The Firm Behind the Strategy

There's an old saying: "those who can't do, teach". In consulting, the equivalent is: "those who've never done it, advise".

Haylar is different.

Harvey Johal founded Haylar Technologies after 25+ years inside the data and analytics industry — not as an outside observer, but as a vendor-side leader, team builder, and enterprise architect who worked at the intersection of strategy and execution across hundreds of client engagements. He didn't study how companies scale. He was in the room helping make it happen, working alongside leaders driving it.

The result is an advisory firm that brings enterprise-grade thinking to scaling organizations — without the overhead, the account manager layers, or the vendor bias of larger firms.

Early in his career, Harvey was part of the team that grew Crystal Decisions — the makers of Crystal Reports — from a $20M company to over $250M. Working alongside the Deloittes and PwCs of the world, he learned firsthand how elite advisory firms structure growth, align strategy to execution, and manage organizational complexity at scale.

That experience cemented a belief that has shaped every engagement since: technology decisions are business decisions. You can't fix one without understanding the other.

From Crystal Decisions, Harvey's career continued at Business Objects — where the company grew to under $1B before being acquired by SAP — and then at Qlik, where he quickly climbed through escalating leadership roles including Group Leader for North America BI Solution Architects, Live Chat, and Global Cloud Analytics.

That vendor-side tenure is what separates Haylar from firms that learned enterprise IT from a textbook. Harvey knows how these platforms were designed, why they break at scale, and how to architect solutions that last — because he helped build the ecosystem that most organizations are still trying to navigate.

It also means he knows every sales tactic, every implementation shortcut, and every platform bias in the market. That's why Haylar is vendor-agnostic. No platform commissions. No preferred partners. Just honest advice aligned to your business goals.

After over two decades on the vendor side, Harvey saw the same problem repeated across hundreds of organizations: technology was being bought without a strategy to connect it to business outcomes. Dashboards built without executive context. Cloud environments expanding without governance. AI initiatives launched before the data foundation could support them.

Haylar Technologies was founded to close that gap. Every engagement starts with alignment — not tools. We diagnose before we prescribe. The goal is always the same: connecting IT strategy to corporate vision so leadership teams operate with clarity, confidence, and execution speed.

Haylar is founder-led by design. When you engage Haylar, you work directly with senior leadership from day one. Strategy is led by the founder — not delegated after the sales process ends. Every client relationship is managed at the principal level, ensuring the person accountable for outcomes is the person you have access to.

That's a deliberate choice. Scaling organizations don't need more layers between strategy and execution. They need direct access to someone who has led transformation across global enterprises, mid-market companies, and international institutions — and earned the scar tissue that only comes from doing it, not just advising on it.

Mark Anthony Group — Engaged as a long-term Data & Analytics partner for one of North America's largest beverage companies — producers of White Claw, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Mission Hill Wines. Delivered BI dashboarding solutions across sales, finance, and supply chain, working within MAG's cloud technology stack including Qlik, Snowflake, MS SQL Server, QAD Warehousing solutions, and AWS. Provided embedded FTE-level support through 2021 and 2022.

Quote: "I would highly recommend engaging Haylar Technologies for your Data & Analytics needs." — Stephen Lee, Former Director, Master Data Management, Mark Anthony Group

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights — Built an analytics platform tracking human rights violations and human migration patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mission-critical data infrastructure for a global institution.

Good to Grow — Strategic technology advisory and digital transformation for a scaling food and beverage company. CEO Andrea Gray-Grant: "The result has been nothing short of groundbreaking."

Harvey has mentored at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) for over nine years, supporting students in Science and Technology programs. He also volunteers with American Corporate Partners (ACP), helping veterans transition into corporate careers.

These commitments reflect the same philosophy that drives every client engagement: listen first, understand the real challenge, then provide structured guidance that leads to clear outcomes.