Reasons why data science is important

What is data science?

Data Science refers to the advanced analytical techniques and scientific principles used to extract useful and valuable information from given data. Businesses leverage data science for decision-making and planning robust strategies, yielding fruitful results among other benefits. The valuable data obtained through the application of data science in business plays a crucial role in generating insights. These insights offer organizations opportunities to enhance their operational efficiency, identify new business prospects, and significantly improve the marketing and sales programs of the company. As a result, data science is everywhere. According to a report, analysts have predicted 11 million data science job openings by 2026 in India alone. 

Relevance of data science

In today’s digitally driven world, professionals use cutting-edge technology into actionable insights. With organizations opening doors to Big Data, the value of data scientists has risen. Without data, modern organizations cannot sustain and compete in the business world. There is enormous value in data analysis and processing, and this is where data scientists come into the spotlight. 

According to IDC, by 2025, global data will grow to 175 zettabytes. Data science enables companies to efficiently understand gigantic data from multiple sources and derive valuable insights to make smarter data-driven decisions. Data science is widely used in various industry domains, including marketing, healthcare, finance, banking, policy work, and more. That explains why data science is important.

How data science adds value to businesses

• Data-backed insights for organizations to make better decisions

Besides giving rapid growth to the company, data science includes aiding financial risks, managing and collecting the measures, and keeping the performance in view for the improvement of the organization’s decision-making. It helps guide the management and the business owners in making the perfect decision for the growth of their business. Bringing out the best in the business is now possible with data science. 

• Decision making with quantifiable, data-driven evidence

Organizations are more likely to use the Trend Analysis to evaluate censorious decisions for the customers to engage more, so the revenue is increased. With that, it is more likely to predict what is coming up in the future. Data Science can show and predict future happenings and foresee Future demand through insights making it easier for business owners. The insights are extracted from an organization’s data which provides decision-making with a proper estimation. 

• Identification and refining of target audience

Businesses today, due to the high competition, are in much need of proper analytics and knowledge of the demands of their customers. None of the tools is useful if you cannot understand the important aspects like demographics, target area, etc. This way, data science helps in providing meaningful insights by refining the data and identifying the most relevant target audience. This also helps save your revenue by not letting it get wasted on a non-targeted audience. 

• Actionable insights based on trends, which in turn help to define goals

Data Science is the best medium for presenting actionable insights. These insights are based on the trends that help define a proper goal for the organization. It is worth having a Data Scientist in the company so that they can examine and inspect the raw data of the company and establish a division that helps improve the performance and set up a goal for the company. Like economics, but a little advanced, data science displays a proper picture of customer behavior and provides a solution to their vital market campaigns and targeted paid media to boost sales. 

• Recruiting the right talent for the organization

With the changing trends and algorithms, Data Science keeps itself updated and uses the current data while imitating many operations. This is why it is always suggested to look for candidates with professional certificates to perform the role for your business. With the help of a Data Scientist, it becomes easy to translate data which is otherwise hard to read.

With the growing demand for employment, it is difficult to find an outstanding person who is best suited for job roles offered by your business, and data science helps you in doing just that. 

• Identifying new opportunities 

The Data Scientist starts by questioning the existing process and assumptions. This helps them develop significant methods and analytics algorithms. They identify new opportunities by constantly improving the valuable information derived from the organization’s data. 

Read more: Why data science is a must have skill

Benefits of data science across sectors

Apart from businesses, various other fields have witnessed that data science offers them high levels of ease and expertise of conducting their daily routine work. This has made them significantly need data science in their field. Some other fields that highly benefit from the usage of data science are mentioned below.

Data science in healthcare

The healthcare industry is one of the largest and most crucial industries in any nation; thus, there is no scope for error in this industry. Handling large chunks of data generated in the healthcare industry is not a task that can be handled manually. It needs the help of technology. With the help of data science, managing all the records, such as the history of the patients, has become easier and more efficient. 

Data science helps patients collect data about their health on a day-to-day basis. This assists the doctors in knowing the history of the patients, as well as in detecting any disease at an earlier stage. Consequently, the speed of treatment and diagnosis also faces a boost. The on-time and adequate treatment of each patient are facilitated, and the healthcare workflow has become smoother than before. Also, data science has helped reduce the scope of error in the data, which has, in turn, caused a reduction in the risk of failures while treating any patient. 

Data science in banking 

The database of banks is significantly large and includes important factors related to the clients, including their transactions, history, trends, etc. By using data science in their everyday applications, the banking sector has revolutionized the way banks used to work, making them more effective. Their operational efficiency has improved, and data analysis has become a task of a flick for them. 

