Message from the CEO

Greetings!

Today is the first anniversary of Indus Insights.

It has been exactly a year since Indus Insights was incorporated, and about 9 months since we kicked off our sales efforts. Over the course of this short time, we have cleared the first milestone of proving our concept. Here is a quick snapshot:

• Clients: We have received great traction from clients in both the US and in India, and have beaten our first year target for the number of clients serviced. We have multiple clients from each of our two focus areas: financial services and e-commerce. Despite our small size, every client relationship that we have is a paid relationship, which is another proof of how clients perceive our value add. Additionally, client feedback on our work has been tremendously positive. One of the strongest examples is of a client who has signed us up for an indefinite period of time and has also committed to making a sizeable investment in the firm
• Marketing: We have successfully deployed various marketing efforts, including brochures, website and this blog. We are increasing our presence at related conferences, and have been selected to present at a Consumer Insights conference in India shortly
• Talent Acquisition: We have ramped up our hiring efforts, have created relationships with key recruiters in the analytical domain, and have developed online tests, case studies, and behavioral questions that will allow us to cherry pick the very best talent
• Fund Raising: We have received strong interest from angel investors, and have clear line of sight to raising funding for our needs. We will be finalizing these details before the end of 2010

In summary, it has been a great ride so far! We look forward to continuing to add compelling value for our clients as we scale up our operations.

Best regards,
Saurabh
Founder & CEO

Pipal Research acquired for $13M

Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd (CRISIL), the Indian affiliate of Standard & Poor’s, has acquired Chicago-headquartered knowledge process outsourcing company Pipal Research for $12.75 million (Rs. 58 Cr). Pipal is majority owned by BPO services major Firstsource Solutions, which picked up a 51% stake in the firm in 2004.

Pipal Research provides business and investment research services in sectors like technology, telecommunications, consumer packaged goods, industrials and financial services. It was founded in 2001 by former McKinsey professional Manoj Jain who is also its current chairman. Pipal Research has three research centers in India in Gurgaon, Noida and Bangalore. The company reported $8.1 million revenue for FY10.

Pipal will be integrated into CRISIL’s KPO division, Irevna. The division provides equity research, derivatives support, commodities research, actuarial services and foreign exchange research to investment banks, insurance companies, asset management firms and other financial institutions. CRISIL is planning to expand Irevna’s geographical reach and is shortly setting up a research center in China.

Speaking of the acquisition, Roopa Kudva, MD & CEO of CRISIL said, “We have been in the high-end offshoring business for over five years following our acquisition of Irevna. Irevna currently has a strong base among finance and insurance companies.” She added that “KPO is now a significant part of our research, which now accounts for 44% of our revenues.” Sanjeev Arora, President & CEO, Pipal Research commented “Both Pipal and CRISIL bring very high quality and complementary knowledge services to the global markets and the combined entity will be very well positioned to continually lead the global knowledge service markets.”

The acquisition has been an all cash deal with MAPE advisory as the sole advisor.

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Pipal Research is a global custom research firm that delivers business and financial research & analysis.

CRISIL is India's leading Ratings, Research, Risk and Policy Advisory Company.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

IBM to acquire data warehousing and analytics firm Netezza

On an acquisition spree, IBM announced Monday that Netezza, a data warehousing and analytics company, will be the latest addition to its basket for $1.7 billion cash. The deal values Netezza at $27 per share, 9.8% premium on Friday’s closing price. Netezza will expand IBM’s business analytics initiatives to help clients gain faster insights into their business information, with increased performance for cheaper.

Marlborough, MA based Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ) is the global leader in data warehouse, analytic and monitoring appliances that simplify high-performance analytics across an extended enterprise. Netezza's technology enables organizations to process enormous amounts of captured data at exceptional speed, providing a significant competitive and operational advantage in today's data-intensive industries, including digital media, energy, financial services, government, health and life sciences, retail and telecommunications. The company has about 500 employees and lists 30+ companies in its client roster, including Neiman Marcus, eHarmony, Time Warner, Estee Lauder, BCBC-Ma, United Health group, etc among its clients. The British TV, Internet and phone service provider Virgin Media Inc. uses the technology across its product marketing, revenue assurance and credit services departments to quickly assess and respond to impacts of price changes or tariffs on sales. NYSE Euronext has cut the time it takes to load and extract massive amounts of historical data so it can run analytic queries more securely and efficiently, while reducing runtimes from hours to seconds.

