Analytical Skills, Tools & Attitudes 2013

Transcription

1 Analytical Skills, Tools & Attitudes 2013 Analytics capabilities needed now and in the future Research conducted and written by: Lavastorm Analytics a global analytics software company that enables a new, agile way to analyze, optimize, and control data and business processes. October 2013

2 Table of Contents I. Executive Summary... 3 II. Methodology... 3 III. Key Takeaways... 4 IV. Survey Results... 5 V. Description of Survey Respondents VI. About Lavastorm Analytics

3 Executive Summary Organizations continue to invest more in analytics, but increasingly there is recognition that a shortage of analytic talent is holding back even greater investment. Lavastorm Analytics polled more than 425 people in the analytics community about whether their organization needs more analytic resources or skills and which skills are valued most and are most urgently needed. Survey respondents included business analysts, technologists, data analytics professionals, managers, and C-level executives across a broad variety of industries. The top findings were: According to the survey respondents, a lack of skills/training/education is the biggest factor holding back organizations from using analytics more. Skills most urgently needed in their organizations are Statistics, math or other quantitative skills; Analytic tool training; and Critical thinking. Lack of funding or resources, however, also has a significant impact on adoption of analytics to drive day-to-day decisions. Lesser factors also include inadequate support from executives and data that is not integrated. Methodology In order to gain the most accurate insight into the market, we conducted our research within major analytic communities, including LinkedIn s Lavastorm Analytics Community Group, Data Science Central and KDNuggets. These communities have a global reach of over 100,000 analysts that offer a diverse membership of analytic professionals across a variety of vertical markets. This survey was conducted online using an electronic survey tool. More than 425 business analysts, technologists, data analytics professionals, managers and C-level professionals were polled across a broad variety of industries including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare and software & internet. After the survey data was collected, the data was analyzed using the Lavastorm Analytics Engine to identify variances among different demographic groups. Every survey participant was encouraged to answer every question. 3

4 Key Takeaways: 1. Nearly 83% of respondents indicated that analytics is critical to their organizations and their organization uses analytics to drive day-to-day decisions more than past experiences, intuition and gut feel. 2. The biggest factors holding organizations from using analytics more are: Lack of skills/training/education (18.75%) Lack of funding or resources (17.82%) Inadequate support from executives (9.7%) Data is not integrated (8.8%) 3. Skills most urgently needed in their organizations are: Statistics, math or other quantitative skills (47.7%) Analytics tool training (40.3%) Critical thinking (28.2%) 4. Statistics, math or other quantitative skills and critical thinking/questioning were the skills mentioned most often as necessary for the respondent to be successful in their role. Database or query language, analytics tool training, and business/presentation skills were also highly valued skills. 5. The most common organizational structure related to analytics is that business departments and IT both have analytic resources and they function independently. 6. Requirements gathering continues to take a significant amount of time. People spend just as much time gathering requirements as they do in analysis/data mining. 7. Though education is needed, ongoing education for analytics is largely not tied to external, analyst-related organizations. The overwhelming majority of respondents, regardless of industry and population group, have no organization they rely on for ongoing education and networking. 8. Tool-related improvements, including improvement to self-service tools, the data warehouse, and BI platforms, were cited as the changes that would make respondents job easier and more valuable (23.3% of respondents). Other changes mentioned often included changes related to the following categories: More resources and funding (13.3%) Increased awareness of the opportunities to apply analytics, including the use of Big Data (13%) Data integration improvements (12.6%) 4

5 Survey Results Select the response that best describes your reaction to the following statement, Analytics is critical to my organization s business strategy and drives our day-to-day decisions more than past experiences, intuition, and gut feel. Strongly Disagree 1.2% Neither Agree nor Disagree 10.0% Disagree 6.0% Strongly Agree 42.7% Agree 40.1% Demographic analysis: Overall, all industries and all groups have a positive outlook on their organization s use of analytics. Healthcare is the most skeptical industry 12% either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. People from the Software & Internet industry were the most optimistic 62% strongly agreed with the statement. Data Scientists and Executives/Managers disagree most with 17% and 9% respectively responding with either strongly disagree and disagree. Data scientists were the most skeptical population segment 17% either disagree or strongly disagree. 5

