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India’s advanced analytics pool to triple by 2020

Globally, the advanced analytics talent pool is expected to reach 1 million during that period, double that of 2018 levels, according to a Bain & Company report.
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India’s advanced analytics pool to triple by 2020

NEW DELHI: The Advanced Analytics talent pool in India will expand from 65,000 in 2018 to more than 2,00,000 by 2020 – a three times growth in just two years, contributing to a large part of the global supply boom, according to a release.

Globally, the advanced analytics talent pool is expected to reach 1 million during that period, double that of 2018 levels, according to a Bain & Company report: ‘The Indian Equation for Advanced Analytics Talent’ released on Wednesday. 

Today, we are in the midst of an explosion in data and analytics, and India has a unique opportunity to become a critical analytics hub for both domestic and global companies and a global leader if educators, business and regulators solve some key challenges, the report said. 

Innovation in analytics is a priority for almost every organisation today, the release added. Yet, bottlenecks in the key areas of talent, data and analytics strategy often block progress. To understand this talent bottleneck and the best way to unleash it, Bain & Company analysed the market for analytics talent globally, interviewing practitioners and experts, reviewing job boards and professional community listings and studying educational programme statistics. The report, according to the release, identified two trends that are simultaneously expanding the talent pool in India. The first is the rapid influx of graduates with data and analytical skills joining the workforce in increasing numbers. This is augmented by India’s deep existing ecosystem in information technology, especially in programming and systems integration. These two sources have combined to make India a vital hub of analytics expertise and have fueled the early growth of its analytics outsourcing industry. 

Arpan Sheth, partner, Bain & Company and one of the lead authors of the report said, “India has the potential to cement itself as the dominant global provider of advanced analytics expertise by focusing on data security and privacy. With new data protection regulations in place in Europe and coming soon to California and other jurisdictions, India has an opportunity to take the lead by setting standards for data use and curation, and for how analytics is delivered. The first step is for India’s analytics industry, in conjunction with the government, to adopt data security protocols, standards and certification to minimise risk of data misuse and breaches in security and privacy.” 

For India to capitalise on this opportunity, the country must not only add to the ranks of those with advanced analytics skills, but also develop true depth of expertise that begins with fully investing in and funding the government’s efforts in this area. It helped that the 2018–19 budget doubled Digital India’s allocation to more than $4 billion, and a new programme focused on artificial intelligence was introduced. Venture capital investment, which have begun to fund the sector, will also strengthen India’s analytics ecosystem. 

The report highlights the role of universities, which can help by developing cross-disciplinary programmes to train undergraduates for positions that require both analytics skills and business judgment. In addition, companies will benefit from developing training programmes to leverage existing technical talent, turning employees into analytic workers via industry programmes and in-house corporate training. With only 30% of companies globally, fully integrated in advanced analytics, India has one additional asset – its well-established centres of excellence in digital platforms and ecosystems in Hyderabad and Bangalore which is home to companies such as Flipkart, Ola, Paytm and Swiggy, besides Amazon.in, Google India and Facebook India. 

Government and academic partnerships with those companies could foster innovative approaches to developing academic programmes, corporate training programmes and even venture funding models such as public-private partnerships, co-op programmes and internships. Bain & Company’s survey of 200 industry participants found that the most analytically mature sectors plan to grow their teams fastest, and employees are most interested in working for companies with well-established track records in analytics. 

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