Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com May 11, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 25 Productions Revelation Creative & Technical Event Services Revelation Productions offers brilliant technical and creative services that are seamlessly orchestrated, resulting in an exceptional event for you and your audience. • Audio • Video • Lighting • Event Management • Staging and Scenic Design • Temporary Power Distribution Preview our portfolio of corporate events and gala affairs online at revprod.com www.revprod.com 14569_WBJ_9x6_Ad.indd 1 2/10/15 4:54 PM 'Big data' becomes a bigger deal for business Sumit Verma, partner and vice president at ten24, in Worcester. Verma's company designs software that allows companies to tap into their data more effectively. In years past, companies would have had to invest tens of thousands of dollars in computer infrastructure that would become obsolete in four years. But today, using cloud-based data services allows even smaller companies to crunch num- bers. "It empowers companies to use that data to become more effective and become more profitable," he said. "The whole idea is how you use that data to find the trends that allow you to become more profitable." Ten24 is part of a growing trend of smaller technology companies that allow businesses of all sizes to tap into their own data or what's available in public databases. In the case of Scientific American Magazine, using a ten24 pro- gram to analyze online sales data helped it change the checkout process and boost sales 16 percent, Verma said. "It's like finding a needle in the hay- stack. What we built for them is a mag- net," Verma said of pulling out useful information from piles of data. Nonprofits are also making use of data to make their case when they apply for grants and to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs, Christopher O'Keeffe, a vice president at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, said. Education and health data have been the most widely available, and have allowed non- profit agencies within those fields to make more educated plans and cases for their programs, he said. Building a 'big' database The foundation has undertaken a project to bring the power of big data to Central Massachusetts nonprofits by creating the Central Mass DataCommon database. Initially, this database will be an amalgam of nearly 300 data points from mostly government sources, but over time local nonprofits and busi- nesses will be encouraged to add their own information. "Nonprofits need to understand their work better in order to become more effective and they also need to demon- strate it … Small organizations will be able to prove their case where they did not before," O'Keeffe said of the pro- gram, which is in beta testing. While only the largest nonprofits and businesses will ever have dedicated teams analyzing big data, this database will allow smaller nonprofits to tap into the analytical world. But even the best data- base and software are useless without people to manage it, said Feyzi Bagirov, founding director of the new data science program at Becker College. "No matter how big your data is, it is useless unless you can extract an insight out of it to make a decision," he said, explaining that it requires programming skills, statistical understanding and the ability to work within a group. Computer science and statistics The Becker program will be one of close to 20 undergraduate programs in the country that educate specifically for big data. The program will incorporate computer science learning with a statis- tical bent, using real-world scenarios and big data tools, Bagirov said. Up until this point, said Hiss, many companies have relied on people with- out formal training in "big data" analyt- ics. They have come from the worlds of banking and health care with a passion for data. But as the field becomes more established, people with more specific skill sets will be in high demand. "You are seeing a lot more data jobs emerge and they are very high in demand," Hiss said. "We are going to be looking to hire people with more formalized data education." Whether it's current students looking for job o p p o r t u n i t i e s , schools looking for new education- al opportunities or companies looking to optimize their profits and effi- ciency, big data can be a way for- ward. According to Verma, once ten24's clients see how much more efficiently and effectively data can be analyzed using modern methods, they realize how working exclusively with Excel spreadsheets is outdated compared with using their own computing power. "When we come across all these cli- ents, we talk to them and say they are living in the past," Verma said of compa- nies that don't analyze information from a "big data" mindset. n >> Continued from Page 1 How big is big data? In its 2011 report, McKinsey Global Institute cited these numbers regarding big data's financial potential for the U.S. health care industry: $41.5B Overall annual value to U.S. health care industry Added productivity in research and development Payment and pricing, including cost savings And in 2014, IDC of Framingham offered this prediction: Value of big data technology and services market in 2018 $300B $100B $50B Feyzi Bagirov of Becker College: You need the right people to manage big data.

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