April Social - Data Science in Consulting
Chinese Women in the City
Fit in | Stand out | Passionate about empowering female professionals of Chinese heritage.
This April, CWIC members enjoyed an insightful dialogue on Data Science in Consulting with Ran Mao from Bain & Company. We looked at the role of Data Scientist in management consulting firms, the desired skill set, and pathways to transition for anyone who would like to become one.
Speaker: Ran Mao
Bio: Ran is a Senior Manager of Data Science at Bain & Company. She helps clients across industries reinvent their operations and generate insights that yield better, faster decisions using her expertise in data science, customer insights, and machine learning. In her 5+ years of professional service, she has been delivering effective data science solutions to clients and deepening client relationships in more than 20 geographies globally. She is also passionate about data science for social good, delivering positive social impact by harnessing the power of data. She holds a MSc in Consumer Psychology from Cornell University, and a MSc in Marketing Analytics from Columbia Business School.
What does a Data Scientist do in management consulting?
In an old-fashioned sense, management consulting firms use statistics and data to help corporations understand their market and further improve their performance. The typical final deliverables are mostly spreadsheets and presentations. With the trends of data-driven decision making and automation, many corporations are adopting various data science tools to generate actionable recommendations or automate their daily operations. In order to follow the strategic roadmaps for the growth of their business, the corporations need to adopt big data & machine learning technologies in different areas of their business.
So what role does a data scientist play in a management consulting firm?
A data scientist in a consulting company can take up many different roles depending on the capability or department they are working at. There are three types of work:?
1) Client-facing projects;?
2) Ad-hoc analysis?
3) Internal IP asset development.?
The first type of work is usually done by working on-site together with the client data team. A data scientist’s daily operations include understanding the client’s needs, creating data pipelines, exploratory data analysis, creating dashboards, building predictive models, deploying models in enterprise software, and communicating the insights to stakeholders. The project usually takes two to six months. The final deliverable could be in the format of a model or implementation of a software solution.?
The second type of work is ad-hoc analysis. It’s usually a smaller piece of analysis that provides insights to specific business questions from the clients.??
The third type of work is internal IP development. A data scientist works with the field experts to develop the innovative analysis methodology, update model algorithms, and refine and commercialise models,? thus offering the most effective and cutting-edge solutions to clients.?
What skill set does a successful Data Scientist have?
Hard skills:
Soft skills:
Recommendations to who wants to break in to Data Science role in Consulting
Every so often, demonstrating the output from the model is not enough, you will also need to be able to explain and rationalise why certain methods were adopted for which part instead of other alternatives. It is common that clients will challenge the methods or need your clarification in details of the model you built.
As Ran described in the event, the job is like:
Be Prudent, Be Bold
Data Science demands attention to detail, where tiniest mistakes can distort the bigger picture. While technical and soft skills are important, you also need to be assertive and daring to take the initiative when considering innovative approaches.
Last but not least, do not be afraid of giving it a try. You are never going to be prepared enough until you start to do it.
About CWIC:
Chinese Women in the City (CWIC) aims to connect, inspire and empower all females with east and south-east Asian heritage to achieve their ambitions and work to create an equal world. We are committed to empower our members by building a strong support network, improving societal cultural awareness and giving back to our local communities.?
CWIC hosts a variety of activities regularly, this includes but not limited to the below:
Psychologist | Author | Consulting Director at Becoming International | Passionate about diversity & inclusion I Expert on ACT in sport & business
2 年Sophie Maitland