Analytics is critical to the enterprise, but industry faces severe talent crunch

In its recent Data Genomics Index, information management services provider Veritas Technologies revealed a startling over of the composition of enterprise data. The real-time view of corporate data revealed that over 40 percent of files have remained untouched for three years, which creates a huge opportunity for businesses to positively impact their bottom line costs. Having a clear idea about one’s enterprise data environment and gaining the best insights out of it can jump start an organisation’s initiatives to act intelligently and devote remediation efforts where they will get the best return. There are all kinds of data doing rounds in an enterprise – text files, developer files, spreadsheets, geographic and information system files. But unfortunately for enterprises, most of it lies under-utilised and simply goes stale. Also, data without an attributed owner, either through role changes or employee departures is orphaned. Based on the insights from the Data Genomics Index, orphan data tends to be content rich file types like videos, images and presentations – risky stuff to leave unattended. It also is taking up more than its fair share of disk space based on file count distribution – over 200% more. With such a massive shift in enterprises’ data environments, and eventually data analytics, the talent needs are shifting rapidly too. Rajendra S Pawar, Chairman NIIT and Founder, NIIT University explains, “There is volatility in the business environment which brings about the shift in talent needs to superior skill sets. With the non-linearity of business, the question for companies is no longer how they will get people but how will they get people who are productive and bring intellectual power to the table – which is especially true in case of analytics. Companies are looking to create an upper cadre of employees who can make sense of the immense amounts of data pouring in and can massage and polish it to bring out insights.” There is such a talent crunch in the industry that NIIT University(NU) got together with WNS (Holdings) Limited to launch a two-year specialised and work-integrated MBA program in Business Analytics. Co-created by academic experts from NU and senior professionals from the WNS Analytics practice, the MBA program combines comprehensive academic content with actual practice and work-experience at WNS. Speaking further on the severe shortage of talent and the need to address it, Pawar adds, “Every organisation has a set of people who are using information to shape the future. But now there is so much information being created, more and more people in the organisation will have to use various levels of complexities of analytics. When a company’s clients ask them a query, the better the company’s knowledge base and the better the ability to draw out those insights and reply - be it a meeting, a call or an email, truly sets the company apart.” More information used with judgement will always give superior outcomes, believes Pawar. Keshav R. Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS says that they see client companies battle with their analytics issues on a very regular basis. “Analytics was always required. A lot of our clients always had a lot of information but leveraging that information, using the data and creating technology solutions to address them is the key.” “Within WNS itself, we have 2500 people doing research and analytics and we position ourselves as a Business Process Management company. We see companies at various levels of applying analytics. Talent in this field is especially tricky because this stream needs people who have a mathematical flair and a background in business, and that’s why we co-created a course with NIIT University,” adds Murugesh. Getting the right people surely has tangible benefits. “Over the last five years, we have been investing in analytics talent and today, we are already operating at slightly higher profit margins as compared to competitors,” says Murugesh signing off.