Why is Data Science the Best Upskilling Investment?

Data science has been gaining prominence and momentum over the past decade. With the need to disentangle huge amounts of variegated data, eminent business houses and start-ups are looking for data scientists.

There is an estimated $1.3 trillion worth of bad data in the US alone. Conscious data analysis can weed out and optimise this bad data. For instance, recent studies have shown that Big Data can help save $300-450 billion in health care expenditure alone.

Data scientists can provide various kinds of analysis and insights like customer profiling and purchase trends, which are attracting massive investments. Organizations, big and small, have realized the importance of data. However, the big guns have gone all in, integrating data science into their existing workforce as an upskilling practice.

Here are a few reasons why the big players are looking at Big Data and data scientists as their best upskilling option:

1. Prevent fraudulent activities

Fraud is a common enemy that most industries in the world face today. Big Data analytics is one of the best ways to avert and detect fraudulent activities. A lot of data on previous frauds and risks is available for these companies and it would only make sense to use it to their benefit.

This need for Big Data analytics has been realized by entrepreneurial giants like Flipkart in India. HP has a stake of $1 billion and IBM has a stake of $24 billion in Big Data analytics. Paytm has recruited big data experts to look into their data warehouses and locate deceitful activities. Despite costing them approximately 12.5 million per scientist, companies are proactively investing to this end.

2. Detect, discover and develop solutions

Problem-solving and troubleshooting have come to rely heavily on data science. It is easily possible to detect and prioritize prominent areas by locating volume spikes and trends. Similarly, product managers use the help of analytics and machine learning to create products that design optimum solutions.

3. Taking the higher road and gaining profit

Above 80% of the companies that have hired data scientists have seen an increment in their revenue. About 44% of these companies believe that they have outpaced their shareholders’ assumptions regarding growth rates in revenue. 64% of the companies claim that they have left their competitors far behind in the rat race after data scientists entered the picture.

4. Expert insights and tracking

Whether it is Amazon pushing ads on the basis of your search history or Facebook suggesting friends to add to your list; personalization is enhancing user experience over the internet. Insights will help look at customers in an individualized way, providing personalized prospects as well offers, which are trending while providing information on the best-selling merchandise. They are always on the edge looking for changes in established patterns of data.

Data science courses and data science training have, therefore, become the talk of the time. The demand for data scientists is rising at such a quick pace that McKinsey believes by the next one year, there will be 50% more demand than supply of these data experts. So it is perceived that a massive potential lies untapped in data science as well as in the auxiliary fields, which will be explored in coming years.