CARAGON SECURES ANOTHER ROUND OF FUNDING TO FUEL THE NEXT PHASE OF GROWTH

by | Dec 11, 2018

CARAGON, the Limerick based data solutions company has secured another round of funding, allowing them to move into the next growth phase. Established in 2015 and named as one of Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Startups, CARAGON received seed funding from Enterprise Ireland and the Angel Investment Fund in conjunction with Growing Capital in 2016. This second round of funding involves private investment from Gianni Matera of Growing Capital and Sean Reilly, who has years of experience in pharmacy IT and data management.

Commenting on this next round of funding Gianni noted “Tony & Garron have done great work in the last 2 years and I’m happy for them to return for an increment, to get them to the next level, as is often the case with startups. CARAGON is one of a small number of Irish tech startups I invested in and they are in good company with the likes of Glofox, Popertee and Tenderscout”.

Their Data Management Platform;  CARAGON FLEX is transforming primary care operations in Ireland and the UK. The platform is a cloud based environment to connect all data sources, build powerful applications (allowing for things like automation of manual processes and creation of 2-way communication with stores) and measure it all, with custom dashboards & reports.

On his recent investment Sean Reilly commented “I have known the guys for a number of years and when I saw the difference they were making for customers in pharmacy and dental, I knew I had to be a part of it”.

The company are working on increasing their market share in the Irish and UK primary care market and this additional funding will allow them to increase the workforce from 7 to 11 in the next few months so they can further innovate the solution and look to new markets.

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CARAGON Customers Benefit From Enhanced Performance With Move To Serverless Environments

by | Nov 19, 2018

We are delighted to be rolling out the Microsoft Azure Serverless Environment for all our clients over the coming months.

Commenting on the move, Garron Mosley, CARAGON CTO said, “We use ‘best of breed’ technologies to deliver our solutions. We started with Google Cloud, (Platform as a Service (PaaS) infrastructure), which enabled us to develop a SaaS platform (CARAGON FLEX) that is scalable for multiple customers, industries and markets.

Working with the major global cloud computing offerings (Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure & Amazon AWS) allows small companies like us to move forward very quickly and ensure our customers always have access to the most efficient, accurate and time saving solutions within the data space.

A Microsoft Azure Serverless Environment is just another of those steps forward. For our customers it means better performance on demand, shorter development cycles, better notification and no time consuming decisions around infrastructure. For us it means we can concentrate on what we are good at, delivering data solutions”.

CARAGON FLEX is a Data Management Platform, which offers users one single secure environment to connect all data sources, build powerful applications, automate manual processes and measure it all with inbuilt dashboards & reports. For more information check out www.caragonflex.com.

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What is a Data Management Platform?

by | Aug 24, 2018

Today’s IT landscape is awash with systems, platforms & services, which results in businesses managing data sitting in multiple siloed systems and teams spending many, many hours manipulating that data, normally in Excel spreadsheets. At CARAGON we saw a need in the market for a platform to connect data from multiple sources and automate the manual processes around it, so we developed our own (it’s called CARAGON FLEX, by the way).

What is a Data Management Platform?

Somewhat Technical Description – At its most basic level it’s a tool or application that imports data from multiple systems and allows users to get a single view of their data in a consistent manner. At the higher end (which is where FLEX sits), the platform combines technology & tools (database functionality, forms, notifications, triggers, dashboards, reports etc) to transform the way organisations work.

Non Technical Description – One platform that connects everything, the flexibility and functionality to build applications that solve specific business problems and an easy to use interface to view and report on it all.

Who Uses It?

Any business that is trying to manage data across multiple systems and have teams that are spending too much time on manual processes. We have customers in retail, real estate, business consultancy but the majority of our customers are in health and specifically retail pharmacy and dental (that’s our background).

CARAGON is a data solutions company based in Limerick, Ireland. To find out more about us click here.

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World Cup in the Workplace

by | Jun 22, 2018

Here at CARAGON the office has gone world cup mad, like many others around the world. The world cup is a international topic of conversation running for a full month, it can be great for relationship building , rapport among workers and much more.

Every coffee break and chance to talk about it,is pounced on by work colleges. It brings  everyone in the office together, all on a level playing field. People gather at lunch time and even plan their lunch so they witness the team they’ve  been drawn in the sweepstake put it all on the line for them, blood sweat and tears. It’s all for the glorious and coveted jackpot at the end of it all (don’t forget bragging rights too). There is more than the sweepstake that takes place though. It seems that the world cup brings every department together under one conversation that ignites relationships with colleagues, that otherwise may not have occurred.

