Why Do Companies Hire Data Professionals?
Musings on the value of data
Why do companies hire data professionals? Do you ever ask yourself that? Oh sure there’s the job description that tells you what the role is supposed to do, but look beyond it for just a minute and something amazing happens.
As data professionals we tell ourselves that “we help stakeholders make data driven decisions.” In many cases this value means helping the company grow. But what if the company was already growing while the data function is in shambles?
There was a company I heard about that was making multiple tens of millions in ARR while all its reporting was still being done in Excel. People manually extracted data from various systems and dumped it in Excel.
They had hired a data scientist but their main problem was not data science. They needed to consolidate multiple scattered data sources into a common warehouse so that reporting could be automated.
It’s quite common for companies to hire “for the future” and get someone with a PhD to do data science while their most pressing problem lies in engineering. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
Anyways, the question in the back of my mind was “why didn’t they hire someone earlier?” Then came the shocking realization: “If they were growing regardless of data quality, does this mean that having standardized, well modeled data doesn’t contribute much to growth?”
As data professionals we debate a lot among ourselves about the value of data, but we never ask the crucial question of how stakeholders perceive that value. We act as if this value is self evident: “Of course you’d want clean, structured data!”
But as far as stakeholders are concerned, we have to dig further to figure it out. And the reason why we have to figure it out is that once we understand the driver, it will make our career growth a lot easier. So why was this company hiring the data scientist only now?
Two words: Financial Controls!
As the company was growing, one of the key concerns of the executive board became financial controls. If they wanted to raise another round of financing in the future they needed to get their financial house in order.
A bigger check from investors necessitates a higher level of diligence, which means a deeper dive into not just the company’s financials but also operational metrics. Every investor wants a “rocket ship” type growth for the companies they give money to, but at the same time they want to make sure that the growth is controlled so the company doesn’t spiral out of control.
This meant two very important drivers:
Stricter controls on all metrics to ensure any growth leaks get plugged
Finding stable growth drivers to ensure growth continues
This is what matters to a stakeholder! Important, sure, but not as flashy as “data driven decisions.” If you understand this, you can now become a trusted advisor to the executive board. All the reports, metrics, and recommendations you make can be focused around theme of “financial controls” to the delight of your stakeholders.
That’s it for this week’s post. If you enjoyed it leave a like or a comment.
Until next time