Unfortunately, big data is becoming a buzzword. And we all know what happens next.
Organizations have been using data to drive business decisions for a long time. They will continue to use data. It just makes good business sense. I don’t want to take anything away from people who have the unexplained ability to invoke “their gut” when it comes to decision making, but most of us need data to help us figure out problems and work toward accurate solutions.
Today’s Time Well Spent cartoon from our friends at Kronos reminds us how important data can be to our businesses.
It’s okay to make some decisions with our intuition. Other decisions require the use of data – big data.
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Rory C. Trotter Jr says
Great post as always, Sharlyn.
Unfortunately many companies are still trying to figure out how to effectively analyze the data at their finger tips. Is this the role of HR, IT, some other department… or should companies hire Data Scientist to gleam insights into the wealth of information available both internally and in the external market? Either way, there is going to be an associated cost here (via either training up employees in, say, the HR department or hiring Data Scientists who already have the technical skill to scrub and analyze data).
Thanks for sharing, and keep writing.
Best,
Rory
Sharlyn Lauby says
Hi Rory. Thanks for the comment. While I like the idea of a “data scientist”, I think ultimately each of us will need the ability to analyze data. For me, the question is where do people learn the skill – in school or in the workplace? Or maybe a bit of both?
Rory Trotter says
Good point, Sharlyn.
To that point, “data literacy” is perhaps the biggest challenge facing today’s workforce. Thinks are changing very quickly, and people don’t know what what data sources to trust, how to search them, or in some cases even what they’re searching for.
I have a lot of energy around this topic, but it’s so *big* (pardon the pun) that tackling it is tough.
Enjoy your week!
Best,
Rory
Sharlyn Lauby says
Totally agree. I like to think of it as curation – finding the right information at the right time.
marriott says
Biggest challenge facing today’s workforce is data literacy.