Relevance of MBA in the AI/ML Age

Master of Business Administration is a coveted qualification that is highly valued in the business world. But what does an MBA exactly do? In a nutshell, it equips an individual with knowledge to tackle various business-related situations.

The world of business is constantly evolving; and so is an MBA. Where business leads, B-schools follow. In the two years that a typical MBA program runs for, students begin with core subjects like Marketing, Finance, Operations, Organizational Behavior, etc; while in the second year, they are exposed to specializations like Predictive Analytics, Sourcing, Entrepreneurship, Business Law, Consumer Behavior, Portfolio Management, and so on. There are other types of MBA programs, too, which are focused on a particular field right from the start.

Just like oil & gas powered the economies of the 20th and early 21st centuries, data is increasingly driving innovation and the global economy, as we enter an era of digital revolution. Nearly all business firms-ranging from tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to humble early-stage start-ups-and their employees must either embrace data or risk falling behind the competition.

Companies that move to a data-first mindset gain a significant competitive advantage. According to a recent McKinsey study, in the healthcare industry, the use of data analytics could lead to cost reductions of up to $450 billion in the US market alone!

The data industry is exhibiting exponential growth. In fact, more than 90 percent of the data in existence has been created in the last two years alone. Within this massive stockpile lies information desired by businesses in their pursuit of an improved understanding of consumer trends, reduced product development costs, and better customer targeting, among countless other potential applications.

It is no surprise, then, that we are now at a point where everyone will need to be data-smart in their day-to-day roles.

It is true that some decision-making, nowadays, is delegated to computer algorithms and neural networks. This raises a question in many minds: Is the very nature of management under threat? To answer, even if we take out the technical portion completely, soft skills, like communication and leadership will always be required.

Moreover, data needs to be analyzed, communicated, and then requires leadership to bring about a change. A manager will be able to take decisions based on the insights provided by data. Data analytics is just a facilitator that allows a judgment to be taken quicker.

B-school are well aware of these changing dynamics. With the increasing importance of Data Analytics in the business world, B-schools are adjusting their curricula accordingly. By introducing subjects like Predictive Analytics, Big Data, Marketing Analytics, etc., they are integrating a technical understanding of machine learning and AI into what is being taught, thus making the curricula relevant in today's data-driven world.

B-school graduates, armed with the knowledge of Data Science will be in a position to harness it to make better decisions. They will also be the ones who will be communicating the story that the data is telling; and eventually be transforming it into business strategy.