IBM partners Galgotia University for MBA in Business Analytics

Technology giant IBM said it has partnered with Galgotias University for an MBA programme in Business Analytics to help organisations build high quality skilled resources in areas of managerial decision making and strategy. The curriculum of the programme has been developed jointly for better industry alignment and will be delivered by both GU faculty and experts from IBM, IBM said in a statement. "This is the very first time in India that IBM has partnered with a University to work on Management Studies programme. "Given the large amounts of new data created every singleminute, analytics skills are no longer just a requirement for the IT professional, they are becoming increasingly important for businesses as well," IBM India/South Asia Software Group Technical Sales Leader Sudhir Sastry said. With the MBA Programme in analytics, students will be able to help their employers gain better customer insights, manage risk, and financial metrics more effectively, and help strive for unique market differentiation, the statement said. The programme will cover relevant general management topics and courses on descriptive and predictive analytics, data mining, big data and financial planning. In later semesters, the focus will be on Business Analytics in various industries like retail, manufacturing and BFSI, among others, it added. Under its Career Education for Business Transformation (CEBT) programme, IBM has already opened seven IBM Business Analytics Labs at various premier B-Schools like IIM, Symbiosis and IFIM. According to the 2012 IBM CMO study, nearly three-quarters respondents said they use customer analytics to mine data, while about two-thirds said they would need to change the mix of skills within the marketing function and enhance their analytics capabilities. A study from McKinsey & Co suggests that there will be a shortage of talent to take advantage of big data. By 2018, the US alone could face a shortage of 1,40,000 to 1,90,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.