Analytics a potential jobs growth area in Ireland

There are at least 400 jobs available now in data management and mining in Ireland among the membership of the Analytics Institute, but the right candidates are not available to fill the roles due to a shortage of skills.

To address this gap, the institute is hosting a series of seminars and workshops starting next Monday, 9 May. ”There’s potential for thousands of jobs in Ireland if we can provide enough of the key ingredient – skills. Ireland needs to become a data-friendly location attracting the analytical market leaders to base here. Creating high-calibre, well-trained analytics graduates and a vibrant analytics community is instrumental in achieving this,” said Kevin Magee, CEO of the Analytics Institute, which was set up around a year ago and now has 10 organisational members.

“Education has to take place on a variety of fronts. But the problem is, third-level education is medium- to long-term so the immediate needs won’t be met for at least two years. We need to step in and take action and that is what we are doing by introducing the first in a series of seminars and workshops tackling the immediate refinement of existing professional skills."

An opportunity for Ireland to harness analytics

The skills shortage is not unique to Ireland but Magee said Ireland has an opportunity to harness analytics both within its business landscape and as a national agenda item. “Analytics is really about getting insights from data. As the surge of data threatens to overwhelm companies, it can help glean valuable information to make ‘evidence-based decision making’ – this removes the ‘gut feeling’ about decisions making the decision process clearer.

“So whether you want to know the best place to locate a hospital, how to make your organisation more sustainable, identify areas of high risk, reduce error or highlight fraud, analytics will help you do that.”