Ulrika Jägare - Data Science Strategy For Dummies

Data Science Strategy For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com .

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019942827

ISBN: 978-1-119-56625-0; 978-1-119-56626-7 (ebk); 978-1-119-56627-4 (ebk)

1. Chapter 16

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 6
6. Chapter 9
7. Chapter 11
8. Chapter 12
9. Chapter 13
10. Chapter 14
11. Chapter 15
12. Chapter 18
13. Chapter 19
14. Chapter 20
15. Chapter 21
16. Chapter 22
17. Chapter 23

Were living in a make-or-break era; the ability to generate business value from enterprise data will either make or break your organization. We didnt get here overnight. For years, experts have been professing how vital it is that business reframe itself to become more data-driven.

Some listened, some did not.

Organizations that took their business by its big data helm (like Netflix, Facebook, and Walmart) set the precedent. You better believe they have extremely robust data strategies in place governing those operations. The ones that did not? This book was written for you.

Sadly, over the last decade, some organizations got caught up in the media buzz. Theyve spent a huge amount of time and money working to hire data scientists, but havent seen the ROI theyd expected.

Part of the problem is that its both expensive and difficult to hire data scientists. In 2018, the median salaries for data scientists in USA ranged between $95,000 and $165,000 (see the 2018 Burtch Works Data Science Strategy Report). Making matters worse, the demand for analytics-savvy workers is twice the supply (see The Quant Crunch, prepared for IBM by Burning Glass Technologies). No surprise that its exceedingly difficult to recruit and retain these type of professionals.

But a bigger part of the problem is just this contrary to what most advocates will tell you, just sourcing and hiring a team of Data Scientists isnt going to get your organization where it needs to be. Youll also need to secure a robust set of big data skill sets, technologies, and data resources. More importantly, youll need a comprehensive big data strategic plan in place, to help you steer your data ship.

It takes a lot more than just implementation folks dealing with all the details of your data initiatives; you also need an expert to manage them. You need someone who can communicate with and manage your data team, can communicate effectively with organizational leaders, can build relationships with business stakeholders, and who can perform exhaustive evaluations of both your business and your data assets in order to form the data strategy your business will need to survive in the digital era. Read this book for details on how to get these elements in place.

All around the world, Ive been on the frontlines supporting organizations that know their datas value and are ready to make big changes to start extracting that value. At Data-Mania, we provide results-driven data strategy services to optimize our clients data operations. We are also leading the change by training our clients staff with the data strategy and data science skills they need to succeed. Through our partnerships with LinkedIn and Wiley, over the last five years weve educated about a million technical professionals globally. Across both of these functions and with each project we engage, one message strongly resounds The people and organizations who are committed to taking necessary actions to transform enterprise data to business value are the ones that will prevail in the digital era.

I want to be the first to congratulate you! Just by picking up this book and making the effort to educate yourself on the problems and solutions related to data strategy, youve already taken the first step. Whether youre a C-suite executive thats looking for guidance on next steps for your organization, or if youre a data professional looking to move forward in your career,