In the world of business analytics, simply building a model to analyse data and problem solve is not enough. Increasingly, focus is placed on an insightful delivery of the proposed solution through an engaging business presentation.
For graduate student Raghav Garg, who is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) at the NUS Business Analytics Centre, taking this extra step set him apart from his competition at the recent Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) Business Case Challenge 2018.
Raghav beat more than 50 participants to take home the first runner-up position at the competition.
The first round of the challenge saw competitors work on a practical case study. Based on actual problems faced by the VCA team, they had five hours to come up with a way to reduce the customer attrition rate of a dummy bank through data analysis.
“I took a pragmatic approach and tackled the problem simply as I knew I may not have the time to build a big model,” said Mr Raghav.
His chosen strategy worked, and he progressed to the final round of the competition where he had to present his solution to senior business leaders.
This was a personal challenge for Raghav as he knew the judges were not technical people, which meant that he could not use industry jargon.
However, his experience from winning the championship title at the China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) – NUS Business Analytics Innovation Challenge 2017 gave him an edge in formulating his presentation and understanding what the judges may look for.
“When working at an analyst level, you never think about presenting it to the business level. I had to incorporate the insights and actionable parts of my proposed solution into an overall story and sell it to the management,” he said.
To Raghav, the experience meant more than clinching the first-runner up position.
Throughout the competition, he was able to interact and consult with the VCA staff, just as one would in a day-to-day scenario at the office. For Raghav, this was a novel and interesting experience for a business competition.
Of course, his passion for business does not stop there. The go-getter, who was previously a product analytics intern at Singapore-based technology company Grab, is also active in the entrepreneurship industry.
Together with fellow students from the MSBA programme, he recently delivered a start-up pitch to venture capitalists about building a consumer analytics platform that will redefine the way people shop.
The idea was met with favourable reception and he is currently working on making it a reality.
For more information on the MSBA programme, please visit http://msba.nus.edu.sg/.
