The Future of Data Analytics: Skills and AI Synergy
Data analytics is the process of exploring and analyzing large data sets to find patterns, and trends, discover correlations and gain valuable information to make business predictions. Through these insights, companies are able to make decisions. Companies around the world and across all industries generate large volumes of data on a daily basis, and using the data generated to derive value from it and make key decisions is a critical task for developing any business. Here, data analytics comes into play.
Increasing demand for data analytics professionals: Why a career in data analytics is a wise choice
If you’re wondering if being a data analyst is the right career choice or if you should pursue a career in data analytics, well, the definitive answer is yes. There has never been a better time to be a data analyst than now, as it is a fast-growing field and is estimated to grow over the next decade. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the demand for data analytics jobs will grow by 23% between 2021 and 2031.
Data Analytics professionals have become indispensable in any organization. Business leaders develop strategies for organizational growth based on data analytics conducted by professionals, making their work critical in the highest decision-making of an organization. The need for professionals who are able to collect, analyze and visualize vast amounts of information and data continues to grow exponentially. For this reason, the demand for data analytics professionals will increase in the coming years worldwide.
The Top Skills for Data Analysts
What are the top skills in data analytics? Whether you’ve already started your career in data analytics or are considering a career change, keeping in mind the top skills needed in 2023 to be a great data analyst is critical. To be a fantastic data analyst in 2023, you’ll need a combination of hard and soft skills. Hard skills refer to the technical expertise and knowledge specific to the field, while soft skills are personal attributes and qualities that enhance your effectiveness in the workplace. Check out our hard and soft skills list to be an excellent data analyst.
Data Analyst Hard Skills in Demand
Hard skills include specific technical knowledge and learnable skills. Hard skills are easy to quantify and are usually tested during an interview. Here are some hard skills that every company expects data analysts to have:
- Structured Query Language (SQL). This is a fundamental skill required by any experienced data analyst. Popular database systems that use SQL include MySQL, MS Access, and Oracle. Knowledge of SQL for querying databases and experience in managing and working with structured and unstructured data.
- Microsoft Excel: An advanced understanding of MS Excel methods will make you an excellent analyst, especially if you will be working in a small company or startup.
- Data Integration: Experience in integrating data from different sources and formats, ensuring data consistency and reliability. Companies collect large amounts of data from many different sources, and in order for the data to be useful, it must be available for analysis at all times. Therefore, it is key to have experience in integrating data from different sources and formats.
- Programming languages: Being proficient in programming languages such as Python or R for data manipulation, analysis, and automation will make you a highly valued candidate.
- Data visualization: Being able to understand information and data patterns will make you a key part of the team. Part of your job will be to transform complex data into simple, visual and easy-to-understand information.
- Data Mining and Cleansing: To be a good data analyst, you must be able to extract valuable insights from large datasets and clean the data. Data cleaning involves retrieving data from different sources and preparing it for analysis ensuring that it is free of missing values, outliers and inconsistencies.
- Statistical knowledge: Statistics is extremely important for analyzing and interpreting data. A background in statistics or knowledge of important mathematical principles will help you stand out from the crowd. You should be familiar with clustering, MapReduce technology, unstructured data concepts and association rules.
- Data Security and Privacy: Knowledge of data protection practices, compliance regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), and data anonymization techniques to keep data safe.
Top Soft Skills Needed to Be a Great Data Analyst
Although soft skills are subjective and more difficult to quantify, they are increasingly taken into account in the evaluation process of candidates. According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends, 92% of talent acquisition professionals consider soft skills to be just as or more important than hard skills. Here are the soft skills most in demand for data analysts by recruiters:
- Data storytelling: This is one of the most relevant soft skills for data analysts. Storytelling is a fundamental part of the job, as they need to take the data and turn it into insights that are understandable to other teams and managers, even those without a technical background. Therefore, a data analyst who is good at communication and has good verbal and written skills will be very successful.
- Curiosity: Being curious enough to look for solutions to problems and take different approaches to the job is key for a data analyst to deliver higher quality of knowledge from their data analysis.
- Problem-solving: in the work of data analysts, the occurrence of errors, failures and problems is a normal day-to-day occurrence, so having a strong problem-solving ability is vital.
- Collaboration: data analysts work hand in hand with other team members and with other teams within the organization. A data analyst who is comfortable with a collaborative environment and contributes to a good atmosphere will be more likely to succeed in his or her job.
In addition to these, other soft skills such as attention to detail, critical thinking, time management and adaptability skills are also highly valued by teams.
How Data and AI Work Together
Artificial intelligence has come into our lives to become a powerful partner in our work. We recently published this article about how artificial intelligence is enhancing cybersecurity. The power of AI has also impacted the jobs of data analysts. Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world of analytics because it enhances the capabilities of these professionals, increasing their productivity and allowing them to make decisions more efficiently.
How is Artificial Intelligence being used for Data Analytics? Artificial intelligence is impacting the world of data analytics by improving the speed, accuracy and efficiency of various tasks, as well as automating others.
In the world of data analytics, artificial intelligence is being used for a wide range of processes and tasks:
- Analyze historical data to identify patterns and trends, enabling organizations to make predictions about future events or outcomes.
- Identify anomalies or outliers in large data sets through algorithms.
- Automate data cleansing, transformation and integration tasks.
- Provide ideas on how information should be visually displayed in the form of charts, infographics, etc.
- Identify which data sources provide relevant information for a given purpose.
- Provide advice on regulatory and compliance issues to ensure that data remains safe and secure.
For all these reasons, data analytics and artificial intelligence will coexist side by side, complementing each other. AI allows data to be managed and evaluated quickly, which is crucial in a world with more and more information and where everything is moving fast.
Is Artificial Intelligence a Threat to Data Analytics Jobs?
Given the enormous possibilities that AI offers in terms of data analytics, questions like these are inevitable. Will AI replace data analysts? Does the arrival of tools like ChatGPT pose a threat? Well, the short answer is no. Now lets dive into the details.
Data analysts have something that AI does not have and will not have in the near future – the contextual, critical thinking, and strategic planning capabilities needed to be a great data analyst.
AI is a huge help by allowing to automate some tasks and get the job done faster, more efficiently, and with fewer errors. At least in the short term, companies will still need humans who are experts in this field to do this work and to give the commands that AI needs to function.
However, those roles that only require repetitive work may be automated in the near future, leading to a transformation of certain roles, or eventually, the loss of some roles. This is why it is essential to stay ahead of the curve as a professional and learn to coexist with these technologies that have arrived to boost data analytics.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the future of data analytics lies in the synergy between skills and artificial intelligence. The demand for data analytics professionals is increasing rapidly and is a wise career choice considering the projected growth in the field over the next decade. Data analysts have become indispensable in organizations since their work directly impacts critical decision-making processes.
Although AI offers significant possibilities, it is not a threat to data analytics jobs, at least right now. AI serves as a valuable tool to automate tasks and increase efficiency, but human experts are still needed to provide the necessary context and control AI systems.
Learning to coexist with AI and take advantage of its capabilities will be crucial for data analysts to thrive in the data-driven age.
If you found this article interesting, we invite you to follow Skedler on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and browse our blog to find other topics of interest. Finally, if you work with tools like Grafana and Kibana and are looking for a solution to automate your reports, we invite you to try Skedler.