Without people, any project is doomed to fail. That may seem like an obvious statement, but in the realm of data analytics this truth is frequently forgotten or overlooked. Yet, it is people who bring the greatest value to an analytics project and ensure its success; more importantly it is people who can ask the question "why", while software and hardware cannot. Still, when they approach potential customers, many analytics software providers only expound on the merits of their backend engine, or discuss advances in algorithms, performance metrics, or sentiment accuracy achievements. It is easy to be dazzled by these achievements and each of them has its own merits; but ultimately, it is people who recognize and present actionable insights from the data. A vendor's services not only help a project succeed, they can also improve ROI and allow the customer to focus on higher value tasks, rather than get bogged down with trivial duties like scrubbing data. To derive successful results, every data analytics project must incorporate a two-pronged approach which includes:
With most vendors only focusing on technology, it is critical to examine why a project's success depends upon people – and learn how to find a vendor who understands the value of collaboration. Why Do Data Scientists Matter? When we consider the people powering an analytics project, the spotlight shines brightest upon data scientists. As more businesses decide to engage in analytics, and as ever-increasing volumes of data become available to analyze, it is hard to overstate the surge in demand for talented data scientists. This uptick has led to another reality: a shortfall of well trained and experienced analysts. Despite an increasing number of schools offering analytics certifications or training programs, few people are properly trained as analysts (a process that can take years), and even fewer have experience manipulating data across a range of industries, which can yield more pertinent results. A data scientist's job is to combine their technical skills and analytics knowledge with business knowledge to find meaning and relationships in the sea of data. The software with which they're working must be constantly fine-tuned and manipulated. After gathering results, the analysts must work collaboratively with a business's stakeholders to present those insights in a meaningful manner. Technology alone cannot generate these ideas. Ideas come from people. Beyond Data Scientists: The Customer Still, when we talk about the people involved in an analytics project, we're not simply referring to the analytics superstars. The customer also matters. Both the customer's and analytics vendor's teams play a vital role in the analytics process. Typically, when a customer hires an analytics vendor, they go through a sales process, receive the analytics technology, get it set up, go through some form of training, and finally, are left to go it alone. Client-vendor collaboration is totally absent, which could prove to be damaging to a project. A better scenario for success is when these two groups work collaboratively. The client's stakeholders should communicate their individual goals to the vendor's analysts so the project's insights can be better tailored to their needs. Both teams learn from each other and help yield actionable – and successful – results. How to Incorporate People Into Your Analytics Strategy Solution as a Service (SolaaS) is an approach to analytics that marries state-of-the-art technology with highly trained and experienced data scientists, through the service of a single vendor. Underscoring SolaaS is a philosophy of collaboration between client and vendor. The data scientists working for SolaaS vendors, such as PolyVista, have intimate knowledge of that vendor's analytic software. They also bring years of experience to the table, which allows them to understand challenges faced by a range of industries, pinpoint relationships among data, and recognize valuable insights. These data scientists also collaborate with clients to create a user-focused, customizable presentation of results. If a client has questions or requests a fix, it's handled by the SolaaS development team. With a SolaaS vendor, working closely with the customer and learning from each other is welcomed – and encouraged. Finally, with a SolaaS vendor like PolyVista, flexibility is valued, and clients are not tied to a fixed contract. Instead, clients pay a set, monthly rate, and can negotiate a contract that best suits their needs and budgets, including a one-time project, month-to-month, and long-term contracts. Summary People play a pivotal role in every analytics project. While powerful technology, like an analytics engine and a customizable presentation layer, is necessary, people are a project's keystone. Collaboration between the client and vendor is critical to analytics' success. Data scientists must work with the client to understand their needs and goals, use their experience to derive relevant insights from data, and present results in a user-focused, actionable manner. Solution as a Service offers a solution that marries top-of-the-line software, a patented presentation layer, and crucial collaboration among people, an approach that yields analytics success.