The Data Science Leaders Outlook in India 2019 by Analytics India Magazine and Simplilearn examines the analytics maturity of organizations in India and the evolving challenges they face, such as talent shortages and data complexity. Companies are increasingly prioritizing data science to drive operations and innovate business models, with a projected growth in hiring analytics professionals. Collaboration with technology partners is becoming crucial for organizations to bridge skill gaps and enhance their data capabilities.

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
DATA SCIENCE
LEADERS
OUTLOOK IN INDIA
2019
BY ANALYTICS INDIA MAGAZINE & SIMPLILEARN

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CONTENTS
Executive Summary
Research Methodology &
Key Takeaways
Maturity Level of Data Science Adoption
Data Science Hiring Plans
Key Strategic Decisions
Key Challenges
The Talent Crunch That Still Exists
(05)Foreword
(07)
(09)
(11)
(13)
(15)
(17)
(19)
Conclusion (21)

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
FOREWORD
While it is hard to imagine today, access to informa-
tion was very limited even just a few decades ago.
Since then, we’ve gone from scarcity of data to a
colossal overabundance of data. With the prolifera-
tion of digital devices, growing digitization of business
processes, and cloud adoption becoming increasing-
ly mainstream, there has been an explosion in the vol-
ume of data that is generated and is readily available
and accessible.
In turn, this data has thrown up a plethora of new op-
portunities for businesses. This data holds a goldmine
of information and insights that can be leveraged by
businesses to consolidate their operations, inform
business strategy and streamline processes.
Data is most definitely driving conversations today.
But as data science becomes increasingly main-
stream, it is grappling with its own set of challenges.
One is the diversity of data and formats. Given that
data is generated across multiple devices by multiple
entities, it exists in multiple forms across various plat-
forms. This, in turn, makes it difficult for organizations
to consolidate this data such that it can be analysed
in a way that is errorless, clean and cost-effective.
While data is abundant, it is governed by a complex
set of regulations and compliance guidelines, which
can create challenges with respect to the storage and
processing of data. For example, GDPR regulations
dictate that any personal data must be sufficiently
masked such that it does not give away the identity
of any individuals.
The other issue is the lack of sufficiently skilled data
experts who can work their magic on the data to
create actionable insights. A recent report by Indeed,
one of the top job sites, highlighted a 29 percent
increase in demand for data scientists year on year,
including a whopping 344 percent increase since
2013. One way to address the severe demand-sup-
ply mismatch is to encourage professionals to up-skill
and re-skill, in order to bag the job of the future – the
data scientist. To avoid over-reliance on a brutally
competitive recruiting market, organisations must
focus on training their existing workforce to prepare
them for the swiftly changing business demands.
Data Science Leaders Outlook in India 2019 by AIM
and Simplilearn, now in its fifth year, is aimed at gain-
ing an accurate picture of analytics maturity within
organisations. It analyses the extent to which enter-
prises have embraced analytics within their organi-
sations and also evaluates the benefits accrued from
investments in analytical capabilities.
It offers some interesting insights into how organ-
isations are making major pivots in terms of data
infrastructure, capabilities and talent in order to gain
from their investments in data science. It also throws
light on the various measures that companies are em-
ploying to ensure that they are at the forefront when it
comes to the adoption of data science.
It is worth taking note that organisations are fast
waking up to the opportunities that Data Science
offers and are increasingly prioritising it to gain market
share.
Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, Simplilearn

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Data and Analytics has increasingly
become the “secret sauce” of
organisations across the board. Today,
service providers are consolidating their
big data and analytics (BDA) capabilities
into one main service line and are adding
AI capabilities to their portfolio to broad-
en data-related services and compete
with their peers effectively.
Currently, in its fifth year, our Data
Science Leaders Outlook in India 2019
in collaboration with Simplilearn takes
stock of the analytics landscape in India
and how enterprises have moved up the
analytics maturity index. What was once
viewed as a competitive advantage is
now powering the core operations and
helping companies launch entirely new
business models. Analytics and Data
Science has changed the dynamics of
the industry, spawning a winner-take-all
market.
The two key transformational changes
over the last five years have been
companies beefing up the technology
infrastructure to capture more value from
data and the evolution of technology.
Technology has taken a massive leap
forward in the last few years with AI
becoming embedded in day-to-day
processes. Today, Machine Learning
and Deep Learning has found use cases
across the sector and their applications
are now powering the product recom-
mendations, language translation, virtual
assistants and image recognition.

