'Social media, big data, innovation, ingredients for business success'

There is an urgent need for businesses to recognise the growing potential of social media and use this dynamic platform to grow further.

This was essentially the message at the Research Forum on Social Media, Big Data and Innovation held here at IIM-Bangalore. The event was organised by IIMB’s Centre for Software and IT Management.

“Social media is going to become a powerful reality in the coming days. It will be embraced by all – entrepreneurs, organisations and industry leaders. Every sector, including education, will embrace it and leverage it,” said Sudhir Subbaraman, Vice President, Consulting Services and Head of Products, CGI. He further highlighted the need for companies to closely follow the rapidly changing trends in social media and to leverage it for better customer experience.   

LNV Samy, Vice President, Engineering, Unisys, focussed on the use of social media in setting up organic online communities. “We use social media to float ideas on innovation; we use it to apply innovation internally to see how we can add innovations to the solutions that we provide to our customers. We have found that applied innovation has grown our new business considerably,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Devanath Tirupati, Director In-charge, IIMB said: “The theme of the Research Forum reflects the future of the IT industry – social media, big data and innovation are recognised as key ingredients for firms that are on the path of growth.”

Other guests at the event included Prof. Pratyush Bharati, Chair, Management Information Systems, University of Massachusetts, Boston and Rajat Kumar, MD and CEO, Veda Semantics. As many as 200 participants representing 60 IT organisations were present.