The argument over whether there is a looming big data skills shortage has been ratcheted up a gear after HP’s marketing director, Dan Wood, joked that they are rarer than the Yeti.
Speaking at Computing’s annual Big Data Summit, Wood, said delegates that analyst and media reports suggesting a dearth of data scientists have some element of truth, since he has not come across many himself.
He added: “I haven’t met that many [data scientists]; maybe they’re like Yetis – there are not that many around.”
Earlier this month, a group of technology specialists branded the skills shortage “a nonsense”, claiming that with tools getting easier to use, some firms will not even data scientists.
In his presentation, Wood explained that before businesses pick a big data analytics platform, they should think about what it is going to be used for.
“It’s not about how big the data is, how much data there is, it is how you analyse the data and the speed with which data can be moved. I think the industry solved the size issue years ago,” he said.
He suggested many different reasons for opting for a big data solution such as complementing CRM intelligence with social sentiment, and emphasised that both structured and unstructured data should be analysed.
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