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• All respondents expect the demand
of Analytics at their organization to
increase over the next 12 months
• Analytics is growing more mature and
leaders’ sentiment outlook continues
to be high this year. This result is con-
sistent from last year
• Across the board, companies report
that finding the right talent is the big-
gest hurdle
• Companies are open to collabora-
tions with technology incubators and
startups that give them access to IP,
proprietary technology platforms and
talent
Our goal in conducting this survey was
to develop a clear picture of analytics
maturity in organisations. We explored
topics from the usage of analytics to
what extent have enterprises benefitted
from investments in analytical capabili-
ties. Our respondents comprise of senior
analytics leaders and members of the
C-suite.
The key areas explored in this study
are:
• Maturity level of Data Science in
organisations
• Investment in Data Science over the
next five years
• Challenges that persist in Data
Science adoption
• Talent acquisition strategies key to
success
The study is geared towards IT decision
makers and offers a comprehensive
assessment of analytics maturity of
organisations and the challenges they
face. The insights can allow business
decision makers to outline a clear vision
of how businesses can further monetize
data. This is the fifth year of our in-depth
survey on analytics and data science
leaders’ outlook, and here are the
results.

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
0
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Early Stage Mature Advanced Others
PERECENTAGE OF ANALYTICS MATURITY IN ORGANISATIONS
MATURITY LEVEL OF
DATA SCIENCE ADOPTION
We asked respondents to rate the analytics adoption at their organizations on 3 level
of increasing adoption rates – early stage, mature stage & advanced stage. A majority
of organisations have climbed up in the maturity index and are taking advantage of
their scale and data to aggressively build new business lines. Maturity indicates they
are deriving more benefit from their investments.
• A majority of respondents (38%)
believe that their organization is at an
early stage of adoption
• An equal number believes that they
have reached a mature stage if not
very advanced
• 23% believed their organizations is at
an advanced stage in Data Science
adoption

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
STATE OF HIRING ANALYTICS WORKFORCE
NET SENTIMENT SCORE ACROSS YEARS
Increase Analytics
Workforce
Decrease Analytics
Workforce
Remain Same
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
DATA SCIENCE
HIRING PLANS
Next, we asked leaders about their analytics hiring plans for the next 12 months. With
demand for data scientists outstripping supply, hiring Data Science talent poses the
biggest challenge for organisations across the board. Report indicates that companies
are actively looking to increase their bench strength.
• 87% of decision makers plan to
increase their analytics workforce in
next 12 months. This is almost in line
with last few years – 2018 (90%),
2017 (87%), 2016 (94%)
• 12% leaders say that their current
analytics strength will remain the
same in the coming year
We use the hiring plan information to compute the Net Sentiment Score (Calculated as
difference of % respondents with plans to increase hiring and % respondents with plan
to decrease).
• Net Sentiment Score among analytics
leaders in India is at a five year high of
85%. Last year’s score was at 58%
• Overall, Analytics leaders in India
exhibit a strong positive outlook to-
wards the industry this year

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Grow the
team size
Collaborate
with external
partners
Grow the
existing offerings
Have better
computational
power for
my team
Shrink
existing
offerings
KEY STRATEGIC DECISIONS FOR DATA SCIENCE TEAMS IN ORGANISATIONS
KEY STRATEGIC
DECISIONS
We asked our respondents on the key strategy decisions that they plan for the coming
year in order to grow their business. With data being perceived as a formidable
advantage, leaders are aggressively investing in data infrastructure and analytical talent
to capture more value.
• 65% analytics leaders emphasise
“growing the team size” as the top
priority for the coming year. This is
much higher than a year before at
45%
• 62% are planning to Collaborate with
external partners, almost in line as last
year
• Evidently, most organizations are
increasingly getting inclined to grow
the teams internally than outsource
their data science work

