My Interest in MSIS Merit Scholarship

The world today runs on Data. Every field of technology has an inevitable need to store, process, analyze and manipulate data. With the advent of globalization and rapidly evolving technologies, it has become vital for the business to adopt modern methods to outstrip the competitive world out there.

Having done my under graduation in Computer Science, I have always had this ardor to learn and explore more in the field of Information Technology. Providentially, after being selected for Infosys as a Systems Engineer, I was trained on SAP Business Warehouse where I realized the significance of data and business information in making critical business decisions. When I was working for the client Royal Bank of Scotland in Infosys, the data was stored in data servers at physical locations whose maintenance took up lots of resources and time in activities like backups, restoration consuming time and effort from many teams. This made me perceive the advantages of Cloud Computing as an alternative to traditional methods.

As the world is moving from having data stored in physical servers to enabling software, data to reside on a plethora of virtual servers connected over the internet, there have been various advancements in the field of Information Systems using Cloud Computing. It assures reduced complexity, increased speed, agility, and unlimited scalability. Today, there are endless opportunities in leveraging Software as a Service and Data as a Service which can solve real-world problems.

Working as a Business Technology Analyst for the client Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Deloitte, I came across scenarios where I had to perform complex data manipulations on the data extracted to make it congenial to business requirements. Having to handle large amounts of data requires optimistic methods of analyzing and manipulating data to dodge the wastage of computing resources. I then discerned the prominence of using Data Mining techniques to manage the data efficiently.

Data Mining usually is popular with many businesses because it allows them to know more about their customers and accordingly help them in making smart decisions. I was fascinated by how the usage of different Data Mining techniques like Classification, Prediction, Clustering, Tracking patterns can transform simple data into meaningful insights. Netflix is a good example of how a company uses data mining techniques to analyze user data. The company collects huge amounts of data on the user's past search history based on which it gives out suggestions.

By seeing these advancements take over the business world, I could not be more convinced of how much positive impact these developments will have on business operations and decision making, some of them listed below.

Scalability: Cloud technology enables companies to scale their computing resources as they grow. They no longer need to prognosticate the number of servers required to be brought. Instead, they can alter their usage as and when needed.

Cost-Efficiency: With the use of Cloud Technology companies can reduce their hardware costs and avoid spending on backup hardware just in case of system failure or crash. Cloud reduces the power costs as it consumes less power and is more efficient than having an in-house IT setup. It also requires no upfront investments by companies as all the infrastructure needs will be taken care of by the cloud service provider.

Flexible Workplace: Companies and employees can benefit from the employees using their own devices to work. Bring your Own Device trend is made possible by Cloud which showed increased productivity.

Better Customer Reach: Ubiquitous accessibility of information promotes a more efficient workforce. Also, through data stored in the cloud, customer behavior can be analyzed creating an opportunity to reach them easier and in a more individualized manner.

Scope for Innovations: Over the years, Cloud Computing has become a reliable path for business innovations. When combined with Analytics, Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence, one can get a vast network which can store large amounts of data with the ability to learn and improve on the go. The best example is IBM's Watson. Also, SAP integrated AI into its cloud-based ERP system, S/4 HANA to support business processes. The automobile industry is also using the cloud to accomplish several tasks in a car. For example, Tesla Cloud over a 3G link allows the engineering department to audit car’s performances and fix them even without the awareness of the driver.

Consumer Insights: To outperform their peers, companies are enforced to use the consumer insights extracted from pattern data to shape their future products. Personalization has become a necessity for companies to attract and retain customers. Wayfair built an app where recommendations are sent to users based on the pictures, they like to improve customer experience.

Prediction: Analytics, when combined with Machine Learning, can make future predictions based on past data. Many organizations like Netflix, Facebook have adopted predictive analysis for better business decision making.

With these kinds of advancements in Information Systems, its apparent that my interest to explore further in this field keeps growing endlessly. And pursuing Masters in Information Systems will direct me to a professional career where I can put my knowledge gained into real-world problems. I strongly believe that enrolling in this program will pave a path to my career as a Technology Consultant.