Various industries grow due to Indian Premier League (IPL). This year, insurance industry has benefited a lot from it. The BCCI has purchased an insurance coverage of around rupees 1,200 crore, which will make up for the loss of revenues from sale of broadcast and other rights if any of the IPL matches fail to take off. Also, Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of this tournament, has bought an insurance coverage of around rupees 800 crore to cover for the loss of revenue from advertisement if a game is called off after 10 or 20 overs, or the number of overs is reduced.

These deals have come in time when 49% FDI has also been allowed for insurance industry after a long wait of 6 years. Both the events indicate a growth year for insurance industry.

Read more at:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/insurance-industry-rides-the-ipl-wave-115040700436_1.html

On Wednesday, April 8, 2015, the Reserve Bank of India issued a notification of Government’s decision to raise the bar of FDI limit in insurance sector to 49%. This move has been welcomed by the insurance industry of India as it will entice global insurance companies to set up units in India and the existing firms to increase their investment. The ability to absorb more foreign capital will also spur some insurance companies to list on the local stock exchanges via initial public offerings. As per the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) guidelines, FDI of up to 26 per cent come under automatic route and beyond 26 per cent and up to 49 per cent government approval is needed. 

To know more, read the following Economic Times article:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rbi-notifies-hike-in-fdi-cap-in-insurance-sector-to-49/articleshow/46852551.cms

Lean Thinking is a form of structured thinking that aims to provide a new way to think about organizing processes to deliver benefits to the organization while eliminating waste. Understanding this concept forms a base for deciding what actions to take, what to change, what to do. 

Pascal Dennis, in his book Getting the Right Things Done, has easily explained lean thinking in 10 words:

· “What should be happening?”

· “What is actually happening?”

· “Please explain.”

      To know more, read this article by Mark Rosenthal: http://theleanthinker.com/2015/02/13/lean-thinking-in-10-words/

Stephen Covey, the renowned management thinker, said, “Start with the end in mind.” Every organization aims at meeting few common ends i.e. safe workplace, save money, save space, save time in launching new processes, and increase flexibility. The means to achieving these ends is designing the process in such a way that it is lean as well as waste is minimized. If done at the starting stage, this will be more useful in cost reduction as per the Rule of 10.Robert H. Simonis, senior consultant, KCE Consulting LLC in his article in IndustryWeek, talks about how reducing different types of wastes bring benefits to the organizations. 

Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/lean-six-sigma/design-out-waste-and-build-lean

In this customer focused world, supply chain is no longer an internally visible process. The focus has now shifted to knowing where the supply chain needs to be. Predictive Analytics helps answer this question. According to Bill Abernathy, head of North America product supply logistics excellence, Bayer CropScience, “Predictive analytics are changing consumer buying behavior and supply chain professionals need to be able to satisfy the increasing demands of consumers who expect products delivered exactly when promised.” With the help of predictive analytics, manufactures are now able to make better decisions that are based on anticipating present and future customer preferences. Dave Blanchard, Senior Editor, IndustryWeek, has written in his article link about how predictive analytics is becoming a necessity for manufacturers. 

Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/supply-chain/predictive-analytics-let-manufacturers-see-more-clearly-their-supply-chains 

Digitization has seen a rise in India in the past few years. Due to this, huge amount of data about our daily lives, needs and preferences is easily available. This is BIG DATA. If companies are already using this, then why can’t Government? Using big data analytics by government in policy making is a big step in improving its effectiveness. Moreover, government already has data in the form of Aadhaar Card details to start with. This data analysis can be used in a number of areas like formulating better policies for farmers by using Kisan Call Centre records, improving the transportation system, etc. This idea has already been implemented in Singapore and Germany on a smaller scale, but implementing it in India on a large scale can set another benchmark in evidence based policy making. Implementing this idea also faces various challenges like inefficiency of the public sector in India, invasion of right to privacy and not focusing on relevant information on such a large pool of data. The government already has initiated this idea but the need is efficient implementation.

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/LaTyG3Q111tuYa73XNMXsJ/The-promise-of-big-data-analytics.html

The latest development in the use of data and analytics is: Advanced HR Analytics. It is the application of new techniques and new thinking to talent management. It involves human resources and has a huge impact on an organization. Various organizations are already using it for following purposes:

·         Increasing the engagement and productivity of their employees

·         Reducing compensation expenditures

·         Reducing retention bonuses by $20 million

·         Reducing employee attrition by half

·         Detecting previously unobserved behavioral patterns

The insights that these companies have gained from data analytics are highly useful. Risk is always involved where there is a human element. But, developing data analytics to drive better people decisions can help companies compete in a better way.

To know more, read the following article in March 2015 edition of McKinsey Quarterly by Bruce Fecheyr-Lippens, Bill Schaninger, and Karen Tanner:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/power_to_the_new_people_analytics