This article appeared in Times of India ( Kolkata) on May 19, 2014
Business analytics refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices for developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data and statistical methods. The Big Data technology and services market represents a fast-growing multibillion-dollar worldwide opportunity and is expected to grow at a 27 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $32.4 billion through 2017 -or at about six times the growth rate of the overall information and communication technology (ICT) market.
The explosion of data has also given rise to a tremendous need for skilled professionals capable of dealing with all of this information. According to a projection from McKinsey & Company, India, which is poised to become the analytics hub of the world, will face a shortfall of about 200,000 big data professionals in the next five years.
When Sunnyvale, California-based Abzooba, a fast growing data analytics firm, planned for the offshore R&D in India, Kolkata was their first choice. Rajiv Pratap, COO and co-founder of Abzooba, says, “I believe West Bengal is blessed with a natural flair for Maths and Statistics. I see Kolkata as one of the best cities in the world to source data sciences talent and hope to expand our team rapidly to meet our expanding business needs.“ There is a need to address this staggering skill gap and the key to that is creating infrastructure to develop trained professionals". Leading the way in Kolkata is Praxis Business School which started a one-year full-time analytics program as early as in 2011, with knowledge support from ICICI Bank and PwC, and has established itself as one of the top programs in the country, according to the Analytics India Magazine. Abzooba's business plans targets doubling revenue annually with significant growth in head-count in the US and Kolkata. To cater to the resource demand, Abzooba will recruit Computer Science graduates and post graduates from engineering colleges in West Bengal. In another strategic tie-up, Abzooba has signed up Praxis Business School, Kolkata, to tap into the talent pool of Kolkata.
Prof Prithwis Mukerjee, Director of the Praxis Analytics Program, says, “We believe that the people of West Bengal have a natural talent in quantitative and analytical skills. This is a great fit for the challenging roles in analytics. Our program, co-designed and co-delivered with the industry, offers comprehensive coverage in the tools, techniques and business concepts required to pursue a successful career in this attractive field."
Organizations like Abzooba need resources trained and skilled in these subjects to fill the data scientists and analysts roles. “The demand for data analytics skills in on the rise" says Pratap. We believe in a structured learning approach for our employees and Praxis offers custom made syllabus to suit our skill set needs.“