Deloitte School of Analytics begins annual education program in South Africa
The Deloitte School of Analytics (DSA) is currently holding its annual education event in South Africa, with the aim of deconstructing complex concepts within the domain of data science for clients to use in their business operations. The three-day programme will cover key areas of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data architecture.
With a regional focus on the African continent, DSA acts as a forum of sorts for data professionals to impart their expertise in data science to companies that are looking to optimise their analytical capacity. Big Four professional services firm Deloitte is one of the leading firms across the world in the domain of data analytics, contributing to the knowledge-rich environment at DSA.
The objective of DSA is to offer clients advanced capabilities in information management, performance optimisation, and analytic insights. This is done by imparting techniques for data capturing and analysis using industrial best practices, as well as providing a grip on state-of-the-art technology to analyse the entire value-chain of a business.
Each year, DSA offers a three-day training programme to small and medium enterprises across Africa, where they can gain exposure to these advanced techniques in data science via case-study discussions, presentations, and practical examples. This year, the programme has a special emphasis on the practical application of machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as agile logical data warehouse architecture.
Commenting on the programme, Wesley Govender, the Risk Advisory Leader for Data Analytics at Deloitte Africa said; “If you were to ask a hundred people what data science is – and more importantly, to state its value – you’d likely get a hundred different answers. Technological advances and the associated changes in the business landscape have produced a rapidly expanding “parallel universe” of new content, new data, new information sources and even new technologies. Data science is too important to be so elusive.”
He added; “Given the large demand for data analytics skills, experts place the talent pool supply at 20% of the actual market demand. The majority of organisations find themselves at low levels of analytic maturity and need to move from information and hindsight to optimisation and foresight to remain relevant and competitive in the future,”
The large demand for analytical skills that Govender refers to results from an increasingly taxing regulatory environment around data gathering, as well as a wave of innovation that is disrupting key sectors of the economy in South Africa and the rest of the continent.
