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What are the top trends seen in big data analytics space in India today?
In today's fast-paced and edgy market environment, firms are looking at ways in which they can gain a competitive advantage by exploiting the opportunities presented by big data. In retail, specifically, big data solutions are influencing operations & buying/merchandising, in order to drive more efficient management of supply chain processes and assortment planning.
Variety of solutions allows retailers to serve their customers with more appropriate choices and also predict the demand for products. Similarly, in the banking space big data solutions offer a huge potential to engage and drive value from consumers by predicting the next best offers for customers, be it credit cards, loans or wealth management portfolios.
Exploiting the data explosion will be the key to making the right choice. However, ‘Business as Usual’ models are broken and unlikely to solve the paradox of more.
Only one-third of companies across the globe are currently harnessing the power of data to aid in business decisions and reveal customer insight
This gives rise to a huge opportunity to innovate and implement new business models that can leverage this vast amount of data to create value for enterprises and consumers.
Big data solutions abound in the market which creates confusions. How does an IT Manager select a solution which fits his requirement?
Choosing a right Big Data solution is a complex process. The first step is to figure out what business problem you want to solve. Secondly, to understand what will be the final result by solving that particular problem. Data never creates value all by itself; rather, it simply drives action. Thirdly, rank the expected benefits and figure out how you will measure the progress. Finally, before buying, it's important to determine who will actually use the tool. If you have zero data scientists in house, you should probably limit yourself to Big Data as a service.
What are the industry verticals that have not used analytics much but can leverage it grow their business?
In fact, Big Data analytics has already spread out to almost all verticals we know, starting from healthcare, crime, marketing, retail, banking and e-commerce to aerospace, energy, environment, education and supply chain. But the difference is we hear more about Big Data in some sectors than others. However, I personally feel verticals like human resource and supply chain can leverage Big Data a little bit more than what they do now.
Some examples of how industry verticals are already using big data
--Manufacturers using social media analytics to fine-tune the product features
--Retailers using Big Data analytics to manage the buying and merchandizing
--Banks utilizing multi-channel analytics to optimize channels for customer relationship management
--Distribution companies using analytics for inventory management
How is customers’ demand evolving in business analytics space?
With the amount of data doubling every year, the demand for tools such as business analytics that help organizations access, analyse, govern and share information is naturally thickening among consumers. According to a survey, only one-third of companies across the globe are currently harnessing the power of data to aid in business decisions and reveal customer insight. I believe this will change in the next 5 years.
What are the challenges that big data companies face in India?
India, like the rest ofAsia, is extremely diverse and marked by the sheer complexities of its numerous languages, dialects, religions and the extreme variations in economic standards.India’s approach, usingbig data,will require personalisation of all these different elements. Each variation needs to be looked at independently, using different strategies to approach the issues and problems at hand, in just the same way that other Asian countries like The Philippines,Thailand,Vietnam,Indonesia,Singapore,MalaysiaandChina have done.
What are some of the compelling solutions on big data from Crayon?
We have built a big data platform that vastly expands the data sets beyond enterprise data. By connecting the internal data of a client with the world of data outside, including social data, we are able to provide richer and more intelligent data led decisions for our clients.
Our data ingestion & curation engine (called WhiteBox) is the foundation on which we offer our unique "Choice Engine". This engine (SimplerChoices) seeks to simplify the choices available for both clients' internal decisions (customer lifecycle management, risk management, pricing, channel management, marketing and sales optimisation) and for consumers.
SimplerChoices represents the next wave of analytics which allows for a predictive, algorithm, machine-learning led approach to decision making, rather than a historical, people-led model. Over time, this improves confidence in decisions, saves time and energy for managers, and vastly improves the cost efficiency of analytics.
Additionally, we have developed an innovative visualisation element that removes the clutter in analysis and presents business users ideas they can act on immediately
Finally, Crayon's business model is a pay-per-use subscription and success-fee based model that charges client not for effort but for output and value created.
What is the value proposition that Crayon brings to the market?
Crayon is a ‘Data Analytics’ company operating in the ‘Big Data’ space and the unique way in which we communicate the same, is what makes us relevant to both, clients and investors.
Crayon’s USP lies in providing ‘SimplerChoices’ for businesses. It is a simple idea that uses an algorithmic approach rather than throwing people into the problem. Our usage and operation of ‘Big Data’ is different, more effective and more efficient than what’s on offer. We have an on-the-cloud, ready-to-use platform instead of the traditional time-consuming, custom-built DIY model. Hence, our unique Choice Engine offering SimplerChoices, not only simplifies choices for the customer, but uses an accurate and effective means in order to arrive at these choices. This leads to increased consumer satisfaction, increased sales and marketing efficiency and optimizes effort and ‘spends’ on merchant and channel management. It also allows for better and earlier demand visibility.
We enable consumers to cut through a clutter of information and receive relevant personalized choice. We achieve this by combining their past behaviour patterns with their tastes and preferences, and factors such as weather, time, location and influences (friends, taste-makers, etc.).
This we offer a unique value proposition to our customers, and are setting ourselves apart from the other players in the big data and analytics space.
What is your business strategy going forward?
Crayon Data’s immediate priority in 2014 is to grow by acquiring marquee customers in key verticals (e.g. banking, retail, hospitality, tech), and in key geographies across the world.
The related priority, of course, is to ensure continued development of Crayon’s SimplerChoices platform and products so that they meet global standards of innovation and value delivery.
We will grow organically by way of new customer acquisitions across these verticals. Our revenue model articulates the assumptions we have taken into account which includes number of clients and geographies we are targeting.
After an initial market entry in 2014 via go-to-market partners, service providers, and limited sales staff, Crayon expects to build a more aggressive, direct presence in 2015. This will include a sales & delivery infrastructure, supported by innovative marketing.
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