Big Data: The Opportunity for India
An interview with Professor U Dinesh Kumar
Why is Corporate India not invested into Big Data in a big way?
When you say Corporate India, there are many companies who have invested. These are all MNCs and not Indian origin companies. Indian Origin companies have a cautious approach, so one does not expect them to jump into big data solutions. There are a large number of startup companies in Bangalore alone and some of them are doing well. There is a company started by IIMB alumnus called Gramener, which is doing pretty well in the data visualization space.
Indian origin companies are not investing big but they are in it, though global players like HP, IBM, Accenture are more active and aggressive. Companies, which were traditionally not in to analytics like E&Y, are creating a huge vertical. It's a yes and no, as lot of startup companies are working aggressively in this area.
There is a huge shortage of Big Data analysts across the world, how can this be addressed effectively? Is there a need for specialized syllabus in analytics
Big Data was never a part of the curriculum. There were statisticians, Operation Researchers, and business schools. Twenty years back B schools reduced teaching courses in Quantitative techniques. Now there is a craze because successful companies like Target, Amazon, Google achieved success because of their analytical capabilities. Now the B-Schools want to bring analytics back in to the curriculum. If you are not teaching Business analytics with a business context for a long period of time, it's going to take some time to fill the gap. We have enough statisticians, Operation Researchers, but their ability to connect to business problem are not good. It will happen over time
There are a few Indian companies helping out MNCs across the world on data analytics, can India be a world leader in analytics, could it be the next revolution akin to IT. How big is the Analytics Skill shortage?
Yes. In India if we look at our education system, there is a strong emphasis on mathematics, which is the core requirement in analytics, where we are lacking is the business understanding. Large number of B-schools are addressing analytics as a subject, this should be fixed soon. I am sure that in times to come we can actually provide competitive advantage in the analytics space.
Tough to put a number on it, According to a study, there is a shortage of 150-200,000 in the US alone, extrapolated to the world level the shortage would be around half a million. If you want to create 500,000 skilled professionals, it is equivalent to the entire workforce of all Indian IT companies put together, but we are talking of the World market. We are in a very good position to capture this space; but have to be careful because academic institutions are not up to mark. The institutions can teach statistics but can't connect statistics to business context, which has to come from a Business School. We are going to struggle; it is not going to be easy to compete in this market.
How is big data going to influence consulting companies? Will their role be limited as most decisions will be data driven?
Whatever consulting assignments companies will get, most part of it will have a data driven decision component. Unlike in the past, they cannot come up with a recommendation. Consulting firms will have to provide reasoning through data, without reasoning through data consulting recommendations won't be accepted. Many consulting firms without data analytics will find it difficult to survive
What are DCAL initiatives in the Big Data Space?
DCAL was setup with an objective to encourage empirical data driven research based on Indian data. There are lot of studies based on US and European data, but there are very few studies based on Indian data. What we are striving towards is to do studies on India based data. We are creating a platform for academicians and practitioners come and share their ideas and work, we are conducting a large number of training programmes. Our Certificate programme in Business Analytics is very popular, 1 in 8 get selected. We are planning an international conference in December 2013, it will be another platform for academicians and practitioners to discuss problems and showcase their analytics capabilities. DCAL is a platform where people can share analytics. DCAL currently has 3 dedicated staff and 20 Professors.
Big Data: The Opportunity for India
An interview with Professor U Dinesh Kumar
Why is Corporate India not invested into Big Data in a big way?
When you say Corporate India, there are many companies who have invested. These are all MNCs and not Indian origin companies. Indian Origin companies have a cautious approach, so one does not expect them to jump into big data solutions. There are a large number of startup companies in Bangalore alone and some of them are doing well. There is a company started by IIMB alumnus called Gramener, which is doing pretty well in the data visualization space.
Indian origin companies are not investing big but they are in it, though global players like HP, IBM, Accenture are more active and aggressive. Companies, which were traditionally not in to analytics like E&Y, are creating a huge vertical. It's a yes and no, as lot of startup companies are working aggressively in this area.
There is a huge shortage of Big Data analysts across the world, how can this be addressed effectively? Is there a need for specialized syllabus in analytics
Big Data was never a part of the curriculum. There were statisticians, Operation Researchers, and business schools. Twenty years back B schools reduced teaching courses in Quantitative techniques. Now there is a craze because successful companies like Target, Amazon, Google achieved success because of their analytical capabilities. Now the B-Schools want to bring analytics back in to the curriculum. If you are not teaching Business analytics with a business context for a long period of time, it's going to take some time to fill the gap. We have enough statisticians, Operation Researchers, but their ability to connect to business problem are not good. It will happen over time
There are a few Indian companies helping out MNCs across the world on data analytics, can India be a world leader in analytics, could it be the next revolution akin to IT. How big is the Analytics Skill shortage?
Yes. In India if we look at our education system, there is a strong emphasis on mathematics, which is the core requirement in analytics, where we are lacking is the business understanding. Large number of B-schools are addressing analytics as a subject, this should be fixed soon. I am sure that in times to come we can actually provide competitive advantage in the analytics space.
Tough to put a number on it, According to a study, there is a shortage of 150-200,000 in the US alone, extrapolated to the world level the shortage would be around half a million. If you want to create 500,000 skilled professionals, it is equivalent to the entire workforce of all Indian IT companies put together, but we are talking of the World market. We are in a very good position to capture this space; but have to be careful because academic institutions are not up to mark. The institutions can teach statistics but can't connect statistics to business context, which has to come from a Business School. We are going to struggle; it is not going to be easy to compete in this market.
How is big data going to influence consulting companies? Will their role be limited as most decisions will be data driven?
Whatever consulting assignments companies will get, most part of it will have a data driven decision component. Unlike in the past, they cannot come up with a recommendation. Consulting firms will have to provide reasoning through data, without reasoning through data consulting recommendations won't be accepted. Many consulting firms without data analytics will find it difficult to survive
What are DCAL initiatives in the Big Data Space?
DCAL was setup with an objective to encourage empirical data driven research based on Indian data. There are lot of studies based on US and European data, but there are very few studies based on Indian data. What we are striving towards is to do studies on India based data. We are creating a platform for academicians and practitioners come and share their ideas and work, we are conducting a large number of training programmes. Our Certificate programme in Business Analytics is very popular, 1 in 8 get selected. We are planning an international conference in December 2013, it will be another platform for academicians and practitioners to discuss problems and showcase their analytics capabilities. DCAL is a platform where people can share analytics. DCAL currently has 3 dedicated staff and 20 Professors.