The Big Data Talent Shortage

Transcription

1 The Big Data Talent Shortage Big data the massive amounts of information companies routinely collect through web crawlers, social media feeds, server logs, customer service databases, and other sources is quickly becoming big business in today s competitive marketplace. If HR and talent management professionals haven t added big data to their strategic agenda yet, they will be compelled to in the near future. Few organisations possess technical leaders with the expertise needed to collect, organise, and analyse the data and provide meaningful insights. Even fewer have business leaders with the knowledge and experience needed to create value from big data.

2 Seven Insights into Big Data Research conducted by MGI and McKinsey's Business Technology Office examined the state of big data and found the following seven insights: 1. Data have swept into every industry and business function and are now an important factor of production, labour, and capital. 2. There are five ways big data can create value: a. Big data can unlock significant value by making information transparent and usable at much greater frequency. b. As organisations create and store more transactional data in digital form, they can collect more accurate and detailed performance information on everything. c. Big data allows ever-narrower segmentation of customers and can result in much more precisely tailored products or services. d. Sophisticated analytics can substantially improve decision-making. e. Big data can be used to improve the development of the next generation of products and services. 3. Big data will become a key basis of competition and growth for individual firms. 4. Big data will underpin new waves of productivity growth and consumer surplus. 5. While the use of big data will matter across sectors, some sectors are set for greater gains. 6. There will be a shortage of talent necessary for organisations to take advantage of big data. 7. Several issues such as privacy, security, intellectual property, and even liability, will have to be addressed to capture the full potential of big data.

3 The Big Data Talent Shortage The demand for big data talent is growing rapidly. A 2012 survey by InformationWeek found that 40 percent of respondents said they planned to increase their staff in big data and analytics in the upcoming year and estimated that big data staffing would increase by 11 percent over the next two years (Henschen, 2012). The McKinsey study supports these findings. The authors predict that there will be a severe shortage of those who can analyse and interpret big data, predicting that by 2018, the United States could face a shortage of up to 190,000 workers with deep analytical skills and 1.5 million managers and analysts with the ability to use the big data analytics to make effective decisions. This includes the ability to integrate findings from big data with knowledge derived from other techniques which offer different strengths and biases, such as focus groups and targeted surveys. The increasing demand for big data analysts who can crunch and communicate the numbers and the lack of managers and business leaders who can interpret the data means there is a growing talent shortage in the field. A survey conducted by The Big Data London group (in Raywood, 2012) found that 78 percent of respondents said there was a big data talent shortage, and 70 percent believed there was a knowledge gap between big data workers and those commissioning the projects (e.g., managers and CIOs). Another survey by NewVantage Partners (2012) found that 60 percent of respondents reported finding it very difficult to find and hire big data professionals and 50 percent of respondents said it was very difficult to find and hire business leaders and managers who could identify and optimise business applications in big data. This impending talent shortage will create a significant challenge for HR and talent management professionals responsible for recruiting, developing, and retaining a critical skill set that will soon be in high-demand. To help their organisations realize the full potential of big data, HR and talent management professionals must understand the fundamentals of big data, why it matters, and what skills their organisations will need to analyse and interpret the large amounts of data they collect. Conclusion Big data is big business, but its sudden appearance in the marketplace has left a huge hole in terms of talent. HR and talent management professionals must stay ahead of the curve by learning more about big data, its applications to their organisations as a whole and their functions in particular, and plan now to develop existing talent and recruit new talent that will be needed to realise the full potential of big data.

4 Aware that talent shortages are beginning to bite in New Zealand exacerbated by the impact of trends such as Big Data and acknowledging the dominance of SAP in the New Zealand market, OCG Consulting commissioned Colmar Brunton to research the appeal of a one stop shop for the supply of SAP experienced candidates across all of the relevant job disciplines; IT, Accounting, Business Support, Supply Chain, Operations and Sales and Marketing. OCG SAP Recruitment Market Research OCG commissioned Colmar Brunton survey 600 clients to rate a specialist SAP Recruitment service such as the following; A service specifically designed for companies running SAP as their business management software, who currently have to use a range of recruiters to cover off all the specialist SAP skills they need to find. We ve assembled a one stop SAP specific recruitment service, powered by a database of SAP skilled/trained candidates for all roles within an organisation. This allows you to use only one supplier in your search for SAP trained staff right throughout your business, from Payroll to SAP Project Leader, and everything in between. On a scale from one to ten, where one is very unappealing and ten is very appealing, please rate this concept. OCG/Colmar Brunton Research 2013

5 For Companies that run on SAP the response was overwhelming... We use SAP and have a large internal team of developers etc. We will require SAP skilled resources in the future and having one specialist agency should result in a faster time to hire. Our current SAP temporary person is completely out of her depth and was thrown in the deep end - completely unfamiliar with the organisations processes. The impact has been negative for everyone. SAP contractors are always hard to find especially when there are big projects happening around the country. A one stop shop for this would be good From experience have had extreme difficulty sourcing SAP experienced staff. Last year was forced to outsource payroll because could not find experienced staff in NZ or Australia. It is nearly impossible to get business SAP support in terms of getting info out of the system. Mostly concerned with operational support, and the system holds a lot of info, but no-one can get at it. I am often recruiting for SAP skills, so to have a one stop shop would potentially save me heaps of time. It might also reduce the amount of times I have different recruitment agents 'fighting' over the same resources. Currently our expectation is that we always need to conduct specialist SAP training for all of our new starters; access to a list of candidates at all levels with SAP experience would be welcome. It s extremely difficult to source candidate that have SAP experience. Since implementation the majority of trained super users have left the business leaving huge skill gaps and lack of knowledge for those joining the Company "If I am searching for a role that requires in-depth SAP knowledge, i.e. SAP Master Data, or systems analyst would be helpful to deal with recruiter that has candidates on their books. However some roles the having SAP system knowledge not necessarily vital." SAP always hard to find. Big projects from time to time come up and we need a lot of SAP resources we do not have. Good to have a 1 stop shop SAP provider

6 OCG presents SAP Recruitment Specialisation At OCG our consultants are experts in Functional and Industry sectors. This structure enables our teams to operate with the highest level of specialisation, drawing on years of direct, front-line experience in a full range of functional and industry disciplines. The result of which means we are skilful and successful in finding premium candidates and delivering a comprehensive recruitment solution. We call this Expertise by Specialisation. Our Expertise is supported by a substantial candidate database. We have been busy qualifying and sourcing experienced candidates with SAP experience, this ranges from skills associated with project implementation through to ongoing SAP usage throughout the business, our SAP experienced candidates include; Implementation/Development/ Upgrades Program Managers Transition Mangers Business Analysts ABAP Developers Authorisations and Securities Basis Technical Consultants Solutions Architects Functional Consultants Configuration Consultants Support Consultants Principal Consultant Team Leaders Project Managers Testers Trainers Training Managers Change Managers Practice Managers Accounting and Finance Supply Chain and Operations Financial Controller Supply Chain Manager Finance Manager Production Manager Business Analyst Operations Manager Management Accountant Demand Planner Project Accountant Logistics Manager Financial Accountant Procurement Manager Purchasing Manager Assistant Accountant Supply Chain Analyst Business Support Sales and Marketing Accounts Payable Sales Analyst Accounts Receivable Marketing Analyst Accounts Assistant Sales Support Marketing Support Contact an OCG SAP Recruitment Specialist