Five-time World Champion and NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand highlights relevance of Chess in advancing analytics
NIIT’s transformational “Program in Business Analytics” aims to develop next generation data scientists and business analytics professionals for today’s competitive business environment
NIIT unleashes another novel initiative - “MindChampions like you, find new ways to win” - to motivate youngsters to overcome challenging situations
New Delhi, April 16, 2014: Five-time World Champion and NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand who was in the city today highlighted the relevance of chess in advancing analytics that is so critical to succeed in today’s competitive business environment. As the need for analyzing huge volumes of data presents immense opportunity for businesses today, there has been a growing demand for analytics professionals across various sectors. Also present on the occasion were Rohit Agarwal, Vice President, Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT Ltd. and Vinod Koul, Vice President, Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT Ltd.
During the session, Anand emphasized that Chess requires players to consider numerous possibilities, explore new ideas, experiment with new moves and try to predict and interpret their outcomes. Similarly in the age of increasing competition, enterprises are under constant pressure to perform and analyse multiple data sets to predict trends that can be used to take crucial business decisions. Given the large amounts of new data created every single minute, analytics skills are no longer just an extension of the IT professional, they are becoming increasingly important for businesses. Business Analytics is emerging as an industry in its own right.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the Data Scientist is the ‘Sexiest Job of the 21st Century’. NASSCOM has estimated that from 50,000 today, the demand for Analytics professionals in India will grow to 2, 50,000 by 2015. Analytics is the next big thing that is already starting to transform businesses and their ability to compete by helping them make smarter decisions. To cater to this growing demand, NIIT has recently launched a comprehensive and unique – “Program in Business Analytics” to develop the next generation of data scientists and business analytics professionals.
“Chess fosters foundational mental capacities that underlie learning and creative thinking while Analytics is a way of thinking that allows use of knowledge, tools and technologies to extract valuable insights from data. I congratulate NIIT for launching first of its kind program in data analytics, that will hugely benefit businesses.” said five-time World Champion and NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand.
Commemorating Anand’s recent win, NIIT unveiled a novel initiative aimed at motivating youngsters to overcome their challenging circumstances and emerge victorious through determination, hard work and perseverance. The initiative, titled “MindChampions like you, find new ways to win”, has met with an encouraging response with youngsters sharing their own personal `Vishy moment’, a moment when they exhibited resilience to emerge a winner even in tough situations.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rohit Agarwal, Vice President, Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT said, “Companies are increasingly becoming mindful of turning information into wealth, making analytics one of the fastest emerging industries. This is creating the need for a large number of skilled professionals to manage data differently. The unique Program in Business Analytics offered by NIIT focuses on predictive analytics using advanced statistical methods, mathematical modelling, macroeconomics and operations research to drive decision making. Like our very own MindChampion Viswanathan Anand, the program, I am certain, will teach us newer ways to win!”
NIIT’s association with Vishy is one of the longest brand associations in the history of Indian sport. Together for the past 15 years, they have worked relentlessly to build a community of young chess players, encouraging students to apply the winning strategies of chess in real life situations. Studies have shown that Chess improves concentration and diligence thus helping students perform better academically.
The NIIT MindChampions’ Academy - a Joint initiative by NIIT and Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand - was introduced in the year 2002 with the objective of initiating children into the world of Chess. The phenomenal success of MindChampions’ Academy has reiterated the fact that Chess has been a rewarding experience for students, helping them approach the academic problems in a more tactical and logical manner and improving their analytical skills. Today, MCA has touched 1.65 million children in over 17,000 schools across India. Over the last 12 years MCA has organized more than 16,000 school level tournaments and over 5,500 District level & State Level tournaments. MindChampions’ Academy conducts the hugely popular annual event, known as ChessMaster for school children across India within the NIIT network of schools. NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand has personally travelled across India and has visited countries like Africa and China to inspire young minds to take up Chess.
In his glorious career spanning over 25 years, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has taken Indian chess to great heights. Born in Chennai, Vishy is acclaimed to be the Fastest Brain in the world. Five-time World Champion, Vishy is the only person in Chess history to have won a World championship title in all formats - match, knock-out and tournament. It is his success in the world chess arena that has made this ancient Indian game, a mass sport in the country.