originally posted on https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2020/07/20/buffalos-steve-czyrny-works-with-everyone-from-st.html
Buffalo’s Steve Czyrny is a business intelligence expert; he has some advice for companies looking to invest
Steven Czyrny’s company, The Analyst Agency, positions itself as a middleman to help companies implement new marketing, business process and sales tools.
The Buffalo-based firm is seeing a big uptick during the Covid-19 pandemic in companies looking for ways to make their organizations leaner and more efficient.
He has a nuanced message based on interactions with his clients, which range from startups to billion-dollar banks.
The first lesson is that now is a good time to invest in your business, whether it’s an internal program or a growth-oriented initiative. The second is that risks must be undertaken with a huge dollop of caution.
“You need to get a sense of what your end goals are, what you’re looking to accomplish, and then build from there,” Czyrny said. “People that might have gone with their gut before should be seeking intelligence from their customers, employees and other stakeholders.”
Czyrny worked for two years as a business and planning analyst at M&T Bank between 2012 and 2014, which often positioned him between new software programs and the employees who were supposed to use them. He subsequently held sales, business-development and digital-marketing roles at local firms.
The Analyst Agency has grown from a boutique marketing agency into new areas that includes sales, research and business-process improvement.
The firm now does a range of projects. That includes corporate IT, helping companies manage the acquisition and development of new software; digital marketing, where all consumer-facing firms must now have robust social media, web advertising and customer-service platforms; and doing market research for clients who are embarking on new projects.
“A lot of companies are embracing business and technology to help improve their operations, but with that comes responsibility,” he said. “At some point, (Paycheck Protection Program money) is going to run out, and you need to make sure your business is ironclad.”