.
4. People to manage in this environment will be at a premium.
Data scientists and data analysts demand will grow with salary expectations skyrocketing as competition for this resource gets even hotter.
As Tom Davenport pointed out a Harvard Business Review article in 2012, data scientists have the “sexiest job of the 21st century.” As the rock stars of the data world, expect to pay over $90,000 a year for an analyst fresh from an analytics program.
5. Prepare for a hack attack.
The internet brings good and bad into the world of business.
As we’ve seen with the recent election, hacking happens. Most businesses today have chief security officers responsible for keeping the bad guys away from the company’s assets, but they are constantly monitoring and fighting off attacks from outside forces. If you don’t think this will happen to you, be prepared to be offline at least one day next year as you recover from a hack attack.
6. Analytical models will be embedded in all kinds of systems.
As we experience the rise of analytical models to predict and optimize our profits, we are also seeing more and more of these models being embedded in our sales, service, marketing and financial systems.
These models help predict next quarter’s revenues, which customers will need the most support, which individuals will respond best to which marketing tactic and which vendor can best fulfill on a supply order. As these models replace humans who have managed these activities, you may start to see productivity rise, but jobs transform or perhaps disappear.
7. Virtual augmentation will arrive on the scene.
If you’ve heard of virtual reality, your concept of it probably conjures up images of Avatars or Google Cardboard. But virtual reality is moving rapidly into business in a slightly different way. Businesses will start to combine virtual reality with reality and create something called virtual augmentation.
We already do this in some ways. For example, if we wanted to see how a new building would accommodate all of our employees, we could use virtual reality to envision the building. But combining that view with actual numbers of employees, their workflow patterns in existing buildings and the data associated with building usage today, you can get a more comprehensive picture and can make better decisions.
Next year will see most of these predictions become reality, but they will all happen against a rapidly changing technology and business environment.
Get used to moving fast! Your challenge awaits you!
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Where Are You on the Data Analytics Maturity Model?
Data Analytics Driven Marketing for Small Business
5 Top Trends in Data Management – For the Next Decade
Finding the Right Data Resource: Asking the Important Questions
