Decision Science: From data.. To informed.. To knowledge.. To actionable insights

The Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi organized yet another interesting session as part of the Business Leaders Lecture Series. The speaker of the session, Mr. Anshuman Gupta, Associate Director, Cognizant Technology Solutions, shared his insights on the theme "Decision Science: From data.. To informed.. To knowledge.. To actionable insights"

With a vast experience of about 18 years in the field of data science, analytics and intelligence, Mr. Gupta stressed on the importance of data created or generated and effective usage of the same. This brings the concept of decision science into light as per how to deal with the in hand data efficiently in various domains. He explained this by comparing the raw data with crude oil; as crude oil can be converted into different kinds of fuels, the same way meaningful insights can be drawn from the existing data. He presented a basic definition of decision science as the study of the generalizable extraction of knowledge from data through solving complex data problems by employing expertise in the scientific disciplines. He then explained the basic difference between decision science and data analytics in a metaphorical way and stressed on the various differentiating parameters like volume of data, workload, etc. Mr. Gupta also pointed that data analytics is more information technology focused whereas decision science basically deals with the business decisions and monetary value creation to the organization. He pictured the importance of the back end algorithm by taking Google's search engine and self-driven car as an example; even though the front features of Google’s search engine may be replicated by various other search engines, it is that algorithm that makes the difference with respect to the intelligence it can possess.

Mr. Gupta introduced the 5 pillars of Cognizant decision science, namely:-

1) Machine learning

2) Artificial intelligence

3) Social intelligence

4) Real time analytics

5) Prescriptive analytics

He further briefed about the various business domains categories in Cognizant which primarily include healthcare, fraud, operations, retention, social and cyber security sciences. Explaining about the structure of Cognizant, he outlined the various emerging business trends where digital has been the new foundation for growth in various sectors especially in decision making.

Mr. Gupta then emphasized upon the three skill sets required in the field of decision science namely information technology or data management, math or algorithms and business decisions. The business decisions actually act as the ROI for the analytics applied on the data. For any person to work in the profile of decision science must possess all these skill sets, though it may not be always feasible. He then briefed about the decision science team at Cognizant and also the work done by them for different firms, some of these include a leading US recruitment firm, a leading Indian telecom major, global hotel chain, international payment company, etc.

Mr. Gupta then opened the floor for questions; management students had various queries related to algorithm ethics, career skills in decision science, etc. for which he shared his valuable insights from his vast experience in the field of decision science.

The session ended with the guest speaker being felicitated with a token of appreciation. We, on behalf of DMS, IIT Delhi thank Mr. Anshuman Gupta for sparing his time and sharing his valuable thoughts with the management students. We look forward to more such interactions in the near future.