Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) Ranchi organized a Two-day International Conference on Data Analytics and Management (ICDAM) 2024. The conference served as a platform for industry experts, researchers, practitioners, and students to exchange ideas and insights on innovative data-driven solutions.

The inaugural message was delivered by Director, XISS & Conference Patron Dr Joseph Marianus Kujur SJ where he highlighted the significance of Data Analytics within the contemporary market landscape. He also mentioned that the Institute shall soon start a course on Data Analytics for students and working professionals.

Dr Amar Eron Tigga, Conference Chair &Dean-Academics, XISS, provided an overview of the conference and mentioned that ICDAM 2024 endeavors to unite students, industry specialists, and academia on a common platform to exchange insightful knowledge expertise in the field of data analytics, take informed decisions, and foster innovation. During the welcome address, Conference Co-Chair, Dr B P Mahapatra, Head, Marketing Management Programme emphasized the integration of data analytics across various management domains and its relevance in forming a public policy.

The distinguished keynote speakers of Day One was Professor Meike Eilert, Market Research & Analytics Consultant, USA. She Joined the Conference in Online mode and emphasized on the pivotal role of data analytics in comprehending customer behavior and delivering real-time services. She Joined the Conference in Online mode. Mr Chandan Singh, Director, KPMG India, delivered an online keynote address on the evolutionary trajectory of data analytics spanning several years. He provided valuable insights into the prospects of data analytics within global markets, highlighting projections indicating the anticipated growth of the big data market to USD 924.39 billion by 2032. Mr Chandan Singh was joined by Mr Subhodeep Biswas, Data Scientist, KPMG India, who in his online address shared his profound expertise on various data analytics techniques and their significance in decision-making processes, elucidating their pivotal role in enhancing the productivity and efficiency of organizations.

23 papers were presented in three sessions on day 1, each with distinguished session chairs and moderators. The first presentation, was on Marketing and Finance analytics, moderated by Dr Fedric Kujur, XISS and chaired by Dr Shweta Jha from IIM Ranchi. The second presentation, was presented on HR and OB Analytics, moderated by Dr Pooja, XISS with Dr Hari Haran, Management Consultant and Former GM (HRD) at MTI, SAIL as the Session Chair. Lastly, the third paper presentation was on Operations and IT Analytics chaired by Dr Kanika Prasad, NIT Jamshedpur and moderated by Dr Rishi Dwiwedi, XISS.

Day two of the conference began with Dr Bhaskar Bhowani, Conference Co-Chair & Head of Programme, Financial Management presenting reflection of day 1 of the conference.

In the first keynote session of day two, Mr Shivesh Sinha, Principal Data Science Manager at Microsoft, shared valuable insights on Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning. He outlined key areas for students to focus on, statistics, business foundations, and interpreting results.

Another key Note Speaker of Day 2 was Mr Sarajit Jha, Chief Business Transformation and Digital Solution, Tata Steel Ltd. He addressed the audience on mental models for approaching careers in the current era of rapid technological change during the conference. He introduced the concept of the "5Cs": Curiosity, Coalition of data, Curating (cleaning data and deduplication), Crunching data and Visual Characterization. While concluding his address, he emphasized on the importance of prompt engineering, stating that it would be the only skill that matters in the future.

6 papers were presented during the conference on the theme Public Data Analytics where Mr Onkar Nath Tripathi, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF was the technical expert and the session was chaired by Dr Harishwar Dayal, Member, State Finance Commission, GoJ. Dr Amit Giri, XISS moderated the entire session.

6 papers awarded with Best Paper Presentation

The two-day long conference ended with the best paper award ceremony, where paper presenters of different tracks were awarded the Best Paper Certificate.

• In the track of Marketing and Finance Analytics on the topic - Exploring the influence of emotional intelligence on financial literacy amongst Gen Z, the best paper was awarded to Dr Arana Kausar and Dr Pooja.
• A paper titled ‘Competitiveness and sustainability of online travel agencies in India: A case study on five leading Indian online travel firms presented online by Satadruti Chakraborty and Dipa Mitra won the best paper in this track.
• The next track was HR and OB Analytics and the paper titled Role of Data analytics in employee experience presented by Ashesh Minz won the award.
• For track Operations Research and IT Analytics – best paper in IT Analytics was given to paper titled Waste management through IoT and AI – enabled smart dustbin systems presented by Milan Sai, Rishi Dwivedi and Bhaskar Bhowani. And for OR, paper titled Mediating Machine Learning techniques between plasma technology and electric field in water desalination and purification presented by Somrup Naga and Pawan Kumar Tiwari were awarded.
• For the last track of the conference, on Public Data Analytics, the best paper certificate was given to paper titled - The triadic relationship between fertility, education, and religion among women in Bihar presented by Asma Asif Sayyad and Srijon Ghosh.

Dr Pradeep Kerketta, SJ, Assistant Director, XISS in his concluding message thanked and congratulated all the participants for highlighting the importance of data analytics. He said that, Data Science & Data Management help us to enhance the efficiency in business by enhancing the accuracy of decision making. The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Pinaki Ghosh, Associate Professor, XISS.

The event was attended by industry experts, researchers, paper presenters, faculty of XISS along with students of the Marketing Management and Financial Management Programmes.