For the last few years, businesses all over the globe have been racing to incorporate big data systems and solutions into their processes and operations. That has increased demand for workers with the skills to operate, maintain, and expand those systems to levels not seen in other professions in decades, if ever. All the while, the global education system has been slow to adapt to the growing need, creating a severe shortage of qualified workers in the labor pool.
Part of the problem is that the field of big data encompasses so many skills that it’s difficult for today’s students to decide which subset offers them the best chance for a long and rewarding career, and which will be phased out as newer technology continues to emerge. For businesses, that reality means that it’s not going to be possible to rely on the general labor pool to supply them with the talented individuals they will need to power their businesses into the future. Instead, they’re going to have to take matters into their own hands, and do whatever it takes to secure the talent they need. Here’s how they can do it.
Training to Suit
Any business that’s making big data a centerpiece of their strategic plans is gambling that they’ll be able to recruit the employees necessary to make their initiatives a success. That will necessarily drive up acquisition and compensation costs, and that’s just if the business succeeds in attracting top-tier talent. Instead, they should be looking to build out their big data teams by pulling from existing employees and training them for the specific openings that exist. That approach offers two substantial advantages over the traditional recruiting process. First, it eliminates the need to compete with other talent-starved businesses, and second, it results in motivated, highly-skilled employees that are an exact match for the business’s needs.
Outsourced Resources
It’s also important for businesses to recognize that not every big data initiative can be or even should be handled in-house. Sometimes, the cost of setting up a whole new organization from scratch (especially for non-technology companies) isn’t worth it in the long run, and the sooner that a business realizes that, the better. There’s a reason that so many big data outsourcing operations have sprung up over the last few years “ and it’s not just because they make money “ it’s because they’re in demand. It can even be beneficial to turn to external resources to prepare for a big data project because it decreases the pressure on internal staffing and it buys more time to prepare new internal teams to take over the workload in the future.
Encouraging Data Democratization
One of the best ways that today’s businesses can make sure their big data talent needs are always met is to take steps towards data democratization. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means to focus efforts on making data assets available to all employees, via self-service visualization tools and platforms. By removing obstacles to access, it’s possible to spread out the workload and decrease the need for larger specialized big data teams. In addition, data democratization tends to encourage rank-and-file employees to expand their horizons and take the initiative to learn how to use the data that’s been made available to them. Believe it or not, 59% of today’s data scientists learned their skills on their own, so this is a far more effective tactic than you may think.
A Self Sustaining Enterprise
Businesses that take steps to fill their big data needs using the tactics mentioned above will find that they’ve created an internal talent pipeline that keeps meeting their needs for years to come. As long as they’re willing to be sensible and acknowledge that they need outside assistance from time to time, there’s no reason that they should ever find themselves struggling to keep up, even as their needs grow and change. It allows the business to take ownership over its big data needs and take direct actions to meet them, all while gaining a distinct competitive advantage over companies that elect to wait for talent to come to them via traditional recruitment methods. The bottom line is “ it’s up to businesses to take charge to make big data into big success by overcoming the skills shortage that would otherwise thwart their plans, and their path is clear.
