Large scale organizations have large amount of data and information to process. This data is collected from a number of sources including emails, mobile devices, applications, databases, servers and other means. Data is captured, formatted, manipulated, stored and then analyzed. Data analysis can reveal patterns, trends, and associations. Data analytics techniques can reveal trends and metrics that would otherwise be lost in the mass of information. This information can then be used to optimize processes to increase the overall efficiency of a business or system.

Data analytics is the need of the hour. It could be useful for professionals such as data scientist, business analyst, statistician or forecaster. This involves

Observing characteristics of data using statistical parameters
Using statistical techniques to generate data correlation & cross-correlation and to analyze data distribution
Discovering influential and useful elements of the data that may assist in determining the future course of action
Identifying relationships, trends, outliers, clusters to reveal influential parameters in the given data.
Data analytics is made easy by interactive data visualization. World’s leading companies, universities and government agencies are adopting data visualization -Smart visualizations to present data and results in comprehensive way.

Data visualization entails

Generating interactive graphical displays to generate analytical results and insights.
Spotting important relationships, identifying problem points and seeing trends in the data.
Generating forecasts supplemented with confidence intervals.
Visualizing changes in forecast with the change in corresponding variables.
Creating reports using visualizations to understand business performance.
Analyzing location data to identify location specific opportunities.
SVKM foresaw the future trend of Industry requirement. Industries had an intrinsic need for data manipulation, analysis, visualization and using it for prediction. There’s a need for technocrats who could cater to the above requirements.

SVKM decided to have their faculty trained and certified by SAS, internationally renowned analytics and software experts. Faculty teach Base SAS, SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Predictive Modeling. This offers a good opportunity to students to obtain globally recognized certification in the above courses. Besides training as technocrats, these courses enhance their decision making skills.

This article is written by Dr. Archana Bhise, Professor, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, NMIMS Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, Mumbai