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Mu Sigma Times
December 2012
Editors Note:
Dear Mu Sigmans, India Mu Sigma Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Level 4 & 5, Kalyani Platina, Opp. Tata Motors Showroom, Kundalahalli Village, Brookefield, Whitefield Bangalore 560066 US Mu Sigma Inc. 3400 Dundee Rd, Suite 160 Northbrook, IL 60062 Tel: +91 80 4054 9100 Fax: +91 80 4054 9300 E-mail: musigma.times@mu-sigma.com As we approach the end of 2012 and get ready to begin a new year, let us take stock of all the happenings and achievements in the year 2012. It is in this spirit that this December edition of Mu Sigma Times recounts the highlights from 2012 and thoughts for the road ahead in 2013. In the life of a company like Mu Sigma, every year has been crucial in taking us forward towards our purpose and dreams. We started 2012 with a dream of making our eco -system more connected and made quite a few strides in that direction. The Nandi Hills sessions, the annual Expos event that happened simultaneously in India and US, the 4 th Annual Customer Summit, Mu Talk events that included customers, and several other initiatives enriched and connected our eco system. We added close to 30 new clients, entered new regions including Australia and South America and expanded our cross-industry client base to include Energy and Gaming companies. We gained wider media coverage and were recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing private companies in the US for a third year in a row. We launched internal systems such as muMoments, the new PM tool, the new Mu Sigma Information Centre, etc. and made progress in the adoption of our innovation assets and products. We pioneered new frameworks in the analytics industry such as muPDNA, muKyun, muSense and muFIRE. To strengthen our ecosystem, we welcomed close to 1000 new people into the Mu Sigma family. In addition, we launched two hugely successful campus events - MuPhoria, targeting all engineering students in India and mureka, targeting all management students of IIMs - both of which saw tremendous response. The year was filled with the collective expression, aspiration and achievements of each one of us. Let us rejoice, retrospect and continue to learn. Happy New Year 2013 and happy reading! Editor, Mu Sigma Times

Contents
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mu Sigmas media presence in 2012 Mu Sigma Customer Summit 2012A Report Mu Sigma Thought LeadershipTop Trends in 2013 Rhythmic Reflections - Poems Best BlogsBy Goutham Ekollu Offsite @ Nandi HillsBy Uday Shankar Interview Excerpts from our Experts Holding Hands, Building Bridges Page 3 Page 4 Page 6 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 12 Page 13

After HoursA refreshing twist to a typical Friday Page 14 AnimatopoeiaBy Pavan Palety and Neeraj Hirani Expos 2012A report Page 16 Page 18

12 Company UpdatesInternal and external updates Page 22

Mu Sigmas media presence in 2012

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Mu Sigma has been identified as a category defining company

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Mu Sigma Customer Summit 2012

Report courtesy Adarsh Kumar | Edited by Priyanga Ashok

Mu Sigma hosted its Fourth Annual Customer Summit at the grand Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California on 26th and 27th February, 2012. This was the first time the Customer Summit had been held outside Mu Sigma's home city of Chicago, and the picturesque coastal town did not disappoint. Mu Sigma's 2012 Customer Summit broke

ma, hosted a fireside chat with Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital. During the interactive session, Lin touched upon the three main factors he looks for when evaluating a potential investment: a unique value proposition, an untapped market with tremendous future potential, and a management team with a passion for the business. The dinner that followed allowed attendees a chance to network with peers. Day two began with a keynote by William Coughran, a seasoned computer scientist (and former Google executive) who has helped many firms build successful analytics centric organizations. Coughran spoke about the impact of Big

a global delivery model for decision sciences, and how important governance was for ensuring the success of this model. Another client, a leading retailer, discussed their mantra for the success of decision sciences: gather data, create ac-

tionable insights, infuse insights into business processes and act on the derived knowledge. A panel discussion led by representatives from leading clients in technology, retail and auto insurance industries ensued. They discussed how analytically proactive organizations have a culture of experimentation, innovation and Fail Fast and Learn. These organizations are also known to invest heavily in emerging, game changing technologies to ensure they remain ahead of the curve.

all attendance records: more than 150 clients and over 50 Mu Sigma representatives travelled to Half Moon Bay for the event. Business cards were not the only things exchanged these business leaders and analytics practitioners shared ideas, thoughts, perspectives, trends, challenges and solutions during this two day event. It was, as one attendee described it, "an incredible brain trust" of analytics pros.

Data on companies, and also provided advice on how to attract and retain analytics talent. A key takeaway from his presentation was to ensure that we give our analytics staff the time and opportunity to pursue discovery-driven analytics projects, not just problem-driven initiatives.

The keynote address was followed by clients taking center stage, providing their

The event kicked off on Sunday, 26th February, with an informal seaside cocktail hour. This was followed by a pre-dinner reception during which Dhiraj Rajaram, the founder, chairman and ceo of Mu Sig-

points of view on the most notable subjects in the analytics space. Representatives from one of our leading Bio-Pharma client shared how its analytics group was restructured to better support

Leveraging Analytics Executives from one of the leading technology clients presented their journey from simple BI dashboards to the development of a robust framework for measuring marketing ROI. They connected the importance of building data and analytical infrastructure in incremental steps and selecting relevant analytics techniques; thereby ensuring that ROI measurement incorporates both quantitative and qualitative inputs that can increase accuracy in the process. One of the representatives of a leading operator of convenience stores, discussed how the company is using analytical approaches such as Flow and Network Optimization to rationalize product assortment in each network, drive lower costs, optimize distribution channel mix and maximize distribution efficiency. Leading technology clients and a U.S.

was thoroughly deliberated up on. Andreas Weigend, a leading researcher and professor in social data and consumer interactions at the Stanford University led a panel discussion on Big Data, with participation from leading telecom companies and an online C-2-C trading corporation. The panel touched up on applications, hurdles, insights and learnings in the analytical journey from Dataset to Toolset, Skillset, and Mindset. Representatives from leading companies in the areas of financial services company, technology, auto insurance company and social networking, led another panel discussion on the topic: Should the lack of data to solve a business problem be viewed as a hurdle or a springboard? The panelists presented a new discovery-driven framework which advocates creation of agendaless data, which does not necessarily start with an existing business problem. Panelists agreed that such wide-scan approaches to analytics will give organizations a better chance of identifying game-

Big Data

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The 2012 Mu Sigma Customer Summit concluded with an interactive workshop on Big Data Applications conducted by Andreas Wiegend and Zubin Dowlaty, Head of Innovation & Development (Mu Sigma). The duo discussed at length on the technological innovations that promise data crunching companies the power of distrib-

uted computing and faster processors for data processing. This discussion set the tone for participants to brainstorm on new problems that should be addressed to understand customers and the marketplace better, using newer and potentially richer sources of information. Teams representing different industry verticals came up with innovative ideas on how they can solicit information from consumers to serve them better. Participants of the Mu Sigma

changing opportunities.