The rate and pace of data is accelerating the IT opportunity around information and analytics. A recent study revealed that 83% of CIO's identified analytics as a top priority. The combined strengths of IBM and Netezza are a key differentiator at a time when organizations of all sizes are looking to gain more insight from their business information.

This deal comes in just 5 days after IBM purchased OpenPages. In the last 4 years, IBM has made 23 analytics-related acquisitions totaling $12 B. Analytics accounted for $9 B of IBM’s $95.8 B revenues in 2009. IBM said in May that it planned to spend about $20 B in acquisitions through 2015 to expand its software and services business.

The acquisition, which is subject to Netezza shareholder approval, applicable regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010.

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International Business Machines (IBM) is a computer, technology, and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York. IBM is the world's fourth largest technology company and the second most valuable global brand. With 400,000 employees worldwide, IBM is second largest and the second most profitable information technology and services employer in the world according to the Forbes 2000 list with sales over $100 billion.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Indus Insights is hiring

Indus Insights is looking to immediately hire Lead Consultants and Engagement Managers to join the company’s Gurgaon office in India. The individuals will be responsible for using advanced analytics & data mining techniques to develop actionable insights for our clients. They will also assist the leadership team in business development activities. Depending upon the caliber of the candidate, the positions will also offer team leadership and client interfacing opportunities.

About Indus Insights
Indus Insights is a rapidly growing analytical consulting firm that is an offshoot of Capital One in many ways. Our management team and advisory board consists primarily of COF Alumni. Our current clients include one of the top 10 credit card issuers in the US, and one of the top 3 media agencies in the world. We are currently in a rapid growth phase, and have been adding multiple clients to our portfolio every month. This is a great opportunity to join a high energy start-up in the analytical consulting domain.

About the Roles
Indus Insights is looking to fill positions of Lead Consultant and Engagement Manager immediately. These positions will be based out of Gurgaon (Delhi NCR). The individuals will be responsible for using advanced analytics & data mining techniques to develop actionable insights for our clients. The individuals will also assist the leadership team in business development activities. Depending upon the caliber of the candidate, the positions will also offer team leadership and client interfacing opportunities. These roles offer tremendous career advancement opportunities, exposure to senior management, experience of working in a high-energy start-up environment, and financial upside that comes with the growth of the company.

About the Candidate
You are our ideal candidate if the following describes you:

Personality Traits

• You are great at problem solving. You enjoy taking a complex business problem, breaking it down into smaller, manageable questions, and then answering those systematically
• You are passionate about creating results for the client. We have an intense focus on “wowing” our client in every single engagement, and you need to drive this
• You are ready to “do what it takes”, and understand the needs of a client-facing role and a start-up environment. You are comfortable with changing priorities, somewhat unpredictable schedules, working unconventional hours to overlap with US times when needed, and traveling to clients’ sites when needed
• You enjoy discussions and debates, and love to speak your mind, go to the white board, and listen & understand others’ arguments
• You are self-driven and take pride in your work
• You are fanatical about meeting timelines. You do not believe in the concept of Indian Stretchable Time
• You take your work very seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously

Experience and Skills

• 3-6 years of highly successful experience in an analytical domain. Such experience will include experience at an analytical consulting firm, an outsourced captive of a major international financial services company, a US based financial services firm, or other similar experience
• Extremely comfortable working with Excel and at least one of SAS, SQL, or SPSS
• Solid background in using advanced analytics through techniques such as segmentation, predictive modeling, decision trees, cash flow modeling, etc
• Preference will be given to candidates with exposure to analytical applications in financial services and at least one other sector (e.g. web analytics, retail analytics, etc)
• Bachelor’s from a top tier educational institution with a degree in an analytical discipline (engineering, statistics, economics, etc)
• 2+ years of experience in leading projects and directly managing teams (For Engagement Manager position)

Contact Information
If you think you are the person we are looking for, please send a brief email with your resume to Jobs@IndusInsights.com

Fantasy Football and Analytics?

Millions of NFL fans have completed their fantasy football drafts by now. The NFL schedule was set months ago and the season kicks off on Thursday night, with the Minnesota Vikings taking on the New Orleans Saints in prime time.

