Tag: Presenting Big Data

APEC Data Science & Analytics Key Competency #2: Data Visualization and Presentation

According to the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Advisory Group, Data Visualization and Presentation is one of the key competencies of a Data Science & Analytics professional working in the region.

By definition, a DSA professional demonstrates the ability to create and communicate compelling and actionable insights from data using visualization and presentation tools and technologies.

Data visualization is a general term that describes any effort to help people understand the significance of data by placing it in a visual context. Being able to present these visuals in a way that initiatives action and empowers decision-making is just as important.

The best data visualizations are simply ones that take data and convert it to visuals like pie charts, line graphs, sales charts, etc.

Patterns, trends and correlations that might go undetected in spreadsheets or text-based data can be exposed and recognized easier with data visualization software.

Good analysts are the ones who can visualize data and use tools to add a story telling component to their analysis.

One of the best ways of communicating any kind of complex information is to turn it into a story, starting at the beginning and working your way through to the end.

Making the story relevant to the audience is key. By making the results both easier to understand and more likely to be remembered it becomes easier to convince an audience of the validity of your approach and make them more likely to accept and take action based on your conclusions.

In the end, just think of the adage picture is worth a 1000 words, just like a good pie chart is worth 10,000 rows of excel data.

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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. 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.

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Global Demand for Analytics and Data Science Talent

There are not enough analytics experts and data scientists to go around.

I say this a lot.

Just did a quick google search to put some recent data points and commentary to back up what I say.

The mass adoption of big data has seen companies across sectors scramble to hire enough data scientists to glean insights and drive decision making.

A decade ago, explaining data science to employers was challenging. Few people understood the value of a skill set that combines computer science, statistics, operations research, engineering, business insights and strategy and the impact it can have on a business.

But things have changed over the last five years. Not only has the term “data science” become commonplace, but data scientists have become highly sought after in the marketplace

According to a 2015 MIT Sloan Management Review, 40 percent of the companies surveyed were struggling to find and retain the data analytics talent. And the picture is starting to look even bleaker.

International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts a need by 2018 for 181,000 people with deep analytical skills, and a requirement five times that number for jobs with the need for data management and interpretation skills.

A report by McKinsey & Company is frequently referenced, stating that by 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.

Deloitte’s Analytics Trends 2016 report notes that while there is a rising number of university analytics and data science programs (more than 100 just in the U.S.), they nonetheless can’t crank out enough sufficiently trained people to meet demand.

Consequently, the report recommends that companies should:

  • Actively recruit on campuses with data analytics programs.
  • Develop internships and student projects both as a recruiting tool and to groom students for an efficient transition to the general business world and company culture.
  • Establish meaningful and rewarding career paths with an infrastructure in place most likely to interest and attract new talent.

In a recent blog post, Facebook listed a number of tips for students to prepare for such fields. Chief among them: “Take all the math you can possibly take,” including probability and statistics. (And while you’re at it, the company recommends, make sure you take some computer science, and try to squeeze in engineering, economics, philosophy of knowledge, and the latest brain research, too.)

One of the reasons I am so bullish about 2017, is that appetite for analytics and datas science is through the roof. Finally, everyone is starting to get serious about how to infuse their decision-making with more data.

DMAIPH specializes in empowering and enabling leaders, managers, professionals and students with a mastery of analytics fundamentals. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out what we can do to help you acquire the analytics mastery you and your organization need to be successful in today’s data-driven global marketplace.

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Sources

http://www.business.com/recruiting/big-data-big-problem-coping-with-shortage-of-talent-in-data-analysis/

https://techcrunch.com/2015/12/31/how-to-stem-the-global-shortage-of-data-scientists/

https://content.pivotal.io/blog/mckinsey-report-highlights-the-impending-data-scientist-shortage

http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/big-data-the-next-frontier-for-innovation

https://code.facebook.com/posts/384869298519962/artificial-intelligence-revealed/

 

 

 

Big Data Analytics > The Art of Presenting Big Data



It has been my experience that presenting Big Data requires quite a bit of artistic ability.

I will be talk about the Art of Presenting Big Data among other topics at an event this coming February 21 in Ortigas.

For me there is a clear need to Apply a Process to Present Big Data Clearly
. This process has 3 parts.

  1. Selecting the Appropriate Presentation Format to Communicate Your Findings Effectively to Your Audience
  2. Mastering the Power of Enchantment
  3. Sharing Findings from Big Data to Drive Decisions Within Your Organization

Knowing How to Select the Appropriate Presentation Format to Communicate Your Findings Effectively to Your Audience is where we will stat.

To that end I have a checklist I use before every presentation I share involving Big Data:

  • Know Your Audience
  • Consider Time Constraints
  • How Will The Data Be Consumed?
  • Can The Data and Analysis Be Accessed?
  • Make it Interactive

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. 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 on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

 

Q8: Here’s something a lot of us are wondering, what exactly is big data?

Think about some of the things you do in your daily life. You get up, you eat, go to work/school, shop, do something for entertainment, bank, go online and do things on social media. Everything you do generates data. That data is captured in countless ways. And then its stored in countless places. And analyzed by countless numbers of people. And then used in countless ways by businesses to market, design, advertise, build, sell, and so on.

Every time you check your phone to see if there are any updates on Facebook you generate a lot of data for your phone manufacturer, your service provider and Facebook itself. Everything you like or comment on can be turned into a data point. The time, place and length of your connection all provide useful data. Get the point? Its endless.

That’s big data.

In general, big data is thought of as all the data businesses capture and store in a database that they can use for business decision-making.

When you think of data collections that have millions and millions of rows of data like big bank transaction data, or traffic data for major cities, or all the statistics captured everyday across professional sports. Way too much for man to analyze without help from technology. That’s all big data.

Every business defines its big data a little differently. There is no one way to look at how best to manage big data because big data is such a living, evolving, never ending flow of information. It’s like lakes of water that are too big to swim across and too deep to dive to the bottom of without help. And no two lakes are alike.

Data analysts and data s2.5.2cientists are the ones who know the lake and guide you across or build you a submarine to explore the bottom.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, knowing the data environment is key to your success. And big data just adds weight to that statement. If you don’t know where all the data is coming from, can’t be sure if its clean, then you will get lost in the deluge of big data.

The Fundamental of Business Analytics – Business Analytics is the application of talent, technology and technique on business data for the purpose of extracting insights and discovering opportunities.

DMAIPH specializes in empowering organizations, schools, and businesses with a mastery of the fundamentals of business analytics. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out how you can strengthen your business analytics fundamentals.