Essay on Data Strategy

Prior to the start of the MSDS program, all that I knew about becoming a great data scientist was to have
the state-of-the-art type of technical skillsets. I thought I just needed to know how to use the technical
tools proficiently. However, after just the first three sessions of Intro to Data Science course (IDS), my
eyes have been opened to what was really happening in the real world of, not just data scientists, but also
data science leaders.

It is true that data science, AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and all other new technological
breakthroughs have been increasingly popular in organizations. A lot of companies have started to ride
the data science train but given that data science is a relatively new field, some companies may be
clueless on how to integrate data science within their organization. It is a misconception that to be able to
start integrating data science into an organization, one must hire the best data scientists and let them be
the only ones who will work on data-related problems. I have learned that the best approach is to build a
data strategy that coincides with the company’s overall strategy while considering a lot of factors and note
that these factors may differ from company to company because each company is unique. The hardest
part though, as a data science leader, is to convince all units of the organization to truly embrace data
science in their own respective units. If you introduce change, some managers may not be as enthusiastic
as you when it comes to implementing something that will transform current methods that the manager
already deemed correct and useful. That is where speaking the language of business comes into play.
Being able to master all the technical skills a data scientist should have in his arsenal will not matter if you
as a data science leader cannot convince other members of the organization with your ideas. In Desai’s
case in Target, he was able to build a strong foundation of data science when he worked on the
company’s ecommerce platform – Target.com. Along with the team he built, they were able to boost
revenue through Target.com with the use of data science tools. He showed the whole enterprise of what
data science could bring to the table – leveraging data to make data-driven decisions. After showing the
potential of data science, integrating data science into the company’s business units was relatively easier.
But it was not easy as well, in fact, it was still a challenging task to accomplish.

Until now there are still company executives who have not seen the relevance and importance of data
science in their own organizations. Some may argue that everything was already going so well for them
and that they need not change anything. Other companies are already experimenting with data science
particularly in AI, but their chances of success are not that great. This may be attributed to the lack of
experts and talent that specialize in data science in their organization. On the other hand, there are
companies called the pioneers who have been successful in understanding and adoption of data science.
I think the reason why pioneers have stood out is because they have already realized how data could be
leveraged into the decision-making processes of the company years before everyone had started to
realize. This allowed them to have a head start in building and continuously improve their data strategy.
Although I think being late to the data science trend is better than not going at all. Every company needs
to start somewhere. There is no avoiding the implications of the increase in data traffic: Companies that
have not yet built a data strategy and a strong data-management function need to catch up very fast or
start planning for their exit.