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%0
Unavailability of analytics talent
Little knowledge of analytics
among my end consumer
Procedures/Processes not
standardised
Analytics as discipline
has not grown in offerings
I cannot find the right partners
It’s just too complex
Requires a lot of
computational power
The buzz around analytics
has died down
KEY CHALLENGES ACROSS DATA SCIENCE ORGANISATIONS
KEY CHALLENGES
• ‘Recruiting and Retaining Analytics
Talent’ continues to be the biggest
challenge faced by Data Science
Leaders in India
• 58% decision makers believe that
‘Unavailability of Analytics Talent’ is
the major challenge that they face.
The percentage has gone down from
last year at 70%. Clearly, there’s more
talent supply available right now in the
industry, but the challenge is still top
of mind for more leaders
• 50% of leaders believe that ‘Lit-
tle knowledge of analytics among
customers’ is a major challenge for
them. This remain the same from last
2 year
• “Procedures/ Processes not
standardised” is the third largest
challenge faced by the analytics deci-
sion makers. Almost 35% of leaders
believe to face this as the biggest
hindrance to their business
• Few leaders believe that the data
science buzz is dying down – just 2%
• A majority, 52% respondents believe
that execution speed of algorithms is
a challenge.
• 35% believe that it’s not really a
challenge for them
We specifically asked respondents on whether the execution speed for algorithms
continue to be a challenge for their organisation.

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
THE TALENT CRUNCH
THAT STILL EXISTS
As we enter the fifth year of surveying
analytics leaders’ sentiment in India, it’s
understandable that some trends will
continue to exist. In this case — the tal-
ent economy in India remains
unchanged with companies continuing
to face a supply gap of analytics talent.
As organisations move up the analyt-
ics ladder, business leaders have to
brace for a new challenge — bridge
the capability gap in their organisation.
Enterprises have to work towards
building the next-gen workforce that has
the skill-set to support new business
models and drive better outcomes.
Another key hurdle companies face is
that there is no clear set of capabilities
for today’s data-driven roles since differ-
ent problems may require different skill
sets. Most organisations are cultivating
talent in-house, but what’s required is a
holistic, multi-pronged approach to build
industry-relevant skills and competen-
cies. The need of the hour is to invest
in high-impact programmes and certifi-
cations in order to meet their business
requirements. To capitalize on the growth
wave, it is imperative for companies and
business leaders to invest in training the
existing workforce in order to meet their
business requirements.

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
CONCLUSION
Data Science offers the biggest
opportunities to companies to create
value and organisations are increasingly
prioritising it to gain market share. As
market opportunities explode,
organisations are hungry to use data
to grow and improve performance. To
achieve this scale of transformation,
organisations have to make major pivots
in terms of data infrastructure,
capabilities and talent.
A key takeaway is that companies are
now working with technology incubators,
startups and external business partners
to gain access to proprietary technology
platforms, IP and in-demand talent.
External collaborations also allow them
to gain critical digital competencies,
expand their business models and scale
fast.

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DATA SCIENCE LEADERS OUTLOOK IN INDIA 2019
ABOUT ANALYTICS
INDIA MAGAZINE
Founded in 2012, Analytics IndiaMagazine has since been
dedicated to passionately championing and promoting the
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the promotion and discussion of ideas and thoughts by
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Analytics India Magazine has been a pre-eminent source
of news, information and analysis for the Indian analytics
analytics ecosystem by covering opinions, analysis and
insights on the key breakthroughs and developments in
data-driven technologies as well as highlighting
how they are being leverages for future impact.
For more information, visit www.analyticsindiamag.com.
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