Perspectives of an Analytics Professional

Anjanita Das is an Analytics Professional with around 15 years of experience. Her expertise involves a unique blend of Analytics Consultancy, Data Science and Project, People & Client management in different sectors like Technology, CPG, Retail, Consumer Goods, and Travel & Hospitality.

1. How did you decide to be in the field of Analytics?
   I started my Analytics journey with Genpact as a Business Analyst in the year 2005 post my Engineering & MBA. Analytics Industry was emerging at that time. Since my childhood, I was inclined towards number crunching and interested to join a field, which helps business in terms of strategic decision-making. All these inspired me to join Analytics Industry. I have seen how this industry has evolved. I enjoyed and still enjoying every moment of my professional career.
   
2. What are the Challenges faced by a company with the entry level talent?
   The new generation is more tools driven but they do not focus much on Statistical/Econometrics concepts. For solving Business problems Statistical /Econometrics, knowledge is necessary which they lack. The new generation thinks Data Science means only Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. They need to understand that every organization has a unique Analytical Maturity curve, which they need to analyze before proposing the Analytical Solution for different business problems. The basic statistical model should be in place before applying Machine Learning techniques.
   
3. How do you think these challenges can be overcome?
   The misconceptions should be broken and, awareness must be generated about Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The new generation is intelligent and I think that they should focus on statistical/econometrics concepts first before focusing on coding skill. It is important to know which statistical techniques are appropriate for which business problem.
   
4. What are the Technical and Soft Skills one should possess to be in this field?
   - Soft Skills: Individuals should possess strong communication skills, as they need to interact a lot with clients. The new generation should learn to talk in Business language, as Clients do not understand the technical language.The client understands the business benefit and the new generation should adopt that skill.
   - Technical Skills: Individuals must be well versed with open source technologies like R, Python etc. It is also important to know Azure ML, Data Robots, Machine Learning techniques etc.
   
5. How do you see Analytics evolving in India and across the globe?
   People understand the importance of Analytics now. Most of the organizations understand the importance of data driven decision-making process. Data Science can help any organization to formulate the right strategy for their customers be it in B2B or B2C space. The Data Science field is becoming very dynamic as day passes (as we have huge data from various sources now) and, it is evolving. Consumers are very demanding now- a-days and they expect personalization and real time results for everything and Data Science plays a importance role there. Machine Learning is very useful for real time analysis. For example, the other day, I went to a shopping mall and entered my mobile number while filling a form at the entrance. By the time, I reached women apparel section; I started getting offers, which was amazing. Wow!! Almost real time Personalization is happening now!!

Whilst this is simply a story, the technology has make this happen, and much more, is almost here. The application of analytics and the use of machine learning tools to unlock value in data (also known as data science) are rapidly growing and, we have just begun to scratch the surface.