In today’s world, whether you know what it is, or not, or you think it’s a fashion, new trend or something you genuinely recognise; the new world of data science and advanced analytics is a talking point in the current landscape.
90% of all the data in existence has been created in the last 2 years, and as the world creates an additional 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each year, it’s no surprise this alarming amount of data now is starting to be utilised properly.
Data science will be one of the biggest and most cost-effective investments businesses can opt into. The goal is, to turn massive amounts of data (quintillion bytes worth) into actionable insights, influence major strategic decisions, solve business problems, improve customer service and enhance the overall business ROI.
Some organisations in the Energy sector are developing this capability to ensure they are staying relevant in a very competitive market, ensuring their customers are being interacted with at the right moment, with the right content and at the right frequency. This information feeds into high level marketing and sales strategies, heavily influencing customer service and their product offerings.
A data scientist drives this process and the overarching objective; producing viable solutions, promoting best practise and essentially shaping company direction and vision.
They possess a very technical skillset, as well as strong business acumen, to communicate and translate highly technical data into digestible information for key decision makers. As this is a relatively new concept and movement, there are very few who possess this combination of skills.
The supply and demand ratio is becoming increasingly apparent. There are already a low number of data science graduates in the current market, but more importantly graduates are required to have several years’ experience in applying their theoretical knowledge to tangible business issues.
With this demand comes the high earnings. It is estimated in 2021, the average salary of a post grad data scientist will be $130,176. Naturally, the combination of being in high demand, with a generous starting salary has led Glassdoor to rank ‘Data Scientist’ as the best job of 2019. If businesses can hire, develop, and retain this talent, which keeps them at the forefront of their industries and providing them with an edge over their competition, then they will continue to be sought-after and invested in.
Over the next 2 years, 76% of businesses are planning on increasing their investment in their analytics capabilities, meaning internal structures will shift. Notably “Data” and “IT” will be separate functions, working alongside each other, where their value will be distinguishable, yet significant.
It is no surprise that this is an incredibly exciting and interesting space to be involved in, and it is certain that the current landscape will change dramatically over the next few years as businesses, and data science evolves and matures
The rate of investment and resources a business dedicates to this area will directly impact their future success. Which businesses actually take action will be fascinating to watch – who will be last on the bandwagon?