The Sweepstake

Okay, so in nearly every workplace a world cup sweepstake is taking place. It can vary from sweepstake to sweepstake with different rules for each office but it all accumulates to a winner and maybe some other spot prizes. Here at CARAGON we have done the traditional sweepstake with each team member pulling out a team and it all ending with accusation of bribery and treason to the code of conduct when the organizer pulls out Germany and you are left with Saudi Arabia.  It happens.

This is where you can have the conversation with Dave from HR that the whole process is rigged and its a money making scheme for the organisers. A topic that you both now firmly believe and can chat about over a nice coffee and a quick look a the scores in the world cup. People you would never have interacted or come in contact with before are now part of your work environment.

Helping the Less Fortunate (non football people)

So, it is a given that some people know more about football than others. Some people need help with who the best teams are, who will be top goal scorer and who is going to get knocked out first. These are are small bets and prizes that can go on around the office. At CARAGON we have our developer Mick. Mick is a rugby man and believes football is a waste of time, yet the power of the world cup shines bright and of course Mick couldn’t resist the office sweepstake. It doesn’t matter what sport you follow the world cup is bringing everyone together.

So Mick needs help with the world cup, it’s time for myself on the marketing side of the office to help him out. Useful tips like Panama’s left back Murillo is in with a great chance for golden boot and Morocco have a great chance of making it to the final four. Thanks for the money Mick. Anyways the world cup gives a chance for the “football experts” to display their knowledge and help others with the game of football. Bringing the football fans together with people interested in other sport or even no sport at all!

Building Relationships Outside of Work

With the world cup taking place in Russia there are games all throughout the day and this even includes after work and weekends. With the people you would never have struck up a conversation with and the interest the majority of the office has, after work games can be a way to get to know your work colleges better. With nothing to do on a Friday evening , you can throw up the suggestion for a sneaky pint after work on Friday. The build up of stress due to work deadlines and long hours all week can be released over a pint or coffee Friday evening with people in the exact same situation as you.

We all get tired after a weeks work, but what better way to let the giddiness of a Friday feeling out but to join your work colleges in the pub or cafe and sit down and watch the world cup. Every pub or cafe has that extra bit of spice with it because of the world cup. Get to know your colleagues on a personal level and find out more about them. Building team rapport among workers is a key aspect in a successful business. Happy workers are productive workers.

CARAGON is a data solutions company based in Limerick, Ireland. We are serious about data but there is always time for a sweepstake (apparently)!

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Working for a Start-Up. What to Expect!

by | Nov 16, 2017

I have always worked in small to medium sized companies, so not from a very ‘corporate’ background, but I had never worked in anything like that, of the startup environment. I’m seven months in now and below is what I have found:

What I Haven’t Found

  • Defined Roles – while roles are broadly defined, when something has to be done everyone chips in (within reason, I can’t code but I can support on things like testing). What you will never hear at CARAGON is ‘that is not my job’ or ‘I’m too busy’ (statements that don’t sit well with me).
  • Massive Salaries – in startup mode, companies just can’t afford to pay them, but what they often have to offer, is share options, which could end up being far more fruitful!
  • Endless Policies & Procedures – we have what we need, to do business effectively, but are not drowning in them.
  • Meetings About Meetings – in previous jobs, my work life was an eternal cycle of meetings; preparation for meetings, the actual meeting, the lost time from overruns and the meeting actions. With fewer people and a focus on efficiency (time is precious), the process is streamlined and a lot more effective. I feel I have my work/meeting balance just right!

What I Have Found

  • Flexibility  – freedom is at the core of everything we do at CARAGON and the freedom to have a healthy work life balance is a huge part of that. There is complete flexibility around working hours and location. Our main base is Limerick, but we currently have staff members based in Kildare, South Africa & Canada. I mostly base myself in the office as I enjoy being around the team, but it’s great to know I can choose what works best for me.
  • A Real Sense of Team – our co-founders (Garron Mosley & Tony Rudden)  have ensured that every hire is a ‘fit’ for CARAGON, which has resulted in a tightly knit team, all working towards shared goals.  Of course there is lots of ‘healthy debate’ but we balance that out with being able to have a laugh.
  • Opportunity – a small company will give you a lot more exposure to all areas of the business and opportunities to develop. I interviewed a UL Coop student recently who couldn’t believe he would be reporting to the CTO, exposure he would never get in a larger organisation.
  • Job Satisfaction – there is great satisfaction in seeing our solutions solve real problems for our partners and it’s exciting to be part of a business that is growing!

My name is Trisha O’Gorman and I’m the Marketing Manager for CARAGON. Based in Limerick, we are a business with a purpose; aiming to ‘facilitate freedom’ for our end users from mundane data tasks with our Data Solutions; CARAGON FLEX – A Data Management Platform and CARAGON DATA – An ETL Service (Extract, Transform & Load). Click here if you want to read more about what we do.

 

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