Analytically Yours

I finally decided to write my own blogs. A number of friends, colleagues and well-wishers have been requesting me to write blogs related to the application of analytics. We all know that in today’s world, analytics and its application in business has become a hot topic. Obviously, this has been prompted by the movement that is popularly known as ‘Big Data’. I have spent quite a few years working in the field of analytics and, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to work on some very interesting and real life problems in areas like investment banking, risk management, web based marketing, predictive healthcare, etc. My association with analytics though has inculcated a deep rooted belief that advanced analytics should not just reside in the Ivory Tower of Statisticians but, it should be applied to the common person’s life.

I am of the firm opinion that in today’s world, the solution for the most complex problems require the application of technology, analytics and human resources. Let’s take the example of drop outs in high school in developing or under developed countries. There are lots of reasons for high dropout rates namely, necessity to substantiate family income, lack of infrastructure, inability to cope up with coarse load, lack of the appreciation for the value of education, and so on and so forth. Technology can definitely solve the infrastructure issue to a large extent through web based learning. Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is already there and I expect the MOOC movement to gain rapid momentum in the coming years. Predictive analytics can add the missing touch in preventing dropouts by identifying those who are most likely to dropout, by clustering students based on their abilities and interests and proposing MOOC courses, analyzing performance of each student at a micro-level and proposing corrective action to the teachers, etc.

My blogs will focus on the application of analytics in all walks of life, not necessarily just business. The blogs that I will write here will focus on addressing the pressing needs of our society today namely – poverty alleviation, eradication of illiteracy, affordable healthcare, sanitation and drinking water, and safety and security of mankind. I will also be inclined to write about various political and social topics with pertinent facts highlighted by the underlying data. I am a keen follower of elections across the globe and particularly in the US, UK and India, and I do intend to write about electoral politics from time to time. I am not a commentator on political or social topics and would only like to focus on the findings based on thorough analysis of the data. Nonetheless, I expect these blogs to stir some thoughtful debates on topics of political and social importance.

At times I do intend to use sophisticated techniques for analyzing the data. But, my attempt will always be to explain these techniques and the predicted outcomes in layman’s terms. After all, if analytics were to be used in daily life, we should be able to articulate it in a way that the common man understands and appreciates. At times, I also intend to write on topics that will be less serious in nature for example, application of analytics in sports or in matching your tastes to movies or books. Hopefully, blogs on such topics will add the necessary spice and keep my audience interested.

I am in this for the long haul and I expect to get moral support and constructive feedback from the readers. Lastly to my audience - If you would like me to analyze and write on a particular topic, please suggest and I promise that I will seriously examine the feasibility of doing so.

Analytically yours,

Partha Sen