The Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), the pioneer in providing globally renowned IT and Business higher education in Sri Lanka, recently held the Big Data Analytics Open Forum at The Mirage, Colombo.

The event was attended by IT and corporate professionals who represented several renowned multinational and local blue-chip companies. The Open Forum discussed the uses of Big Data, Business Analytics and Business Intelligence tools to empower organizations to achieve success.

The event was addressed by CEO of IIT -Dr. Sampath Kannangara, Professor Nirmalie Wiratunge - Professor Intelligent Systems Research for Robert Gordon University, UK, Cassim Farook – Senior Lecturer /Course Leader at IIT and Alroy Mascranghe – Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator at IIT.

Dr. Nirmalie Wiratunga from the School of Computing Science and Digital Media at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland addressing the Forum said that Big Data is a popular topic which has gained much attention and is of strategic importance to Robert Gordon University and Scotland.

Speaking at the forum, CEO of IIT, Dr. Sampath Kannangara said, "IIT is a pioneer in providing internationally renowned undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Over the years we focused on producing all-round graduates that are able to empower their respective organizations. IIT graduates are in high demand in the Government and Corporate sectors mainly due to our focus on catering to the industry needs. The postgraduate degree programmes offered at IIT will enhance knowledge and provide the students with the necessary skillsets that is required to excel in their chosen career. The specialized masters programmes offered at IIT in collaboration with globally renowned universities will definitely give our graduates a competitive edge.”

“What is Business Analytics? Everyone is talking about it these days. It is simply turning data into insight.  If you have heard of Netflix, they have a lot of subscribers as well as data. After further investigation into the types of TV shows that subscribers prefer to watch, they found a relationship between specific pairings of TV shows and they went onto produce the American version of House of Cards which was a huge success. Another heavily used example in business analytics is on pampers and beer. A famous supermarket wanted to get an idea of the products customer like to buy together when they shop at the grocery store and they found a very unusual pairing which was pampers and beer. They put these products next to each other and even gave a promotion on these two products together and the sales increased by a vast amount,” Alroy Mascrenghe speaking on the topic of Business Analytics said.

Cassim Farook – Senior lecturer at IIT stated that Big Data Analytics is targeted towards a tech savvy, R&D and research oriented architects, solution designers, implementers and engineers. He added that the MSc Big Data Analytics offered at IIT will provide students following the programme an in-depth knowledge on technologies and tools that will give rise to efficient Big Data Analytics solutions.

IIT is currently offering MSc Big Data Analytics and MSc Business Analytics postgraduate degree programmes from Robert Gordon University. For more information and to register please contact IIT on 0722 727272 or visit their website www.iit.ac.lk

Photo caption: Professor Nirmalie Wiratunge - Professor Intelligent Systems Research for Robert Gordon University, UK addressing the open forum