SigmaWay Blog

Cloud is a buzzword that has been taking circles in the IT world for the past few years. Today, every organization demands more software deployment and significant reduction in the response time. To achieve improvement in efficiency and to utilize the resources better, cloud is the sure shot answer.  Cloud infrastructure is also improving its efficiency, availability and security. People who were looking at cloud with suspicion, are now preparing themselves to adopt the technology in a large scale. Cloud is definitely here to stay. There are 3 types of cloud services in offer, namely public, private and hybrid. In the BFSI sector, as data security is one of the core issues, the tendency towards private cloud preference is obvious.

Johnson K Jose, Deputy General Manager, IT Department, Federal Bank, talks about the benefits of adopting cloud model & preference for private cloud in BFSI sector. To read about his views, visit the following link:

http://ibm.informationweek.in/interviews/item/245-private-cloud-is-the-preferred-flavor-in-the-bfsi-segment.html

#hrwins program has been started by LAROCQUE; the leading Strategy and GoToMarket Consulting firm for HR related technology. The main purpose of #hrwins program is to encourage innovation in HR Technology products.

The result of 2014 #hrwins program was announced, where 15 HR Technology firms received the distinction of “HR Companies to Watch”. Some of them are ADP, BlackbookHR, Ceridian, HireVue, Jibe etc.

For more information, please go through: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/03/prweb11659203.htm

The biggest challenge for any insurance company is  to capture, store, search, share, analyze and visualize big data. Moreover, handling these data is also very challenging for the insurers. Étienne Castonguay, partner and co-founder of InEdge, suggests that Predictive Modelling in insurance can help them in solving the problems.

For more information, please go through: http://tdwi.org/Articles/2013/02/26/Insurance-Analytics-Trends.aspx?Page=1

It is estimated by the research firm, Gartner, that in the year 2014, healthcare providers of India will spend approx. $1.08 billion specially to improve technological supports and IT infrastructure. R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom, said healthcare sector will focus more on implementing information technology to enhance their value chain.

Please go through the link for more details: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-healthcare-to-contribute-1-billion-to-it-sector-in-2014-gartner-1966870

Mick Collins a senior consultant with SuccessFactors, writes in his blog, how companies are growing with the use of big data analytics in the field of Human Resources.

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To find new opportunities and minimize current problems, it is important for an organization to collect and use big data efficiently. On a day to day basis, Excel is a common tool. But when it comes to analyze huge data, sometimes Excel becomes inefficient. The probability of errors are always there in spreadsheet, especially when data set is more complex. A blog by Renat Stewart, Banking Officer at M&T Bank, talks about how to utilize Excel spreadsheet in an efficient manner.

Please follow this link : http://www.riverlogic.com/2013/05/data-complexities-prove-excel-spreadsheets-difficult-to-maintain/

Machines are important in any manufacturing industry. As wear and tear of the machines are obvious, a preventive maintenance program is vital to i) reduce machine downtime, ii) get the overall view of the health of the machine and iii) estimate the cost of the maintenance.

The preventive maintenance can be done with the help of a Predictive Maintenance program, also known as PdM which includes the techniques of Predictive Analytics. Different sensors installed in the machine provide inputs to the Analytical Software from which the degradation process can be understood. This will help in predicting different failure modes of the machine.

To know its benefits and how PdM improves machine & equipment maintenance, please go to http://www.lselectric.com/4-ways-predictive-analytics-improves-equipment-maintenance/

The box of treasure that analytics promises, contains the ability to fully understand customer behavior, derive actionable insights, and further tailor customer experiences to meet the needs of any segment. It is estimated  that big data will grow from 12 billion dollar industry to 53 billion dollar industry by 2017. However, with various types of investments and expectations that exist across many industries; it will not be easy to achieve the capabilities needed to derive deep insights and decisions making mechanism. Many firms still struggle with capturing basic information, collecting external customer information, social media information, and measuring wallet share. However, based on a recent Forbes survey, 63% of the firms reported a transformation impact on their business, by an integrated approach to analytics, where predictive modelling, customer analytics, and big data are working together using cloud services. The investments are starting to pay off, which indicates there may really be a pot of gold that awaits those who pursue the analytics path.

To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.business2community.com/business-intelligence/reaching-pot-gold-investments-analytics-paying-0801572#ssAKHfblgoitLWGX.99

A presentation by Geoff Watts, Chief Executive Officer  & Co-Founder of EDITD, where he speaks about how big data is helping the fashion industry. As apparel brands are going global, huge amount of retail and consumer data are generated .To tap these data, the fashion industry is taking the help of different analytical tools to get a complete picture of the industry during different time periods and take a decision.

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A blog by Carlos Centurion, President, River Logic Solutions, talks about the third phase of analytics i.e. prescriptive analytics. Prescriptive analytics helps not only to anticipate what will happen and when will it happen, but also why will it happen.

Healthcare providers are using various tools of prescriptive analytics to enhance their performance and efficiency.  It also helps the provider to take better decisions. To know more about Prescriptive Analytics in Healthcare Provider Industry, please follow this link:

http://www.riverlogic.com/2014/02/prescriptive-analytics-healthcare-provider-industry/

Imagine, in this IT enabled world, different departments of a bank are operating on a standalone framework, managing millions of customer data. So it’s obvious that they will not have a clear picture about customers’ demographic pattern, their preferences and their account usage patterns.

Thanks to Analytics, these problems are now being solved. Omar Sohail, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Banking & Securities, Business Analytics & Information Management Leader, writes how structured, unstructured and semi-structured data can help the banks in reaping benefits by getting more insights about customer data.

For detailed information please go to http://www.baselinemag.com/analytics-big-data/banking-on-big-data-and-analytics.html .

Banks are the backbone of every economy. With the help of data analytics, banks are defining the modern age of customer retention & services through out the world. However, the Indian BFSI sector is yet to implement data analytics in their day-to-day operations. Mohan Jayaraman, Experian Credit Information Company of India, explains how Indian banks can improve their customer lifecycle by using data analytics. To read about his views visit:

http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/perspective/287791/indian-banks-improve-customer-lifecycle-analytics

A report by McKinsey & Company talks about how usage of data analytics is transforming organisations. It also conveys that information on niche segments can also be important.

For more information follow

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mckinsey/2014/01/15/new-ways-for-turning-data-into-dollars-now/

Lyndon Henry, technical consultant, Light Rail Now Project, writes about the general applications of Analytics and Big data in modern rail passenger and rail transit systems. 

For Further Reference :- 

According to an article by Michael Passingham, a V3 reporter, DHL, a Global logistics firm, has been able to cut the cost of running its worldwide distribution network with the help of big data analytics.

External References:-

Voice of customer is the most important source of information for any organization. Verint, a global leader in actionable intelligence solutions, has developed a software, Impact 360 Speech Analytics Solution, to modify customers’ voice in order to optimize and provide proper action.

For more information, please go through:

http://www.verint.com/solutions/enterprise-workforce-optimization/products/speech-analytics/index

Working at a stretch of 8 hours is tiresome and that too sitting at the same desk. So, TIBCO Software Inc., a US based company, developed TIBCO Spotfire Mobile Metrics, a highly accessible and user-friendly Business Intelligence tool. With the help of this tool, employees can monitor the pulse of the business instantly and business leaders can act on business opportunities and problems using personalized key performance indicators.