03 Data-driven decisions

Using data decisions no longer have to be made in the dark or based on gut instinct; they can be based on evidence, experiments and more accurate forecasts.

Data driven organizations perform better, are operationally more predictable and are more profitable.

Data science

Data Science is the art of discovering what we don’t know from data. It allows obtaining predictive and actionable insights from data. Indeed, Data Scientists are a new breed of analytical data expert who have the technical skills to solve complex problems. They’re part mathematician, part computer scientist and part trend-spotter

The duties of a Data Scientist are:

• Obtaining predictable,actionable insights from data
• Creating data product with immediate impact
• Communicating relevant business stories from data
• Building confidence in decisions that drive business value

Data engineering

Following the crude oil example, data engineers build “the refinery”. A data engineer is a specialist that maintain data and models available and usable by others (i.e., data scientists). According to Google, a professional data engineer enables data-driven decision making by collecting, transforming and publishing data. He should be also able to leverage, deploy and continuously train pre-existing machine learning problems.

• Design and build data processing systems
• Operationalize machine learning models
• Ensure solution quality