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Deblena Majumdar

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Deblena Majumdar

global Financial Services

Deblena Majumdar is a member of:

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Deblena Majumdar's Advice

Focus on Skills that you have

Apart from honing the analytical skills and technical knowledge which are obviously critical, I would suggest focusing on the following skills as well which are key differentiators in a successful career in this field - Data visualization skills: With the abundance of data and knowledge, the ability to present data coherently, simply, and clearly is increasingly a key strength - Consulting skills: Ability to understand client/partner requirements and tailor the analytics techniques and choices based on the end objectives and business goals - Influencing skills: Ability to understand the business connections across divisions and teams and really make a difference through analytics and big data; not just churn out reports and models without assessing what the impact of those could be for the business.

Scaling up the ladder

I started my career in Investment Banking in Lazard India Ltd. After a couple of years in Investment Banking where I primarily worked on Disinvestment deals, I shifted to the world of research and analytics. I got a chance to be part of the Analytics growth story when I joined GE Capital International Services (GECIS) in 2002, at a time when Analytics was still relatively unheard of and esoteric.Over the last 10 years, I have got the chance to work in multiple global companies such as GE, HP, Prudential and JP Morgan and support the strategic decisions of the companies using Analytics and Research. Currently, I work in a global Financial Services company offering research and analytics support for the Strategy Group.

Working differently

Currently I support the Strategy and Planning business of my company. I use research and analytics tools to help solve business problems and answer questions regarding the market, the competition and the customers.In my earlier job, I was managing an internal strategy team and using internal data to provide analytics solutions for strategic business issues. Currently, I use wider sources of data, both unstructured and unstructured data, and look at the applications of the data across the various strategic choices the company has to make regarding its competition, markets and customers.

New technological trends

As per recent IDC reports, despite modest IT spending, the spending on Analytics and Big Data is currently on the rise. This is despite the fact that though a lot of companies are speaking about Big Data, very few are actually using it to unlock the value it can bring. In that context, the few key trends which could make a difference and which I am keenly watching are:Cloud based service offerings that are making big data available to all for a service. For example, there is a company called Datasift that already aggregates all social media chatter and makes it available to users for just a nominal fee Mobile applications of Big Data that make it more easily available to on-the-move personnel such as sales people and provide immediate, actionable use of data from multiple sources and across multiple formats.

Advice

Area of specilization that I recommend

The current trends in the BI domain will demand increase specialization and need for improved technologies in areas such as data storage, security technologies, data consolidation and aggregation and finally hardware for running new BI applications. Each of these areas will require specialization and improved products and tools that can match pace with the overall improvements in BI and big data. There would be more companies specializing as aggregators across the value chain who could be aggregating information, analysis, social media chatter etc. and the need for immediately accessing such information and smartly storing and analyzing them will become increasingly important. Big data itself is not new and a lot of companies have been using it for some time. But how companies start using unstructured data across multiple social platforms could be a huge differentiator.

Certification which will help

I am not a big believer in certifications. Nowadays a lot of renowned institutions offer courses in Analytics. There also database certifications which can help one become expert users of databases. While these could be important, I believe in a learning model often used in HP which says 10% of your learning comes from actual training, 20% from your networks and relationships and 70% from on the job training. And the constantly evolving and dynamic Analytics industry provides immense opportunities to learn on the job for the creative and inquisitive minds.