Big Data For Small Business For Dummies

Chapter 8

Developing and Accessing Big Data Competencies

In This Chapter

Understanding the skills shortage in big data – and how this may affect your business

Building or beefing up the necessary big data skills in-house

Turning to external providers for your big data needs

Demand for big data expertise is growing every day, as more and more companies become aware of the benefits of collecting and analysing data. Unfortunately, the number of people trained to analyse this data isn’t growing in line with the demand. This creates a challenge for companies looking to hire expert people.

For companies of all sizes looking to unlock big data’s potential, there’s one big hurdle to overcome: stiff competition in hiring the necessary staff.

However, hiring in-house staff isn’t the only way to access big data skills. You can train up your existing people, work with external providers or partner with other interested parties. In this chapter, I look at all the options for tapping into big data skills. But first, I explore the skills shortage in a little more detail to see why it’s such a ...