The FINANCIAL — Aston’s expertise in the key area of big data and business analytics has been proven this week with their involvement in a student Innojam at the UK Cabinet Office, as well as an innovative new MSc programme in Business Analytics that addresses the industry need for graduates with relevant experience.
Now, more than ever, business decisions are driven by data. Companies that are able to collect data, analyse it and use it to improve business performance, are the ones that are ready to outstrip the competition. A global study commissioned by CA Technologies in 2015 revealed that an enormous 90% of firms surveyed were seeing commercial benefits from big data implementation.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the big data and analytics market will have reached $125 billion worldwide by the end of 2015. 70% of large organizations already purchase external data and 100% will do so by 2019.
But it is not just big businesses who can take advantage of these capabilities. There are potential benefits for SMEs and for public sector organisations too and the UK government sees the potential benefits of big data implementation across government departments. The UK Cabinet Office, together with SAP UK Public Sector and SAP University Alliances held a student Innojam at the Cabinet Office on 27th and 28th November 2015.
Nine Aston Business School students took part in this event, chosen from across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The students travelled to London for two days to take part in the project, which brought together students from just 7 universities, with a broad range of technical, business and design skills.
The challenge addressed during the event was set by the Cabinet Office, together with HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions. Mixed groups of students were asked to examine how to bring together data in order to build a more accurate picture of individual UK household composition. The aim is to reduce the estimated £650m a year loss faced by the government from tax evasion and benefit fraud.
The Cabinet Office was so pleased with the enthusiasm, engagement and high standards of the results that they have proposed multiple additional projects. The students will all be invited back for ‘Phase Two’ where they will be given substantial real datasets and have the opportunity to build a real application based on their ideas.
Graeme Thomson, Programme Manager, Counter Fraud and Error, Cabinet Office “A fantastic event. I have been amazed at the creativity and engagement of the students. It has been incredible that in just 1.5 days we have seen developed some viable products and concepts.”
The results from the event will influence government policy.
The Aston students taking part were particularly well prepared, since modules on Business Analytics have been incorporated into Aston degrees for several years. 2016 however sees the introduction of a specific MSc Business Analytics in order to meet the growing need for employable graduates with the expertise to analyse big data, improve decision-making and help companies gain a competitive advantage they seek.
Aston has several prominent Aston Business School academics with expertise in this area, and a team dedicated specifically to the research and teaching of Business Analytics.
Dr Leonidas Anastasakis, Lecturer and Course Director for the MSc Business Analytics, said students of the new programme would deepen their knowledge of business analytics, web analytics, data mining and management consultancy, and be equipped for careers as consultants, data analysts, managers or business analysts.
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