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Q: What are the main barriers to Agile data analytics in your organization?

Staffing/skills topped the list of barriers to adoption of Agile data analytics in our recent study. According to authors Tadhg Nagle and Dave Sammon, "In the last number of years, demand for data-savvy hires has increased dramatically. In fact, a report produced by e-skills UK on behalf of SAS UK revealed that demand for data scientists had grown by 350% during the period Q3 2011 to Q3 2012.7 This is impressive growth seeing that the role was, according to the report, 'near non-existent prior to 2011."

Nagle and Sammon continue, "the need to up-skill executives in quantitative and analytical techniques has become quite evident in the volume of management/quantitative-type books released each week. This need to educate business leaders about data analytics is also reflected in the survey results, which highlights the lack of business sponsorship as the second-biggest barrier, tied with difficulty in architecting a solution. As a comparison, almost twice as many survey respondents view the lack of business sponsorship as a barrier to Agile data analytics (35%) against those that see building business cases as a barrier (18%). This suggests that while the justification of projects is a significant barrier, it is much more straightforward than the actual implementation of a project."

* Excerpted from "Fast and Flexible: Exploring Agile Data Analytics," (Login Required) Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol. 13 No. 2

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