The Future of Analytics based specialty retailer led discussed how social media proliferation has enabled customers make a more informed choice before purchase (Zero Moment of Truth) and a more vocal one after (Infinite Moment of Truth). They also pointed out the need for integrated marketing that can nurture the customer through the purchase process. Dhiraj said decision sciences could be compared to a traditional supply chain, where data is the source, analysis/results/ insights are the produce, recommendations/communication of actions is the distribution and actions/success is the consumption. He also presented a futuristic view of how organizations will collaborate on insights across traditional firewalls to Data Data, the foundation of decision sciences, gain competitive advantage.

Customer Summit 2012 duly recognized the importance and criticality of embracing the complete decision sciences supply chain and accepted it as an accelerator for competitive advantage. As the organizer of this event we should be proud that our platform was able to converge ideas from industry thought leaders, across verticals. It is certainly a step towards our long-term goal of institutionalization of analytics and decision sciences in more and more enterprises.

13 in 20 s d n re Top T

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Mu Sigma Thought Leadership

The average consumer will start to become much more savvy about his/her own data and identity in the digital world. Usage of Personal data vaults to store and protect the digital data that each individual generates will become common. Think about the amount and varied interactions that happen online today from managing your finances to shopping to keeping track of your health (with personal devices such as the Nike fuel bands) to interacting with your friends and family. As individuals have got more and more comfortable with living their life online, the growing worry about ons online identity being compromised apart from just the sheet complications in keeping track of several different usernames, passwords and preferences calls for a solution. The past few years has seen the emergence of startup companies that provide consumers a way to take control of their data. Services such as Personal, Reputation.com, and Singly offer to store and protect the data loaning it only to Internet companies and advertisers that the consumer trusts and approves of. Even better, the services allow users to potentially offer their data in exchange for something, such as rebates or discounts thus placing more power in the hands of the consumer and allowing them to monetize their data assets. I dont envision all of this changing in 2013, but this is certainly a trend I see taking shape in the not too distant future. What does this mean for someone like Mu Sigma as consumers take more control of their own data, companies can get access to richer, and more focused information about their customers but with less control. Companies will have to get smarter about how they get access to this information and how this can be mined as the rules of the game are changed and the power of information shifts to the consumer. We can play a huge role in defining how companies access and use the data in this changing environment.

Insight-crawlers will be born: Web crawlers that swarm the World Wide Web to index data will become a thing of the past. Crawlers with a mandate to look for insights will be created. One of the focus areas for most of the search engines is contextual search. It is just another way of saying customers are looking for insights not data. For instance, if you search for most trending word today on Google you will get 84.6M search results. But for your perspective you know you are looking for one answer. Imagine web-crawlers with specific focus to identify the answer to this question. Now imagine millions of such crawlers each with a specific focus question. I predict this will happen in 2013. Goutham Ekollu Cross Industry Unit Head

Building Intelligent Systems and the Rise of the Intelligent Machine This trend will materialize much more boldly in 2013, especially with announcements from major corporations on the idea of the industrial Internet. This trend can be distilled into integrating data and analytics capability into a machine to optimize its usage patterns. Creating machines that are more intelligent is the next big idea! Machines are producing very large data sets however real-time insights, optimization and predictive capability need to be delivered. Advanced Data Visualization and Analytics Tools that Business People Can Use: Most analytical shops need to migrate beyond the traditional business intelligence dashboard view and move to a cockpit metaphor to gain an edge. Also, businesses today need to introduce more analytics tools that ordinary business people can use. One by-product of the data scientist shortage is the absence of analytics tools that can be used by marketing, sales and others. Look for this void to be filled in 2013, as vendors work to craft new solutions that take the mystery out of data analysis like a data scientist in a box. The Hadoop Trend Continues to Amaze: Hadoop 2.0s flexible and modular architecture for parallel processing frameworks will be positioned towards an operating system for data. Hadoop being the de-facto operating system for parallel processing frameworks such as Map Reduce and MPI, two very distinct flavors of parallel computation required in the Big Data toolbox.

Mukund Raghunath Geography Head East & Mid-west, US

Zubin Dowlaty Head, I&D

Trend: IT and Analytics departments collaborating in new and powerful ways Not long ago, Analytics departments in many large corporations received little, if any, support from their IT counterparts. Advanced analytics deployments usually meant implementing a Business Intelligence platform like Business Objects or Microstrategy so that business users could pull reports on their own from data warehouses. Predictive models, if they were built at all, were rarely applied at scale. IT departments did not understand how to implement these models and their environments were not setup to support these types of use cases. Over the last year, as Big Data has gained prominence in the business world and budgets for analytics have exploded, IT groups have taken notice. Today, CIOs are working quickly to understand how their groups need to evolve to support analytics. As Analytics and IT teams start to work more closely together, both groups are struggling to adapt. In 2013, the most successful organizations will figure out how to develop a stronger working relationship between IT and their Analytics teams. During this evolutionary period, the lines between IT and Analytics groups will blur. Traditional IT functions like ETL may be handled by Analytics teams and some IT groups will play a strong role in defining how Analytics will deployed throughout the organization. As new analytics technologies are deployed, there will be a gap in the skills required on both the IT and Analytics teams. This presents a unique opportunity for companies like Mu Sigma which can bridge this gap and talk effectively about how business, math and technology needs to be used together to solve the business problems our clients face today.

Home Trend: Quantifying our world Nike is using the GPS in cell phones to allow people to track how far they run. If you dont have a smartphone you can buy a sensor for your shoe. Nest launched a thermostat which allows consumers to monitor their home heating and cooling usage via their smartphones. Discover credit card customers have ready access to reports which tell them how they are spending their money. Withings sells a blood pressure monitor that consumers can plug in to the iPhone. What do all of these things have in common? They are allowing us to better track and analyze key aspects of our lives including our health, our finances and our impact on the planet. These products are just the beginning. In 2013, sensors will be embedded in more products and new companies will also use this technology to revolutionize how we monitor our daily lives. In the business world, companies like GE believe these technologies are critical enablers that can allow us to improve productivity and address global challenges. GE is focused on using this data to improve transportation, healthcare, manufacturing and other industrials through intelligent machines and the Industrial Internet which connects the worlds machines, facilities, fleets and networks with advanced sensors, controls and software applications. Sensors and machine data are key drivers of the explosion of data which is doubling every 18 months. For Mu Sigma, the opportunities are clear. Consumers and our clients will need help analyzing this data and identifying insights that can lead to better profitability and a better consumer experience. For each of us, it presents a unique opportunity to truly measure where we spend our time, talent and treasure.

