Data Scientists Are Gaining Importance, Says Cube26 Founder

Driven by the tremendous growth in the IT industry, many people are choosing data science as a career option.

Data mining and big data analytics have been on the rise since last five years, with new startups entering this space. A 4-year-old startup which has been in this business and has worked with major Indian tech companies is Cube26. It is an India-based technology innovation firm focussed on revolutionising user experience across multiple devices and platforms.

Saurav Kumar, the CEO and co-founder of Cube26, pursued his undergraduation in Computer Science from Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi University. During his undergraduate study, he raised funds from the President of India to build an autonomous ground vehicle.

We caught up with the young entrepreneur on his thoughts on big data and data mining startups in India and also about what Cube 26 does.

What is Cube26 and what has been your biggest learning in running a start-up?

Cube26 is an India-based technology innovation firm focused on revolutionising the user experience across multiple devices and platforms. We are focusing on three major areas – software, connected devices and data science. Software has been our strength from inception and we have worked with multiple OEMs to help them reach out to their target audience in a non-intrusive way. Another huge focus area for us is the data science arm of our business.  It is an integral part of our business. We use data mining to analyse customer behaviour in order to manage attrition and maximise expected customer value. After managing a startup from past four years, my biggest learning and struggle has been around hiring the right set of people. The expansion of team from 4 people to more than 100 now has been a big challenge. It’s very important to hire people who understand your company’s vision, the work-culture aspect and are keen to work as a partner rather than an employee. Being a tech company deeply involved with the software part, it’s very important to keep yourself updated with new tech and innovate continuously.  

Do you think India is ready for connected device experience?

The connected device ecosystem has significantly grown in the past few years.  Indian consumers have evolved in terms of technology adoption and, as a result, there was a huge surge in wearable devices in 2015. This is expected to continue in 2016.The government has already created a draft policy on connected devices and it will be great if that can be brought up to speed and moved to an act. It will be interesting to witness its implementation. It should certainly lay down the norms and further facilitate the adoption of connected devices. It is also important to increase awareness of connected ecosystem and smart technologies. The trick here lies in making tech easily available and accessible for consumers at large. While, many people know and have heard of it, very few understand the concept – how it can benefit and the need to adopt it. We definitely think India is ready for the connected device experience but it will be a while before we witness mass adoption.  

What is your product roadmap for 2016?

We are planning to launch a slew of connected, affordable, utility based devices in 2016. Our products will be aimed at solving real life problems and give our consumers a connected experience. The response we have received from our first connected product – IOTA Lite – has been extremely encouraging. Our software expertise has helped us deliver this differential edge. We further plan to expand our Software expertise with the launch of native utility apps like Message, Music player, camera etc. These apps have been developed keeping Indian audiences and issues in mind and will help them to have a better, smarter phone experience.  

How’s Cube26 focusing on strengthening its data science team?

Data science is an integral part of our business. Our approach to data science is what we like to call as “Full Stack Data Science”. We use data mining to analyse customer behaviour in order to manage attrition and maximise expected customer value. We already have a dedicated team of data scientists and we are further looking to build our team. Their deliverables are data-driven products – in enterprise, consumer hardware and software products. We recently tied-up with IIIT-Hyderabad to initiate research on Cognitive Intelligence. The year-long project will select postgraduate and undergraduate students of IIIT-Hyderabad, who will further strengthen the data science capabilities of Cube26. 

How does the data science team help a company with crucial consumer behaviour information?

Companies now understand the potential of leveraging data, analytics and cognitive intelligence to help in efficient business decision-making. Whether it is about recognising information needs or fetching and organising data, data professionals are increasingly playing a valuable role in businesses. From a Cube26 perspective, the data science team has really helped us gain insights on app usage patterns, features that consumers are using more often in our IOTA Lite app and also other valuable insights from the data that is being generated every second. Data science is steadily gaining importance and we have witnessed various companies across sectors hire data scientists. Still at a nascent stage, it definitely has the potential to soon be one of the most sought after career options in India. In response to this growing trend, several top universities have started programs dedicated to data science. Driven by the tremendous growth prospects in the IT industry, many people are choosing data science as a career option.