Data Science: MBA's perspective. (Data Science Summit, Kolkata)

WHAT IS DATA SCEINCE?

Data Science is a hot subject today because of its sudden evolution in the last couple of years and the realization of its capability to demystify hidden insights out of information dump that we have. Data science most often refers to the tools and methods used to analyze large amounts of data. It's a thing that encapsulates programming skills, statistical knowledge, visualization skills, and, last but not least, a lot of business senses. This is the umbrella science that significantly covers mathematics, statistics & computing. It helps a data scientist or an analyst solve a business problem.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATA SCIENCE AND DATA ANALYTICS

A picture may or may not be worth a thousand words, but a picture is certainly worth a thousand numbers. The problem with most data analysis algorithms is that they generate a set of numbers. To understand what the numbers mean, the stories they are really telling, you need to generate a graph. Visualization is crucial to each stage of the data scientist. Visualization is also frequently the first step in analysis. Whereas Data analytics (DA) is the science of examining raw data with the purpose of drawing conclusions about that information. Data analytics focuses on inference, the process of deriving a conclusion based solely on what is already known by the researcher. Data Analytics uses Descriptive Statistics which comprise the statistical methods, measures and techniques used to summarize group of numbers in a dataset. In other words it is just the description of the data. On the other hand a Data Scientist uses Inferential Statistics which is used to make conclusions about the data by the application of statistical tool. If the business problem requires a conclusion about a relationship as an answer, Data Scientists may able to tell us the same. For example “How many units failed quality checks today? “ is a question whose answer is given by a Data Analyst, whereas “Did enough units fail quality checks to justify a maintenance call?” is a question which would probably be answered by a Data Scientist. So basically a Data Analyst focuses on the movement and interpretation of data, typically with a focus on the past and present. Alternatively, a Data Scientist may be primarily responsible for summarizing data in such a way as to provide forecasting, or an insight into future based on the patterns identified from past and current data. 

THE RISE OF MBA

Data is increasingly cheap and omnipresent. We are now digitizing analog content that was created over centuries and collecting myriad new types of data from web logs, mobile devices, sensors, instruments, and transactions. IBM estimates that 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the past two years. There is significant and increasing demand for data professionals in businesses. The supply of professionals who can work effectively with data is limited which is quite relevant from the rapidly rising salaries for data engineers, data scientists, statisticians, and data analysts. Rapid growth in the storage of information means that firms are investing heavily in this area. According to Business Insider there has been a 14% rise in job in the field from 2010 to 2013 with an hourly median income of $29.10. Gartner forecasts that 21% of companies with an annual turnover of $250 million will employ chief data or digital officers by 2015. A survey of 600 companies in the US and UK conducted by Accenture found that two-thirds had appointed a senior figure to lead data management and analytics over an 18 month period, and 71% expected to do so in the near future. Among the B School circles, the 3 words viz. Data Science, Data analytics and Big Data have become buzz words in career discussions lately. Everyone within an organization benefits from the work of the data scientist, but not until this data is better democratized. For the MBA in particular, this is an especially true statement. There are more possibilities for MBAs to better understand business from a deeper level. Companies are on the lookout for graduates of business schools, which are increasingly focusing some of their content on data management, as a way to satisfy demand. The future leaders of the world are the guys coming out of the MBAs and they are the guys who will establish the governance of data,” says Mazhar Hussain, director at KPMG Digital and Analytics. The momentum of hiring data scientists started in 2014, with tech vendors – both established as well as startups – looking for data scientists, specialized in specific analytics technologies such as R, SAS, Magic and SPSS. TimesJobs data brought out that Amazon India is looking to hire machine learning scientists. The requirement was as such that the data scientists should be capable of extracting relevant information from past business data to develop predictive learning about customer buying behavior. This intelligence would build business strategies that help in selling better to the consumers. Another example is Snapdeal, which has recently stated a requirement for data analytics experts who should be B Tech/BE/M Tech in Computer Sciences with knowledge of statistical tools like SAS/R and working knowledge of query language SQL/MySQL/T-SQL and more. Companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and even Kroger have already figured out some ways to benefit from big data. Kroger, for instance, uses its customer loyalty program to harvest information from millions of shoppers. The information tells them things such as:

· when people prefer to shop

· how much money that customers spend on certain types of items

· whether promotional campaigns are having the deserved effect

Knowing these things helps companies make smarter decisions that encourage customers to spend more money on items that interest them. It also helps companies learn how to best market items to certain types of people. The data analyst expert would integrate large volumes of data from multiple sources and create reports as per business requirements. He/she would also have to mine the data and implement predictive scoring models to enable decision support system. Business schools and recruiters from some of the world’s largest companies have told BusinessBecause that data analytics skills are of critical importance for MBA students to secure careers in the new digital economy. Company recruiters in a wide array of industries are increasingly demanding these data analytics skills from their new employees, from global insurance firms to large listed advertising groups. At the same time, a host of highly-ranked business schools have incorporated “big data” techniques into their MBA curriculums, have re-designed their curriculums to cater to the increased reliance on digital skills, or plan to launch new courses dedicated to data analytics. In the last two years the Indian School of Business has seen companies and consulting firms seeking to hire for explicit roles in business analytics, said Deepa Mani, assistant professor of the information systems group at ISB. Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM) also has introduced a specialization on Business Analytics for its MBA students. Previously it had special courses from third party organizations to provide insights to their students about Data Science. But with the growing need of people with sound knowledge of Data Science, a new specialization was the only way to attract new companies. 

Data Science Foundation in association with NASSCOM is organising "Data Science Summit, Kolkata 2015" on 28th August at The Park, Kolkata. Something of this sort and magnitude is happening first time in Kolkata and we are happy that Kolkata Bloggers is a happy part of this event. We have the best of the speakers in this region coming together to raise awareness of Big Data. Do check out their website and book your calendar as soon as possible. 

Click here to know more. 

Wrapping Up 2014- The Strengthening!

This day that year, I was anxiously waiting for my CAT results. With no such colorful plans, my new year 2014 started on a dull note. Subsequently my CAT results were unexpectedly bad! The first two months of the year were one of the most unpleasant phases of my life. But then God had some different plans for me.

The first good thing that happened to me was Blogging. Inspired by Anirban Da’s blog, I started blogging. Though I was a skeptic to begin with but it turned out to be a great experience.  Penning my thoughts about anything and everything was the best thing I could do during the time.

The next thing started to build when one day I called Anirban da. We started knowing each other well and one fine day he proposed the plan of setting up Kolkata Bloggers- a dedicated community for the bloggers from Kolkata. Yes the logo you see at the top? It’s us!  My first eventful blogger’s meet was the Aviva Blogger’s Meet, where we first introduced Kolkata Bloggers and met some amazingly nice people. Not mentioning Sourav Da would be a crime! We organized many events ranging from small meetups and workshops to covering Tollywood films, meeting Derek O Brien to name a few.  

Aviva Blogger's Meet

Baari Tar Bangla Blogger's Engagement Program

Brainstorming with Derek O' Brien  

March is my favorite month, the reason being very obvious- my birthday. My all-time close friends (Debobroto, Sayan, Anindyo, Debottam and Sayantan) had come over to my place. My roomies (Anupam and Koushik) and they had brought me this awesomely wonderful and tasty cake.  

The gift they had given me is not worth sharing here publicly. These late night parties will always make me laugh anywhere anytime as I recall them!

I always have had a love for travelling, travelling alone or with a friend specifically. That too happened in June 2014. Again it was Anirban Da. We had planned a tour to Murshidabad.  It was a successful two day trip. The best part about it was, those two days were absolutely easy going and unprejudiced. It had enhanced my love for travelling even further. 

Murshidabad

Now it was time for me to step into a new world- My postgraduate college, IISWBM. It was the fourth good thing that happened to me during the year. It gave me a whole new dimension to life. To be very honest, this is, till now the best academic phase of my life. This life has been just a semester old, but I already have timeless memories to hold dear.  Some amazing people (Abhishek a.k.a Mohanty, Debayan, Deetipriya, Avisikta, Kankana, Moumita, Ayan and Siddharth) have become my friends. Such talent pools yet so humble people are a rare find. This group makes me realize that age is just a number. It just takes understanding, compassion and sometimes alcohol to make real good friends. 

Clockwise- Abhisehk, Deetipriya, Me, Debayan, Avisikta, Kankana, Siddharth, Moumita, Ayan

Durga Puja 2k14

Now, when I connect the dots, I find myself in a very safe and gratifying place.Not just these, but there are many more instances that added to my joy and sorrow during the year. But 2014 has done more good to me than bad. It is already 2015 when I am posting this, so I wish my readers a very Happy 2015. 

