Cal Poly Students to Make Business Analytics Presentations to Oracle Leaders
Two teams of Cal Poly graduate business students will make special presentations to top Oracle Corp. executives on Wednesday, May 3 at Oracle’s headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif.
Students in Cal Poly’s M.S. Business Analytics program will make global sales strategy recommendations related to Oracle’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) product offered via its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Panelists from Oracle will include Ivgen Guner, senior vice president of global business finance, Elena Drozd, director of the Advanced Analytics Group, and Rich Clayton, vice president of the Business Analytics Product Group.
After analyzing five years of global sales data provided by Oracle, students cultivated a targeted approach to identifying and developing new marketing opportunities by utilizing data mining techniques and advanced statistical modeling. Students also delivered a written report that defined characteristics of top prospect companies for new EPM sales, suggested new methodology for appealing to different prospect companies and provided insights for targeted marketing campaigns in different countries around the globe.
The presentations are the culmination of a new collaboration between Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business and Oracle, which provided real data for a three-month Learn by Doing project. Oracle has teamed with Cal Poly and other academic programs to address the shortfall of data scientists in the industry.
“Education is a cornerstone of Oracle’s culture and legacy,” said Oracle’s Clayton. “We are thrilled to team with Cal Poly and help inspire the next generation of data analytic leaders.”
Cal Poly launched its M.S. in Business Analytics program in 2016 to meet strong demand for professionals skilled in working with and interpreting complex sets of data. The program trains students from business, science, engineering and mathematics backgrounds to prepare data from diverse sources, illustrate findings and communicate strategic insights to business leaders.
“Oracle’s willingness to review our work and give us feedback has given direction and impact to our decision process, bridging the gap between our analytical methods and actionable results,” said Matthew Fagan, one of seven Cal Poly student team members scheduled to present. “This opportunity is the biggest of my life.”
Local and industry media are invited to attend the presentations at Oracle’s headquarters in the Redwood Shores section of Redwood City, Calif. Please email rkontra@calpoly.edu for more information.
