NUS MSBA students shine at analytics projects showcase

The 2019 Business Analytic Technical Evening (BATE) showcased ideas from graduating Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) students’ capstone projects.

Organised by the NUS Business Analytics Centre (NUS BAC), the event saw 90 students vie for the coveted Outstanding Capstone Project Award. It was also a platform for industry members, students and academics to network.

The event saw over 400 attendees, a fourfold increase from the inaugural event in 2015, highlighting the event’s growing popularity and recognition by the business analytics industry.

Impressing the analytics industry

The students presented their ideas in a gallery of posters which demonstrated how their analytics-based solutions solve real-world challenges in various industry sectors. The judging panel included some 20 industry practitioners from organisations such as banks, logistics firms and technology companies. The students were tested on how well they are able to articulate their ideas, their creativity, and the business impact of their solutions.

For the capstone projects, the MSBA students would choose from projects provided by corporate partners. These projects involve real-world business challenges and these companies get the opportunity to work with young talent.

Shivam Bansal, Pham Huong Giang, Dani Wu, Bertrand Xiao and Yi Suqin won the Outstanding Capstone Project Award for their solution that brought impactful value to end-users.

In the case of Dani, she found out about insurer AXA’s case that was looking for solutions to improve its response rates for voice surveys. Dani proposed a speech analysis system that could automatically extract insights during a customer service call, instead of having customers go through a lengthy survey. Impressed by her work, AXA decided to hire her.

“The judges say our projects stood out because our solutions either improved current operations significantly or eliminated a long-drawn problem,” said Dani.

Huong Giang picked up resort giant Marina Bay Sands’ project for a HR platform to manage assignments for bellmen in the hotel. Huong Giang created a workforce planning tool that automatically plans work shifts for the bellmen. The system could even be expanded to all departments within the hotel. She ended up being hired by Marina Bay Sands.

“Our projects reflect our progress during our two years here. I am proud to be part of the MSBA programme,” added Huong Giang.

Shah Bhavesh, Vice President (New Business Development and Finance) at ConvaTec (Singapore), a pharmaceutical company, had nothing but praise for the students. “I think their work is exemplary. You can see the different types of projects that range from fraud detection to cutting down taxi waiting time. The breadth and depth, as well as the number of projects covered are wide,” he said.

Current MSBA student Li Fengzi found BATE interesting because she was able to gain many insights from her seniors on their project work. Other than learning the challenges and how the seniors overcame them, she enjoyed meeting and interacting with people from the various industries that incorporated analytics into their business.

A hotbed of ideas

Industry practitioners believe BATE is a place to exchange ideas and gain knowledge, as well as a recruitment ground.

“Professionals can find out how their own industry is being transformed, learn about other sectors and how they can apply best practices in their own space,” said Ian Wilson, then Senior Vice President of Non-Gaming Operations, Marina Bay Sands and now an advisor in Singapore tourism.

Sameer Gupta, Managing Director, Chief Analytics Officer, DBS encouraged anyone who is looking to recruit people and build talent in data science and analytics, to attend this event. “Without data, you will not survive the next 10 years,” he said.

To be invited for subsequent runs of BATE, drop us an email at msba@nus.edu.sg to be added to our mailing list.

To learn more about the MSBA programme, click here.