New report highlights issues around productivity in data science and analytics

To overcome these data science and analytics issues, many enterprises are now hiring chief data and/or analytics officers to streamline their analytic processes, build a culture of data science and analytics; and encourage data literacy across the enterprise as part of their broader digital transformation strategy.Tens of millions of data workers face productivity woes as complexity grows in data science and analytics, according to new research from IDCand Alteryx. According to the report, The State of Data Science and Analytics, approximately 54m data workers around the world face common challenges associated with the complexity, diversity and scale of their organisations’ data. In an increasingly data-driven world, the term ‘data worker’ spans beyond the 54m identified in this study, but the findings are indicative of the challenges specific to those engaging in significant data work in their day-to-day jobs.Data workers spend more than 40% of their time merely searching for and preparing data instead of gleaning insights;On average, data workers leverage more than six data sources, 40m rows of data and seven different outputs along their analytic journey; On average, data workers waste 44% of their time each week.“Data is at the core of digital transformation, but until organisation leaders address these inefficiencies to improve effectiveness, their digital transformation initiatives can only get so far,” said Stewart Bond, director of data integration and integrity software research at IDC. “Consolidating platforms and looking for tools that address the needs of any data worker, whether a trained data scientist or an analyst in the line of business, can help reduce the friction that many organisations experience on their path to becoming data-driven.”