Behavioral Sciences in Decision Sciences The Next Big Trend One of the key innovations in Decision Sciences in the coming few years will be the wide -spread integration of the effects of social, cognitive and emotional factors on the decision making process. Businesses will try to capture the behavioral elements and integrate that data with other market information to make more informed decisions finally recognizing that it is not rational agents but human beings that are participating in the marketplace. While the Behavioral Sciences discipline is not a recent phenomenon, the recent advances in computing are increasingly opening up the possibilities for implementing some of these concepts. For Krishna R instance, the traditional rational consumer behavior models do not completely factor the interaction Cross Industry effects in the marketplace. Of late, it is becoming possible to develop agent -based models for simulating Unit Head the actions and interactions of autonomous agents and their effects on the system as a whole. These allow for a much richer description of real -life situations like the impact of a specific pricing decision on the market share, the cannibalization effects of a new product launch, to name a few. Trend: Leveraging Machine Data Companies will try to mine the vast pools of data generated by machines to glean useful insights that can help them better understand their customers and use the insights to better service them. For instance, the mobile carrier may be able to deliver localized contextual search results to their customers; the software company could study the actual customer usage to identify the actual usage of features, which in turn could help them plan new features better or replicate bugs. In the years to come, the Decision Sciences industry will play a key role in helping companies in building the Big Data infrastructure and deploy applications to separate out the signals from the noise and convert these signals into meaningful business insights, which can then be used to make more informed decisions.

s n o i t c e l Ref c i m h Rhyt
SOMETIMES By Abhinav Tandon
Sometimes, youre not what youre made out to be; You pretend because others depend, Your strength mistaken as your self Sometimes, you just cant cry; Your tears confused and misunderstood, And deep within they must dry Sometimes, you cannot show; Waylaid by the gentle smile, How it truly gnaws your mind Sometimes, it remains contained; No one can and no one will, The pain, only you realize Sometimes, you must brace yourself Alone with no one at your side, Face rough seas, pierce through the storm

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THE ROSE
By Priyanka K

Crimson Red, Blood, Soft petalled curled within like a baby in mother's womb, with an aura and fragrance so divine, waiting to unravel itself into the world. Thick, pointed, sharp like a sharpened pencil amidst its thorns ,smiled the rubicund ROSE. The tiny eyes-the seeds peeked above; and was awestruck at mother nature's magnanimity; Blue, the sky gave a feeling of warmth in the colourless cold breeze; Unaware of the times so green which moved to and fro when the wind passed by. Blossom and bloom, its infinite dream; The Rose rose up to reveal itself. Beauty unbounded with a trail of fragrance. The small seed eyes gazed at the beings which ushered on its petals flapping their wings; with colours so bright and those symmetrical spots, and creatures unknown which hummed and whined like a dunce cap. Tired and enervated the day seemed to end when the sky looked black in a tranquility of white; the peeping moon. The rose dilated its petals to adore the beauty of the dark and rejoiced at the music of the night. The world awakes covered in a golden carpet, the sky; clear blue, the leaves; green grieved in silence for The Rose-which was Red; Crimson Red, Petalled; soft curled within like a baby in a mother's womb; with a trail of fragrance, Kissed the mud and slept undisturbed.

A fistful of earth...
- By Indira Priyadarshini
My eyes are dazzled, blinded momentarily by the bright sunlight when I raise my eyes to the sky. Fascinated, I look on... wondering what lies ahead. The vastness entices me, beckons my thirsty soul with a promise of a brighter tomorrow. And I almost spread my arms that I mistake for wings as if to soar into the blue horizons, wanting the winds to effortlessly guide me on. But that dream, I know is a distant one. Almost like a dying refrain of a song in an alien tongue, that had once perhaps twanged my heartstrings but has long faded into nothingness. Perhaps, I've gazed at that dream too long to realize that it exists no more. All that remains in its place is an afterglow, a numbness. And when the dust settles at my feet in the gathering twilight, There is a fistful of earth where I must grow my roots.

Best Blogs
By Goutham Ekollu

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Muddy-Fuzzy-Clear: Life stages of a business problem

Business problems evolve. When a business encounters a problem for the first time, very little about the problem is understood. Details about the nature of the problem, scope, approach, solution etc. are all muddy. With time, as we start addressing the problem using heuristics/experience it starts getting a little clearer. We gain a better understanding of the finer details of the problem, but the right solution is still fuzzy. Eventually, after multiple iterations of solving the same business problem, the right approach/solution becomes clearer. Every business problem evolves through the muddy -fuzzy-clear life stages. For example, how to monetize Facebook data was a muddy problem a couple of years ago. Today it is a fuzzy problem. However, once a problem becomes clear, it doesnt stay that way. The muddy -fuzzy-clear phases are cyclical in nature. A disruptive innovation in technology or a new piece of information (data) can make a clear problem muddy again. The rate at which this evolution is happening has accelerated in the last decade. As a result, problems are spending less time in the clear state and a lot more time in the muddy and fuzzy states. Clear problems can have clear solutions. But muddy and fuzzy problems cant be solved using black box approaches. It requires a different mindset to see a problem through its various life stages

Creating Analytics Captains: How to identify analytics managers?

In order to support our growth and mentor our entry level analytics professionals (we think of them as analytics soldiers), it is imperative for us to build a strong team of analytics managers (we think of them as captains). However, the challenges that exist in hiring entry-level analytics professionals also exist when it comes to hiring analytics captains as well there is a serious dearth of such talent. Only recently, some of the top business schools in the US started formalizing analytics courses in their curriculum. While the Montessori style of developing analytics soldiers has helped us attract the right talent from top colleges and groom them into good analytics professionals, it is not particularly suited to attracting and developing manager talent. To ensure we are hiring the right kind of managers, Mu Sigma has adopted a differentiated hiring program. Our interview process doesnt look for analytics experience. We look for professionals from different industries with a good pedigree, an appetite for problem solving and an interest in working with leading businesses from multiple industries. Our interview process starts with a case study, which is mailed to the prospective candidates. They are expected to solve the business case in 72 hours. Candidates are evaluated on their resourcefulness and ability to solve the problem from an industry that they are not necessarily familiar with in the stipulated time. The shortlisted candidates are then flown to our offices for one whole day of grueling interview process that includes several individual and group activities. During the course of the day, they are tested for their design thinking concepts, ability to work in teams, synthesize and present results and leadership skills. The process ends with a few rounds of personal interviews.

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Offsite @ Nandi Hills

By Uday Shankar

The Off-site outing. It happened weeks ago and the memory is still fresh in my mind. Thats because of a lot of reasons:

freedom of approaching anyone in the ecosystem, confidence that the ecosystem will help you at the time of need, variety of work, the people and a lot more. I look

1. The Fun Playing volleyball after nearly 8 years with some 15 people on each side of the court was surprisingly a lot more fun for someone who used to take the sport seriously in school. 2. The Bus ride to and fro, mostly fro Identifying apt bollywood songs for situa5. The Effort The precision with which the leadership team carried out CIA style targeted drone attacks to drive home their point. Operation Youre Gonna Understand What Were Saying.

back on this list of things (actually, Im looking at a mail from Sarah with the meeting notes) and one thing stands out for me. People. To me, everything else is just a function of people. If you think about it, its just that, we have the kind of people who are willing to bite more than they can chew. And we have the kind of people who dont look at your experience and age when you ask for more, but take the risk of allowing young folks to take up challenging responsibilities. We have 6. (and most importantly) The learning. Yeah. Learning. people who are not afraid of making mis-

Not many of the attendees had an idea of tions we face every day is not as easy as it sounds. Aye ganpat! (new BA in the team) Chal daru la! what the outing was about. When I say, that upon seeing a white board, some of us jumped with joy assuming it was Pictionary time, I think I make my point. 3. The Food The joy of finding out that we at Mu Sigma have finally found a caterer who can cook something enjoyable and not just edible is inexplicable. 4. The Pain Manu with his App, making anyone who ate a morsel more than what was declared as "the right amount" regretful, lest they should be struck by a lightning bolt from Steve Jobs himself. (Jobs would've replaced Zeus by now, don't you think?) After a

round of introduction on the bus ride to the location, a nice little breakfast with Puri-sabzi, Upma / Kara-bath (as you prefer) and a cup of coffee (the only disappointment in the entire day) that was strongly contending our machine coffee in sucking, (that's right I'm a south-Indian filter coffee purist) we got down to business - discussing about what works at Mu Sigma. Now really, what works at Mu Sigma? Freedom of taking up more than you can bite, takes and are eager to step ahead, fearless. We have people who are passionate about building the company and also playing poker on weekends. We have a leadership team thats been spending almost every weekend at this off-site with a group of 30 -35 folks and not complaining about it (At least out in the open :P). We have some fantastic people at Mu Sigma and thats what works for us.

