Big Data, cloud, mobile and cyber-security to disrupt business in 2017: national survey

Melbourne, Vic – 28 February 2017 – Australian businesses will be significantly disrupted by big data, cloud, mobile and cyber-security this year according to the 2016 Skills and Salary Survey from the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA).

The disruption trend is expected to continue in the near future from artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and data monetisation.

The fourth IAPA Skills and Salary Survey reports on the state of the Australian analytics market based the responses of data and analytics professionals in Australia. Insights include salary levels, technologies used, skill levels and expectations for the future.

According to Jodie Sangster, CEO of IAPA, “Analytics is now a significant part of Australian organisations, and it needs to be if businesses are to survive the coming wave of disruptive forces.

“There’s never been a better time to be an analytics professional – great datasets to work on, organisational support and a huge demand for skilled people. In fact, burgeoning demand is our biggest challenge.”

Key themes from the report include:

1.     The biggest challenge is building capability with developing new skills (50%) and time for innovation (46%) nominated as the greatest challenges;

2.     The impact of AI is expected to be felt in two to three years;

3.     Entry level analytics salaries rose 11 percent – putting the median salary of graduates, and those in the bottom salary decile, equal to the Australian median salary;

4.     Close to half of all analytics teams are gender balanced, however a 9 percent pay gap still exists (compared to 16.2 percent pay gap overall in Australia);

5.     67 percent of managers say applicants are under skilled, rising to 93 percent of those managers who say analytics hiring is harder than a year ago; and

6.     Recruitment is overwhelmingly subjective with the top two ways to judge skill level unable to be independently verified.

“For both employers and analytics professionals, independent recognition of real-world skills is the catalyst for better recruitment, better outcomes and more career options. The IAPA credential provides evidence based proof of skills so managers can be confident in hiring decisions and analytics professionals get the kudos for their real-world skills,” stated Sangster.

In terms of skills, the 2016 Skills and Salary Survey indicated:

1.     The most used business tool was Excel followed by Tableau and R studio;

2.     SQL and R are the most popular programming languages;

3.     Open source programming languages are increasing in usage, with R increasing 14 percent and Python increasing 40 percent from 2015; and

4.     60 percent of respondents commonly apply business intelligence, data manipulation and exploratory data analysis.

More information on the state of the analytics industry in Australia can be found in the 2016 IAPA Skills and Salary Report available via download from IAPA’s website (www.iapa.org.au).

Those interested in a career in analytics or the skills required to progress your career in analytics can explore the IAPA credentials at www.iapa.org.au/page/Credentials.

About IAPA

The Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA) is the professional organisation for the analytics industry in Australia, incorporating business analytics and data mining across multiple disciplines and sectors.

The IAPA mission is to unite, inform, support and promote business analytics professionals in Australia. We provide information sources, an online community, a networking hub and a professional identity. We promote the benefits of analytics in modern business.