Data Mining & Analytics – Do They Rewrite the IT Landscape?

Asoke K. Laha, President & MD, Interra IT
There are two phraseologies which you may be hearing more frequently these days in meetings and seminars directly or remotely connected with information technology. Why I said more often because in earlier times, these jargons were seldom used. 

Let me explain the context in which I hear such jargons. In a serious discussion on healthcare, I heard from a college professor from an Ivy League University in the U.S. talk how data mining and analytics are used to find the trend of diseases in certain countries specific to that area. The professor elaborated that in a country like Finland, where type 1 diabetes is very common, particularly among the juveniles. There was a concerted effort to data mine to find out the possible reasons. One conclusive correlation between juvenile diabetes and lack of vitamin D, which is grossly insufficient in a cold country like Finland, was established. 

Hardly is there any segment revolutionized by technology as healthcare is. It may be in a relative sense since the perception is that healthcare is something that revolves around doctors, hospitals, diagnostics and the patients’ interfaces with them individually or collectively. That concept has gone for a toss. For instance, medical experts are of the view that for cases that can be treated at the primary healthcare centres need not have to be through the hospital and the patient need not have to meet the doctors in person. The interface or consultations with the doctor and patient can take place in the virtual medium, wherein the doctors can attend to patients through the virtual medium with the help of a trained nurse, even if the doctors sit hundreds of miles away. Technology platforms now available can make healthcare both affordable and accessible. Moreover, the patients need not have to travel huge distances to get the consultations done. Yes, technology has made steady strides.

Data analytics is finding acceptability in every sphere of life, even in criminology. Research is being done to find out the genes that make people more prone to criminal activity. If the exact reasons are found out, it may become possible for the clinicians and genetic engineers to reverse such trends. Does it mean that the world is moving towards a state that can nip the faulty genes in the bud itself and that way moving towards an orderly society free from all vices. It may sound Utopian now. But who knows it may be a possibility in the near future. Through data mining, experts are of the view that the DNA that causes ageing can be found out. Should it mean youthfulness and agility become disengaged with the process of ageing? 

Not many know that data mining and analytics in the genome are emerging as frontier businesses for many IT firms. There are some factors that helped such enterprises to come up in India. Foremost is the US Supreme Court decision which was pronounced in 2013 in the case of Myriad Genetics Inc., wherein the court has maintained that natural human genes cannot be patented since it is a product of nature. It said that genome is a basic tool of scientific and technological work and it is beyond the domain of patent protection. But the court also maintained that synthetic genetic material, such as clones, can be patented, since billions of dollars are involved in the research and it should be recouped. Also, the process through which the genome has been discovered can be patented as a process patent. 

There are many genome research outfits coming up in India also, while in countries like the U.S. and the U.K. they occupy an important position in the corporate ladder. Some of them have listed in the stock exchange in anticipation of huge surge in their fortunes once they struck with some landmark discoveries. More than commercial connotations, the research findings of these companies will  unravel several mysteries about genetics, causes for mutation and even prevention of such mutations, saving the humanity from the double whammy of pain and financial loses. 

There is scope for using data analytics in fields like economics, sociology, and law. For instance, the central bank of a country can easily evolve a solution to an economic ill by looking at the trends, as obtained earlier. With the help of huge data stored, the trends of the inflation can be found over the years and what measures that helped in bringing down the prices. The policy-makers also can scan through the data stored for other countries. It can also instruct the central banks to pursue differing monetary policies suitable to each situation. In the fiscal administration, a country can gauge the impact of a fiscal levy before it is being imposed by going through data collated for other countries. What I am trying to drive home is that it is possible to find trends that can be extrapolated to arrive at specific conclusions. 

Have we given enough focus to data mining and analytics in our overhaul of IT policy? I suspect not. There are reasons to believe. Just to imagine that this is an area where start-ups can proliferate is a simplistic inference. Data mining and analytics fall under the purview of R&D. It is a capital-intensive venture, where huge investments are required. A start-up entrepreneur seldom finds such resources. There should be government funding and support for such efforts. Also, there should be greater government, industry and academia tie-ups to foster such costly research. There can be a high financial risk involved. Even after years of research, breakthrough results may elude. There can be many alternative proposals that can be thought of in this regard, such as joint research where there can be an investor from outside for meeting the initial cost with an understanding that the outcome can be jointly patented. The other alternative is selling the R&D efforts to an industry, after it has reached a certain degree of maturity and certainty. 

While we move towards a system that connects with digital economy, from birth to death, what system we have to protect the data and prevent others peeping into our private life. This is a question, which everyone is asking. In India, we have heard about Aadhaar data being compromised by the vested interests. There are sporadic complaints being raised by the politicians and others about the electronic voting equipment being compromised or which can be tampered with human interventions, so much so that the Supreme Court of India has made it mandatory to have a parallel system of digital voting and the conventional method of voting, wherein the ballot paper generated by the machine has to be dropped in the ballot box. In the U.S., we hear about how Russians had influenced the recent election and that scandal is refusing to die down. How do we face this challenge? The way out is embellishing the cybersecurity systems, wherein there should be foolproof devices that can prevent hacking or manipulation. Happily, this is also a multibillon industry, where India can have its legitimate pie.