If this indeed is true, why do we have so much of discontent? (Its for you to decide how much is so much. Confidence Intervals anyone?) Why do we find people complaining about long work hours, about their onsite resources, about their managers, the Reporting nature of their work? Questions that have been on my mind, just as everyone elses for a while. I didnt

ready to help anyone lose weight by allowing them to carry him while they run.

Home know if a particular chair is malfunctioning. Just the fact that Prashanth managed to communicate the trouble he faces

Refreshed with a nice meal which included ice cream and gulab jamun for dessert, the team started the afternoon with a problem solving session. We divided ourselves into two teams and each was supposed to come up with a problem that we face at Mu Sigma while the other provided a possible solution. When Goutham started off saying I want to find a solution to the chair menace, little did the invitees know of what this problem solving session would turn into. The session soon became what it was intended to, (targeted killings) with questions about tardiness for

changed things for me and the few people who were there that day. For folks who like it meta (years of twitter habit. Sorry.) the leadership team was communicating to us about the lack of good internal communication in the organization and urging us to be a part of the solution. The conclusion drawn from our

meetings, in-time, onsite-offshore conknow I would start looking for answers right that afternoon. The solution for all the problems soon But before we could get there, there was a best of three volleyball game in which Manu main toh bus AC chalata hoon Raman showed Goutham Atom Bomb Ekollu what he brings to the volleyball table. Heres a fact Ambiga plays great volleyball. Sarah, plays fantastic duck-andrun-if-anyone-hits-it-in-your-direction-ball. After a crushing defeat for Gouthams team, (which yours truly was a part of) came the lunch. Lunch was not as good as the breakfast but it again brought with it the Debate of the Calories when Gautam found out there was no point of running if he wanted to lose weight (According to Krishna, you lose roughly the same amount of kilocalories as your weight in kilograms when you run for an hour) while Sayan announced he was esting that the solution is also quite a simple, not so elegant one. Talk. How many of us knew that Prashanth Rajasekhar gets close to a hundred chairs repaired every weekend by checking each and every chair he can? Now that I know Prashanth has to go through so much trouble, I am little more careful when I sit in my chair. Not just that, I will let him turned out to be what the leadership had been talking for a while. Its quite interextensive discussion was: Lets change things around. Lets all work towards one of our companys goals improving internal communication. (You do know the rest of your companys goals, dont you? If you have not heard of BVS, be assured the internal communication needs improvement) Lets talk about everything and anything, about good and bad, about what makes Mu Sigma work for us and the things wed like to change, to make Mu Sigma a better ecosystem. flicts, discontent within teams.

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Interview Excerpts from our Experts

MST: Any message youd like to share with Mu Sigmans? MST: What is your ideology on molding talent? How do you feel the fresh graduates David Zakkam: We tend to complain about a lot of things, most of the time. Sometimes, we should pause and appreciate the things we have an atmosphere of openness , great learning opportunities and an energetic environment which is always abuzz with activity. Sachin Jog: In terms of molding talent, my emphasis would be on just two things that need to be absolutely right. 1). Select right, and 2). Train hard. If these two things are imbibed in any organization be it the Armed Forces, Mu Sigma or any other company, then you have no hesitation in putting them on any project. Additionally, the third most important element for talent management is to provide the right kind of mentoring. So when we talk of nurturing talent, you need to MST: Is there any message youd like to share with Mu Sigmans? look at that individual in terms of whether he/she is willing to take up a challenge, what is the level or degree of difficulty he/she Harsha Rao: Mu Sigma provides a great platform for someone to grow in multiple dimensions. I think everybody coming into Mu Sigma should appreciate the opportunities and work harder, because they are given to them way earlier than they should be. They should embrace it and not feel challenged by it. The perspective I want people to have is not think of it as a challenge instead an opportunity and they would be so wants to be engaged with at a personal level, what are the other issues which concern him/her in terms of individual capability. should be trained?

MST: Youve worked with quite a few corporate organizations. What are the USPs of Mu Sigma? What is the takeaway for employees who are part of this category defining company? TK: Mu Sigma is exceptionally well organized. Its egalitarianism and friendly ambience make it an excellent place to work. The company gives due importance to maintaining delivery schedules and training young talent. Folks here have opportunities for continuous learning and growth within the company.

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Holding Hands, Building Bridges

The months of May and June keep the Talent Management team particularly busy. On one hand, they prepare to welcome fresh batches of graduates recruited from reputed schools of Vinayak Sapru, who left Mu Sigma on May 31st to join IIM Ahmedabad, said that Tapans responses sessions, to the conducted questions during asked weekends, helped him frame adequate The leadership in Mu Sigma supports those intending to pursue academic goals. Tapan, Head of Client Services, is known to conduct weekend workshops to help B schools aspirants prepare well for the interview phase. Dhiraj applauds those who secure admissions to top institutes. Isnt the associated attrition a matter of concern for Mu Sigma? For Ambiga, Head of Delivery, far from being a concern, this is something to feel positive about. After all, says Ambiga, Mu Sigmas network in the B-school circuit expands as more and more of our data scientists qualify for such institutes. For Tapan, its about fulfilling the MBA promise made during campus recruitment drives. Folks studying in top management institutes can well be thought of as Mu Sigmas future clients, Tapan states pragmatically, and to have prior acquaintance with future clients is a good notion for any company. When asked what motivates him to squeeze time out for mentoring sessions, Tapans response is both interesting and unusual. Its like being willing to impart sex education to your children. When you are sure they will come to know eventually, isnt it better to help them get correct information? A majority of Mu Sigmas recruits are engineering graduates frequently during personal interviews. Also, having served on the interview panels of IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, Tapan was able to give the attendees a perspective on what works well with the interviewers. During a group discussion, there is no need to act the knight in shining armor for the relatively quiet female participant thinking it would win the hearts of panelists, Tapan warns, The right move is to remark on a fair point stated by another participant as it indicates one was listening. Vardan Nagar, who left the company on May 18th and would soon be joining IIM Calcutta, agrees with Vinayak, Those sessions taught me to so pitch the business model of Mu Sigma as to make the advantage of analytics obvious to to the Mu the interviewer. I learned differentiate from Sigma my MST wishes luck to all Mu Sigmans who have scripted academic success stories this year. engineering. On the other hand, they bid farewell to the Mu Sigmans headed to premier schools of management. fresh out of college, many of who want to get into a MBA program after working for a year or two. I feel I might as well facilitate the process by mentoring them. According to Ambiga, while individual schedules in Mu Sigma may be hectic, such an environment is effective in keeping one energized and helps develop a muscle for multi-tasking. On the subject of how employees can fare better in B school interviews, Ambiga ventures that Mu work, Sigmans so that should they develop may a comprehensive perspective towards their respond distinctively to the questions regarding Mu Sigmas companys business. To this end, internal communication helped me prepare better.

