Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) was a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

company that provided

business analytics Business analytics (BA) refers to the skills, technologies, and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning. Business analytics focuses on developing ne ...

software, intended to help large, consumer-facing businesses "reduce the risk of any new initiative by systematically testing the idea with a subset of stores, customers, or employees." APT was acquired by Mastercard in 2015 and no longer operates as a standalone business.

History

APT was founded in 1999 by business consulting executives Jim Manzi (

Oliver Wyman Oliver Wyman is an American management consulting firm. Founded in New York City in 1984 by former Booz Allen Hamilton partners Alex Oliver and Bill Wyman, the firm has more than 60 offices in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia- ...

), Anthony Bruce ( McKinsey & Company), and Scott Setrakian (

). Manzi explained to ''The Washington Post'' that "a lot of the work I was doing as a consultant was very repetitive. I realized how much of it could be put into a software model.” With venture capital from Devon Partners, it took Manzi and Bruce less than a year to develop and launch APT’s software tool. In 2006, the firm was backed by

Accel-KKR Accel-KKR is an American technology-focused private equity firm with over $14 billion in total assets under management. The firm invests primarily in middle-market software and technology-enabled services businesses, providing capital for buyo ...

, a

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm. In 2013, Goldman Sachs invested $100 million in APT. APT was acquired by Mastercard in 2015.

Software

APT's (now Mastercard's) software takes a statistically

rigor Rigour (British English) or rigor (American English; see spelling differences) describes a condition of stiffness or strictness. These constraints may be environmentally imposed, such as "the rigours of famine"; logically imposed, such as ma ...

ous

test and learn Test and learn is a set of practices followed by retailers, banks and other consumer-focused companies to test ideas in a small number of locations or customers to predict impact. The process is often designed to answer three questions about any tes ...

approach to business analytics, in which proposed changes are tried out on a small scale and then analyzed before being implemented everywhere. APT's approach follows a larger business trend,

evidence-based management Evidence-based management (EBMgt) is an emerging movement to explicitly use the current, best evidence in management and decision-making. It is part of the larger movement towards evidence-based practices. Overview Evidence-based management ent ...

, in which the

scientific method The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific ...

is applied to business decision making. APT's software automates the cycle described by the

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

: * Create a

hypothesis A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...

* Design a test to gather information about the hypothesis * Execute the test * Analyze the test to determine how successful it was and what factors explain performance differences * Plan the rollout based on the analysis of the test In February 2011, APT was awarded a patent that protects its core analytic technology for designing an in-market test and on matching test stores to control stores. APT has since lost its key patent when it was invalidated in 2020 by the US District Court.

Competitors

MarketDial, a Utah-based company founded in 2016 by ex-BCG and -McKinsey consultants, is a direct competitor in this space. In 2018 Mastercard / APT brought a lawsuit against its only competitor. After the court significantly trimmed the case, a MarketDial representative commented: "This order, along with the court's previous order dismissing APT's patent infringement claims against MarketDial, reinforce our belief that APT brought this case to stifle legitimate competition and to drive an upstart competitor from the market. MarketDial looks forward to being fully vindicated as the case proceeds." The litigation is still ongoing in a federal district court in Utah and MarketDial continues to operate without hinderance. As noted above, APT has lost its key patent because of this action. The court is considering levying sanctions against Mastercard and / or its counsel for alleged illegal blocking of discovery.

References

{{Reflist Software companies based in Virginia Privately held companies based in Virginia Software companies established in 1999 Companies based in Arlington County, Virginia 1999 establishments in Virginia Software companies of the United States

History

Software

Competitors

See also

References