Big Data is the elephant in the room. Everyone has huge amounts
of data; they just do not know what to do with it. According to a
McKinsey report, all sectors in the U.S. economy had at least 200
TB of data in 2009. There are companies across sectors like
financial services and online retailing that have copious amounts
of data about their customers, which can potentially unlock new
business strategies. Traditional data analysis techniques come up
really short in analyzing this huge amount of data.
Currently, Big Data is more of a developed market phenomenon,
which is still being adapted in the Indian market. Corporations in
mature markets are constantly looking for innovative ways to use
existing information to drive business growth. That said, sectors
like telecom, which have grown at a breakneck speed in India are at
the forefront of using huge amounts of customer data to customize
offers, manage campaigns and improve processes.
Increasingly, Indian arms of MNCs are looking at adopting best
practices from their parents. We have seen these trends take shape
in credit scoring, technology and insurance industries. With
retailing set to be the next growing sector in developing
economies, players like Walmart will bring in a set of advanced
practices of using data to sell more and better. This is just the
start.
Indian organizations now seeking more from
data
As recently as five years ago, selling the idea of analytics to
India-based clients was very difficult. Over the last few years, by
a combination of ideas injected by MNCs and a latent demand coming
up, we have seen Indian corporations asking for more from their
data. The next decade will see a great growth in demand of Big Data
and analytics skills in India.
We currently work with clients across insurance, CPG and
technology sectors. Whether it is predicting policy lapsation rates
for millions of insurance holders, or predicting the number of
product returns (at a Stock Keeping Unit level) for a consumer
packaged goods major, clients are increasingly seeing value in
using existing data to improve operations, product design,
marketing strategies and service responsiveness.
Big Data is an upcoming trend across a breadth of traditional
and upcoming sectors. Industries like financial services, both
conventional banks and online payment engines are realizing the
value they can unlock using decades of customer data by making it
easier for customers to avail their services, offering them
customized products and improving their product offerings.
On the other hand, relatively newer businesses like online
retailing, being offshoot of the technology revolution,
increasingly see Big Data as core to their business. We see the
trend starting with newer businesses, like online retailing, web
services, e-commerce and then being adopted by more conventional
businesses, like telecom, technology services, retailing, financial
services and even manufacturing.
There are three major trends emerging in the Indian markets.
Firstly, as more MNCs set up big bases in India to harness the
volume potential in the Indian market, we will see an increased
focus on the usage of Big Data and analytics. Secondly, as
industries mature and get more competitive (take telecom for an
example), having accurate data and the ability to use it smartly
will become the next competitive advantage. Thirdly, stricter
regulation could even drive more conventional businesses like
banking to use more and more analytics.
Analytics and Big Data are set to go through the life cycle of
starting with being a competitive advantage and eventually becoming
a hygiene factor, much like technology.
At LatentView, our people have developed the capability to
translate seemingly humongous data — from disjointed sources
— into business led solutions. We are looking at developing
advanced capabilities in the Big Data space; by a combination of
enhancing in-house capabilities, executing Big Data projects for
some of our clients and growing our team of dedicated data
scientists with a deep understanding of how data can impact the
business value chain.
The author is CEO and Founder LatentView Analytics
(As told to Amrita Premrajan)