must be strengthened, she concludes.

competition. I also had mock interviews taken by IIM alumni David and Teja, which

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After Hours
A Refreshing Twist to A Typical Friday
The Walmart team chills out at Walmart Visitor Centre and shares its experience
brainchild Walmart, come alive vividly at the Walmart Visitor Center. A visit to the Walmart Visitor Center, which is housed in the original Sam Waltons 5&Dime store on Bentonville Square, is like stepping back in time. As soon as we entered the center, we experienced a piece of Walmarts past in a real, functional storefront setting. Some of us couldnt stop ourselves from grabbing all the memorabilia we could set our eyes on. As usual, the store associate was humble and kind enough to the Everyday Low Prices (EDLP) concept and how the commitment and enthusiasm of Sam Walton spread like wildfire among the store associates, with whom he interacted with immense humility. The video also showcased Sam Waltons openness to new ideas and how that helped build a great culture. Prashant, a big movie buff commented thus on the video Add some more drama to it, and we could be looking at the script of an inspiring movie here! After watching the video of Walmarts history, we then moved onto exhibit gallery. Sanjay made the whole gallery experience playful and thoughtprovoking by pre-arranging a treasure hunt game with the center staff. The objective was to find the answers from the gallery in the least possible time. It was fun to watch Anurag and Nikhil shoving each other, in order to complete the quiz first. But in the midst of it all, Sundar took the lead and finished the quiz first!

October 5 was not a usual just waiting for the day to end Friday. One of our team members, Hemant, had planned a trip to Walmart Visitor Center to educate us about the origins of Walmart. For the team, it was kind of an informal get together and more importantly a chance to spend some time outside the office on a foggy, yet beautiful Friday afternoon. So, after successfully and quickly tackling all the client deliverables, a ten-membered team from Mu Sigma gathered in front of Walmart Visitor Center, one of the major attractions in Bentonville. The story of Sam Waltons life and the history of his

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Interesting Facts
share with us stories about the initial days of Walmart. The size of the shop made us think and admire the fact that Sam Walton built the largest retail chain in the world with such a humble beginning. After spending some time in Walton 5&Dime, we moved inside to a mini amphitheater where we were shown a short video about Sam Walton and the origin of Walmart focusing mainly on the company culture. We learnt about the inception of Do you know the origin of Walmart Cheers? When Sam once visited Korea, he came across the idea of a team cheer in one of the companies there and got impressed. He felt that this would go a long way in motivating his employees and fueling their enthusiasm. He incorporated it in Walmart as soon he came back to the US.

Sam Waltons office retained in the exact same state he left it in 1992

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Here are some of the fun facts which surfaced from the gallery After college, Sam Walton worked with JC Penney for 2 years earning $75 per month An outdoor thermometer was returned to a Walmart store with a reason that it never showed the correct time According to a defective merchandise slip, a pencil sharpener was returned back because it doesnt sharpen any ink pens Sam Walton drove a 1979 Ford F150 pick-up truck, which represents the humility and frugality he embraced all his life After spending almost two hours in Walmart Visitor Center, we ended our team building activity with a delectable lunch at Table Mesa. To sum up, it was an enjoyable experience. That was one Friday when the party started way too early.

A 360 degree Panorama view of the Visitor Center

From Left to Right: Arun, Sanjay, KV, Hemant, Sundar, Akash, Vineeta, Nikhil and Anurag; Photographer Prashant Sahu By: Arun S. & KV

Animatopoeia

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By Pavan Palety with inspiration from Neeraj Hirani

Once upon a time, in a forest far far away, amidst a thick Which always ends in suffering, cried the experienced herring growth of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, all the inhabit- Love is something very profound, said the hound, you would not ants had gathered for their quarterly team outing. It was a joy- understand (with a growl aimed at the team in front of them) ous occasion and everyone was in high spirits except Mowgli. Bombat! whopped the big bat, enjoying the heated discussion So the rest asked him - en magaa en problemu? I am in love said Mowgli Thats great! Why the scowl? enquired the wizened Owl It is a sweet feeling that only multiplies when you share said the khan-e-shere Keep eating and even sweet turns sour, said the cynical dinosaur Robarooo started singing the kangaroo ooh la la ooh la la followed up the koala Ignoring the owl, the HR immediately divided the team into Shut up bub! roared the lion cub two parties to discuss this matter of grave importance - for and Love is such a sham! declared the ram against It is the greatest journey you will ever embark said the lark and the greatest test you will ever flunk countered the skunk Awesome said the over-enthusiastic possum thumping the Love is not for the craven!!, challenged the raven air (a stern look from the HR calmed him down) No. Love is drab said the crab (looking at its mate) Love to me is like being snug in a rug, said the bug It is a risky endeavor, frowned the cowardly beaver You are a dolt! said the young colt, whinnying With that both the parties came to blows.... Mowgli. The animals looked at Mowgli in sympathy and he looked away into the distance. The animals were all sad and were just about leave the matter to rest when.....

Without love, life would be so dull, disagreed the sea gull What is this hullabaloo interrupted Baloo. We are here to help

Home There is a girl he liketh a loth, said the sloth (with a lisp, how unfortunate!) There was a collective sigh of relief from the crowd. The discussion was not over after all...they were determined to help Mowgli this time. Idhella nanige gothilla, said the sly kannada gorilla, getting up Why dont you ask her out?, advised the trout It might ease your mind from the load, piped in the toad But how would the girl adopt to our culture?, wondered the vulture (philosi-vulture) Our concepts of living are somewhat difficult to grasp, agreed the wasp Women these days are extremely demanding, are you sure that is a weight you want to lug?, questioned the slug True! They always expect something out of the box, quipped in the fox It will ruin your sukoon, said the rowdy raccoon But all is worth for that one woman exquisito, said the Spanish mosquito What if she says no? asked Mowgli quieting everyone down No she wont! It will all work out, said the mink with a wink It might not or it might said the philosi-termite (it looked at the vulture for approval and both shook their heads gravely) Look Mowgli, the only way to find out is to approach, said the cockroach entering the conversation for the first time It may be an easier battle, said the cattle, than you think You got to tell her how you feel, urged the seal Just dont make her uncomfortable ,keep it loose, said the nonchalant moose cutting the goose Big deal if she says no. Dont stick to one, cast a bigger net, said the casanova hornet Not bigger, but wider, corrected the grammarian spider I am scared, Id rather be a dish on some one's stove than ever profess my love, said the overwhelmed dove to few quiet approvals from the crowd (No animals were physically hurt in the making of this whatchamacallit. If I have left out your favorite animal my apologies) Get back to work now. No I have many more, said the boar finally, waiting to be heard Its wish was granted and a hunter came along and chopped its head off and that is how the story of the great boar ended. Moral(s) of the story 1. Speak only when spoken to 2. Leave the meeting room on time I am a simple fellow, added the buffalo, following the gorilla Gimme a break said the bold snake Enough with this faff!, said the towering giraffe Too much said the magarmach (saying See you later to a near-by alligator and In a while to fellow crocodile, it left the gathering) I am outta here, said the deer Anyone got a light? asked the kite I got a zippo, answered the hippo Its a bad habit, glowered the rabbit at the kite and the hippo Whether things work out or they dont, just dont forget us, said the walrus with a teary eye and a runny nose We are all your well-wishers, crooned the flock of kingfishers Que sera sera, what will be will be ... prayed the spiritual bee, ending the discussion The animals soon saw it was pointless to try and convince Mowgli and that he had to make up his own damn mind. So they sought to escape this forced GD and move on with the rest of the nights entertainments.