For many fantasy fans, the player-drafting strategies start with the best intentions: I'll do my research, check out some pro football websites and make a list of the players I really want. However, when draft day finally happens and they've neglected to do any research, that "strategy" quickly degrades into player selections based on "gut feelings" that may or may not correspond to actual statistical evidence, current news or historical player trends. (The five beers don't help matters, either.)

IBM's Hetal Thaker bucks a couple of common stereotypes regarding football viewership and fantasy football leagues and uses predictive analytics to draft her way to success. She models qualitative and quantitative information to predict the number of touchdowns a receiver is going to get or number of total yards that a quarterback is going to throw.

In an interview with CIO, she shares advice on analyzing data on running backs and running your business.

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Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Analytics and Bottom Line: How Organizations Build Success (Webinar)

Title: Analytics and Bottom Line: How Organizations Build Success (Live Webinar)

Date: Sept 23, 2010

Cost: Free

Description
As more and more companies have discovered, analytics is a powerful business tool that allows organizations to aggressively leverage their data in key business decisions and processes with impressive results.

And use of analytics is not regulated to sales and marketing or finance. As analytics experts Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris have discovered, companies are gaining competitive advantage by embedding analytics in every piece of their organization.

Rather than “going with their gut,” leading-edge companies such as Google, Best Buy, P&G, and Sysco are using sophisticated data-collection technology and analysis to get the most value and performance from their talent. Tossing aside traditional HR reporting and backward-looking scorecards, these companies are taking the guesswork out of managing their people by leveraging a range of analytics to improve the way they attract and retain talent, connect their people to business performance, differentiate themselves from competitors, and more.

In this webinar, best-selling authors Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris will present key areas where companies track, analyze, and use data to forecast the organizational demands and opportunities for the future.

Register online now >>

Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College. He has taught at the Harvard Business School, the University of Chicago, Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and the University of Texas at Austin. He has also directed research centers at Accenture, McKinsey & Company, Ernst & Young, and CSC. Davenport is the author or co-author of thirteen books, including Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know and The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. His last book, Competing on Analytics, is an international bestseller now in its fifth printing.

Jeanne G. Harris is executive research fellow and a senior executive at Accenture’s Institute for High Performance in Chicago. Jeanne leads the Institute’s global research agenda in the areas of information, technology, and analytics. In 2009 Jeanne received Consulting Magazine’s “Women Leaders in Consulting” award for lifetime achievement. She is the coauthor (with Tom Davenport) of Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning. During her 33 years at Accenture, Jeanne has consulted a wide variety of organizations in many different industries worldwide. She has led Accenture’s business intelligence, analytics, performance management, knowledge management, and data-warehousing consulting practices. She has worked extensively with clients seeking to improve their managerial information, decision-making, analytical, and information-management capabilities. Jeanne has authored numerous book chapters and articles in leading management publications, including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, and CIO. Her research has been quoted extensively by the international business press, including The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Data is changing how we live

The availability of new sets of data has changed the way we live our lives. This article presents 10 examples of data which have changed everything from how we assess wars to how companies deliver milk.

1. Shopping – Supermarkets have always kept track of how people shop, but in the last few years the extent to which retailers collect data has rocketed. Using data collected through its ClubCard, Tesco, an online grocery shopping and delivery service, can predict when people will shop, how they'll pay for their items and even how many calories they will consume.
2. Relationships – Dating site OkCupid.com collects user profiles and site message data from its 3.5 million active users. They analyze this and can calculate everything from the perfect profile picture (apparently, the perfect profile picture is taken on a high end camera, in mid afternoon, without a flash) to the right language to use when replying to messages ("your" beats "ur", and "hot" is a turn-off, whereas "fascinating" is a turn-on). The data has also shown that on average, users add two inches to their height, and over-report their salary by 20%. Look out for data-based date advice.

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Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Listen in on Overtone

Overtone®, Inc., introduced OpenMic® version 5.3, an advanced customer listening system. Customer listening is the process of gathering, categorizing, analyzing and acting upon online comments and conversations about your product, service or brand. Overtone’s OpenMic promises to deliver meaningful customer insights from unstructured customer-generated content enabling strategic decisions and intelligent action.

Neil Patil, CMO and SVP of Marketing at Overtone, Inc. said “With OpenMic version 5.3 we continue to advance our clients’ ability to accurately and quickly discern the voice of their customers across all direct feedback and indirect channels of communication, including social media. We’ve taken our best-in-class listening capabilities to an even higher level with the introduction of the industry’s first hybrid text analysis engine that can accurately understand the content and context of any customer conversation”.

