Data skills considered more important than management experience, report finds

UK business leaders consider data and analytics skills to be more important than management experience, according to The Business Grammar Report by Alteryx.

The report found that 26 per cent of business leaders in the UK believe that data and analytics are the most important skills for potential employees, 60 per cent consider them to be one of the top two skills, and 69 per cent believe that industry experience is the most important.

Qualities

The research also showed that qualities such as multilingualism are becoming more important, with 22 per cent of businesses considering it to be one of the two top skills for potential employees.

Data and analytics are also being used more to help businesses overcome challenges, with only 15 per cent of businesses leaving data analysis to experts such as an IT or intelligence team, while 31 per cent are using self-service analytics tools.

Business leaders now feel that data analytics is an important part of a business, with 79 per cent saying that the skill should be made a compulsory part of MBA programmes.

Data-savvy

Commenting on the research, Alteryx, Inc. VP EMEA Stuart Wilson said that it found that business leaders would be willing to offer a 30 per cent higher salary to someone that has data skills over someone who doesn’t.

He added: “The change in attitude that’s taking place in boardrooms today shows the value of being data-savvy and how important it is that effective analytics are made available to business users.

“It makes sense to equip every business analyst with self-service tools that allow them to ask questions of their data.”