What do you like in this edition of MST? What could have been better? Send in your contributions, comments, feedback and suggestions to musigma.times@mu-sigma.com

Expos 2012
A showcase of talent | An exhibition of teamwork |

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A celebration of Analytics

It was truly a celebration of analytics, a showcase of our talent and an exhibition of teamwork. The 5 th Mu Sigma Expos celebration on 3rd September at the MLR Convention Centre witnessed unprecedented participation and successfully brought out the creative streak of our employees. The first-ever out-of-office all-day event was a culmination of a month-long preparation to the finale as teams vied for the best idea, the rarest innovation and top slots. All aspects of the event starting from its conceptualization, to the various build-up events held throughout the month of August, to the event itself were well organized and much appreciated all around. The most important factor that made this years Expos special is that for the first time it was organized at a global scale and was extended to include our bases in the US as well. In our India offices, as a build up to the D-day and to generate organization wide interest, we saw flash -mob, standees, danglers, weekly quizzes, ambush pictionary, video streaming, and weekly mailers making the rounds. Meetings were set up with managers to ensure maximum participation from their teams. Employees who had joined in the month of August and were undergoing training in MSU were also oriented on the upcoming event. Branded goodies were in the offing for the on-floor event winners. As for the main events, there were Kaun Banega Intrapreneur (KBI), Crimanalytics, FaceBook App, VisualizeR, Quiz and Booth Camp which saw great deal of participation from across the floors. Out of the 32 nominations for KBI, there were 3 finalists while Facebook App attracted 16 entries, of which 2 reached final stage. Out of the 33 nominations received for VisualizeR , 1 team made it to the finals. Criminalytics had 35 groups as initial entries out of which 3 teams were selected for the D-day. Boothcamp saw maximum participation where 39 teams expressed interest to showcase their ideas. On D-day, employees both old, new, and campus-offered began streaming

in to the venue from 8:30 AM to participate in the infotainment. Following breakfast at 9:30 AM, employees thronged the air conditioned auditorium to witness the first event of the day KBI. The ideas that were presented were original in concept and coherent in approach. This was followed by an interactive session co-presented by Dhiraj and Deepinder aimed at incorporating among the employees, a sense of pride about the organization what we stand for and where we are headed as a pioneer in the field of Decision Sciences that has come to become an industry in itself. Being informative and humorous, it was well received by the audience. The Keynote address by Prof. Rajeeva L Karandikar, Director of Chennai

mathematical Institute was about his experiences in conducting and analyzing nationwide opinion polls for the Indian Parliamentary Election as well as various state assemblies during the period 1998 2007 on behalf of several media companies. In our India offices, as a build up to the D day and to generate organization wide interest, we saw flash-mob, standees, danglers, weekly quizzes, ambush pictionary, video streaming, and weekly mailers making the rounds. Meetings were set up with managers to ensure maximum participation from their teams. Employees who had joined in the month of August and were undergoing training in MSU were also oriented on the upcoming event. Branded goodies were in the offing for the on-floor event winners.

As for the main events, there were Kaun Banega Intrapreneur (KBI), Crimanalytics, FaceBook App, VisualizeR, Quiz and Booth Camp which saw great deal of participation from across the floors. Out

of the 32 nominations for KBI, there were 3 finalists while Facebook App attracted 16 entries, of which 2 reached final stage. Out of the 33 nominations received for VisualizeR , 1 team made it to the finals. Criminalytics had 35 groups as initial entries out of which 3 teams were selected for the D-day. Boothcamp saw maximum participation where 39 teams expressed interest to showcase their ideas. On D-day, employees both old, new, and campus-offered began streaming in to the venue from 8:30 AM to participate in the infotainment. Following breakfast at 9:30 AM, employees thronged the air conditioned auditorium to witness the first event of the day KBI. The ideas that were presented were original in concept and coherent in approach. This was followed by an interactive session co-presented by Dhiraj and Deepinder aimed at incorporating among the employees, a

sense of pride about the organization what we stand for and where we are headed as a pioneer in the field of Decision Sciences that has come to become an industry in itself. Being informative and humorous, it was well received by the audience. The Keynote address by Prof. Rajeeva L Karandikar, Director of Chennai mathematical Institute was about his experiences in conducting and analyzing nationwide opinion polls for the Indian Parliamentary Election as well as various state assemblies during the period 1998 2007 on behalf of several media companies. His insights were received with much applause from the audience. Lunch followed in concurrence with the Booth Camp. A total of 39 booths were set up by various teams to showcase their work in a vibrant and innovative manner. The booths were festively decorated and a number of games were arranged. There was a lot of goodhumored hawking as booth owners came up with novel ways to grab the attention of the onlookers. Chocolates, gift coupons and a number of goodies were handed out to participants as prizes. Post lunch, the rest of the programmes such as Quiz, Facebook App, Criminalytics and VisualizeR followed. Many new ideas that had germinated in young minds were showcased with style and well received by the audience. Innovation was surely the order of the moment. With all the major events wrapped up, everyone geared up for the much awaited prize distribution. Cultural events lined up towards the end got all the youngsters to their feet. Play, dance and band took center stage as the environment reverberated to the sound of music and the rhythm of the beats. The final dance performance by our troupe opened up

Home the stage to DJ night calling in all the happy feet to shake their legs. The boundless energy and passion of Mu Sigmans were palpable. This years Expos, which had been organized for the first time in non-India locations, was pulled off with lan, drawing enthusiastic participation from our onsite employees as well as our client partners. In Seattle, there were a number of infotainment games like hidden word puzzles, Fantasy Soccer Analytics and Simulation, Temple Run, How to MapReduce a bunch of Skittles, Name the Logo, Blackjack and Corporate Sustainability which drew crowds. Our employees in Chicago presented KBI, Quiz and Story-

telling contest to explain concepts such as crowdsourcing and Explaining Mu Sigma to a layman in an informal and witty way. Imaginative narration, creative presentation and convincing ideation were the high points of this event. In the Northeastern front at New Jersey, we had KBI, Debate contest, MPDNA contest, Best practices and fun events like Jeopardy and Tambola which depicted a fine fusion of fun and information. We have always believed in the principles of autonomy, purpose and mastery. Expos 2012 was an event designed to define and highlight this higher purpose. Innovation needs no caste, creed, nationality or gender this platform surely proved it beyond a doubt. Lets continue to fuse the lines of algorithm and heurism to create and celebrate a new industry called Decision Sciences now and always.

