Right Time For Malaysia To Focus On A Data Scientist To Support Growth

Talent in the Workforce

Talent in the field of Data Science and other co-related fields such as Machine Learning is very short in supply than the demand all over the world. The talent is the most important part of Data Analytics and without it, the field would get very limited as data and software alone can’t provide insightful information without a professional Analyst.

The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2022, 54% of the global labour force's skill level must grow, but actual numbers are considerably below that estimate, and firms by themselves are unable to bring about this revolution in skills on their own.

The rapid development of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will lead to many job losses if the workforce is unable to raise their skill levels and keep up with new technologies. Governments will play a crucial role in preventing this from happening.

The problem doesn’t lie in the talent but the relevant skills of the workforce, what they are taught doesn’t apply to the work they are doing and their knowledge is not updated regularly which leads to them lagging behind in the field. Therefore the government needs to make the right investments and plans to upskill the workforce of every industry which deals with Data Science.

Work of the Government to Tackle the Issue

To ensure that the talent and potential of the nation's citizens are not wasted and that they are taught the necessary skills to support the progress of the country in the digital era, the government and the appropriate authorities must work in conjunction with enterprises and corporations.

Agencies, the government, organisations, and educational institutions are striving to promote data analysis and attract more individuals to the subject in order to tackle the issue.

Companies operating in a variety of sectors are searching for and developing unique approaches to train their workforces in data science in order to boost sales and ensure the business's stable growth in the modern digital economy.

How Malaysia is Nurturing Data Analytics Talent

Data is becoming a very important part of every industry in the world but to use that in the right way for the growth of the industries and also the growth of the nation is the real problem.

Diverse industries in Southeast Asian countries are taking steps to increase both the quantity and quality of the talent they have in the field of data analytics. They do this by offering advanced training to both their existing employees and newcomers to the field, as well as by organising various initiatives to highlight the best talent, like the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEANDSE) 2019 competition.

Such competitions are held to enhance the skills of the people in digital literacy as well as promoting participation in such events to make people aware of the potential which the Data Analyst industry holds. Malaysia also hosted one part of the ASEANDSE at one of the universities of the nation.

Talent Pipeline

According to the company International Data Corporation, between the years 2000 and 2020, the value of data will expand 20,000-fold, and revenues in the worldwide market for business analytics and big data would soar.

The director of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation has discussed the value of big data on several occasions in order to advance the development and effectiveness of Malaysia's digital economy.

The MDEC has launched many ICT-based projects to transform Malaysia into a knowledge-based, high-income society in the future. These efforts will focus more on the data economy and create the groundwork for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The MDEC's talent development initiatives have increased Malaysia's population of data scientists from 100 to 1,500 and data experts from 4,000 to 16,000 while also encouraging interest in the country's digital economy.

Private Efforts in Boosting Data Science Growth

Malaysia’s private companies and industries also keep working with the government’s efforts to increase the talent of the county in the Data Analytics field.

The efforts include the universities working with industries to gather reviews from the workforce as well as updating the curriculums in all the universities in the country for the undergraduate and postgraduate course in the related fields in Data Science to make sure that the upcoming generation in the field has all the necessary skills to show their potential in the field.

The ASEAN Data Analytics Exchange (ADAX), among other Malaysian efforts, has made a significant contribution to the development of the country's data analytics skills. The talent of the nation was brought together by ADAX in order to inform them of the most recent developments in Data Analytics technology and to demonstrate development models.

Since ADAX's deployment in 2017, it has collaborated with and taught over 1,800 individuals across 298 firms in a variety of sectors on projects including data managers, data leaders, and data practitioners.

The launch of such projects has led to an increase in the skill pool for data analytics, which will help to fulfil the field's rising demand.

The government has benefited from the efforts as a consequence of the country's labour investments, which have caused the digital economy to expand.

The Center of Applied Data Science (CADS) is another private company that has been endorsed by the Malaysian government, the main aim of CADS is to train a new generation of professionals and Scientists in the Data Science industry through initiatives and programs that will make them face real-life problems and challenges that the businesses face. The private company was established in 2015.

Recently the Malaysia Board of Technologists (MBOT) also signed a deal with CADS to accredit their premier course aimed at the training of data professionals.