6 What is the biggest factor holding your organization back from using analytics to drive more day-to-day decisions? None - no factor is holding us back 11.1% Other (please specify) 3.0% Lack of skills/training/education (either for specific analytic techniques or specific tools) 18.8% Insufficient data/information presented in reports 1.6% Software and tools are too complicated 2.1% Inadequate means to present analytic insights to executives in ways they can trust 3.0% Software and tools are under-powered 3.9% Lack of funding or resources 17.6% Inadequate support from IT 3.9% Inadequate access to data 5.1% Inadequate support from the business organization 5.1% Poor data quality 6.0% Data is not integrated 8.8% Inadequate support from executives 9.7% Other includes: Time Politics/people afraid of redundancy Fast changing environment Demographic analysis: By company size Small Companies most often selected lack of funding or resources as a factor (26%). It was also the segment that most often indicated Inadequate Support from Executives (12%). Large (19%) and Medium Companies (24%) most often reported a lack of skills/training/education as a factor. By industry Lack of skills/training/education was the most often mentioned factor for both the Financial Services and Software & Internet industry. Lack of funding or resources was the most often mentioned factor for both the Business Services and Telecommunications industry. In the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industry, inadequate support from executives was the most often mentioned factor. By population group Twenty-three percent (23%) of Executives/Managers thought that lack of funding was a major factor. IT developers (35%) most commonly mention lack of skills/training as a major factor. Compared to Business Analysts, Data Scientists more often mentioned inadequate support from the business (9% vs 3%) and software and tools are under-powered (9% vs 5%). Business Analysts struggle with data integration more than Data Scientists (11% to 2%). 6

7 Select the response that best describes your organizational structure related to analytics. Other (please specify) 3.3% Analytic resources are centralized within IT 14.9% Business departments and IT both have analytic resources and they function independently 36.4% Analytic resources are centralized outside of IT 19.5% Business departments and IT both have analytic resources and they function collaboratively 26.0% Other includes: We are a very small company wholly focused on analytics - 3 full time people Chaos Sporadic analytics resources in departments, none in IT Demographic analysis: More than 60% of respondents say their organizational structure for analytics places analytic resources in both business departments and in IT. Regardless of company size, the organizational structure used is most often one where business and IT groups function independently. However, large Companies are more likely to have independently-functioning business and IT groups as their model (44%) than Small Companies (28%). In addition, Small Companies are most likely to have analytics centralized within IT (19% compared to 7% for Large Companies). 7

8 Do you agree with the following statement? My organization has a shortage of people with the skills to analyze and glean insights from data. Strongly Disagree 3.5% Disagree 13.7% Agree 39.2% Neither Agree nor Disagree 17.4% Strongly Agree 26.2% Demographic analysis: While most people thought they are doing a good job of using analytics to drive decision making, 66% either agree or strongly agree that they have a shortage of people with the skills to analyze and glean insights from the data. Financial Services and Healthcare (73% and 77%, respectively) had the highest percentage of people agreeing that there is a shortage of talent. Telecommunications (24% either strongly disagree or disagree) and Business Services (21% either strongly disagree or disagree) thought that they were in the best shape. 8