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An amalgamation of internal and external events that brought Mu Sigma to the lime light.
Kite Festival| Jan 13 Mu Sigma celebrated Makar Sankranti by organizing its very first Kite Flying event on Jan 13th, 2012. The 4th and 5th floor doorways were serenaded with sugarcanes and banana plantain. Later in the day, packets of Ellu (a mixture of sesame seeds, coconuts, sugar blocks) were distributed among the employees. Around 4pm, folks made their way to the parking lot to relive their childhood memories of kite flying. Blood Donation Drive | Jan 19 On Jan 19th, Prayaas, Mu Sigmas CSR arm, partnered with Rotary-Bangalore TTK Blood Bank to organize a blood donation camp at the Bangalore facility. A total of 196 donors from Mu Sigma participated in the camp, making it a huge success. Health Camp | Mar 20-22 For the second year in row, a health camp was organized for all the employees in Mu Sigma, Bangalore. Held between March 20th - 22nd and then extended for a day on March 27th, the camp involved a comprehensive medical check-up which included biochemistry test, ECG, dental and eye checkup. Get Together Party | March 29th To mark the last week of all the offshore delivery teams working out of the same facility, a get together party was thrown in the cafeteria of Kalyani Platina facility, on the afternoon of March 29th. Members of the MuSig band (Shivang and Vinayak) breathed life into the party by playing some groovy numbers. Mu Sigmas drama club Nautanki staged The Cut. An inter-house jingle competition was also organized. plantation drive to mark the Earth day (April 22nd). 25 saplings were planted in a fertile patch of land near Mu Sigmas Kalyani Platina facility. On the same occasion, a car-pooling initiative was launched by Enriching-life-at-work team. A still from the play The Cut Clothes Collection Drive | March 26th April 6th Goonj, a Delhi based NGO tied up with Prayaas to organize a two-week long collection drive during which clothes, stationery, old toys and newspapers etc. were collected. Close to 160 Kg of clothing were collected during the drive. On April 12th, close on the heels of the clothes collection drive, Goonj set up a stall of goods made of processed urban waste, in the Kalyani Platina facility. INFORMS California, U.S. | April 16th & 17th Puneet Piplani and Bharath Upadhya represented Mu Sigma at a conference held in INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) on April 16th and 17th. The conference took place in Huntington, California and was a success in terms of brand building. A poster on Constraint Integer Programming compiled by Hrishikesh Ganu generated a lot of interest. Predictive Analytics Innovation London, U.K. | April 18th & 19th Dhiraj attended the Predictive Analytics Innovation conference that took place in London, U.K. on April 18th and 19th. He spoke on the topic Data Hurdle or Springboard? How to leverage data to transform your business?. Sapling Plantation Drive| April 22nd Members of Prayaas and Enriching-lifeat-work together organized a sapling

Milaap | May 2-4 Milaap, a social enterprise that enables people around the world to give a loan to the working poor in India, had set up a stall at our facility. Chess Club | May 4 Chess club was launched with about 40 people being a part of the club. Lessons about different moves and best strategies to play the game were part of the Gyan sessions. Sports Fest 2012 | May 5-6 Mu Sigma mens football team bagged the runners up award in the 6th corporate day and night sports fest 2012 football tournament. Platinum Cup | May 12-13 Mu Sigma football team won the runners up award in One Dream Platinum cup tournament. Ankur Surolia was star of the match in the finals. DAA Atlanta, US | May 17 Mu Sigma participated in the Digital Analytics Association event. The panel discussion that took place on 17 May revolved around the topic Finding and Growing Great Analytics Talent. Anup Lakare represented Mu Sigma at the event.

Home The symposium attracted over 300 people from brands such as GE, Google, AT&T, FedEx, UPS, Home Depot, etc. PMSA Anaheim, California | May 20-23 The Pharmaceutical Management Science Association 2012 Annual Conference took place in Anaheim, California in May (20-23). Mu Sigma was invited to co-present with one of our leading Pharma clients. Our CEO Dhiraj Rajaram and the client executive spoke on the topic Real Time Physician Intelligence (RTPI). The presentation was well received and the client had great feedback for Mu Sigma. We were also silver sponsors for the event. Volleyball Tournament | May 21 Volleyball tournament was organized at ITPB facility. The event saw a lot of participation from different teams. Abbott won the tournament beating Gilt in the finals. Photography Contest Photography contest was organized and 20 entries were received. The themes for the contest were all in a days work, summer heat and shopping malls. Mayank Sharan won the contest. His Photograph was titled The cry of thirst in the category summer heat. MPL | May 27 June 10 Mu Sigma tennis ball cricket tournament under the name of MPL (Mu Sigma Premiere League) started with 12 enthusiastic teams participating. Day 1 of the tournament saw Challengers 1 and Discoverers 2 winning their respective matches. The matches are being played at ITPB cricket ground. Back to school | June 15 Children of Santhosh Charity saw a fresh beginning-a fresh start to a new academic year. There was an overwhelming contribution of Rs. 99850 from our employees. Some of the items purchased included uniforms, bottles, bags etc. The Prayaas team, along with a few employees, visited the orphanage and spent quality time with the children.

Spelling Bee | June 6 Kshira Saagar won the first place and Govind Paliath came second in the spelling bee contest held at the Mu Sigma office. DAIS (Digital Analytics India Symposium) Bangalore | June 8 Digital Analytics Association in partnership with Cognizant had organized the DAIS event for the first time in India. Deepinder Dhingra, Head of Product and Strategy at Mu Sigma was part of a panel discussion on the topic What is the secret sauce to successful Cross-Channel Analytics. Use R Nashville, Tennesse | June 12-15 The 8th International R User Conference saw the participation of Mu Sigma in the form of Zubin Dowlaty as a speaker. He spoke on the topic Building Distributed Intelligent Systems for the Enterprise with R. Book Exhibition | June 13 & 14 A Book exhibition cum sale was organized at both the facilities by Strand book store. Books on management, fiction, kids, competition etc. were put up on display and were available at a discounted price. Documentary Screening | June 14 & 15 The Mu Sigma Chess club had organized a documentary screening on Bobby Fischers life. Around 60 people from both KTPL and ITPB attended the screening.

Enterprise 2.0 Boston | June 18-21 Zubin represented Mu Sigma at Enterprise 2.0 conference. He spoke on the topic Social Data Analytics and Visualization Concepts to Address the Big Data Phenomenon. Quiz | June 21 & 27 An Inter-House quiz competition was organized by the Mostly Harmless Quizzers in Mu Sigma. The preliminary round saw a participation of 36 employees from KTPL and ITPB. Scholars won the final round while Discoverers won the second place. ACE quiz | June 23 Govind Paliath and Devajyoti Ghosh represented Mu Sigma and won the runners-up award at the ACE Corporate Quiz held at ISB Hyderabad.

