Companies More Likely to Train Employees to Increase Analytical Skills than to Hire

 In a study on Big Data trends undertaken by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), it has been revealed that organizations are 2.5 times more likely to train current employees in order to increase analytical skills than to hire additional analytics staff. The report, The Age of Big Data: A Progress Report for Organizations and HR, found:

• 47 percent of organizations plan to train current staffs to reach necessary analytics capabilities.

• 17 percent of organizations plan to hire new employees to fill this need.

• 26 percent of organizations reported that they are not currently able to meet their expected analytics needs.

This finding is one of nine covered in the report which also examines the types of training organizations use to build analytics skills. The research found that more companies are relying on mentoring and team-based training than any other methods. Critical thinking was also identified as the most important skill for successful analytical ability with unstructured learning the leading way for teaching analytics to workers. This weakens arguments that specific software and math skills are the most useful tools for analysis.