My Big Data Initiatives for 2018

As 2018 comes to a close, I plan on spending the last few weeks of the year thinking about what comes next.

Priority #1 is expanding the advocacy for more data-driven decision-making in the Philippines.

There are two components to this effort; talking about analytics to as many Filipinos as possible and continuing to hit the road and spread the advocacy to as many provinces as possible.

Priority #2 is something new.

After six years of being pretty much 100% focused on analytics in the Philippines, I will be spending some of my time back in the United States. I will be volunteering time to help educate and empower the electorate to make more data-driven decisions when it comes to exercising their vote.

My call to action for 2018 will center around three #hashtags:

#DataRockPinas

#AAPMoonshot

#BetterBringData

More to come.

Analytics Leadership – DMAIPH is a founding member of the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP.PH) and specializes in arming the Data-Driven Leader with the tools and techniques they need to build and empower an analytics centric organization. Analytics leadership requires a mastery of not just analytics skill, but also of nurturing an analytics culture. We have guided thousands of Filipino professionals to become better analytics leaders.

Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

#DataRockPinas: Uplifting Big Data Believers and Converting Analytics Skeptics

I have been talking about analytics here in the Philippines for almost 7 years.

In that time I have come across two types of attitudes towards analytics: Believers and Skeptics.

Believers understand there is value in business data that needs to be unlocked, analyzed and put into action.

These are unfortunately, in the minority of the people I talk with.

Skeptics come in many forms.

Some are skeptics because they just don’t like math. Data to them means nose bleed by numbers.

Some skeptics have a negative opinion about analytics because they got burned in the past by some high-priced consultant or technology that didn’t deliver as promised.

Others are skeptical because they got to where they are in their career or with their business because they have good instincts and trust their gut over a bunch of spreadsheets.

However, the largest population of skeptics are people who just don’t know much about analytics. They have worked in their jobs and have run their business in manual process driven environments that don’t have a culture of using data.

When it comes to delivering analytics training, it’s easy to focus on the believers. They generally come to us looking for trainings, or they see our marketing and make a quick mental decision that they need it.

Over the past several years I say the percentage of believers here in the Philippines has probably doubled from about 20% of the working population to closer to 40% of the working population.

Acceptance of analytics and the use of data has come along way. Success stories like Waze, Grab and Uber… the proliferation of smartphones, and the boom in call centers are some of the reasons for this.

Working with that 40% brings people like me a lot of business. And it is fun to work with people open minded to the use of data.

Still, its still less than half.

So to really make a difference, to grow the advocacy, we need to start converting skeptics into believers.

This requires taking concepts that are hard and breaking them down into layman’s turns.

This requites lots of real world case studies and examples that the average Juan can relate to.

And this requires constantly looking for opportunities to raise awareness.

#DataRockPinas is about all of the above.

We have pockets of believers scattered across the Philippines who are hungry for analytics training to help them in their careers and with their businesses.

We also have large segments of the population who need to be exposed to the concepts of Big Data, Analytics and Data Science in ways that get their attention.

And this is what the DMAIPH andA AP are going to do… work with both the believers and convert the skeptics.

Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

Upskilling the Next Wave Cities in Analytics

SO what have we been up to with the DMAIPH and the AAP?

Take a look:

Data Night Cebu – Sept 8, 2017 – 60 Attendees

Big Data 101 – Cebu – Oct 16, 2017 – 40 Attendees

Visayas Analytics Freelancers – Oct 16, 2017 – 25 Attendees

Data Night Gensan – Oct 18, 2017 – 50 Attendees

Big Data Conference 2017 – BGC SM Aura – 300 Attendees are Expected

Data Night University of Mindanao – Nov 24, 2017 – Expecting 200 attendees

Big Data Strategy for HR Managers – Ortigas – Nov 28-29 – Expecting 40 attendees

Big Data 101 – Davao – Nov 25, 2017 – Expecting 30 Attendees

Analytics Freelancers Mindanao – Dec 8, 2018 – Expecting 25 Attendees

Big Data Analytics & Data Value Chain – Bacolod – Dec 8, 2017 – Expecting 25 Attendees

Train the Analytics Trainer Batch II – Bacolod, Dec 11, 2017 – Expecting 15 Attendees

Data Night Iloilo – January 12, 2018 – Expecting 100 Attendees

Big Data 101 Iloilo – January 12, 2018 – Expecting 30 Attendees.