9 What analytic skills does your organization most urgently need to increase? Select no more than 3. Statistics, math or other quantitative skills 47.8% Analytics tool training 40.4% Database or query language skills and experience Critical thinking 28.1% 31.8% Organizational/planning skills Business communication/presentation skills ETL skills and experience Industry experience Prior business analyst experience Industry certification in Business Analysis Excel skills and experience None - at the moment we do not need to increase the analytic skills of our organization Negotiation skills Other (please specify) 16.2% 15.5% 15.3% 11.6% 11.1% 10.2% 7.2% 5.1% 4.9% 3.3% Other includes: Modern big data technologies Programming skills Requirement gathering and commercial orientation Suitable software - related skills Demographic analysis: The most urgently needed skills for Medium Companies were statistics, math or other quantitative skills, database query, and tool training as needed skills. Small Companies (23%) were more than twice as likely as Large Companies (10%) to need organizational/ planning skills. Data scientists and Executives/Managers mentioned statistics, math or other quantitative skills as an urgent need more than other groups (64% and 52%, respectively). IT Developers were the only group to list analytic tool training as their top choice. Respondents in the Telecommunications industry (16%) mentioned Excel skills and experience more often than other industries. Respondents from the Healthcare (38%) and Software & Internet (40%) industries mentioned critical thinking more often than other industries. 9

10 What are the 3 analytic skills or experiences that are most necessary for you to be successful in your current role? Select no more than 3. Critical thinking/questioning Statistics, math or other quantitative skills 41.7% 43.6% Database or query language skills and experience Analytics tool training 32.3% 31.4% Business communication/presentation skills 26.9% Industry experience ETL or data integration skills and experience Programming skills Excel skills and experience Organizational/planning skills 20.8% 17.8% 17.3% 15.0% 13.8% Prior business analyst experience Negotiation skills Design skills for user interfaces and reports 7.3% 9.1% 8.9% Other (please specify ) 1.2% Other includes: Conceptual modeling Lower level e.g. Unix scripting skills Experience of the business Time management Sales Demographic analysis: Large Companies (34%) were less likely than Small (47%) and Medium (42%) Companies to select statistics, math or other quantitative skills as an important skill. Large Companies (27%) value industry experience more than Small and Medium Companies (both 19%). Negotiation was twice as important in Small Companies (12%) than Large Companies (only 6%). Respondents from the Telecommunications and Business Services industries mentioned tool training more often than other industries (39% and 36%, respectively). Data scientists thought statistics, math or quantitative skills (74%) were their most important skills. Business analysts thought that database or query language skills (39%) and critical thinking/questioning (38%) were their most important skills. Executives/Managers thought critical thinking (52%) was the most important skill. IT thought statistics, math or quantitative skills (50%) as well as analytic tool training (50%) were their most important skills. 10

11 How did you spend your time over the past year? Indicate the percentage of time you dedicated to the activities below. Your answers should add up to 100% and account for 100% of your time over the past year. Data analysis/mining 14.1% Requirements gathering 13.4% Preparing or presenting results/reports 10.5% Planning/strategy meetings with others Filtering and organizing data 8.3% 9.1% Data transformation and integration Data modeling Administrative activities 6.5% 7.4% 7.1% Infrastructure design and implementation Making business decisions based on analytic insights Testing and tuning processes 4.3% 4.0% 4.8% Training others to use results/reports Other (analysis related) 2.2% 3.0% Other (not analysis related) 5.2% Demographic analysis: Respondents from the Telecommunications, Financial Services, and Software & Internet industries spent more time gathering requirements than any other task. Respondents from the Business Services industry spend more of their time presenting results (16%). Respondents from the Healthcare industry also spend a significant amount of time presenting results (14%). Business analysts spend the highest percentage of their time on requirements gathering and data analysis (17%). Data scientists spend most of their time on data analysis/mining (19%), data modeling (14%), and data transformations and integration (14%). They spend much less time on requirements gathering than Business Analysts, Executives/Managers, and IT. As expected, Executives/Managers spend most of their time on planning/strategy meetings, requirements gathering, and data analysis. 11

