“Without big data analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the web like deer on a freeway.” – Geoffrey Moore, Organizational Theorist & Author
Analytics: Need of the Hour
The amount of data in our world is exploding. As per a McKinsey report, big data may well become a new type of corporate asset that will cut across business units and function the same way as a powerful brand does, representing a key basis for competition. The increasing volume and detail of information captured by enterprises, the rise of multimedia, social media and the Internet of Things will fuel exponential growth in data in the foreseeable future.
The rapid pace with which data is being generated across various domains and fields would require people with deep analytical skills to provide insights, enabling companies to gain a competitive edge and offer a better consumer experience. The insights from the data are used for various purposes such as segmentation of customers for better targeting, prediction of churn rate, product recommendation, analysis of customer opinion from media posts, preventive maintenance, management of portfolio risk etc.
Untapped potential in India
In India, the analytics market is expected to double between 2013 and 2018, reaching a figure of US$ 2.3 billion by 2018, according to a report published by NASSCOM and Blueocean Market Intelligence. This will result in a shortage of about 200,000 data scientists in India over the next few years, according to sources in the Analytics Special Interest Group setup by NASSCOM. Hence, creation of trained industry-ready business analytics professionals is the need of the day.
Globally, the demand of data scientists is projected to exceed supply by more than 50% by 2018. To address the paucity of trained workforce in analytics domain, the onus is on the educational institutes to address the needs of the industry.
The three institutes IIM Calcutta, IIT Kharagpur and ISI Kolkata are aware of the demand for the well rounded analytics professionals. In order to understand the needs of the industry, a day long conclave was held in January 2015 in IIM Calcutta. Representatives of the leading companies such as KPMG, EXL, Deloitte, LatentView, TCS, Reliance Communication, Deutsche Bank, E&Y, SBI, IBM, Google, Microsoft, HSBC and Cognizant took part in the conclave and based on their inputs, ideas of a specialized course emerged, a course which would produce leaders of the future, skilled in the essential areas of business, statistics and computer science. Through this collaboration between industry and academia, PGDBA was born.
Introduction to PGDBA
PGDBA is a two year full time residential diploma programme aimed at creating business analytics professionals employable by leading Indian and foreign firms. This programme is designed for those who have an analytical mindset, are interested in tackling challenging business problems, and possess an inclination towards Mathematics. Some of the salient features of the programme include courses taught by reputed faculty members at the campuses of three globally renowned institutes, hands-on business analytics training at a related company, continuous interaction with industry leaders throughout the duration of the programme and the availability of placement opportunities at all the three institutes.
The three institutes complement each other to give students the most comprehensive learning of business analytics. The course finds the optimal balance between the theoretical concepts of data science and their applications to business problems. Students get to regularly interact with industry experts through invited talks and guest lectures, where experts talk about the latest trends and challenges in the industry. The course leverages the best of the three institutes in their respective fields of expertise, i.e., Statistics, Technology and Business.
In the first semester at ISI, students form a strong base of Mathematical and Statistical concepts. This is followed by a semester at IIT Kharagpur, where students work on data science projects and get to test their statistical concepts built at ISI. This semester is meant to build students’ technical expertise. To complement the first two semesters, students spend their third semester at IIM Calcutta where they are exposed to business problems through case studies and industry interactions. To cap it all, the students get to implement their knowledge in the industry through a six months long internship as their fourth semester.
Placements
The students from the first two batches of PGDBA experienced highly successful placement processes. Companies from various industries such as BFSI, Consulting, Healthcare, Research, Retail, Gaming, Technology etc. participated and handpicked candidates suitable for both data-driven and business driven analyst roles. The placement processes witnessed the involvement of Fortune 500 companies such as American Express, Walmart Labs, UnitedHealth Group, JPMC, Amazon, Walmart Labs. Some of the job profiles offered were Senior Data Scientist, Analytics Manager, Statistical Analyst, Lead Business Analyst, Solution Analyst, Experienced Associate, Assistant Project Manager.
With continuously increasing demand of business analytics professionals, the future of PGDBA looks promising. The unique opportunity of learning from three top-notch institutes of the country is unparalleled by any other Data Analytics course. Recently, PGDBA was ranked 1 by the Analytics India Magazine among the data science courses offered in the country.
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