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Big analytics
The data explosion has created unmet demand for managers in all fields who can make sense of it all; visual tools are helping educators create a workforce that meets the challenge.
By David Bowie
For organisations of virtually any type and size, so-called big data is now ubiquitous. The bigger it grows, the more important it becomes to be able to make sense of it quickly and take advantage of it. Computing science faculties have long provided courses for dedicated data analysts but, increasingly, it’ s the business schools that are teaching analytics to future managers who will never be on the headcount of an IT department.
Business is moving ever faster and virtually every type of organisation is facing increased competition. Individual managers are permanently under pressure to respond quickly to competitive threats and market opportunities, and to do so they always need up-to-date information – not what the situation was last week. When the pressure is on, managers must be able to get at their own data straight away, not wait for reports.
The University of Sydney Business School has established curriculums based on visual analytics tools to help meet the ever-increasing demand for business graduates who can bring an analytical approach to decision-making, wherever they sit in the organisation. The reality of the demand can be easily verified by searching job advertising sites with keywords relating to big data, data analysis and data scientist.
The university’ s initiative couldn’ t be more opportune. According to international analyst firm Gartner, Australian organisations will spend $ 670.6 million on analytics and business intelligence software this year – an increase of 12.1 per cent on last year, compared with a 6.9 per cent increase, globally. Moreover, further double-digit growth rates in Australia are forecast for the next three years.
The current shortage of business executives with analytical skills is not confined to Australia. The McKinsey Global Institute projects that by 2018, the US 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.
University of Sydney associate professor Dr Olivera Marjanovic says:“ Employers want graduates equipped with thinking tools. They want them knowing not only how to find answers to existing questions, but how to ask brand new questions and deal with complex problems in a holistic way. So the new breed of business graduates must enter the workforce with an understanding of how to leverage data to inform decisions and drive organisational innovation. They must be able to support the cultural change needed for data-driven organisations.”
Marjanovic calls these objectives“ the future of business education”. Amongst the new measures she is taking is the deployment of SAS Visual Analytics in the Cloud – a conceptual tool designed to help people from different disciplines communicate effectively to develop strategies and business systems. Using the tool, students explore how data is collected and managed between different entities, within and outside an organisation.
“ This is crucial for today’ s economy,” Marjanovic says.“ While organisations have traditionally operated within individual silos, the data itself doesn’ t work like this. Rather, it flows throughout, and the more you can get data flowing across organisations, the better you can leverage if for competitive advantage.”
Feedback from Marjanovic and her students regarding the program, its usability and features, has been broadly positive, with one of the key benefits being additional time for teaching and innovation.
Supported by a large Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching grant, Marjanovic is working on designing and implementing activities in visual analytics using storytelling and industry-based scenarios. She says she has found that such activities enable students to reach higher levels of cognitive and knowledge skills.
“ Higher order thinking skills, such as design thinking, will be more important in the future as different organisations work co-operatively,” she says.“ Our graduates are likely to work on projects that involve a number of organisations, and analytics will allow these value networks to operate more effectively.” n
David Bowie is the managing director of SAS Australia and New Zealand.
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