12 Related to data access, what do you believe hurts or prevents your access to data? (Check all that apply) Inadequate self-service tools/reports 38.3% Data governance policies by IT 38.0% IT does not have the data in the data warehouse 35.3% Incompatible formats/lack of data model 34.8% Lack of skills/knowledge to use the tools/ reports that are available to me 29.5% Lack of APIs from operational systems 23.7% Other (please specify) 9.7% Other includes: Business Analyst does not have access to DataWarehouse for mining Lack of integration Operational data systems not designed to retrieve/report/analyze information Poor data quality Lack of understanding the data No problems Demographic analysis: By company size Data governance policies by IT was more often mentioned as a factor in Large (44%) and Medium (40%) Companies than Small Companies (30%). Inadequate self-service tools/report was more often mentioned as a factor in Large (42%) and Medium (44%) Companies than Small Companies (28%). Lack of skills/knowledge was more often mentioned as a factor in Large (32%) and Medium (32%) Companies than Small Companies (24%). Lack of APIs was more often mentioned as a factor in Large (31%) Companies than in Medium (22%) and Small Companies (19%). By industry Respondents from the Business Services and Software & Internet industries report that incompatible formats/ lack of data model (42%) is the factor that most hinders data access. Respondents from the Healthcare industry report that inadequate self-service tools/reports is the factor that most hinders data access. Respondents from the Financial Services and Telecom industries report that data governance policies by IT are the things that most hinder data access. By population group Business Analysts (45%) and Data Scientists (47%) said data governance is the major issue. Executives said lack of self-service tools/reports (44%) is the major issue related to data access. IT developers said data governance policies by IT (40%) is the factor that hurts or prevents data access. 12

13 Select the option that best describes your reaction to the following statement, Analyst related certifications/degrees have been very important to my initial education, ongoing education, and ultimate success in the field of analytics. Strongly disagree 10.2% Somewhat agree 30.6% Somewhat disagree 13.2% Strongly agree 18.1% Do not agree or disagree 27.8% Demographic analysis: Respondents from the Software & Internet (51%), Financial Services (49%), Business Services (45%), and Telecom (45%) agree most that analyst related certifications/degrees are important to their initial and ongoing education. But, many respondents weren t sure whether they were a help or not. IT Developers are the group that most agrees that certifications/degrees help them (70%) gain success in analytics. 13

14 What analyst related organizations, if any, do you rely on for ongoing education and networking to help you in your job? (select all that apply) None - I do not rely on any organization for ongoing education and networking 63.6% Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Certified Business Analyst TDWI Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP) 12.5% 12.3% IIBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) 11.8% IIBA Certification of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA) BSC (formerly ISEB) Certificate in Business Analysis Practice 3.3% 7.2% Other (please specify) 9.7% Other includes: SAS certificates American Statistical Association INFORMS Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Coursera University courses Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) We educate our own people. Formal education is outdated. Demographic analysis: Financial Services has the least reliance on analyst-related organizations for education and networking (69%). Only 36% of Business Analysts carry a certification from the IIBA. But that is much greater than only 18% of Data Scientists. IIBA Certification was more likely in Large Companies (15%) compared to Small (4%) and Medium Companies (5%). More respondents from Small Companies (76%) than Large (58%) and Medium Companies (57%) said they did not rely on analyst-related organizations for ongoing education and networking. 14

15 What is the biggest change you would like to see in your organization to make your job easier or more valuable? Note - This survey question was open ended. Results were categorized by Lavastorm Analytics after the survey responses were collected. Agility/Flexibility/More Time for Analysis 1.4% Other 10.5% More Data Sources 2.3% Better tools/self-service Tools/Warehouse/ BI Tools/BI Platforms 23.3% Need More Analytics/BI Professionals 4.9% Data Quality 4.9% Data-based Decisions/Data Governance/ Data Ownership/Trusted Data 7.2% More Alignment of Resources and Funding 13.3% Data Access 7.4% Management/Executive Buy-in/ Culture 8.4% Increased Awareness/ Opportunities of Analytics/ Big Data 13.0% Need Change in Business Infrastructure 10.0% Collaboration/Communication/Process Flow/ Strategy/Project Issues 11.2% More Training 11.4% Data Models/Data Integration/ Consistency in Data Across Systems 12.6% 15

