The Quest for Talent Points to Changes Needed in our Educational System

There is no question that data analytics is taking a front row seat in business management and strategy. Last October a group of top executives from leading companies in this field met to discuss a number of important issues of concern to them. The following five issues topped the list:

• Are data and analytics overhyped?
• Do privacy issues threaten progress?
• Is talent acquisition slowing strategy?
• What organizational models work best?
• What’s the best way to assure adoption?

A good deal of attention was given to the issue of finding talent - i.e, qualified staff. "Talent is a hot issue for everyone", they said. They added that "they need more “translators”—people whose talents bridge the disciplines of IT and data, analytics, and business decision making. These translators can drive the design and execution of the overall data-analytics strategy while linking IT, analytics, and business-unit teams. Without such employees, the impact of new data strategies, tools, and methodologies, no matter how advanced, is disappointing."

"A widespread observation among participants was that the usual sources of talent—elite universities and MBA programs—are falling short. Few are developing the courses needed to turn out people with these combinations of skills. To compensate, and to get more individuals grounded in business and quantitative skills, some companies are luring data scientists from leading Internet companies; others are looking offshore."

This is a major failing of our education system. Most young people go to university to be able to get a good job (The universities are not the best one to do the job, but then that is the way society has organized itself over the past number of years), they spend very large sums of money to get that education, and then find that their degrees and courses are out of touch with the needs of the business world. 

One of the problems is that the world is changing very quickly and the universities, not being geared for rapid change, can't keep up. They need help, primarily from the communities for which they are trying to provide "talent". That doesn't mean more advisory boards. There are lots of those and they are not helping. It means more active help, in terms of joint ventures, active involvement in program delivery and a strong say in curriculum delivery. Some if this is anathema to the educational establishment. But they need to change. We need to change the system to place less reliance on the universities in delivering the skilled people that businesses need. The best way to do that is to extend the deliver system beyond the universities.

That's not only in the interests of business and the students, it is in the interests of society generally. A summary of that meeting of executives is on this website.