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AI and Data Literacy - Future-Proof Combination to Strengthen Business

May 06, 2024

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AI and Data Literacy - Future-Proof Combination to Strengthen Business

Businesses worldwide are pressed against the dire need to invest in data literacy when it comes to hiring and retaining data science talent. With the data pool becoming voluminous, it is an essential aspect of every business to upskill their employee base and empower them with credible data science capabilities.

With Chat GPT taking over the business-consumer interactions to another level; it is essential to make employees data literate to make sense of the large pool of datasets that gets accumulated over time. Artificially intelligent processes have taken over the business world big time with an emergent need to place the right people in the right place. Believing Accenture, only 21% of the global workforce are fully confident in their data literacy skills. This is indeed a meagre number to boast about!

AI and data, to engineers, are just like the lifeblood that everyone needs to understand where and how to utilize. It is inevitable for every organization to commit itself to making and instead building an inventory full of qualified ‘Citizens to Data Science’ who can leverage the latest in business AI conversations and more for the benefit of the organizations.

Empowering organizations to navigate the complexities of data management and analytics is paramount in the present-day scenario. With the rising quantity and diversity of data sources, it has become a critical situation to keep pace with technological advancements and enhance data literacy across all levels of the workforce. Hence, it is essential to begin with understanding the basics of it all and how you as an integral part of an organization contribute to the overall growth scenario.

What is Data Literacy?

Data literacy is the ability to read, understand, work with, and communicate data. It is the skill that enables workers to ask questions about data and machines, build knowledge, make decisions, and communicate its meaning across teams.

Why is Data Literacy Important?

Data literacy enables companies to make better-informed decisions, improve efficiency, drive innovation, manage risks, maintain compliance, and compete effectively in today’s data-driven landscape.  

What constitutes effective data literacy?

Data literacy as the name suggests not only targets understanding data; it involves an array of abilities that constitute effective business data management. Data science engineers are gaining strength with every passing year in organizations worldwide to be an effective pivot in business growth via data literacy techniques. Data literacy involves:

  • Data access and retrieval

    Gaining an understanding of your data from reliable sources is critical. Undeniably, this is important as it involves understanding different types of data, databases, and search strategies.

  • Data cleaning and manipulation

    Artificial intelligence offers exemplary results; when targeting informed decision-making. Data literacy equips you to identify and address inconsistencies, missing values, and formatting issues.

  • Data analysis

    The capability of analyzing data with appropriate statistical methods and tools is essential. This involves summarising data, and identifying and addressing inconsistencies, missing values, and data formatting issues.

  • Data visualization

    Communication is the key to any business progression plan. Crafting appropriate data visualizations to convey critical data insights through pie charts, graphs, etc.

  • Critical thinking and interpretation

    Data literacy empowers you to critically evaluate the source, identify potential biases, and assess the limitations of the data before concluding.

Challenges in Creating Data Literacy in an Organization:

  • Lack of data competence-Many professionals find it hard to understand complex data and statistical concepts
  • Data overload- Organizations facing data load beyond an acceptable limit shall suffer data illiteracy
  • Data communication barriers- It is essential to communicate data to the right set of professionals to make sense of it
  • Poor data quality- Inaccurate data can lead to poor reporting and business decisions
  • Inadequate data privacy norms- Businesses may not have enough knowledge about data privacy regulations
  • Insufficient tools and resources- Organizations may not have enough competent tools and resources to support data literacy
  • Lack of data science calibre- Employees may not be confident in their data management capabilities, so it is essential to upskill the organizational talent pool with credible data science certifications.
  • Reluctance to evolution- Employees may be reluctant to change data-driven decisions.
  • Workforce resistance- Large organizations may be resistant to moving to a data-driven culture.

4-Step Approach to Promoting Data Literacy:

  • Creating Personas

    Developing personas based on individuals’ work functions and comfort levels to reflect the level of data literacy is an essential part of data literacy promotion.

  • Identifying learning outcomes

    Determining the learning outcomes of the data literacy program, focusing on what target personas need to know about each essential data discipline is critical.

  • Designing data literacy programs

    As the data science industry builds on massive data, it is essential to prioritize key data disciplines and design the data literacy program based on the business’s maturity level and data strategy goals.

  • Communicating and measuring effectiveness

    Establish a communication plan that enables continuous improvement and defines metrics to assess the program’s effectiveness.

Final Word:

The world of data science has evolved beyond measure. It is becoming increasingly critical to make organizational employees a massive pool of skills and data-handling capabilities. Beyond professional applications, data literacy is here to empower data-driven decisions while bringing forth critical insights for business amplification with AI conversations. Gain competence in quality data science procedure handling with the best credentials today!

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