Data science has become mainstream. Coupled with artificial intelligence, blockchain, and other emerging technologies it brings unprecedented changes in the technology sector.
The importance of data science is still burgeoning. As the amount of data continues to grow, how will it change the course of data science?
Increased demand for Data Scientists
According to Glassdoor, Data Scientists continue to be the hottest job in 2021. However, the supply of Data scientists continues to be short. As per the Maryville University report, demand for data science professionals continues to outweigh supply.
As many as 2.7 million data jobs are available in the U.S alone in 2020. Clearly, there will be more data science jobs.
Role of data scientist will diversify
So far data scientists are required to take care of multiple aspects of data work. However, as companies move towards more defined and clear data strategies, the role of data scientists will be more confined. Companies will need a multi-skill data science team. Rather than one data scientist taking care of all aspects.
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Better data-driven strategies
Organizations are still in the experimental stages of data science implementation. As companies learn from their experiments, their data-driven strategies will get better. The return on investment in data science will better.
McKinsey estimates retailers which use data-driven strategies can expect up to 60 percent more margins than their competitors. However, most retailers don’t yet use data science, and those that use are yet to use data at their fullest potential.
More companies are starting to see the value of data science and are ready to invest in it. According to Deloitte, 60% of retailers in the U.K hired a data scientist in 2020.
AI and ML will complement data scientists
It is feared that machine learning will make data scientists redundant. If anything, it is farther than the truth. Machine learning is one part of the data scientists’ job.
Today the amount of data we’re generating is staggering. By 2025, we will be generating 463 exabytes of data globally. Data Scientists alone can’t manage this much of data.
Artificial intelligence here can assist in processing data. Therefore, Data Scientist is required to embrace AI, not fear it.
According to Deloitte, AI will reduce 80 per cent of data scientists time spent on a repetitive task, allowing them to focus on more cognitively demanding tasks.
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In brief, data science, which is today an afterthought will eventually become more mainstream and the course of data science will definitely change in the next decade.
The insights delivered by data science is valuable and helpful to companies. Businesses which consider it an ancillary tool will add it to their functional business operations in the near future, it will be a key tool in strategic decision making.
So far data science has been transformational and it continues to be so. Like every revolutionary technology, it has paved the way for innovation and creativity. Speculations are rife that data science landscape is about to change soon.
