A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF DATA SKILLED TALENT ON FIRM PERFORMANCE

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to understand how data analytics talent has been helping to improve firm performance. Given that firms have been hiring expensive and rare data talent aggressively to build their data analytics capabilities, the motivation of this research is to understand the kind impact this talent is having on firm performance. This research also examines the extent to which this talent has helped firms increase their revenue and improve their profitability and looks at this phenomenon by firm size and by industry membership. The research finds that the impact of data talent is higher in larger firms when compared to smaller firms. The research also finds that the impact of data talent on firm performance varies by industry membership, with some industries having a higher impact on improving revenue whereas some industries seeing impact on reducing costs. The research finally looks at explaining this difference in impact on revenue and cost with the help of the skills of the talent these firms are looking for. It finds that the type of skills requested by firms in data talent have a relationship with type of impact this talent can make on firm performance. There are important insights for Chief Data/Analytics Officers to align their organizations to contribute towards the performance of their firm, especially given the financial position of the firm. Some firms need to improve revenues whereas others have a need to cut costs. If a firm has a significant opportunity to reduce costs, but its data strategy is aligned towards improving revenue it becomes difficult to translate goals into action. The insight in this paper allows Chief Data/Analytics Officers to align their talent strategy towards the goals of the firm.