Keep sharing love!  

Back to School...err B-school!

Some of us are done with college; some are yet to find our footing. For me it is neither black nor white, rather shades of grey. I am in the last phase of my education or college life unless my parents become  maniacal and ask me to study more.

I got admitted to IISWBM for my MBA. It was 7^th of July. Yes, it has just been around 2 months.2 months was enough for me to witness events - thought provoking, fascinating and sometimes bewildering.

Searching for pretty faces in the crowd has always fascinated me. Luckily or unluckily, I already knew a few faces beforehand. Special thanks to Facebook and shopping malls. Anyway college life started well. Looking for niche was the first job. Tough job though, but soon I got people with whom I shared the same MHz. Thus I ended up boozing 9 times in this span of time. Boozing at pubs, my place, friend’s place, raising toasts- in one word- Perfect!!! But on a serious note, if I knew the syllabus was this huge, I wouldn't have opted for a b school. The teachers here vary stupendously. In some classes, if we are late by 5 minutes, we are not allowed to enter. Whereas one of them forgets almost everyday that he has a class to take.

We had our Freshers' few days back. The ritual of Freshers' here is quite unique and fun. Each one of us was assigned a senior. The first job was to find the respective senior and then impress him/her. Why impress? For otherwise you wouldn't get your entry pass for the fresher’s day, which again had a dress code written on that.  I had to sing and cook for my senior. Good for me that she was quite impressed. So what did I get as my dress code for the day? It was Captain Jack Sparrow. Oh yes, what happened on that day? That will be a different post. But I was awarded the title of Mr. Flirt of my batch which is a different controversy altogether. ;)  

 

All this fun would not have been possible, if I had not found some awesome persons in this college. Both my batch and the senior batch had some wonderful persons to gift me as my friends. Naming them will be a tough job because there are so many.  It’s bizarre how fast a life can change. Two months into it, and I am already experiencing one of the best phases of my life.

48 Hours in Murshidabad.

My internship had just ended and I, without a second thought, planned to sleep fiercely, for the whole week. But then again it was Anirban Da, who 'almost' planned on thursday to visit Murshidabad, the land of nawabs, in the weekends. We had to indecisively set out for journey,the next day. The plan being made in haste and me being careless, we did not have a great start and had to travel half the journey standing. But then, who knew we had such a lovely and lot-to-learn weekend awaiting us. 

Murshidabad is famous for the historical structures it has and the stories connected to them. So the first day we set out to explore those places and the history behind them.

The Kathgola Palace: Also called Kathgola Bagan Bari, a huge 260 bigha area, was built by Rai Laxmipat Singh Dugar Bahadur, the eldest of the four sons of Pratap Singh Dugar. The palace and the garden area has a beautiful concoction of various forms of art and culture, ranging from European, Imperial Greek to Jain.

The Palace with exotic structures

The garden entrance known as Naubat Khana Gate, has structures of fiery lions on its top which signified their loyalty to the British.

Just beside the palace was a bauli or a step well, which got filled with water from the Ganges, during the floods. 

The Step Well

Artists Dibakar Paul sculpted a marvelous Michelangelo placed alongside the palace. But sadly, the artist's hands were cutoff so that he could not craft such exotics anymore. 

Inside the palace , were Imperial structures of lion and horse (almost same as the Wills logo), a 65ft hanging staircase made of mahogany; a 300 years Belgium-Mercury Security Globe hanging from ceiling of dining room, from where all the movements through different doors can be seen at a time; pool table; a library which stocks original versions of Bernard Shaw, History of Egypt, The works of Ruskin and many more. 

A Tree- Front View

That Tree- Rear View!

The Kathgola Palace Entrance

Another attraction was The Parasnath Jain Temple, 

Parashnath Jain Temple

Jain Temple Entrance

House of Jagat Seth: Biswa Banker(Banker of the World) Jagat Seth was a title given Heeranand Sahu and later to his son Manik Chand. As the name suggests, the house was beautifully structured with rich sculptures all around. The house has an underground passage to the weapon room, 15ft below the ground. It had an eclectic collection of swords, guns and other weapons.

