A BI Need: Skilled Analytic Minds

Bangalore: When a new technology enters a market, there is usually a lot of hype surrounding it. With too many people talking about the technology, people are bound to ask the question, “Why the hype?” This is true for Big Data. It needs to be noted that data is now an important factor to be considered in all aspects of a functioning organization, along with labour and capital. The burgeoning quantities of data will be creating more employment opportunities as well.

According to the report, “Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity“, there is a paucity of talented labour that will be able to deal with the information overload. The shortage of individuals who have deep analytical skills will affect the ability of an organization to fully exploit the quantity of data it collects to judge past decisions and to predict future changes.

There is a strong need to foster the individuals who have the capability to visualize the impact that data can have on the company. These ‘data scientists’ must be able to carry out algorithms on data and see how to make better decisions. Faye Meredith writes on blogs.sas.com about the different ways in which individual capabilities are judged while hiring. Certain teams look for people with a business oriented mind, while certain managers prefer those who are able to clinically investigate the data thoroughly. A key skill that both groups must have is the ability to report their findings to non technical stake holders in a simple fashion.

Education is key in the field of Business Intelligence. This was a field that was not even considered as a career choice 2 decades ago. Today besides Big data, Data warehousing and Social Analytics are considered to be necessary tools in the portfolio of any big organization. With new platforms being introduced, to have an edge,  an individual must be willing to constantly learn about trends in the domain and must try his best to stay updated.
The number of individuals who are considering the career option of business analyst has been growing. This is reflected in the number of analytics firms that have been budding up in India and growing at a quick pace. The number of technical individuals who are interested in developing BI software has also increased drastically. With these changes, BI has established itself as a must-have technology.