Keeping up with the advancements in AI
Data-driven decision making has always been at the heart of marketing intelligence, a concept we at MiQ live by. And it is this credence that we put in data that has enabled us to over-deliver for a myriad of businesses by striking the right balance between human ingenuity and AI. But in the extremely dynamic and transitional field of AI, it is imperative for data science adopters to keep adapting to the latest advancements in the field or slowly translate into a pariah and eventually sink into oblivion.
Practices like reading research papers and staying up-to-date with the prominent academic journals help in capturing a modicum of these advancements. But remarkable opportunities where one gets to listen to industry stalwarts discussing their successes/failures and the path that led to it, helps in establishing an alternate perspective and develop an outlook into the alternate approaches that can be adopted to resolve a problem and the ways in which the accuracy and the efficiency of the intended solution might be enhanced.
The ODSC (Open data science conference) was one such platform where over 900 budding data science enthusiasts and industry stalwarts (some who are paragon in their field of study/ research) from nine countries had come together to tackle some of the most grueling data science conundrums and discuss some of the most exciting headway being made in the field. The disparate audience at the event was bound together only by the proclivity towards overcoming data challenges.
The speaking panel and the discussion topics were carefully curated to have a holistic overview of the existing and upcoming data science challenges across different verticals which engaged the different audience segments present while creating a conducive environment to get the brightest minds in across functions to contribute towards furthering the concept of AI by narrowing the existing knowledge gap.
From debunking the most quotidian myths around AI to deliberating the perennial problems like complexity Vs interpretability, the four-day long event was a haven of learning every data evangelist dreams to be a part of. The discussions and presentations were structured in a way that nagged the audience to ponder over and reevaluate the traditional approaches employed for solving some of the most rudimentary problems like data balancing, model agnostics, data visualization, predictive analytics to name a few. But amidst the mountain of learning being provided within the seminar halls, the complex cross-business discussions in the discussion hall was something that caught everyone’s eye.
The thirst for knowledge at the conference was matched only by the curiosity of the attendees to know more about data science adoption in different fields and how data was being used to demystify the real-world business challenges. The event besides being an AI knowledge dispenser also turned out to be a breeding ground for exciting upcoming business ventures and product innovation. The wave of innovation took over the breaks and networking dinners as data scientists, analysts and software developers all sat in groups pitching ideas, deliberating the limitations and challenges, all the while contemplating the feasibility of their convoluted business ventures.
Digital advertising was one of the many discussed business avenues with a relatively nascent concept of programmatic ad serving gaining popularity amongst the participants present. Bid-optimisation, predictive screening, using behavioral and contextual trends to get deeper insights into consumer behavior and leveraging cross-media attribution strategies for more accurate and KPI oriented advertising models were some of the perspicacious ideas flowing around. The approach and the infrastructure MiQ has developed over the years was something which was widely appreciated by the audiences and the curiosity was not only limited to these discussions. Ideas and follow-up questions kept flowing in even after the event with some even descending during the concomitant networking meetups.
Not only was the audience intrigued by the tech and science that supplements a simple ad serving, but they were also particularly curious about the ecosystem which affords ingestion, processing and analysis of data from disparate sources at a scale implausible to many. The way in which the ecosystem reacts to changes in real-time also fascinated many. There were specks of speculation around the viability of some offering among the largely approbatory audience.
The digital media experts at MiQ joined forces with data science veterans over the two-day intellectual conclave to discuss the extended possibilities of using data to drive better decision making and the other avenues/sources that could be explored to keep a closer tab on the user behavior. This is likely to aid us in getting a better understanding of the customer journey and thereby augmenting the chances of us driving a digital conversion.
The learnings that were drawn up from the event are not only likely to ameliorate the data science practices at MiQ in a way that augments both the efficiency and accuracy of the existing systems, but also help us explore some uncharted avenues in a quest to deliver the most ingenious solutions for clients.
Also, the level of enthusiasm and curiosity around a relatively new concept/ problem statement among the Indian data science community though overwhelming was also reassuring of our data-driven approach and the arduous labor MiQ has put in building the AiQ infrastructure which has now started getting its due share of recognition from the extremely talented data science community in India.
