Summary: Analytics Translator: The New Must-Have Role
Companies recognize that success with AI and analytics requires not just data scientists but also entire cross-functional, agile teams that include data engineers, data architects, data-visualization experts, and—perhaps most important—Analytics Translators (Analytics Connectors).
– McKinsey, February, 2018
Below is a summary of the Analytics Translator: The New Must-Have Role article from McKinsey. This posting contains highlights from that article and insights into the importance Analytics Connectors in enabling AI and advanced analytics projects:
- It’s no secret that organizations have been increasingly turning to advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve decision making across business processes—from research and design to supply chain and risk management.
- Why are translators (Connectors) so important? They help ensure that organizations achieve real impact from their analytics initiatives.
- Translators play a critical role in bridging the technical expertise of data engineers and data scientists with the operational expertise of marketing, supply chain, manufacturing, risk, and other frontline managers.
- In their role, translators help ensure that the deep insights generated through sophisticated analytics translate into impact at scale in an organization. By 2026, the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that demand for translators in the United States alone may reach two to four million.
- At the outset of an analytics initiative, translators draw on their domain knowledge to help business leaders identify and prioritize their business problems, based on which will create the highest value when solved.
- Translators then tap into their working knowledge of AI and analytics to convey these business goals to the data professionals who will create the models and solutions.
- Finally, translators ensure that the solution produces insights that the business can interpret and execute on, and, ultimately, communicates the benefits of these insights to business users to drive adoption.
- Domain knowledge is by far the most important skill for any translator. Translators must be experts in both their industry and their company to effectively identify the value of AI and analytics in the business context.
- Translators must possess strong acumen in quantitative analytics and structured problem solving.
- A mastery of process-management skills is a must. Translators should be able to direct an analytics initiative from ideation through production and adoption and have an understanding of the life cycle of an analytics initiative and the common pitfalls.
- Translators also should have an entrepreneurial mind-set. They need the enthusiasm, commitment, and business savvy to navigate the many technical, political, and organizational roadblocks that can emerge.
- Given the urgent need for translators, hiring externally might seem like the quickest fix. However, new hires lack the most important quality of a successful translator: deep company knowledge. As a result, training existing employees often proves to be the best option for filling the translator void.
- Translators bring a unique skill set to help businesses increase the return on investment for their analytics initiatives. They’re instrumental in identifying, from the myriad possible opportunities, which are the right opportunities to pursue, and they can help ensure that all participants, from data professionals to business executives, work in harmony to realize the promise these technologies offer.
How Can Our Company Help?
Our company, Analytics Connector, LLC, provides training and coaching services to enable Analytics Connectors:
- For self-service learners, our Analytics Connector Academy provides a self-service training approach with content to assist in your development as an Analytic Connector within your organization.
- For a more custom approach, our Analytics Connector Coaches can provide a more individualized approach to develop the skills needed for Analytics Connectors. Coaches help to personalize and customize coaching and training for one-on-one, group-based, and corporate training programs for skills development.
Who Can Benefit from Our Training and Coaching?
All of our coaching and training is designed to improve your ability to visualize, interpret, translate, communicate and implement analytical information. Analytics Connector Coaches and the Analytics Connector Academy provide coaching and training to Analytics Connectors as well as Analytics Professionals, Line Managers and Business Executives.
