With big data analytics becoming a new normal in businesses today, enterprises and medium-sized companies have turned to big data and analytics to drive digital transformation. An E&Y research shows that 81% of organizations think data should be at the heart of all decision making. Today, big data is no longer just about creating value in business and driving operational excellence. It is deeply embedded in the decision-making process and leveraged across departments to drive additional value. But the big question is — do we have the managerial talent needed to convert critical data into insights that create business value? As organizations grapple with digital transformation, there is a strong need for leadership skills at the top level for building a business based on data-driven decision making.

Over the years, there have been significant changes in a manager’s job. It is no longer about just developing business cases, project planning and making “gut feel” decisions. Thankfully, big data has paved way for data-driven decisions and managers today need to keep pace with the skills required to deliver these decisions at every stage of a project. And that’s why MBA programs need to develop the talent that can convert data into real business value.  In the data-age, it’s important for business schools to manage varying expectations in the digital economy. Increasingly, students look for an MBA that augments business skills in a technology rich environment. The traditional MBA programs offer little in the way of data and analysis that is a must-have to build data-driven strategies and drive efficiency.

A look at Executive MBA programs, the poorer cousin of full-time MBA programs reveals that the curriculum hasn’t been updated in the last 10 years. Besides, most of the executive MBA programs expect the candidates to complete the program in three years, a huge commitment for candidates who are eager to get back in the professional world. Globally as well, MBAs have been condensed into a full-time one-year program that enable learners to swing back into the professional careers quickly and reap big gains from the business degree. Increasingly, the talent pool for MBA programs has become rich and diverse with a lot of candidates from STEM background who have a solid grounding in technical skills but lack management skills. For STEM candidates, MBA skills can add great value and lend a better understanding of business context.

Keeping this in mind, Great Learning in association with Great Lakes Institute of Management, a leading B-school took the MBA program back to the drawing board and decided to re-evaluate and design a program tailored to the needs of working executives. After consultations with 100+ industry leaders, 20+ companies and 1000+ alumni of executive MBA programs, Great Lakes’ came up with PGPM-Ex program – a data-driven, industry-centric MBA program that is relevant for today’s professionals.

“We wanted the PGPM-Ex program to be more impactful than all the executive MBA programs that exist in India. Which is one of the reasons why we benchmarked the curriculum, pedagogy and learning methodologies with the best in the world and also collaborated with IIT Chicago for the program,” said Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-Founder, Great Learning.

Here’s what drives the PGPM-EX program

Become a data-driven manager: The saturated data landscape presents a great opportunity to candidates to turn to quantitative analysis to find insights and underpin competitive strategies to data-driven decisions. With businesses turning to disruptive technologies, managers aren’t just responsible for data management across the company but are also defining data-ownership and laying the framework for data governance. That’s why data-driven decision making is at the heart of PGPM-EX program and is the underlying foundation of this course.

Generalist vs Specialist:  When we talk about being a specialist, the idea is to help a learner build core competency in an area that is in high demand in the industry and gain application-driven, domain-specific knowledge through a detailed Capstone project. With data becoming pervasive in every sector, companies are looking at talent that can keep up with the technological challenges and also manage their projects in-house. The program explores how to build data-driven strategies that drive customer insights and innovation across domains such as Analytics, Digital Marketing, Product Management, Supply Chain and Finance and students can choose any specialization.

People Effectiveness & Leadership skills: As a manager and leader of a team, project or an organization, one is entrusted with motivating teams, conducting fair assessments, implementing processes, giving actionable feedback, conducting negotiations, attracting talent and arresting attrition etc. Leadership and management skills come into sharp focus and it’s here that most candidates find themselves out of the comfort zone.

The program offers key leadership and people effectiveness skills that can help candidates effectively manage expectations of stakeholders, customers, senior-level management and their teams as well by marrying strategy with data-driven decision making.

Hard Facts

Duration: 12 months with weekend classes & online content

Timeline: Candidates can complete the program within 24 months

Fee: INR 3,95,000 + service tax + GST

Eligibility criteria:  Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline with a minimum of 50% aggregate marks in graduation or equivalent. Candidates who have a Masters can also apply

Work Experience: Minimum full-time 3 years work experience

International Recognition: The course is developed in collaboration with Illinois Institute of Technology

Here’s why you should opt for Data-Driven MBA

For working professionals looking to transition to managerial roles, an MBA is a great fit. And here’s why a data-driven MBA can reap great gains. With enterprises getting more and more entrenched in collecting and mining data, there is a need for managerial professionals at the top tier to build and guide teams, interact with customers and drive growth. The need is for a quick-paced, intensive MBA program with a specialization that can help students gain an experience in their field and become data-driven leaders. The PGPM-EX program anchored by world-class faculty enables students to secure great career outcomes by making data an integral part of learning. So, if you want to make businesses more intelligent and land a top management position, this is a great way to start off.