In pursuit of ‘productizing’ the Big Data space, Affine Analytics

Published on : YourStory, 25th Jul 2013 (Source)

Big Data comes to the top of the mind whenever anyone mentions of the buzz words in the startup space. There’s no doubt that the sector has received a lot of hype it is also justified to an extent. The output companies have been able to achieve with the help of big data has been substantial and the developments in the space are happening at a rapid pace. An upcoming startup in the space is Bangalore based Affine Analytics.

Founded by Manas Agarwal, Vineet Kumat and Abhishek Anand In 2011, the company has a very high focus on arriving at actionable insights. Affine offers analytics solutions to a diverse set of functions for four key verticals: Retail, eCommerce, Banking and Telecom. The company raised angel funding in 2012 and has grown to a team of 40 in a short span since then. Manas has a rich experience of more than a decade in analytics and is the CEO, Vineet is the brain behind the solutions while Abhisehek is the client face along who also has a strong analytics background.

The trio have been previously with other analytics companies but felt the need of a better way to cater to the need of big data analysis. “The bigger companies in the space tend to throw people at the problem which is not the way to go ahead we feel. Companies are looking for more than just reporting or first generation analytics,” says Manas. There was a need to go deeper into the problem and in a way, do more with less.

Focusing on their work, Affine has manged to get eight customers for themselves, out of which five are Fortune 500 companies. Talking about the data philosophy at Affine, Manas states 3 points:

• Data tells its own story, not always the one you want to listen to.
• Data in itself does not mean much unless we impart a meaning to it – business semantics. Hence every Affine associate is as strong on business understanding as s/he is on core analytics.
• Data should not be bound by shapes – Table, free text or any other form: so-called unstructured data most of the times gives more information than the once which are shape bounded.

Lessons from these philosophies have led Affine to a realization to move towards productized offerings. Affine is creating domain focused analytic platforms that will accelerate the delivery of solutions and save upto 50-60% in delivery time while increasing the solution accuracy. For instance, in the telecom sector, Affine helps companies reduce Customer Churn and improve conversion rates dramatically using advanced analysis and this offering is being productized which can be tailored so that it fits various customers

Actionable & Measurable decision support systems, built on heavy-duty analysis is the value proposition Affine offers. “We do not ask our customers to do the math – we will do the math and give business recommendations,” says Manas. Looking at the road ahead, Affine targets to move into the $20M runrate bracket by mid 2014 with good 30%-40% revenue coming from productized services.