And that is how you start the ball rolling to upskill train 500,000 Filipinos by 2022.

We have guided thousands of Filipino professionals to become better analytics leaders. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

The Analytics Moonshot of Upskill Training 500K Filipinos… So how is it all connected?

There are undoubtedly many ways to approach a task of this magnitude, but for me it starts with creating more experts.

One of the biggest challenges facing Data Science and Analytics in the Philippines right now is a lack of subject matter experts.

Those who have the background, the experience and the skills to be a senior analyst or data scientist are in short supply.

Over the past years the demand for top DSA has boomed laying bare an unescapable reality, there just aren’t enough of us to go around.

The proliferation of data themed trainings, coupled with the recent launch of several academic efforts to mint experts show us that there are those thinking about how to address the supply problem.

However, my worry is that these efforts are simply too small in scope to significantly alter the trajectory we are currently on.

Even on my own, as a top expert and training resource, I can only directly impact a couple of thousand Filipinos a year.

If my analysis of the current DSA Ecosystem plays out, we, and by we, I mean ALL parties involved in training DSA experts, we will still be far short of the 500,000 DSA job opportunities the Philippines will see by 2022.

To turn things around we need to not just focus on creating DSA experts, but creating DSA experts who can create more DSA experts.

It starts with training trainers who can train DSA topics.

It continues as we influence our leaders, our policy makers and our educators to address the need for experts via the education system.

At the same time we embrace non-traditional ways of learning and we enable self-educated experts.

All the while we train, train, train. Upskill train entry level workers for new careers, train managers to manage using data and build teams who know data, and train executives how to lead their organizations into the digital age.

And our efforts build as we unify the ecosystem to get key players to align into a framework that supports each other.

With that, we then move these efforts nationwide.

Now we are talking. This concentrated effort might just get us to 500,000 Filipino DSA experts, which can mitigate the risk to the BPOs, make us competitive across the Asia-Pacific region and succeed in the digital transformation of an entire country.

And that’s why I call it our Moonshot.

Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

Surfing the Storm: How the Philippines will Digitally Transform and Prosper in the Age of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.

There is a wave of digital disruption fast approaching the Philippines. The initial impact of massive digital transformation is already being felt. Just look at what Grab, Uber and Waze did to the Taxi Industry.

The same thing will at some point impact every aspect of the Philippines economy from banking to retail to the BPO industry. Swift advances in technology coupled with unstoppable demographic forces are pushing the country forward at a quickening pace.

The big question is not when will digital transformation happen on a nationwide scale, but how much of what we currently see will survive the wave when we come out on the other side.

For organizations that are well prepared, they will see new avenues of revenue, benefit from more optimized ways of doing business and enjoy a much closer connection to their employees and their customers.

For businesses that are not well prepared, they will see constant disruption and many will likely not survive the transition to the digital age. All you have to do is look at who the world’s most profitable companies ten years ago and compare that list to the top companies today and you will see many examples of what happens to companies who did not adapt.

In the Philippines, call center capital of the world, with over One Million workers and at least 10% of the nation’s GDP, we see a massive threat from one of the keystones of digital transformation, artificial intelligence. As many as 70% of work force and an untold number of workers in supporting industries (well over an additional million Filipinos) will likely see their current job replaced or at least heavily impacted by technological advances.

There are things being done to address this and with the right solutions falling into place we can envision a massive upskill training of the workforce. However, when it comes to both digital transformation and artificial intelligence, the best way to mitigate risks and take advantage of new opportunities is by turning to experts that can guide a business through a process of evolution.

It is an unfortunate truth however, that in the Philippines, a significant shortage in data-driven leaders and tech savvy workers who can teach others is a key challenge. Exacerbating the problem is that our current education system has not been as closely aligned with building data and tech skills as we would like to see.

