Monday, September 24, 2012

The New De Niro - The Data Scientist - Analyse This !











I have not experienced the Stone Age or the Industrial Age , as in not having read & considered enough of the yester - ages and the transitions they may have caused in the societies in detail; but suffice to say that there are strong inferences on the significance in terms of influences and impact they would have had on people , societies and culture which I have in my limited capacity consumed.


Having been baptized by fire in the altar of Information Technology industry as someone who has been evangelizing , selling , influencing or developing businesses & revenues for tech firms , I have had a fortunate ring side view of the metamorphosis of the vibrant Information Age.


I therefore believe that these are the times which impact and influence culture , societies and globalization charters more than any other era. The industrialization age gave birth to the organisation design and corporate culture & firms fabric. Much of the same was inherited by the information age companies.


In that way I am sure you will agree that the CXX Suite have a strong Industrial Age cultural connect ..particularly the positions of the CEO , CFO . The CTO and the CHRO were largely seen as support functionaries though in the recent times they are beginning to assert their influence and locus-standi among the echelons of the modern corporation.


One of the effects of the information age is that it not only improved the productivity of the individual but it also gave a lot of power and influence to the employee. The industrial age workers invariably followed diktats from the top. The power and control flowed from the Head Office to the Branches , departments & groups.


The information age has created factors which are force multiplying in effect as not only the world economies and geographies are flattened virtually , so are the corporations operating in these times , both big and small. Level playing field on the plank of information assets is a plausible realm today.


Context for the modern corporation is also shifting rapidly. The industrial age firms used to compete with their manufacturing strengths , strengths of the financial capital and access to ports , raw material.


Contrary to the preceding age , corporations focus has shifted to managing two forms of capital which were erstwhile considered commodity and occupied a lower peacking order & significance. People were seen as wagers and information as a bean counter.


Today the firm competes on the global stage on its ability to attract top talents and anchor the talents in meaningful engagement of processing information assets. In age and time when Data is relatively free to access , how firms manage the information through it life cycle is a matter of entry point , survival, leverage & domination for entrepreneurial businesses.


Firms such as faceebook ,google , amazon , netflix el al are dominating the economic agenda & yesteryear behemoths like IBM , Oracle , SAP , MS are building arsenal in both people capability as well as technologies to manage the growth ,use and re purposing of digital asset for economic advantages.


In times such as these I believe that the NEWEST CORPORATE CZAR will the the Chief Science Officer or the Data Scientist.


Todays time and the futures key is in the hands of the Global Gen Y Gen Z consumer. The discerning lot desire - Not just cheap but expect more from what they spend . Fundamental shift needed by businesses in viewing consumer appetite. Ensuring how they shop , when they buy , how best to serve then , seeding their preferences , schooling their preferences , cajoling their instincts , surging their impulsesetc are all data driven.


So here are a few excerpts from my tweet deck @aravindan on what could be the make and mix , size and shape of the Chief Science Officer or Data Scientist.


- NewKey player in orgs: #DATASCIENTIST It’s a high-ranking pro with the training & curiosity to make discoveries in the world of #bigdata.


-#Datascientists : Often they are creative in displaying information visually and making the patterns they find clear and compelling


-dominant trait among #datascientist is an intense curiosity—a desire2go beneath the surface of a problem, find the questions at its heart.


-Some of the best and brightest #datascientist are PhDs in esoteric fields like ecology and systems biology.


-#datascientist They can emerge from any field that has a strong data and computational focus


-#datascientist - a solid foundation in math, statistics,probability, computerscience with a feel 4 business issues and empathy for customers


One of the movies of my favorite actor has been the Uber Duper Actor exemplar Robert De Niro..of the many cult capers of his rich body of works that I relish , I did dig his act along with his co star Billy Crystals in "Analyse This"


Tongue In Cheek we will be living in the future where every thing will and shall be analysed and each one of us will be viewing the world not through our naive perception but thru the colored lenses of the distilled analyses served to us based on data unknowingly collated by the web crawlers.


The times ahead may well be called the AnalyticPlanet as from the milk or cola we consume or the webstores we will click of the hotel we stay or the prescriptions we follow or the governments we elect or the people we choose to engage ..all will be predetermined ..

and more often than not it will be steered by a Social Media Jockey or a Information Analyst

serving the directives of the most important C Level executive of our future - the Chief Science Officer aka the Data Scientist.

Enjoy the fun of being found out and for the adventurous "Try being Anonymous" is going to be one helluva task..unless off course you are an ace actor like Robert De Niro! or Val Kilmer from The Saint.