Using data science, bankers can prevent and detect frauds in their banks. It helps them gather, summarize and forecast any fraudulent activity by analyzing the financial actions of the customer and detecting any suspicious activity. It also helps in risk modeling, i.e., determining the price of products and commodities in the financial sector. 

Data Science also benefits the banks by making it easier for them to offer customer support, conduct the segmentation of the customers, manage all their data and predict the lifetime value of a customer and many other important aspects. 

Data science in retail

A retail business works efficiently by recognizing the trends of the customers. It helps them in formulating marketing strategies to promote their business and generate more leads and sales. However, it is not always possible for a person to keep in mind the trends followed by each customer. 

For example, if one of your customers is a pregnant woman, she would focus on plus-sized clothes or maybe go shopping for kids’ clothes in the later months of her pregnancy. Accordingly, it will be beneficial for the retail store to send her offers and sale intimations via mail or messages regarding maternity or baby shopping. Such a task is done by data science technology on its own. 

Apart from this, data science is used in the retail industry to offer customers recommendations and personalizations, manage customers’ data, prevent fraud, manage inventory, etc. It also has its applications in cross-selling and upselling. Customer lifetime value can also be predicted with the help of data science. 

Data Science in the IT industry

In the present world, the generation and application of information is a critical economic activity. Data Science facilitates it with its power to extract information from large volumes of data. Information Technology makes our life easier by gathering and processing more data quickly and efficiently to provide results in hours contrary to days and weeks.

Read more: Top 10 applications of data science

Top jobs in data science 

As mentioned earlier, the demand for data scientists is higher than ever and there are a variety of job roles you can explore in this in-demand domain.

Job roles	Average salary
Data Architect	INR 25 LPA
Data Scientist	INR 13.5 LPA
Data Engineer	INR 11 LPA
AI Engineer	INR 10 LPA
Database Administrator	INR 10 LPA
Machine Learning Engineer	INR 10 LPA
Business Intelligence Analyst	INR 8 LPA
Big Data Engineer	INR 8 LPA
Data Analyst	INR 7 LPA

Steps to start a career in data science

Earn a relevant degree:  If you want to explore a career in data science, start by pursuing a relevant undergraduate degree. You can pursue a degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, engineering, technology and other related subjects. 

Pursue a master’s degree: A master’s degree is key to exploring a lucrative job in data science. There are a plethora of master’s degrees in data science you can pursue like MSc in Data Science, MBA in Data Science or even a Postgraduate Certificate in Data Science. 

Gain technical skills: As a data scientist, you will need to gain technical skills that will help you ace your job. As a data scientist, you will deal with huge data sets. Skills like data wrangling, data visualization, and reporting are important to know. 

Learn to code: Coding is an essential part of data science. You need to know top programming languages like Java, SQL, Python & R to be able to deal with complex datasets. 

Read more: Does data science require coding?

Familiarize yourself with tools: Creating charts and graphs is an important part of being a data scientist. Familiarity with tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential. 

Pursue an internship: While you will gain technical knowledge and skills by pursuing a degree in data science, practical experience matters. Getting an internship in data science helps you discover how teams function and the kind of problems you deconstruct. 

Develop your portfolio: Highlight everything you have done during your internship in the portfolio and mention key skills you gained. This will help improve your credibility. 

Read more: How to get a job in data science?

Top data science degrees to pursue

A master’s degree in data science plays a key role in determining the kind of job you land. Here are some of the most popular degrees you can consider for a career in data science. 

MSc in Data Science

A Master of Science in Data Science gives you the best push to pursue high-paying careers in the field of data science. This program will equip you with the knowledge of programming languages, statistics & probability, data visualization, data mining, and more, that is needed to explore technical jobs in data science. You will also master in-demand tools like Hadoop, Python, R, NumPy, Pandas, Apache and more. 

MBA in Data Science

An MBA in Data Science helps you gain the key skills and knowledge required to boost your career. Along with gaining technical knowledge and skills, you will learn several aspects of business administration in this program. This degree would be a blend of technical knowledge and business acumen, which opens doors to a wide range of job opportunities.

PGCP in Data Science

A Postgraduate Certificate Program in Data Science helps you master trending data science & machine learning tools & techniques such as python programming, database management & SQL, statistical technique for data science, EDA & feature engineering, and data visualization. You will master key data science tools and concepts required to upskill in this domain. 

Why choose Online Manipal for your data science career

Online Manipal gives you access to top data science online degrees offered by Manipal Academy of Higher Education. You get to pursue an online degree in data science from a premium institute like MAHE, which is flexible, accessible, and affordable. You will get to interact with peers and faculty worldwide, build your professional network and get the prestigious Manipal alumni status. Check out the online programs available on Online Manipal now!