Interview with Aamer Charania, Director, Humana - Speaker at 5th Annual Global Big Data Conf Posted on : Jul 24 - 2017

We feature speakers at 5th Annual Global Big Data Conference - August 2017 to catch up and find out what he or she is working on now and what's coming next. This week we're talking to Aamer Charania, Director, Humana (Topic : Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Big Data In The Real World)

Interview with  Aamer Charania

1. Tell us about yourself and your background.
I’m the Director of Big Data & Machine Learning at Humana. Passionate about creating value leveraging data and analytics. Before Humana, I was working in similar space at Verizon and MIT.

2.   What have you been working on recently?
We are actively working on designing and implementing cutting edge machine learning products over Apache Spark along with relevant Hadoop ecosystem components.  These products help generate valuable business insights from wide variety of structured and unstructured data sources including customer claims, demographics, call center notes, web activity, medical records, and purchasing trends.

3.   Tell me about the right tool you used recently to solve customer problem?
I’m a firm believer of open source frameworks. For most of our big data and machine learning initiatives, we leverage Apache Spark along with other Hadoop ecosystem components.  For certain niche areas, like front end reporting, we augment our platform with proprietary tools

4.   Where are we now today in terms of the Big data, and where do you think we’ll go over the next five years?
I believe we are quite mature in the data storage and management space. While this area is very critical and continues to grow, most of the action will be in Machine Learning and AI space

5.   What are some of the best takeaways that the attendees can have from your "Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Big Data In The Real World" talk?

There is lots of buzz around AI, Machine Learning & big data.  I would share practical tips on how to leverage these technologies to create maximum value in the shortest possible time.

6.   What are the top 5 Big data Use cases in enterprises?
While there are too many important use cases,  I see these as quick wins – Customer Journey Optimization/Deep Personalization, Omni Channel Experience, Product Recommendation, Clinical Decision Making, and Operational Analytics

7.   Which company do you think is winning the global Big Data race?
Early to say.  The race is just beginning. I believe companies that are investing heavily in AI would be the eventual winners

8.   Any closing remarks
Looking forward to the conference and meeting great folks