Data is the new fuel, can we run without it?

Many of us believe that not everyone needs to have Data skills. Data Analytics is a completely different field and one can decide whether to get into that field or not.

For example, can a Business Analyst choose to be non-data skilled and remain relevant in the coming years? In this article, I am going to examine this.

Data is the new fuel which is going to run majority of initiatives in the future

Let’s start with some data points. I looked at the studies and research conducted by Goldman Sachs and International Data Corporation (IDC). Here are some pertinent findings from these two reports:

A)??? As per Goldman Sachs and Stanford Institute for Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence, the global AI investment is likely to reach US $ 200 Billion from US $91.9 billion in 2022.

B)??? As per IDC, by 2025, Global 2000 (G2000) organizations will allocate over 40% of their core IT spend to AI-related initiatives, leading to a double-digit increase in the rate of product and process innovations.

C)??? As per verified market research, Data Analytics Outsourcing Market size was valued at USD 14.1 Billion in 2023 and is projected to reach?USD 110.8 Billion by 2030,?growing at a?CAGR of 34.2%?during the forecast period 2024-2030.

D)??? As per IDC, in the Top 10 Worldwide IT industry 2024 predictions, Organizations will usher in a remarkable shift in the allocation of technology investments toward AI implementation and the adoption of AI-enhanced products and services. As per IDC, the AI investments many increase to US $ 500 billion by 2027.

What does this mean for us as Professionals?

As we know data is a crucial asset whether its used for drawing insights or feeding AI models and applications.?If we consider the trends and surveys presented above, the data is going be more and more important and so would be the demand for professionals with data skills.

Data and AI-related initiatives will need Data professionals in various capacities like writing code, writing queries, creating dashboards, eliciting requirements, managing projects and so on.

As a professional working in the IT industry, not having data skills is going to be a major handicap.

So, what should we do?

We must learn the basic data skills (Like Data Analysis, data visualization) to be in a position to be part of these data and AI initiatives. Data Skills should be treated like mandatory skills for every professional.

Only if, you would like to pursue a more serious career in Data, you can look at the AI, ML, statistics, maths etc skills.