OpenMic combines Overtone’s statistical-based natural language processing (NLP) engine with new linguistic capabilities – delivering more precise and accurate text classification and sentiment analysis across multiple sources of consumer-generated content. It has added 4 new features -

• Multiple Word Analysis & Stemming
• Net Sentiment Index and Polarity Charts
• Dashboard Date Customizations
• API and Reporting

The enhanced word-analysis and stemming feature will improve the accuracy and precision of sentiment scores and automated text categorization. (Stemming is the process of reducing derived words to their base.)

Its sentiment analysis won't be thrown off by a word with multiple meanings – such as “Amazon”, which could refer to the online retailer or the South American river. The algorithm automatically understands the difference between "Amazon" and "amazing". OpenMic can analyze a comment such as "I'm amazed at the new Kindle by Amazon", and can identify this as a comment relating to the Amazon.com brand and e-readers, and flag its positive customer sentiment accordingly.

The product also offers to determine the overall sentiment of a communication channel, category, or attribute value. A new customizable dashboard has been developed to present the sentiment index calculation, and reporting widgets that display breakout metrics are available.

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Overtone, Inc. provides customer listening solutions to many of the world’s leading consumer brand companies including Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Continental Airlines. Overtone is funded by top-tier venture capital firms Dolphin Equity Partners and ABS Ventures.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Predicting Manhole Explosions

Every so often in New York City, a disk of cast iron weighing up to 300 pounds will burst out of the street and fly as high as several stories before clattering back. Ever since Thomas Edison fired up the city’s commercial electric grid in 1882, New Yorkers have had to contend with the random hazards of smoking, flaming and exploding manholes. Many of the blasts result from decrepit wiring, which can lead to sparks. Throw in a bit of gas and a confined space and, like a combustion engine, the blast can move metal. Until recently, there was no way of knowing where or when the next outburst would occur; repairs commenced only after a manhole had growled.

But in 2004 Con Edison began a proactive inspection program, with the goal of finding the places in New York’s snaking network of electrical cable where trouble is most likely to strike. The company called upon a team of Columbia University researchers to help predict the likelihood of manhole explosions.

The team tackled Manhattan first, where beneath the borough’s streets and avenues lies 21,000 miles of cable. The scientists weeded out irrelevant information such as parking information for ConEd vehicles. They then ranked the manholes of Manhattan by vulnerability to serious events and developed an algorithm that directs a computer to identify subterranean trouble spots.

Serious manhole events are rare — only a few hundred occur each year even though there are 51,000-odd manhole and service boxes in Manhattan. “Finding a pattern when something is very rare is very hard,” says computer scientist Gary Weiss of Fordham University in the New York City. “If you only have a few examples, there are so many patterns that can fit those few examples… you can’t really tell the difference between a pattern that is meaningful and one that is coincidental.”

The algorithm’s job was to “learn” from the past records and find meaningful patterns. Then it could predict the likelihood that a particular manhole with particular characteristics would have a future flare-up. The team discovered that manholes with larger cables — and so a larger amount of insulation subject to decay and thus to sparking — turned out to be more vulnerable to serious events.

Con Edison blind-tested the team’s model by withholding information on a recent set of fires and explosions. The top 2% of manholes ranked as vulnerable by the algorithm included 11% of the manholes that had recently had a fire or explosion.

Tweaking and adding more data has improved the model further. Con Edison is now using it to help prioritize inspection and repairs on the grid. The team has just completed rankings for manholes in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

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Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED) is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $14B in annual revenues and $33B in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Health Insurer uses data analytics to lower costs rather than cut benefits

Americans spend a higher percentage of GDP on healthcare – 16% – than just about any other country. One Midwestern health insurer is using data analytics to do its part in reducing that percentage. BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) of Kansas City brought IT and business people together to design and implement an enterprise data warehouse as a single information resource for the business.

In 2003, after two less-than-successful data warehouse deployments, executives at the insurer decided it was time to get their data management house in order. BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas City (BCBSKC) wanted to break down analytic data silos that had cropped up across its various business units to ensure that everyone was working with the same set of numbers. Additionally, a centralized enterprise data warehouse would also help the insurer create repeatable analytic functions so that BCBSKC workers weren’t essentially starting from scratch each time they set out to do data analysis.

