The Wisdom of Big Data

Numbers, when crunched, would say anything that you’d want them to say! Here is an interaction with a PHD dropout with his love for numbers and me with my fear of excel sheets.

Simply Suparnaa 0

The Wisdom of Big Data A Simply Suparnaa Perspective

Big Data is the buzzword in the digital world with innumerable numbers mapping infinite trends of a multitude of consumer behavior. A gold mine for marketers to strategize, position, and market their brands. But where is the wisdom in all that buzz?

Havish Madhvpaty is an interesting person who I met through my stint while curating Media and Marketing events. He is one of the few people I know who has a genuine love for data. An excel superhero, he is a data analytics consultant and a PHD dropout (His mentor is probably still looking for her bright star of a student who simply vanished without publishing his thesis). Havish along with his then business partner Anupam would draw up data on the shortlisted nominees through a myriad of events catering to the marketing fraternity. The data helped guide the senior industry leaders who formed the jury acknowledging brands or campaigns.

So when Havish reached out for a conversation on data, I was reminded of my love-hate relationship with spreadsheets endorsed by my confirmation bias, that of numbers when crunched would say anything that you’d want them to say! Havish was bemused. That would be a rather short interview!

Irrespective, the interview was quite engaging and I was inspired to share my learnings through two decades in the media industry.The pull towards development issues, and the role numbers played in the genesis of SABERA justified our conversations on data. And the bonus was the guidance of my spiritual mentor, Shree Umeshwar Shrivastav, under whose tutelage I have also studied the Sankhya (Number in Sanskrit) Shastra (1 of the 6 main philosophies from Ancient India that help realize the universal truth). Through this interaction, I have tried to relate the truth held in the ancient wisdom of the land and contextualized it with the topic of discussion on DATA.

By the way, SABERA 2021 will acknowledge GOOD work as executed in the last financial year by Responsible Businesses, Entities in alignment with sustainable development, Non-Profits as well as Trail Blazing Individuals challenging the status quo. To submit your work Register HERE There is a robust jury that will evaluate work under 3 broad categories of Initiative (SDG-led), Entity (Purpose-driven or Responsible), and Individual (Changemakers). The jury this year is being chaired by Ms. Renu Sud Karnad, MD, HDFC Ltd. The other members of the eclectic jury that are a cross-section of leaders can be accessed here.

Here is also a podcast of half-hour interaction.

Post Script
Comment from Uday Kumar Varma, (IAS) Former Information and Broadcasting Secretary , Government of India after hearing the podcast. “Your interaction with Havish has fascinated me no end. It not only captures reigning philosophies and ideologies of your life but also offers a wonderful insight into the dynamism that drives you to devote your energies and talents to pursuits that fulfill you, completes you, and infuse an extraordinary sense of purpose and focus in your creative life. A term that so effortlessly and spontaneously springs to my mind as I think of you, and which so aptly sums up your composite cosmopolitan catholic way of life, uncompromising in your convictions and unrelenting in your metier, is DIVINE DYNAMISM or DYNAMIC DIVINITY. I wish you complete and unmitigated success in all your efforts. A few issues stand out from your conversation- one, of course, is your very apposite analysis of the phenomenon of sensationalism in media coverage. Few would be more qualified than you to comment on this continuing obsession that is becoming an enduring aberration. Your views on the use of data are also, to my mind, is also very balanced. Data are a necessary tool, inevitable to ensure objectivity but they are still a tool, an instrument, and must never overshadow or veil the fundamental purpose, which is the raison d’etre of our convictions and commitments. The examples of two of the Jury Chair that you offered in your interview to illustrate and enlarge your arguments pointedly. Lastly, your dwelling on Kapil’s Sankhya in the context of Data sets the perspective. At times, I wonder if we simply rediscover, reinvent and recycle the truth eon after eon, age after age, and this process shall continue infinitely. At times I wonder if all of us have been doing in the past what we are doing presently and will continue to do so in the future as well. Such is the eternal aspect of this limitless and seamless universe.”

Mr. Uday Kumar Varma is also on the jury of SABERA 2021 and holds a vociferous opinion on the state of Indian Media