Walmart and the Big Data Elephant Riders

July 7, 2015

Navigate to the Capitalist Tool’s write up “Walmart: The big Data Skills Crisis and Recruiting Analytics Talent.” Stating the obvious is something that most jargon delivery mechanisms avoid. Why be clear when obfuscation provides so many MBA-type chuckles?

The write up states about Big Data:

There just aren’t enough people with the required skills to analyze and interpret this information–transforming it from raw numerical (or other) data into actionable insights – the ultimate aim of any Big Data-driven initiative.

I had to sit down. Imagine. Specific skills are required to assemble data, formulate hypotheses, configure the numerical recipes, obtain outputs, and then analyze what the magic of math delivers.

Who would have thought that the average marketer might be a tiny bit under equipped to deal with Big Data in the here and now?

The write up states:

Last year, they [sic. The reference is to the single firm Walmart] turned to crowd sourced analytics competition platform Kaggle. At Kaggle, an army of “armchair data scientists” apply their skills to analytical problems submitted by companies, with the designer of the best solution being rewarded – sometimes financially, in this case with a job.

That’s a great solution. No problem with confidentiality in the crowdsourcing ecosystem. But Walmart hired candidates. Walmart explains what it seeks:

“Fundamentally,” says Thakur [Walmart manager], “we need people who are absolute data geeks–people who love data, and can slice it, dice it and make it do what they want it to do.

Walmart also uses an “analytics rotation program.” I assume this is designed to ensure that the Big Data analytics wizard can “run in the right direction.”

Walmart, it appears, is the leader in using crowd sourced methods for finding talent. Perhaps Walmart perceives itself as one of the leaders in the use of this method. It is good to be a visionary in Walmart land. What is Walmart’s next innovation? I cannot anticipate the next revolutionary breakthrough from the retailer many local retail stores perceives as a good neighbor made better with Big Data.

Stephen E Arnold, July 7, 2015

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