How has the role of data been reshaped in the world due to COVID-19?

 Given the pandemic and the difficult times that the world is facing, the field of data science has come to the forefront in trying to understand and provide useful insights that will help us in combating this virus. With the help of technology and the methodical use of data, we can now see how the virus is mutating, where it's spreading and what kind of effect it is having on the economy across the globe. The role of data has drastically been reshaped in the world since the pandemic began.

It is solely because of a new generation of datasets that we are able to get such a detailed idea and view of COVID-19. Apart from the datasets, advancement in computing power and analytical methods to study data has been hugely beneficial to data scientists across the world. Experts in this field are now using data in order to identify existing patterns, analyse the data, and to find and predict solutions to the ongoing challenges that have come up since the inception of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Looking at a post Covid period, it can be seen that there has been an increase in the variety of data that has been generated. Due to the precautions that were taken like social distancing, there has been a very obvious shift in the behaviour of consumers. The interaction between consumers and firms has gradually shifted to online and digital channels. There has been a huge growth in media consumption where the markets of OTT (Over the top) and VOD (Video on Demand) have seen a rise. 

Companies are slowly shifting towards using IoT devices to gain real time data which would be helpful in providing access to a wide variety of data formats like location, images, voice, etc. There is a lot of focus on building analytical models which would employ the use of intensive AI algorithms which can ensure that a certain level of analytics can be done at the device level which reduces network latency and the load on the cloud. 

With the onset of Covid-19, data analytics and intelligence were given priority over all else. In order to deal with this efficiently, many organizations introduced and even accelerated their initiatives that were built on the improvisation and use of data analytics and intelligence. Leaders in the IT industry have understood the value of data and how critical it is to their success. 

With the shift towards digitalisation in the business world, there is a growing need for people who will be efficient workers in this field. Students with an MBA in Business Analytics would be an ideal fit for this industry. The field of data is vast and unending, and there are plenty of careers available in this industry if you have an MBA in Business Analytics. However, since this is a relatively new program that has suddenly taken the forefront, not many colleges and universities offer the course or are well equipped to teach it.

Among the few business schools that offer a specialised MBA in Business Analytics, Bengal Institute of Business Studies is one of the top MBA colleges in Kolkata offering an MBA in Business Analytics and Data Science. The college offers many opportunities for internships and interactions with mentors and leaders who are part of the corporate world. BIBS also has an excellent placement cell, through which they have had over 400+ companies that have come for recruitment to the college.