• By 2018, the United States of America alone could face a shortage of 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions

–McKinsey

• India has grown from nothing to become a key outsourcing destination with a market share of 60% to 70%, as of 2014.

TechNavio

• Data Scientist profession is the No. 1 Best Job in America for 2016

-Glassdoor

• Data Scientist as the No 1 profession

-CareerCast.com

The life of a man can be understood by the footprint he has left on multiple digital channels. Many hidden truths about the world we live in can now be unlocked through the power of data. Our new ability, the breakthrough analysis of data, is leading us into new discoveries that will forever change how we live and interact with the world around us.

Data is now the blood of today’s business and the ultimate enabler of the evolution of 21st century society. The best and the richest of the future are those who have gained superior mastery in how they translate massive data into actionable insights, impactful business decisions, enhanced services to customers, and the avoidance of risks and losses.

Data science is the new emerging interdisciplinary field leading this revolution. Data Science is the art of turning data into actions. These actionable insights may include solutions that can be used for determining the best products to recommend, how traffic patterns influence consumption, weather forecasts, stock market predictions, production process improvements, epidemic trend detection, and how best to engage certain customers with targeted advertising, etc.

This approach is completely different from the traditional silo-based analytical practice, which is largely dominated by reporting the past or explaining the present. Data science provides a futuristic and prescriptive roadmap which combines the past, present and future in completely unrelated scenarios and multi-dimensional contexts to provide answers beyond the obvious. Data Science is the art of turning data into actions.

Everyday problems that Data Science can solve:

• How can Lagos traffic be optimised for effective logistic distribution?
• How do we predict and pre-empt crime and neighbourhood social risk using social media triggers and online “crowding”?
• How can a state/nation design a realistic path for city planning and expansion using data of all mobile callers’ densification and aggregation (day vs. night)?
• How do Nigerians daily tweets reflect customer confidence and consumption optimism?
• How do business managers know which advert is wasted in their marketing mix?
• How can a business use customer complaints to determine its competitors’ advantage?
• How does the linguistic/discourse patterns of all Sunday and/or Friday tweets predict happiness/optimism and consumption confidence among Nigerians?
• How can the HR Director of a company predict next-staff-to-exit based on some LinkedIn parameters (companies most followed, frequency of activities etc.) and past exit interviews?
• How does “who wins or loses a match” in the Premiership on a Saturday affect beer consumption or mobile data usage behaviour?
• What is the degree of alignment between the followers’ profile/sentiment of a brand and its paid brand ambassador? Are brands spending right on the right ambassadors or is it all hypes?
• How do you identify customers for possible cross-selling, deep-selling or up-selling in a service-based business?

Begin your Data Science Journey

• 100 days of Machine Learning
• Course Duck: Best Online Courses to learn Data Science in 2020