&Element

Who are &Element?
&Element is a development consultancy that builds large-scale architecture, dashboards and SaaS platforms using AI and Intelligence augmentation to give people back their time.

We work with companies like Samsung, Ballen Studios, Meta, Philips, IQOS, and other local companies to help optimise and automate their workflows and provide data to key decision-makers in real-time.

Our 15-strong team offers solutions using AI-driven tools to improve customer engagement, streamline processes, and launch new tech solutions, allowing you and your business to focus on growth. These range from backend dashboards and APIs that analyse customer journeys to management systems supported by AI that best suit specific business needs.

Our marketing division helps businesses build their brand from the ground up, offering web design, social media management and SEO optimisation. We manage all aspects of our client’s digital presence, focusing on bringing organic search results and building a consistent image across all media outlets.

What have you been up to in 2024?
Over the past 12 months we embarked on many different projects and dove deeper into the world of AI and Marketing.

MrBallen

We have built an AI-powered system that can crawl over 2 million data sources and provide over 15 million categorisations. We trained our own AI model to interpret, sort, and understand topics relevant to creators. By feeding in 10,000 manually reviewed articles, we have given it the training to help save thousands of manual hours annually.

Samsung

Our partnership with Samsung Europe and Samsung UK is thriving. Through Merlin Cloud, we deploy interactive customer experiences in-store for Samsung. This teaches people how the SmartThings ecosystem works and helps increase conversions and awareness of Samsung products.

Following a successful trial at Samsung KX in Kings Cross, London our team has launched this solution across 13 European countries. We provide real-time analytics on all experiences, and we are currently working on two more experiences to launch soon, which will further increase our work’s impact globally.

Brand Dashboards

This year we’ve launched eight new dashboards for the Ministry of Defence, Samsung, Arma Karma, Anglian Truck Tyres, Gallager Insurance, and Ballen Studios, and four more are under development. This year, we have specialised further in AI integration and presented a customisable dashboard with KPI tiles, allowing real-time automation and feedback on essential business functions.

Many more website launches

19 new websites for companies in England and the United States to rebuild our client’s digital presence. Our partnerships with Samsung and Meta continue to develop to improve their retail development infrastructure over the next 12 months.

Our favourite marketing website launch has been Revwise.com, an award-winning website showcasing our best talents across web design, animation, and web development. It provides a truly immersive experience on Revwise’s website for people looking for affiliate marketing services.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership 

We are also delighted to announce that we were awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the University of Essex and Innovate UK. This partnership fosters a two-year collaboration between the government, academics, and Element as we continue to grow our AI division.

Merlin Cloud

We’ve launched merlincloud.ai. Through years of working in the retail sector, we have seen the need for reliable, high-quality customer experience solutions in retail stores.

The team are now combining the power of interactive kiosks with great storytelling and providing real-time analytics on how experiences, products, and customers interact across thousands of stores.

In 2025, we’ll deploy our computer vision technology to provide store heatmaps and product interaction data, giving Retail brands a more immersive understanding of their stores’ performance.

What are your plans for the future?
2025 is going to be our best year yet. Over the past 12 months, we’ve more than doubled our team from 7 to 15. With a growing sales and marketing team alongside our existing design and development division, we now want to use our new capacity and talent effectively.

We will continue to launch projects for clients but also take time to launch our own SaaS products, including the investment and commercial rollout of Merlin Cloud. For 2025, we’ve locked in multiple opportunities around dashboards, user experience, and AI, and we can’t wait to showcase them as soon as they launch!

2025 marks our tenth anniversary; that’s a decade of growth! To celebrate, we will be offering discounted support to local businesses to help the community that enabled us to succeed.

Do you think Essex is a place for business? If yes, why?
When our founder, Luke Brown, started the company in 2015, he never imagined the immense growth &Element would experience in its first year. This would have been impossible without the opportunities in Essex and the connections to London and the wider area.

Based at the Innovation Centre, Knowledge Gateway at the University of Essex Campus, we have many partnerships with academics, businesses and consultants based on campus. These partnerships and signposting to opportunities have been fundamental to the success of the business.

Essex is a great business environment, and we know this firsthand. We moved the business to Essex to increase opportunities and strengthen our connections in the industry. Essex is a fantastic place for business and the heart of many exciting projects and connections.

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