Introduction
Many people think that data is automatically insights and more profit for the business. This however could not be further from the truth. There is a long and arduous process before the data collected can be turned into insights let alone more profit for the business. It involves thinking about the problem and formatting it into a study to collect the data. After this, the data has to be cleaned, analyzed, visualized, presented, and then finally act upon those insights to hopefully make a profit. Not to mention that this process can only take place if the data has insights to offer, sometimes the data might come up inconclusive and there might not be a correlation or insights to draw from the data.
Summary of Article
David Milberg explains it well in his article “Business and Big Data” where he contrasts the data analysis process to gold mining (the article can be found here). In the process of gold mining, you first have to buy the property, prep the sites, mine the ore, separate the gold from the ore, refine the gold, melt it, shape it, and finally sell it. As you can see it’s not a straight shot from property to selling there are many steps involved. Data analysis is just like this. Not to mention the human capital that is necessary. As Milberg explains it “any kid with a shovel and pail can accidentally find something valuable at the beach, but it takes real knowledge and skill to predict and deliver on those predictions”. The same is true with data there is a lot of human capital involved in processing the data, extracting the insights (if there are any), and visualizing and explaining those insights to the shareholders.
My Take
I really liked the analogy presented in the article, it really explained the concept well to the average person. It is like a good data visualization when it comes to data. Data visualizations are like the bridge from people who understand data to the average person, they present the information to the average person in an elegant, easy-to-understand, and fun way. They are a major part of a data analyst’s storytelling kit. A good data visualization is a good story just like Milberg told a good story in his article.
Conclusion
All in all, this was a good article and a particular must-read for the average person. It really helps anyone understand the topic in a very unique and elegant way. Overall, I highly recommend you read it (the article can be found here)