Mu Sigma, a company I knew nothing of until I interviewed
the company’s head of products and strategy, Deepinder Dhingra, is a
Bangalore-based global enterprise employing some 3500 decision scientits that’s
taken the principles of big data, or more correctly data analytics one step
further to what it calls ‘decision science’.
And really it was well ahead of the current wave of
enthusiasm for big data, it was founded in 2005 and the term ‘big data didn’t
really enter the lexicon until about 2008-2009.
Mu Sigma, Dhingra says, is “about helping organisations make better decisions using data and
helping them institutionalise the use of data-driven decision-making.” It
doesn’t work with clients on a project basis only through long term, ongoing
relationships and it has about 20 percent of its staff at any one time located
on client premises. The company has been active in Australia for a little over
a year and has a handful of clients, including a major telco, but none that it
will name.
It’s not much more forthcoming with names of its globalclients, except
that of number one client, Microsoft. Others include “one of the world’s
largest retailers” and the “world’s largest pharmaceutical company.”
So what exactly does it do that? Dhingra says Mu Sigma
doesn’t set you to solve specific problems for its clients but “To help our
clients institutionalise the use of data to solve not only their current
problems but also enable them to solve their future and ongoing problems.”
It does this, he says, through an ecosystem that “brings
together technology platforms plus processes plus people - our 3500 decision
scientists. It is this combination that helps is institutionalise the use of
data for our clients.”
We focus on three things that we call our core belief
systems or commanding principles. One is that a business needs to rely on
learning more than knowing. Knowledge is becoming obsolete. Yesterday’s
companies competed on knowledge, today companies compete on learning and
tomorrow they will need to compete on ‘rate of change of learning’ and we don’t
even have an English word for that yet.
The other aspect you have to bring a multidisciplinary
approach to help organisations learn from data to make better decisions. If you
just focus on maths or technology you don’t get a holistic perspective. Big
data itself brings more noise and signals. You need a holistic perspective of
business, plus maths, plus technology to help you extract the relevant insights
to make better decisions.
Thirdly, innovation nowadays is more function of
experimentation and if I can reduce the cost of experimentation for clients I
can increase the chances of innovation.
He adds: “Those are the three principles we started with ten
years ago and they still stand us in good stead, even with the big data hype
those principles are still valid.”
CONLCUSION
What struck me about this approach is how well it aligns
with the mantra of research firm Forrester that every business must become
digital at its core if it is to survive. You can find this viewpoint in
multiple Forrester documents, but this recent blog from principal analyst Nigel Fenwick sums it up neatly
“Your company is likely to face an extinction event in the
next 10 years. And while you may see it coming, you may not have enough time to
save your company,” Fenwick wrote.
“Business leaders don't think of digital as central to their
business because in the past, it hasn't been. But now your customers, your
products, your business operations, and your competitors are fundamentally
digital.”
He argues that many companies are under the illusion that
they are truly digital.
For the past few years, companies have been bolting ‘digital’
onto their existing business like teens paint go-fast stripes onto their cars. ...
But the piecemeal strategy of bolting digital channels or methods onto the
business is no longer sufficient. Instead, you must think of your company as
part of a dynamic ecosystem of value that connects digital resources inside and
outside the company to create value for customers.”
Mu Sigma’s approach seems to align perfectly with that view.
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