Have you ever wondered how much data we generate every day? It is essential in business to take advantage of all the inputs and data that the company and the users generate to draw strategic decisions/conclusions. Nonetheless, the amount of generated data is growing at a rate that is difficult to manage. Big Data & Business Intelligence (BI) have been created to avoid losing information and use it to optimize companies. The mentioned processes are different and can be treated separately, but on many occasions, they end up complementing each other. Normally, the volume of data to be processed and managed is the factor that will determine how to use them.
Big Data and Business Intelligence are practices found in a growing number of companies from different sectors, among Human Resources. Therefore, companies adopt data-driven strategies, meaning that they make business decisions based on the analysis of the data obtained.
What is big data?
Big Data includes the tools and processes that allow access, storage, and processing of large amounts of crucial information (data) that can come from internal and external sources. In addition, the data obtained can be in different formats: structured (quantitative information such as numbers or text) and unstructured (qualitative information, it can range from images, videos, etc.).
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence mainly works after the Big Data department has extracted and prepared all the data. Sometimes, they can also work from a BI program that integrates all the company's data sources.
Thus, Business Intelligence is responsible for processing all the data and transforming it into knowledge or conclusions that respond to previously set objectives or decisions. Afterward, the professionals can draw predictions or decisions based on the conclusions made from the data. It works at both departmental and business levels.
How does it apply to human resources?
The people department produces a large amount of data. In these cases, using Big Data & Business Intelligence allows you to optimize processes and make decisions based on company trends or predictions.
Some of the data extracted is the development and character of the internal staff, the administration process, the search for new candidates, etc. data that can help to have a general vision of the workers’ status, the candidates’ attitude, among many others when is properly analyzed.
With all this information, Big Data and BI can benefit the Human Resources sector in different aspects:
What professionals are in charge of Big Data and Business Intelligence?
- Data engineer: in some cases, it can also be called "architect", since it is the person in charge of the data processing systems within Big Data. The Data engineer designs develop and maintain the responsible systems for collecting all kinds of data so that it can be collected and transformed.
- Data Scientist: is responsible for exploring and extracting data, regardless of its size (Big Data) or its format. To do this, the professional creates tests and experiments, and thus discovers new ways of acquiring information. The Data Scientist can also extract and transmit business recommendations from the information obtained when necessary.
- Data analyst: Once the data has been extracted, this person does the reports, dashboards, analysis, and other data interpretation techniques. The Data analyst prepares the information so it can be understood, and thus conclusions and decisions can be drawn.
- Chief Data Officer (CDO): This senior profile has a global vision of the entire Big Data process so that the data extraction design is in tune with the company, optimizes the process, and is ethical, among others. Therefore, the CDO works transversally with other departments to discover and translate their needs and objectives.
- Business Intelligence Analyst: Works at the beginning and end of the explained process. In the beginning, the BI Analyst defines the needs and purposes of the business, thus defining the parameters or areas where to search and extract data. In the end, once the rest of the professionals already have the "clean" data, this profile is in charge of developing the business strategy of the project, product, or decisions following the information and predictions extracted.
Although we consider that the mentioned profiles are the core positions in the Big Data & BI area, new positions are still being created today that derive from specializations or cover new needs or programs.
As you have seen, this department has a great weight in decision-making and company strategy. However, it is the management that has the final word, and the Big Data and BI department accompanies them in the decision so that it is based on knowledge of the market and the company.
Did you know about the Big Data world? At Axxon we have the Artificial intelligence & Big Data team specialized in these profiles and all the latest developments in the sector.
