Leventhal was previously director of advanced analytics at business intelligence company Teradata and has worked in the information industry for more than 30 years, including a spell as technical manager at AGB. His new firm will offer segmentation, analytic modelling and optimisation services.

He said BarryAnalytics will “specialise in helping companies to generate increased business value from their data, either via deeper data mining or by improving their processes”.

Leventhal (pictured) told Research that starting his own business was always “something that I had in mind”, and had no concerns about launching the firm in the midst of the current financial climate.

He explained: “I thought that now companies are cutting back on recruitment budgets, they still need to do work and using a consultant to help them is another way of achieving their objectives, so it didn’t seem a bad time to do it.”

The firm, which has already inked a deal with a London college to analyse its marketing efforts, will create tailored data analysis and data mining solutions for clients. Leventhal said that deals with other prospective clients were “in the pipeline”.