Exotic Lion at Jagat Seth's House

Garden at Jagat Seth's House

Hazarduari and Imambara: The name Hazarduari means a thousand doors. The palace has 1000 doors of which 900 are false and 100 are real. The sole purpose of this was to confuse any enemy while escaping. The complex has other attractions like The Imambara, Madina Mosque, Hazarduari Clock Tower and Bacchawali Tope. 

Hazar Duari

Imambara

The palace inside is now a museum. It contains several antiques including wonderful oil paintings, Italian arts, statues, weapons, palanquins, furnitures made of elephant tusk etc. 

The Imambara stands just opposite to the Hazarduari palace. The muslims come to Imambara during their religious eves. The Madina Mosque stands in between the Imambara and the Hazarduari Palace, which was built by Nawab Siraj ud Daulah for the muslims to experience Hajj and perform Namaz. The Bacchawali Tope is a cannon placed in the same complex. The cannon was fired once and the sound it made is said to have forced pregnant women in the radius of 10km, to give birth to premature babies. 

The other places we visited that day included Jafarganj Graveyard, which had 1001 crematories of 9 generations of Mir Jafar. Then we saw Azim-un-nisha's grave. Azim-un-nisha, the daughter of Murshid Quli Khan, had a habit of eating livers of infants, thus forcing her father to bury her alive. There are staircases made over the grave, so that people can walk over it. 

Jafargunj Graveyard

Woah! This scared me! 

Azim-un-nisha's grave

That was the end of the history book. Now the 2nd day, as planned as our prime focus, was the bauls. The day was exceptionally lucky for us. The previous day, the moment we got out of our house, we found a person wearing a dhoti and panjabi, his hair properly oiled and pulled back, and appearances no less than a baul or somewhat like that.His name was Baban Das Baul. Approaching him cleared all our doubts. We had planned to see their performance, click photos, shoot videos and know from them as much as possible about the baul cult. It happened just the way we had planned it. Starting from the banks of river Ganga, via a Shiv mandir, we finally went to a Kali Mandir, where all our queries were answered. Discussions ranged from mythology to modern science. 

Baban Das Baul

Owing to Anirban Da's other passion(work in TCS), we had to return that very day. But we wanted to stay for couple more days. From the marketing strategies of a chai wala(tea vendor) to the robotic blabber of the guides, it was again a remarkable travel experience for me. On our way back we planned a small trip for the bloggers on behalf of Kolkata Bloggers. Looking forward to it.

Anyway, keep visiting my blog and you may not even need a guide when you visit Murshidabad ;)

The 'EX' Factor!

‘Let it be X’- the phrase that we are very acquainted with. Now let’s just put an E before the letter X and boom! It becomes one of the deadliest words on this earth. If you are a normal guy and like being ‘sexually’ attached to a girl (may be or may not be normal), then yes, you are a bound to breed your ‘EX’ factor even at least for once in your life (keeping the exceptions aside).

The other day, I was thinking about my ex (the latest one). For those who know me very well, it may sound irrational, but I am being eccentrically conventional. The questions that crossed my mind were “Shall I stay in touch with my Ex?”, “Is She thinking about me too?” etc. Obvious though these questions might seem, the answers are still a mystery. Even the questions that appeared in my semesters seemed less tricky.

Though my case is as clear as mud, but still I came up with few things about why you SHOULD keep in touch with your EX.

• Finding it difficult to move on? Still thinking about your EX? It might not be that you do not want to move on, but your options are limited. So it is time to go back to your EX until you find your NEXT.

• Even if you find your new home, may be your EX is still prettier and hot. So don’t mind getting back to her.

• Someday while walking down the street you suddenly bump into your EX. It is natural to get confused about what to do. What to do? Be in touch with your EX and better avoid this point.

• Afraid of your EX moving on without you? How about getting back to her and making her life a bit worse?

• It is not unusual that you get a bad day while choosing which dress to wear for a party. Well, your EX might not be a Fashion College pass-out but still can be handy. 

• If you keep your EX as a friend, what you are really doing is keeping them as a reserve like an ‘insurance policy’(conditions applied).

• After you break up, it's time for gift returning ceremony. "The Xbox DVD she gave me on my last birthday?- Do i need to return that? Are you kidding me? " KEEP CALM and STAY in TOUCH with your EX! 

