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What makes for a great data scientist?

As the applications of analytics evolve at speed, the pressure on data science skills increases. And with less budget on tap with which to acquire the right talent it’s even more important that public sector organisations create the perfect blend of data science, analytical and operational skills. But what is perfect and how can you get there?

First, is it really that important to invest in in-house talent? Our research shows that 90% of UK organisations believe they could achieve tangible business benefits by raising the skills of their Big Data Analytics users. So the answer is a resounding yes. But even just a few years ago, the same research tells us that three-fifths of organisations were finding it difficult to recruit the skills they needed.

When you’re considering your blend of skills and how you want to deploy them, it’s important to know that a one-size-all approach won’t give you the results you need. Our research establishes that there are seven typical blends of personality and skills to choose from, each of which can be matched to appropriate departments, analytical functions or cross-organisational work.

Pick from a range that stretches across super introverts who focus on logic and facts – we call them ‘The Geeks’ – to emotionally intelligent extroverts, ‘The Voices’, who are great communicators with less technical competency. Once you assess your data science personnel and map those skills to your current and future ambitions and the kinds of work they’ll be required to do you’ll have created an evidence-based platform for future growth.

This is no small job, however, so why not talk to our education division? They help organisations of all kinds to map the current skills of their data science communities against business objectives. Collaboratively they develop a training plan that’s completely scalable and incredibly flexible so that data scientists won’t have to take too much time out of work to undertake further training.

Why do this? With increasing competition for resources from the commercial sector, now is precisely the time to ensure that expensive skills are developed and fully optimised. Once you have found the right talent, you want to ensure you’ve got the capacity and capabilities to retain it and use it in ways that quickly generate value. Reducing attrition is key to building competency and driving analytical value.

We’d be delighted to talk to you about developing your data science skills, please do contact us for an initial discussion.