Again, we see a lot of positive momentum in schools starting to offer data science programs and government entities updating curriculums, but they too struggle with the lack of experts who can teach the skills in high demand. This has led to a massive disconnect is the demand for data and tech skilled workers and the supply of qualified ones.

In addition, we have to recognize some hard truths about the way the youth of today and tomorrow learn. Besides updating our traditional education and corporate training models, we have to embrace new ways to learn. YouTube, Wikipedia, TED Talks, Coursera, the Khan Academy and an endless list of others… they are all lessons in digital disruption that can benefit us and guide us on our path.

So that challenge leads us to coming up with upskill training in data science, analytics, digital marketing, and a wide range of tech jobs for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Filipinos. On the plus side there are a lot of high quality solutions out there and a core element of thought leaders working on the skills problem. However, when you look at scale, there just simply is not enough of us currently to get close to the end goal.

The current ecosystem of industry associations, higher education institutions, government programs, independent training providers are all striving to meet the demand, but at times it is very fragmented. There is an overarching need for an umbrella organization to help unify the landscape. That’s what is behind the mission of the soon to launch Analytics Association of the Philippines.

As we bring together key players and influencers we can build an advocacy. Built on cooperation and a strategic vision to uplift the whole of the nation, we can tackle the challenges posed by the lack of experts and the skills mismatch. Together we can work to enhance the way we train, evolve the way we teach and use our influence to empower.

That’s my big vision for How the Philippines will Digitally Transform and Prosper in the Age of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. We will use big data analytics as our surfboard to help us navigate the wave of digital transformation and come out the other side as an example of how a nation can come together and Surf the Storm.

Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

Worried Your Call Center Job Might Be Taken by a Robot? You should be.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/05/12/17/bpos-gearing-up-for-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-industry

I shared this article on an FB group and got a lot of inquires from people who are indeed seeing an opportunity to move from a call center job to a Data Science and Analytics (DSA) job.

Most of the questions revolved around how to transition.

Want to get Data Science and Analytics Training. Not sure how, here are some tips!

Self-Teach a Skill. (YouTube has thousands of free resources)
Volunteer at Work. (Find out what skills are in demand in your company and ask if you can help)
Take a Training Class (there are a lot of public training classes out there, including some that DMAIPH does).
Read a Book (Experts share a lot… like my book Putting Your Data to Work: An Analytics Guidebook for Filipino Professionals)
Find a Mentor (Jedi Knights start as an apprentice, so do many analysts and data scientists)
Join a Group (there are a lot of meet up groups like Data Science Philippines you can use to network)
Go Back to School (a few dozen schools here in the Philippines are either already offering data science an analytics programs are kicking them off soon)
Follow a Blog. (Besides reading books, there are a lot of good ideas shared on blogs like mine, dmaiph.com)
Become a Member (join associations like aap.ph aka Analytics Association of the Philippines)

Another question that came up often was, “What should you learn first?”

Find a tool, technique or technology that is high demand and fits your interests and aptitude. The best way to find out what to focus on is do a job search for the kind of job you want and look at the requirements. For newbies some of the in demand skills are

SQL (the most widely used language used for data analytics)
Microsoft Excel (if you know pivot tables, simple formulas and can make decent visuals you will be in high demand)
Tableau (a free version called Tableau Public can be downloaded and is easy to learn)
R (the most widely used tool for predictive analytics and data science and its free)

And then a lot more people added me on FB, hoping to network and find new opportunities. Thats a good tip too. Networking is key.

DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience.

jobspicture2 If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation to learn which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

Also if you own or manage a call center, we can help. In fact, DMAIPH has successfully set up Filipino analytics teams for over a dozen U.S. based businesses. Offering both virtual and office based teams that specialize in problem solving using data, new technology and analytics techniques is our strength.

Finding and empowering analytics talent is increasingly challenging, but we have mastered Surfing Into The Storm and can show you how to succesfully set up a team. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn more about how to set up an analytics-centric team in the Philippines.

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