Ivy Jan 08, 2014 No Comments
With the latest buzz doing the rounds of Facebook’s first acquisition in India, the heat is on the Analytics industry. The deal with Little Eye Labs, a niche analytics start-up with proprietary Android based analytics technology, has just been clinched. What does this mean? A great future and limitless possibilities for innovation, enterprise and global focus, for the Indian analytics industry.
As we start-off the year on this high note for the mushrooming niche analytics industry, let us do a rundown of what 2013 brought to the Indian Analytics industry.
#1 Acquisitions and Investments
The mood was of acquisitions and funding, with Moody’s Corp acquired Indian firm Amba Investment Services (core service offerings in investment research and quantitative analytics),
Foreign venture capital invested in Indian analytics firms – iCreate (data analytics firm), Fractal Analytics (predictive analytics firm), Unbxd (web & search analytics firm), InterpretOmics India (Big Data analysis start-up) and Spire Technologies (Big Data analytics & contextual search technology firm).
#2 Talented data scientists and analysts get salaries topping IT
With average salary figures in data science and analytics moving beyond Rs11 lakhs and highest entry level salaries recorded last year, the 2012 trend continued where analytics professionals are commanding salaries higher than in IT/ITES to meet the demand gap in the hiring landscape. Bonus and profit sharing schemes have spiked gross analytics salaries surpassing previous records.
#3 Start-up of the year – Analytics firm, Trendwise Analytics
Silicon India Magazine, a leading business & technology magazine, placed the Big Data analytics firm, Trendwise, as ‘start-up of the year’ in a top 10 start-up listing. Another first for the Indian analytics industry.
#4 Growth in Analytics classroom and e-learning courses
Many new analytics schools have come-up while existing ones have diversified into e-learning courses, to cater to increased demand for analytics professionals. Business schools have begun offering PG degrees in analytics and data sciences. The IIMs have also begun catering to executive demands for certifications in Business Analytics or specialised executive programmes in analytics.
#5 Innovative application of Analytics in elections, Bollywood and healthcare industry
The year 2013 also saw some innovative usage of analytics in the recent parliamentary elections, a testing ground for upcoming Big Data analytic application in the 2014 elections. The Bollywood industry’s foray into social media and data analytics saw unprecedented use of Big Data analytics solution for the blockbuster Chennai Express. On another front, the Aarogyasri Health Care Trust partnership with SAS leveraging predictive analytics for quality health-care to poor families in Andhra Pradesh, was a breakthrough initiative in healthcare industry.
#6 Adoption of Big Data and BI
The adoption of Big Data and analytics in BI gained high momentum during 2013, with industry-wide initiatives, investments and expansions to incorporate Big Data analytics.
#7 Outbound Acquisitions & Investments
Overseas buying took place with To The New, a digital services network firm in India, acquiring ThoughtBuzz, a social media analytics company based in Singapore.
Indian company Wipro invested in U.S owned Opera Solutions (a Big Data Science & Predictive Analytics firm), Fidelity Growth Partners funded AbsolutData (U.S based provider of data analytics services) and Mumbai’s Zodius Capital invested in the Singapore Big Data analytics firm, Antuit.
#8 Changing analytic landscape in India
The increase in the number of analytics and data science jobs was phenomenal. Hiring salaries and Director packages reached unparalled heights, as skills formed one of the biggest investments moving forward. News coverage of analytics industry, number of data / BI conferences in India and expansion in horizontal solutions were at a record high during 2013.
#9 Business Analytics grows
The year 2013 also saw expansion in Business Intelligence(BI) and Analytics with both, private and public companies, as well as SMBs adopting Business Analytics in key industry sectors. Competitive edge and benchmarking drove increased adoption of mobile BI, in-memory analytics and social media analytics in businesses.
#10 Phenomenal rise in niche and boutique analytics firms
The success in start-up analytics firms over the past few years saw a phenomenal rise in niche analytics or boutique firms, with less than 20 employees, offering analytics solutions in specialized segments with proprietary solutions, as in market research, healthcare, and more.
The overall picture in 2013 has been extremely optimistic across the entire Indian analytic landscape. We can definitely hope to see interesting Big Data usage for the oncoming elections, as well as Bollywood movie marketing and healthcare sector, besides the business verticals.
As an analytic professional, educationist, firm or marketer, what other trends have you seen in 2013? How would you calibrate your policies for this year based on the 2013 takeaways? Do tell us.
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