CADS has been recognized by APAC CIOOutlook Magazine as the recipient of “Top Big Data Companies in APAC,” based on our proprietary methodology, reflecting its position in the industry. This profile has been developed by the APAC CIOOutlook research and editorial team based on insights from an interview with Sharala Axryd .

CADS
Powering the NextGen Data Scientists

Big data projects have become a normal part of doing business; however, that does not mean that big data is easy. The most apparent challenge associated with big data is simply storing and analysing all that information. Then, there is also the challenge of translating the data collected into solutions that will help businesses achieve their goals. But to develop, manage and run those applications that generate insights, organisations need professionals with big data skills or data scientists. Finding the right talent has always been identified as one of the major hurdles in the world of data science. This is where The Center for Applied Data Sciences (CADS) comes in. CADS prides itself in being a pioneer as a center of excellence for data science in Malaysia and around the ASEAN region. It is also their quest to make the world more self-sustainable through technology, insights and intelligence’ via the company’s abilities to train and educate future data scientists with programmes that coach, develop and mentor. From a consultancy standpoint, CADS dons an advisory role to offer data analytics consulting services and solutions for businesses and governments. “It is obvious that data science is rapidly transforming the way we do business, which why we have been driven towards becoming the voice of data science and analytics in the ASEAN region to ensure that there is a steady flow of fresh talent in the market,” said SharalaAxryd, Founder of CADS.

To empower the next generation of data professionals, CADS has numerous programmes and products that can expand their skills and knowledge in data science. The products are classified under various pillars of Leadership Skills, Technical Skills, Analytical Thinking Skills and Communications Skills.

Under the Leadership Skills pillar, CADS provides educational resources that are linked to world-class institutes and leading-edge Global Expertise such as Harvard Business School (HBX) and Data Incubator Coursera. These cater to those who are looking to improve their knowledge in the field and excel in their career path. CADS also provides a blogsphere that shares new information as well as different points of view on vast areas of topics under data analytics. The Technical Skills pillar groom employees to be key leaders and contributors to a data science team arming them with the necessary skills to approach data analytics problems and create informed decisions. There are also courses under the Analytical Thinking Skills pillar and Communications Skills pillar to teach participants critical skills on how to present analytics data to key stakeholders and be in charge of the data f lowing into the boardrooms.

Aside from this, CADS also has the Enterprise Data Analyst programme and the Enterprise Data Engineering programme, both designed to teach participants to successfully obtain, prepare and publish data in a dimensional data warehouse; as well as assist in building business requirements as analytics models.

We have been driven towards becoming the voice of data science and analytics in the ASEAN region to ensure that there is a steady flow of fresh talent in the market

Moreover, CADS is partnered with The Data Incubator, a data science education company to jointly take data science to a new level by leveraging their curriculum in South East Asia. CADS was also the delivery partner to the ASEAN Data Analytics eXchange’s (ADAX) Data Star programme. The programme was a collaborative effort between ADAX and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), aiming to accelerate the growth of data professionals in Malaysia and produce world-class talent that suits the demands of the world.

The company has laid emphasis on programmes for soft skills to sharpen the existing skills of participants. “All in all, our training equips participants with capabilities to discover questions derived from data, unearth data and how best to use them as well as to discuss and evaluate current process on how best to work with data,” says Sharala. CADS also offers a collection of short courses, tailored for data professionals who need to gain in-depth knowledge about a particular subject matter and learn how to use the information based on real-world use cases.

Over the years, CADS has worked on several use cases that represent crucial issues facing the country which include dengue analysis, traffic management, road accident analysis and the data professional skill assessment. Recently, CADS used its in-house expertise to analyse the sentiments surrounding the recent general election in Malaysia. The company employed machine learning algorithms as well as data collection and cleansing, sentiment analysis, online behavior analysis, topic modeling and influencers’ network detection for generating actionable insights. “Our study focused on trying to understand if it could pick up the salient sentiments of the Malaysian population using Twitter-verse as the proxy environment and potential influencing individuals or factors that could contribute to the sentiment polarity from the GE14 environment.”

As the future of global business is moving towards more accessible technological advancements, it is creating a pressing need for high-level data scientists. The role of a data scientist will be broadened as they gain access to decision-makers and show how by extrapolating the data, they have evolved into an integral part of an organisation’s growth. “With these growing requirements, we see us come into our purpose, which is to develop data scientists who are well-versed in various technical skills as well as be thought leaders in the field.” Along the same lines, CADS is planning to develop wholesome products and services solution architectures tailored to three different organisational levels—awareness, activation and enablement. CADS will also continue working with more and more businesses towards their acceptance of data analytics. “We aim to be the go-to company for data science talent, technology innovations and be the lead authority on data science certification within the ASEAN region,” she concludes.