In India, We See The Breadth: SAS India R&D Chief

During a brief interaction with BW Businessworld, Dr Rama Jayanti (Centre Head and Vice President, SAS India R&D) spoke on the importance of India in SAS’ global R&D efforts, its handling of recessionary fears and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in today’s data analytics space.

Edited Excerpts:

How is SAS’ global delivery powered by the efforts channeled from India?

SAS R&D India (SRDI) has been in existence for about 20 years in Pune and we started our centre as an R&D focused office. But today, we have several other functions under one roof as well, including product management, customer facing roles like professional services, customer advocacy, customer success, and also cloud operations – which is our newest offering in addition to our Technical Support and core Research & Development. Outside our headquarters in the US, Pune is the largest R&D centre.

SAS R&D India focuses on key areas, including Retail Analytics, IoT Analytics, Risk Modeling and Decisioning, Regulatory Capital Management and Platform Services.

What kind of traction do you see in India?

Given that we are in the space of analytics, our customers come from very different domains because we're not necessarily tied to a specific industry. In India, we see the breadth. We have several banks that use our products. The government is also a fairly large customer for us (Also, different state governments). Some of the larger automotive companies and paint companies as well. 

All signs point to a recession in 2023. How is SAS handling this with regards to its hiring in the India R&D division versus the US?

Like most companies, we are keeping a tab on where the markets are moving and where the industry is going. We have not fully stopped hiring, but our hiring is not as aggressive as it was last year. So, we are monitoring it and that's really where we are. This is true across the board and it's not India versus US. Last year, we grew 31 per cent in Pune. This year our numbers may look different. But we are still looking for good talent for some key positions worldwide.

What is the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in today's data analytics space? How much of AI is being kind of implemented in what SAS delivers for its clients?

Traditionally, if you look at analytics, people looked at trends and they look at some basic forecasts. But with so many factors influencing how the trends move, I think integration of AI/ML into any forecasting model is almost non-negotiable. Most of our forecasting capabilities leverages AI/ML in one form or the other, whether you look at our retail solutions, risk, or our core analytics offering.

What is your opinion on Indian talent in AI and data analytics?

One thing that's in our favor is the demography. We do have young people and they also have lots of colleges. Moreover, most colleges today have curriculums that are centred around AI/ML, data science, as well as advanced certification programs on analytics. If you look at all these factors, we are very well positioned to lead the way when it comes to AI/ML and analytics. In fact, I think our CEO in one of his articles had also called out this particular point about India having so much of talent and I would concur with him on it.