Tata Teleservices has become one of the first companies in India to harness Big Data to bolster its legal and regulatory operational requirements. Tata Teleservices CIO Ashish Pachory explains to Nandagopal Rajan the need for Big Data and how his company has been using it across several aspects of its functioning. Excepts:
How synced in are Indian companies about the opportunities of Big Data?
Indian companies are gradually coming into sync with their global counterparts in tapping the true potential of Big Data. Desktop analytic tools are no longer sufficient as the volume, velocity and variety of data are growing exponentially. Advanced analytics are key to providing companies with the ability to conduct analysis and simulations of all business transactions, while presenting a model which is concise, relevant and accurate.
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How big is the market?
International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that the global market for Big Data will reach $16.1 billion in 2014, achieving growth six times faster than the overall IT market. With the anticipated surge in data consumption and generation, growth of the Big Data market is inevitable. In addition, security programmes associated with the technology will see increased prominence across sectors such as retail, IT, e-commerce, health, aviation and telecom.
Are we seeing smaller companies tap into Big Data?
SMEs are gradually opening up to the idea of effectively using Big Data analytics and are following the lead of larger enterprises. It is critical for smaller companies to understand and adopt Big Data solutions, which also tend to be cost-effective, in helping their business function more efficiently under the aegis of hard-core insights.
Are most Big Data solutions beyond small and medium companies?
Smaller companies are generating data in proportion to their size. With Big Data analytics, it becomes easier and more economical to manage huge chunks of data that can be used for various kinds of analysis ranging from customer behaviour to purchasing trends. Small businesses using data intelligently can equip themselves with opportunities to streamline processes and customise product and service offerings. Thus, we are now also seeing a lot of smaller e-commerce platforms leveraging Big Data to their benefit.
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Is the problem also of companies not knowing how to use their data effectively?
Awareness about Big Data and its impact on businesses has just started seeping into the fundamental workings of companies. Enterprises are still working on creating an approach that works best for them in terms of business and customer impact. We are, however, seeing an increased uptake of Big Data analysis to proactively push for solutions that help organisations at a broader level.
How is TTSL using Big Data?
Tata Teleservices has been making use of Big Data solutions for quite some time now. There is a strong emphasis on end-to-end customer experience management. Big Data enables us to reach the bottom of the pyramid and define systems to measure stage-wise experience parameters for a given customer and correlate them for personalised delivery. We also have elegant predictive tools and robust data warehousing in place. While these solutions enable us to leverage structured data, we are also looking at available options for effective mining of unstructured data. Using the Hadoop framework we have leveraged Big Data for more effective vigilance tracking and monitoring.
Big Data also plays a crucial role in addressing legal and regulatory requirements which are mandated for longer retention periods. Given the growing volume of data and the time sensitivity attached to such requirements, organisations usually look to procure additional storage and servers incurring high expenditure. As an alternative, we deployed big data solutions which were very cost effective and also provided timely information. Other business functions that benefit from these tools include marketing campaigns, customer service and network management. We expect to see a spiralling trend in the deployment and adoption of big data analytics, especially in customer experience management.
Are you helping other companies tap Big Data too?
TTSL has a strong and growing base of enterprise customers. Amongst these we see a healthy adoption of Big Data and other trends. It is TTSL’s mission to simplify and enrich people’s lives. With Big Data, as with mobility and cloud, a strong communication backbone is a key success factor. To that extent we are already an enabler of Big Data for our customers. Further, we see lot of potential for adding greater value to other companies through Big Data solutions as a one-stop service provider. There is a growing emphasis within the Tata group companies as well to adopt Big Data as a lever to enhance the customers’ experience across the value chain and TTSL is an active player in this initiative. We expect that TTSL’s participation and contribution in this sphere will grow over time as we establish ourselves as thought leaders in this domain.
How big is the Big Data opportunity in India?
A joint study by Nasscom and CRISIL Global Research & Analytics estimates that the Indian Big Data industry will grow from $200 million in 2012 to $1 billion in 2015, at a CAGR in excess of 83%. To further put things in perspective, according to an IDC Data Survey, around 36% of the information from India would be valuable only if it were to be analysed. Given the immense potential of the technology in terms of driving business impact and efficiency, the need of the hour is to encourage talent that is able to effectively plan and manage the mining of Big Data elements and drive awareness amongst stakeholders to utilise the insights derived from these analytics.
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