Dec 19, 2017
It’s been another exciting year for the Precision Analytics team. Data-driven decision making has established itself as being critical to success, and more and more companies are investing in their own analytics capabilities. We thought we’d take this opportunity to highlight some trends we’ve seen as well as what trends to expect to see as we transition into 2018!
These are the trends we are expecting to drive the market in the coming year.
Traditionally, it has always been the larger organisations investing in Analytics teams, however, open source technology is now allowing smaller businesses to set up analytics teams. This is mainly due to learning from the mistakes of larger organisations, who are hindered by multiple platforms, legacy systems and a lack of support from the top to be a truly data driven organisation. The rapidly developing FinTech space is proving to be agile and open to new change, which is creating new competition for talent.
The promise of big data is yet to deliver for many organisations, but Aussie enterprises are now actively seeking to make use of the vast amount of customer data they’ve been accruing for years. This is especially true across the retail, gaming, travel, logistics, broadcasting, utilities and banking sectors.
More trends include the data and digital moving closer together. The frantic pace of social media, smartphones and tablets has given more power to consumers and in this digital age we are able to have better price transparency than ever. With the increasing presence of innovative leaders such as Amazon, Airbnb and Uber, more and more Australian organisations are using Data Analytics to provide personalised customer experiences. By combining Digital and Data Analytics, organisations have a better platform to engage and maintain customer loyalty as opposed to short term strategies such as cutting prices. A leading Technology company for example; uses the search data from their website, mines the data which is then linked to the call centre. Customers most at risk of leaving are then connected to call centre staff with a reputation for encouraging customers to stay.
Salaries
We have seen a continuing shortage on the local market for top talent in analytics. For employers looking to build their analytics teams, the situation poses an unprecedented challenge; from a limited candidate pool, how do you attract and retain the best talent?
We are seeing candidates place a particular importance on their work life balance. Also a willingness to move to roles that will enable them to grow their technical and soft skills . This is causing an increase in counter offers, multiple offers and high salary packages for analytics professionals. On average we are seeing an increase of 15-20% on base salaries when candidates chose to move roles. Those with particularly niche skill sets can expect to see significant pay rises. We are thus seeing organisations investing in their employer value proposition (EVP), positioning themselves as innovation leaders.
What is in Demand?
Whilst skillset is critical, having excellent communication skills and a high level of business acumen is key when standing out from the pack. We have found candidates coming from consultancy backgrounds are proving to have well developed soft skills such as; communication and the ability to influence stakeholders.
From a technical perspective, data scientists with predictive modelling and machine learning skills are in high demand. This year has also seen R and Python overtaking SAS in popularity among analytics professionals.
Due to analytics being more developed in other locations, there is a high demand for offshore talent from the UK, US and some of Asia.
Finally, a focus on improving diversity continues to be high on many organisations agendas. Whilst all elements of diversity are considered, gender diversity is commonly discussed as we see more employers driving flexibility to accommodate females looking to balance career and family life. Exceptional female talent is high in demand as women are still under represented in the data space.
Employers need to be proactive in their recruitment planning, to ensure they have their recruitment processes in order. As well as offering not just compensation, but that all elusive ‘work/life balance’. Plus regular opportunities for people to upgrade their skills.