16 Description of Survey Respondents Which of the following best describes your role within your organization? Other (please specify) 14.2% Business Process Analyst 1.4% CIO or IT Executive 2.1% Corporate Executive (CEO, CFO, COO, etc.) 2.8% Business Analyst 22.0% IT Developer 4.6% Business Systems Analyst 6.3% VP or Director of BI/Analytics 8.6% Department VP, Director or Manager 15.3% Data Scientist 10.9% Consultant 11.8% Other includes: Owner Big data analyst Data analyst Market research For demographic analysis, the following additional aggregations were used to analyze the survey responses: Executives/Managers = sum of responses from Corporate Executive (CEO, CFO, COO, etc.); CIO or IT Executive; Department VP, Director or Manager; VP or Director of BI/Analytics 16

17 What education levels have you completed? None of the above 4.4% Doctoral degree (business or non-technical/quantitative major) 2.3% 2-year college degree (Associate s) 4.4% Doctoral degree (technical /quantitative major) 6.7% Master s degree (business or non-technical/quantitative major) 29.9% 4-year college degree (business or non-technical /quantitative major) 18.6% 4-year college degree (technical /quantitative major) 26.7% Master s degree (technical/ quantitative major) 23.9% 17

18 In your organization, to which department do you report? Other (please specify) 29.0% IT 29.9% Sales 5.3% Finance 8.6% Marketing 10.4% Operations 16.7% Other includes: President Analytics Board Business unit Risk 18

19 How many total people work in your organization? % % 1,000 10, % % Fewer than % 10, % Other includes: For demographic analysis, the following additional aggregations were used to classify the survey responses: Small Companies = sum of responses from Fewer than 100; and Medium Companies = sum of responses from and 1,000 10,000 Large Companies = 10,

20 How many business analysts or data scientists work in your organization? % 1, % 0 3.9% 500 1, % % % % % What are the annual revenues of your organization? Don t know 11.8% Unable to disclose 18.6% $1 billion+ 29.5% $50 million - $100 million 6.0% $500 million - $1 billion 7.4% Less than $50 million 17.6% $100 million - $500 million 9.1% 20

21 How long have you worked in the field of business analysis? Less than one year 6.0% I have never worked in the field of business analysis 8.6% 5 10 years 29.0% 1 2 years 8.1% 2 5 years 21.4% 10+ years 26.9% 21

22 Which of the following best describes your company s primary industry? Wholesale & Distribution 0.7% Travel, Recreation & Leisure 0.7% Real Estate & Construction 0.9% Agriculture & Mining 0.9% Consumer Services 1.2% Non-Profit 1.2% Transportation & Storage 1.4% Media & Entertainment 1.6% Energy & Utilities 2.1% Manufacturing 2.3% Retail 3.0% Computers & Electronics 3.0% Government 3.3% Other 10.9% Telecommunications 18.79% Financial Services 14.4% Education 6.5% Software & Internet 10.4% Business Services 7.7% Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, & Biotech 9.1% Other includes: Marketing Consulting Automotive IT 22

23 About Lavastorm Analytics Lavastorm Analytics is a global analytics software company that enables a new, agile way to analyze, optimize, and control data and business processes. The company s products provide analysts with programming powers previously limited to IT to rapidly unify disparate data, easily construct complex analytics, and effectively deliver actionable insight and results. Analytics built in Lavastorm can easily be deployed as persistent solutions and applications, providing continuous analytic monitoring across multiple systems and complex, data-intensive processes. Lavastorm s solutions have identified business improvements worth billions of dollars for some of the largest corporations in the world. For more information on Lavastorm Analytics or to download a desktop edition of the Lavastorm Analytics Engine, our data analytics software for business analysts, please visit or respectively. 23

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