13: Is this real, Data Science, or is it a fantasy?

Data Chatter

Over the last decade, we have seen tremendous advances in big data, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Every compnay wants to be a tech-first comapny now, and wants to “do data science". Companies can probably double their valuation by just adding a “.ai" to their names. Companies that actually use artificial intelligence and machine learning maybe have an even higher premium on their valuations.

However, is Data Science worth the hype? Is AI going to take over the world? And why is data science being eaten by computer science? What happned to classical analytics, operations resarch and statistics?

This week’s guest is someone who did data science even before the phrase had b een invented.

Amaresh Tripathy is SVP and Analytics Business Leader at Genpact. Till recently he was a Partner with PWC, leading the firm’s Data & Analytics Consulting, and helped build a $500mm business. Previously, Amaresh founded and co-led the Information and Analytics Practice for Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, and also serves as Adjunct Professor of Data Science and Business Analytics at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

Amaresh has helped Fortune 500 companies in multiple industries (healthcare, retail & consumer, communications) to help define and implement their analytics and AI strategies and institutionalize data enabled decision making. He has led organizations to help embed analytics in their front, middle and back office functions and manage the change process.

Show Notes:

00:03:00: Definitions - data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc.
00:04:15: The rise of computer science and machine learning
00:10:15: The probelm with Kaggle, and the “race for accuracy”
00:11:30: How to scale analytics without doing bad data analysis
00:18:00: How selling data science has changed over the last decade
00:23:00: The interaction between business and Data Science
00:26:30: “Creating bilinguals at scale”
00:30:30: Machine learning trying to eat data science
00:39:00: Comparing data science practices across countries

Links:

Thomas Davenport and DJ Patil on Data Science as the “sexiest job of the 21st century” (2012 article)

Hal Varian on statistics as a “sexy job”

Data Chatter is a podcast on all things data. It is a series of conversations with experts and industry leaders in data, and each week we aim to unpack a different compartment of the "data suitcase".

The podcast is hosted by Karthik Shashidhar. He is a blogger, newspaper columnist, book author and a former data and strategy consultant. Karthik currently heads Analytics and Business Intelligence for Delhivery, one of India’s largest logistics companies.

You can follow him on twitter at @karthiks, and read his blog at noenthuda.com/blog