• In case it is you who dumped her, keep in touch with her to get rid of violent and ridiculous SMS as in:
  “ I know you have decided not to get back to me anymore. That’s ok. I don’t want that either. But I wish you get the same treatment very soon. And thank you for doing it to me before it grew even more serious” 

So What have you decided? ;) 

Disclaimer: Dear readers, please excuse me if I made any sense in this post. In case you are thinking that I am mentally retarded, I just tried my hand at writing a non sensible post.

  

Baari Tar Bangla!!!

“A lot can happen over a cup of coffee”- this is quite familiar with people hanging around at CCD. But for very few this line holds good. I am one of those ‘very few’. It was one random day when I was with Anirban Da discussing about Kolkata Bloggers. We were scheduled to meet Kamanasish Da, and that is when and where he told us about the “BAARI TAR BANGLA” bloggers engagement program. We were asked to pick some 20 good bloggers, or rather just say web journalists from the Kolkata Bloggers to be present on the day of the promotional event.

The movie was set to release on the same day when the Lok Sabah Election Results were out.  The reason behind this was the movie being a political satire. Before I go into the details of the event, for those who haven’t yet seen the movie, I’ll tell you the synopsis of the same.

Roopchand Sen, (Saswata Chatterjee) a man of around 40, suddenly discovers that he cannot write anything in Bangla (Bengali language) any more. Desperate to regain his abilities to write in Bangla, he goes to a psychiatrist (Raima Sen). Tests show that he does not seem to have any physiological problems that may cause any disability. It turns out to be a psychological problem. Then how does Roopchand get his ability back to write again? That is all the movie is about. It is a fun filled story with lots of witty one liner that are sure to catch the viewer’s eye.

Now for the best part, it all started with great anticipation, for it was going to be an all new experience for me. Nervousness was also a part of it. But again the environment was quite comfortable and homely till the end. We, the bloggers could ask questions to them. So I managed to ask Saswata and Satrajit few questions.  

Me: Nomoshkar, ami Bob Biswas…..noi!

Saswata: “Bissas koro amio na!! “ [laughs]

Me: Among the three great characters- Bob Biswas, The Doctor in Rang Milanti and Roopchand in Baari Tar Bangla, which do you feel was most challenging and why?

Saswata: “Shob gloi amar nijer shontan. 3te shontan er moddhe konta valo seta bola ta khub chaap er. 3te character e amar kache khub priyo.” (All three are like my children. Choosing the best child, among the three is a very difficult thing to do. All three are very close to my heart.)

Me: We see a lot of Bollywood and Tollywood movies. Some come up with good concepts and some with pure entertainment. But this Movie has both good concept and entertainment. So why don’t we see this kind of movies in big picture. Or when will we see this kind of movies at National level?

Satrajit Sen(of Tripod Entertainment): “When you will go watch the movie and tell your friends to watch it too. Actually amader screening hoi 40 screens e. R Dabbang screen hoi around 6000 screen e.(We screen our movie in 40 places. Whereas Dabbang is screened on 6000 screens) This is the ratio. We still have miles to go but asha kori amra jete parbo. (Hope we can reach there).

All along they went on sharing their experiences on the set, their views on the movie, how they went on here and there to find perfect places, and how ‘matha r ghaam pa-e fele’(worked tirelessly) they completed this project. The Director is gifted with ability to give birth to crazy and hilarious one liner instantly and he explained how Saswata was just the prefect actor to execute them. And then there came the Gorgeous Raima Sen who with her presence had kept me bedazzled till the very end. We even got to know that when Raima has had her solo shoot, Saswata was not allowed in that floor because of his mischievous looks. Everything was just so delightful.

Interacting, receiving autographs, taking solo pictures with them made my day. But the most important was the circle of people I was with the whole evening. I shall forever be indebted to people like Anirban Saha, Kamanasish Roy, Sayon Kumar Saha and many more for this grand evening they gifted me with.

"Baari Tar Bangla, Ki movie koreche pagla" 

Kolkata Bloggers is an attempt to promote blogging and original content creation. The project is still in its infancy. Perhaps our first step was the blogger engagement program conducted by the "Baari Tar Bangla" web team. Do checkout our Facebook page here to discover some wonderful writing and photography from the youth of Kolkata. 

Photo Courtesy: Anirban Saha| www.anirbansaha.com

                          Sayon Kumar Saha| www.sayonkumarsaha.com