Yale, IBM Partner to Train Next-Gen Workers in Analytics

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. — IBM teamed up with the Yale School of Management to deliver a new initiative for preparing students with analytics skills for the next generation of jobs.

At an April 28 event dubbed a Smarter Education Forum here at the Yale School of Management, IBM and the Yale School of Management Center for Customer Insights announced they are collaborating on an academic initiative that will provide analytics and training resources to MBA students, helping them develop the skills needed as they prepare to become future business leaders.

Rob Ashe, general manager of Business Analytics at IBM, said social networks and mobile devices have reinvented the way people interact with company brands as massive amounts of data are being generated daily on media channels like Facebook and Twitter, consumer blogs and company Websites, IBM said. With so much data resting within these sources, it is essential for the upcoming generation of business leaders to possess strong analytics skills to better harness and measure brand and customer opinion, so they can capitalize on new opportunities, IBM officials said.

With the issue of “big data” in mind, IBM continues to innovate and expand its business analytics portfolio, and Big Blue announced new social media analytics software in conjunction with the event–IBM Cognos Consumer Insight, which is focused on addressing the needs of today’s empowered consumers.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be a 24 percent increase in demand for professionals with management analysis skills over the next eight years. Helping to fuel this increase is the rising use of business analytics by companies in their efforts to learn more about their customers, including buying habits and preferences.

“Demand for people with analytics skills is growing much faster than other occupations, said Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future, a New York-based think tank that looks at policy solutions to critical issues facing U.S. cities. Bowles said the areas of marketing, health care and finance show high demand for analytics skills. Moreover, in a random search regarding jobs requiring analytics skills, Bowles said he came up with 383 separate results on Monster.com. However, a similar search for “computer programmer” returned only 83 results, he said. And as another indication, Bowles, whose wife works with Deloitte in New York, said the Deloitte practice in the Northeast region grew its analytics staff by nearly 30 percent since 2008.

For more, read the eWEEK article: IBM and Yale Team Up to Prep Students in Analytics for Next-Gen Jobs.

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