Written by Meg Murphy.

At a recent event run by the Bentley University business analytics program, celebrated industry veterans described with refreshing candor what that entails: You have to move beyond algorithms to be successful in business analytics.

“If you want this career, you’re going to have a job and you’re going to make some money,” shared Jay Leatherman, a senior solutions architect with SAS Institute Inc. However, he said, the work will require far more than technical mastery.

It might be worth considering what other qualities are in order. Data science is now “the sexiest job of the 21st century,” according to the Harvard Business Review. About ninety percent of existing data has been created just since 2011, according to experts, and the need for analytics is enormous.

During the event, which took place at the Center for Marketing and Technology, Leatherman and Anthony Moffa, a senior manager of global data services with Tyco Fire Protection Products, offered career tips that were far ranging and hard earned. The specialists laid bare the inner workings of the industry and demonstrated a certain grit and humor developed from their immersion in it.

“They helped me understand the pros and cons of the profession,” said Kaitlin Andryauskas, an MSBA student.

Here are several pieces of advice that are highly applicable and that might, in some instances, surprise you:
 

1. Personality is Key: Look Within and Make a Match

Before you set out, consider what you naturally like to do best. A simple suggestion, but you’d be amazed how many people fail to ask it. Look at your options, and then look within, said the experts.

They outlined three categories of people in the industry:

• Program managers: They think inside the box to deploy processes at scale.
• Entrepreneurs: They think outside the box to create new processes.
• Process optimizers: They think outside the box to extract resources.

“I’ve very good at optimizing things -- you come up with an idea and I’ll make sure it works and gets done,” said Leatherman. “How does your personality fit?”
 

2. Maturity Matters: Think it Through Before You Lock it Down

You’ll have to decide what company you want to work with. Think it through before you lock it down. Really consider: what do you want to do in a day?

Look closely at what the prospective business is trying to accomplish. What are their key concepts? How much do they want to grow? What do they want to build?

Above all, what is their level of analytic maturity? Businesses can range from analytically impaired to analytic competitors. For simplicity’s sake, consider this as a range from level one to four -- the lowest number representing the least competent.

“If a company you’re looking at is a level one, you can’t jump to level four analytics,” shared Leatherman. “You have to move in steps. Be ready to do that.”

And, word of warning, the experts said there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll discover the company is a level one, which is where so many businesses today fall.
 

3. Resentment Happens: Be Prepared to Deal With Cultural Lag

Even if you know what you’re dealing with from the beginning, and approach the analytic project with informed caution, be ready to deal with resistance. You’ll encounter it often, they said.

Cultural lag, said Leatherman, occurs when the pace of technological change exceeds social capacity to keep pace. “Consider the term and keep it in the back of your mind,” he said. “The activities you bring in will change the status quo.”

Some people will resent you, he said, because they’ll feel: “I know how to do my job and you’re telling me to do it differently.”
 

4. Alliances Are Necessary: Develop Survival Tactics

Realize that once you enter the data analytics industry, as in most businesses, your ability to connect with influential parties is pivotal.

As Moffa colorfully put it: “More business gets done at the water cooler. It’s like that show ‘Survivor.’ You make alliances. You strategize. There are a lot of politics.”

Success requires you know how to talk to people; even more, that you know how to charm them.

“You spend time shaking hands and kissing babies before you ever get a project off the ground,” he said. Too many business school graduates enter the workforce with the technical mastery, but without the ‘soft skills’ that matter more than you know. “You have to be a salesperson. If you can’t sell your ideas, people aren’t going to do it. You have to entice and engage people, build the story, tell it and sell it.”

If this career sounds intriguing, learn how a getting a master’s degree in business analytics will help set you apart.