Kids Day | May 25 Kids day was organized at our facility. Employees had brought their kids to spend a day filled with fun activities like magic show, caricature, tattooing, games, movie and painting.

PAW Chicago | June 25-26 Mu Sigmas Mike Feldner and Microsofts Jeff Ahlquist co-presented on the topic Combining customer behavior & attitudes newer ways to gather data, leverage analytics and take smarter product and marketing decisions.

Home Fifth Elephant Bangalore | June 27-28 Deepinder Dhingra and SMS Chauhan represented Mu Sigma in a Bangalore based tech event titled The Fifth Elephant. The 2 day conference organized by management firm HasGeek, focused on the big data ecosystem in India. Inter Corporate Chess Tournament | June 30-July 1 Mu Sigma Team participated in Checkmate - 28th Edition, an intercorporate chess tournament on 30 June and 1 July, 2012. Our team bagged the 8th place and won a trophy while Anjanaa Sowjanya won a special prize for her performance. organized by Gen-X. The team won both their matches against Safran Engineering and Thomson Reuters (score 6-4 and 3-1 respectively). The tournament, held in Bangalore, had its inaugural matches in July. Gift stall | July 26 Mu Sigma in association with Archies celebrated Friendship day and Rakshabandhan at the facility. The stall set up by Archies had lot of gift items like mugs, friendship bands, cards, rakhee etc. that were put on sale. Painting Competition | Sept 19 On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, Mu Sigma organized a painting competition themed around Lord Ganesha. Employees were asked to display their creativity using MS-Paint. Indira Priyadarshini was awarded the first place and the second place was bagged by Avijit Chinnara. reverse singles saw a winner in Kavish Agarwal. In the MTTL Team event, Explorers were the winners and Discoverers were the runners up. Exhibition-and-sale | Nov 8 Mu Sigma organized an Exhibition-andsale in association with The Lions Club of C V Raman Nagar at KTPL and ITPB on Nov 8, 2012. Numerous Diwali decoratives, chocolates, winter collections and apparel were put on sale. Diwali celebrations | Nov 9 As a part of Diwali celebrations, Mu Sigma celebrated Nov 9, 2012 as Ethnic day. At both KTPL and ITPB offices, employees were dressed in festive traditional wear and competed for best dressed male and female awards. Bay decoration competition and Antakshari finals were also conducted. In the KTPL office, the best-dressed male and female awards were given to Kumar TN and Rashmi Poovaiah respectively. Sudha Rani and Team of Best Buy & Whirlpool accounts won the award for Bay decoration. In the ITPB office, Chethan Gowda KS and Aakanksha Sunil Pevekar bagged the best-dressed male and female awards respectively while the best Bay Decoration award was given to Rashmi Rajashekhar & Team of Abbott- Specialty team. The finale of Antakshari competition was organized at KTPL office where first prize was given to Abhinaya Ananthakrishnan , Sankalp Hulsurkar and Pratik Shah while Nanditha Sivashankar, Nikhil Sobti and Nikhil Dubey were awarded the second place. At ITPB office, there was also a gettogether where minute to win it games were arranged for the employees.

Photography Exhibition | July 16-20 Mu Sigma photography club organized photography exhibition at both KTPL & ITPB facilities.

12th Annual Shopper Insights in Action Retail Conference 2012 Chicago | July 18-20 Mu Sigma was a key sponsor and a speaker at this conference held in Chicago. Mike Feldner, Regional Head of Mu Sigma spoke on the topic - ROI & Measurement: "Improving Conversion Using Member Insights". Gen- X Soccer League | July 21 & 28 Mu Sigmas football team took part in an inter-corporate football tournament

Inter house Mu Sigma Table-Tennis League (MTTL) | Nov 5-8 Mu Sigma TT Club organized the Inter house MTTL from Nov 5 to Nov 8. There were singles as well as team events for both men and women. The womens singles winner was Anila Rao of MSU and runners up was Harshada Deepak Pujari from Implementers. Mens single was won by Adhokshaj Katarni of Discoverers while Sasidhar Saraswatula of Implementers was the runners up. In the doubles tournament, the Kavish/Saptarishi duo came out with flying colours and the

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Inter-corporate quiz competition |Nov 9 An Inter-corporate quiz competition on Brand Equity was conducted on Nov 9, 2012 in which Govind Paliath and Ajay Parasuraman participated from Mu Sigma. Childrens day celebration |Nov 14 Childrens day was organized by Prayaas on Nov 14 at KTPL office cafeteria. 34 Children from Santosh Charitable Trust attended the event as guests and participated in the various team building activities organized for them. The children also performed dances, songs and made a presentation about their homes. Prakash Sheshadri delivered a message to the children and gifts were distributed among the children.

Team outings |Nov 28-Dec 20 As a part of employee engagement, team outings were arranged for all the employees. A total of 10 team outings were organized at Counter Culture in Whitefield. There were various team building activities organized, followed by DJ and dinner.

MBL |Dec 1 & 2 The Mu Sigma Badminton League was held on 1st and 2nd of Dec and saw good participation. The Open Mens Singles was won by Abhimanyu Nehra and the runners up was bagged by Tanmay Narulkar. Ruhani Singh was the winner of the Open Womens Singles and Shruthi Prabhu was the runners up. The Open Mixed Doubles was won by Ashish Kumar & Ruhani Singh while Tanmay Narulkar & Richa Mahato were runners up. The Open Mens Doubles saw a winner in Tanmay Narulkar & Kolli Balaji while Sourabh Pandey & Abhimanyu Nehra were the runners up in the event. The winners of the Open Womens Doubles were Ruhani Singh & Richa Mahato while the runners up were Babita DCosta & Harshada Pujari. In the Team Event, Discoverers bagged the winning slot while the Implementers were runners Up. Prayaas - Im a Santa Drive | Dec Prayaas had organized the Im a Santa drive to buy certain items on the wish -list of HIV infected kids of Sneha Care Home. Employees generously donated money amounting to Rs 95,000 for various items such as clothes, watches, caps, shoes, etc which were then distributed to the children on Dec 21. In addition, Laptop bags were distributed to Government schools at Siddhapur and Ramgondanahalli.

5 year tenure awards |Dec 19 and 20 Tenure Awards were given away on Dec 19 at ITPB and on Dec 20 at KTPL to a total of 29 employees who had completed 5 years with Mu Sigma. Dhiraj presented the awards to the recipients.

Christmas Celebrations | Dec 20 Keeping up with the spirit of Christmas, Carol singing was held on Dec 20 at ITPB and KTPL offices.

Debate competition finals |Nov 16 The final round inter-house parliamentary debate competition was organized on Nov 16 at ITPB office. The winners were Dhananjai Singh Mankotia and Arijit Paladhi of MSU while Aniket Deshpande and Tauseef Ahmed of Challengers bagged the runners up.