Last week was the Big Data 2020 Challenge, a challenge taken up by students of the MSc 2 Digital Marketing and E-Business and MSc 2 Big Data & Marketing Management. Our students from Lyon had to redefine and implement the global strategy of a major French bank, in line with the evolution of banking models in the digital era.
The Big Data Challenge, what is it ?
Let’s start with the basics : a challenge is a challenge related to the professional world during which students are divided into project teams. They have a limited amount of time to deliver an answer to the problem submitted by a company. The Big Data Challenge has the specificity of bringing together students from two complementary specialties : digital marketing and big data. In teams of five, they have three days to analyze the data at their disposal and propose a strategy adapted to the company’s needs.
How does this work in practice ?
On Monday, meet at 9:30 a.m. in the amphitheater to learn about the subject. The challenge coaches are ; they are the two program directors, Madeleine Facques and Linda Attari, accompanied by Jean-Baptiste Besson and Benjamin Le Berre. This year, the banking sector is in the spotlight. Students have 3 days to rethink the strategy of one of the largest French banks !
The first morning is dedicated to the understanding of the bank’s problem, the exploration of data and the distribution of missions. Next is data processing, cleaning, structuring, and enrichment for Big Data students. On their side, the digital marketing specialists study the company, its market and its problems. At the end of this first day, the majority of the teams already have an idea of the direction they want to take.
Day 2 : it’s only the second day but already the final sprint ! After a short night, there are only a few hours left for the students to produce the data visualization on which the entire proposed strategy will be based. For data novices, data visualization, or ” dataviz “, consists in communicating figures or raw information by transforming them into visual objects: points, bars, curves, maps…[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″][image_with_animation image_url=”21722″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″][image_with_animation image_url=”21723″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The last day of the challenge is dedicated to the oral presentations which count for 50% of the grade. The other half depends on the written file handed in the day before. The orals are held in agency mode : 15 minutes top chrono to present the project, no question, no exchange with the jury. So it’s up to each team to sell their idea !
What is the contribution of such a challenge ?
These intense periods of challenge are particularly important in the training provided by the INSEEC MSc & MBA. They allow students to work under pressure and learn to manage stress and strain. The objective is also to develop team spirit and to apply in a concrete way the skills acquired in class.
Updated 24 February 2022