Most importantly, though, the insurance firm wanted to harness the power of data analytics to better manage member care and improve patient health – and BCBSKC’s financial health. “The healthier our member population is, the more financial savings there will be for the health plan,” said Darren Taylor, the insurer’s VP of integrated business systems.

This was a multi-year effort. The first two phases included building an enterprise-wide data warehouse (EDW) and integrating data from 45 disparate sources into that warehouse. The next step was proactive data analytics. Until then, BCBSKC relied mostly on historical reports to monitor patient care. This “after the fact” reporting helped inform executives, but they were unable to react in real time to change patient outcomes. Using this EDW and other analytical tools like SPSS, the insurer was able to get more involved in patients’ day-to-day care.

Take diabetes patients, for example. It’s generally accepted by doctors that diabetes patients should have their eyes examined at least once a year, as the disease is the leading cause of blindness in adults aged 20 to 74. Diabetes patients who forget to have their annual exam are more likely to develop serious eye problems, which are costly to treat, costs borne by BCBSKC. So the insurer analyzes member data in its EDW to determine when a diabetes patient is due for an annual eye exam and sends a reminder.

Data analytics technology also helps BCBSKC identify which members are at risk for other diabetes-related complications, including foot and nerve damage, and recommends treatments accordingly. BCBSKC has applied similar data analytics techniques to help members better manage other chronic diseases like congestive heart failure, asthma and obstructive pulmonary disease. The insurer is also using data analytics to improve operational efficiencies and reduce internal administrative costs.

This connected data resource has enabled a business transformation resulting in major improvements in both member health and internal operations, including:

• Total savings of $23.1M since 2005
• $2.5M reduced administrative expenses; $7.2M avoided patient care costs
• Improved aggregate wellness score of members from 82.9% to 85.7% in 2008(1)

(1) ROI on Population Health Management presentation in Sep 2009 at Information Management Symposium

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is the largest health benefits provider in the greater Kansas City region and northwest Missouri, serving approximately 1M members in 32 counties. Founded in 1938, the not-for-profit health insurer employs nearly 1,000 people and offers a variety of health benefit plans for individuals, families, and employers.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.

Sam’s Club's Personal Touch

Today, most retailers offer across-the-board discounts or deals aimed at categories of customers. But industry experts say they expect retailers to move toward more individualized offers. Tailoring discounts to individual shoppers based on their buying history promises to maximize marketing budgets, build customer loyalty, and increase sales. Sam’s Club is giving this a try by offering personalized discounts for buyers through its eValues card.

The eValues program is the latest iteration in the fast-growing field known as predictive analytics, which uses vast amounts of data to spot trends and anticipate consumer behavior. Of course, retailers have long tried to decode consumer behavior, through surveys or test panels, or by using crude forms of data analysis. During the last decade, many retailers have amassed huge amounts of data through loyalty programs or membership cards. But they have done little with the information, other than using the cards as a branding opportunity or to offer broad discounts.

Some retailers, however, have used the data to figure out the right product mix and layout for their stores, or to offer discounts to categories of customers. Sam’s Club officials say they are “among the first to offer individualized discounts on such a large scale. A major challenge in creating eValues was the scale involved: the permutations of customer, product, location and discount exceeded one trillion possibilities for Plus members alone”. Sam’s Club worked with FICO to improve their ability to predict what each customer will buy and the time frame in which that purchase will occur.

The discounts are available to “Plus” members and can be printed from the member’s email, the Sam’s Club Web site, or from a kiosk located in the store. Using historical data on the shopper and predictive analytics, Sam’s Club is offering these customers discounts on the products or product types they generally purchase and even tailoring messaging to include product attributes known to be of interest to the individual consumer.

Customers are finding the discounts to be highly relevant to their needs. Additionally, these e-offerings are triggering needs customers didn’t know they had. One shopper, for example, came into Sam’s Club to buy food and left with two televisions because he couldn’t resist the $300 discount on a $1200 set.

Linda Vytlacil, vice president for member insights and innovation at Sam’s Club, said coupon response rate has risen from less than 2% to as high as 30% for eligible customers.

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Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs. Founded in 1983, it is owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and is named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Sam's Club chain operates in 48 of the 50 U.S. States serving more than 47 million U.S. members. Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.