What sparked your interest in the Analytics space?
After completing my computer engineering degree at the University of Mumbai, India, I joined TCS which stands for Tata Consultancy Services. While at TCS, I primarily worked on programming and reporting analysis. My interest in analytics was ignited by a passion for writing complex code and solving challenging analytics-related problems during that time. After relocating to Melbourne, I joined Adapt IT Telecoms as an analyst. This role gave me valuable insights into mobile networks, data sets, and customer requirements. Moreover, I had the opportunity to work with automated processes, which further expanded my experience in the analytics field.
How do you see the role of a Business Data Analyst evolving in the future, and what opportunities or challenges do you anticipate?
The role of Business Data Analyst is likely to continue evolving in response to technological advancements like AI, the increasing adoption of advanced analytics, and business reporting requirements. To align with these changes, data analysts may need to develop skills like machine learning, predictive modelling, and so forth. Indeed, the future is not scary; it presents an opportunity for analysts to learn these technologies, so that they can extract deeper insight from the data.
The second key aspect to consider is the emphasis on domain knowledge. This is important because you need to have a deep understanding of the specific domain in order to conduct complex analysis. Additionally, it is important to be able to communicate the results effectively to non-technical stakeholders. Therefore, strong communication skills, data visualisation, and decision-making capabilities are and will be essential for business analysts.
Personally, I keep learning from platforms like Udemy, but mostly from customer requirements because it allows me to practice within my field of interest. Whenever customers make requests, I conduct research and practice to keep learning new technologies such as 5G, IoT, AI, and more.
What is “Automation”? Can it be a risk to Humans?
Automation involves the use of technology to complete a task, resulting in minimal human intervention. It mainly involves using software, codes, robotics, and AI processes to automate repetitive tasks. Automation is good because it improves efficiency, accuracy, and productivity. It is beneficial, but it comes with a risk. The risk is that when the process is automated, you only need a few people. Thus, it can cause an increase in unemployment rates, and with the rise in unemployment, there can be a social impact.
However, automation requires hiring someone with specific skills to use the automated processes for better results.
That’s why I believe automation won’t entirely remove or replace humans. We will still need individuals with the right skills to use and understand machines or automated processes. Even if you automate something, you will still need someone to make changes or resolve technical issues.
What is CDRlive, and How does it stand out in addressing the challenges Telcos’ face?
CDRlive is a unique tool that offers specialised and specific advanced data analysis to Telcos. In CDRlive, we load a large volume of data in our database. And we summarise that in the most innovative ways to address various customer needs. As we receive data from multiple sources, it comes in different formats and fields. We combine everything to create a single view of all types of information, such as usage, product information, devices, data quality, and billing. We ensure there are no duplicates, and the information is 100% accurate. Telcos can use our data to investigate quality issues or any issues related to billing, and so on.
This leads to improved customer satisfaction and experience, which in turn results in customer loyalty, increased revenue, and more.
CDRlive pulls a massive amount of data from the network, and there are numerous solutions within that data. How do you choose the ones with the most significant impact on the customer?
When we receive a request, we combine all the relevant information. Instead of generating a standard document report with everything in it, our amazing analyst team brainstorms and decides on a generic method to create summaries based on the customer’s reporting requirements. We can automate those tasks and send out reports daily, monthly or weekly so that users can track trends. This approach allows us to reuse the existing process and incorporate new elements when needed instead of creating an entirely new process each time.
We can also accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously because we have developed various in-house software. These include workflows and web applications, which allow us to run many processes in parallel. For example, we can generate multiple reports simultaneously and automate this process by running it in a loop.Nevertheless, as mentioned above, our team innovates and extracts relevant summarised information through effective collaboration. This information is then presented in a human-readable format, graphically, and through multiple types of documentation. In addition to automated processes, some manual work is still being done.
How do you envision CDRlive evolving to meet the changing demands and challenges of the Business Data Analysis landscape?
At CDRLive, we continue to thrive on innovation, implementing on our strategic vision and continue to deliver intelligently in a more methodical and structured manner. We work closely with our developers and continue to build the reporting capabilities that provide a world-class, easy-to-understand technological summary that helps businesses make decisions on future investments, change in market cost structures, billing, and so forth. Our key is our technology depth, knowledge of the products and platforms and the pace at which we can generate reports.
CDRlive is an agile and flexible tool. We can easily meet the different challenges because we load all the existing feeds, and with our tool, it’s easy to load the new feeds. If a new billing system comes up, for example, it’s easy to load new feeds, and as per business requirements, we can provide reporting on that using the existing structure. For instance, we have 5G reporting. Suppose any new updates are released on 5G technology. In that case we can easily load corresponding feeds and provide reports using our existing workflows and web tools. Similarly, we can do the same for new technologies when they emerge.
Our current structures are already so advanced that we can meet future challenging demands.
What was /or is the most challenging project you’ve worked on as a Business Data Analyst, and how did you overcome it?
The project that I found the most challenging involved understanding the client billing system rules and programming accordingly. For instance, I had to understand the billing process and replicate it into the Pl SQL programming in Oracle. Thankfully, with the help of other analysts in the team, we brainstormed and implemented it successfully. Many customer service representatives are now using that tool to serve their customers.Â
Is there any advice you have for the aspiring Business Data Analyst looking to build a successful career in the TECH & Telecom sectors?
To have a successful career, you need to develop strong technical skills and programming skills in languages such as Python or SQL. These are the types of languages you need to learn. Learning how to use data visualisation tools such as Tableau Power BI, which are now very relevant nowadays, is also necessary.
Secondly, you need to understand industry-specific knowledge. For example, if you go into the Telecom space, you need to understand their data to be able to conduct a thorough analysis.
Problem-solving skills are necessary for understanding data and identifying and resolving issues.
The last thing I can think of is that you need to learn new things and continuously stay updated on the latest technologies. In Telecoms, there are always new technologies, like AI, 5G, and cloud computing. Therefore, you need to keep searching for these new technologies, enhance your skills, and maybe get more certifications.
