LexisNexis is recruiting for new entry-level data scientist jobs, as everything from self-driving cars to wearable technology creates new data insights
In a world where we produce 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day, there has never been more information to sift through – which is why the creation of entry-level data scientist jobs has never been greater.
From Fitbits and social media accounts to Spotify and Netflix, we are the on-demand generation that relies heavily on data insights.
The problem is, with so much of it hovering in the cloud, it leaves individuals and organisations open to cyber threats from hackers.
To mark Data Protection Day, Alan O’Loughlin, head of statistical modelling in Europe for global research and risk management firm LexisNexis Risk Solutions, discusses the great potential of data – and how a new wave of data scientists can help.
Why data is the new gold
Data Protection Day is growing in significance because so much of our lives are now digitised, supporting our “on demand” lifestyles to deliver our music, photos, emails, calendars in an instant – whenever, wherever and through whatever device we want them.
For data scientists like me, working in the world of insurance and connected cars, it’s a reminder of how far we have come in using data to understand risk, automate processes and improve the customer journey.
We’ve shown it can even help save lives.
Data is the new gold but we are really just beginning to scratch the surface of the data available.
The potential for both businesses and consumers is exciting and transformational.
Consumer analytics has a big role to play in data
The ability to leverage data really lies in generating and maintaining customer confidence and trust, and analytics works closely with all areas of a business to ensure full compliance is met.
As more and more data points become available, there is a need to get data governance, quality, standardisation and inter-connectivity right to make the right decisions.
The continuation of IoT (Internet of Things) is going to drive evolution in data and analytics, as businesses will look to how they can leverage this data to enhance their products and services through the delivery of data insights.
It is expected there will be more than 50 billion data sources streaming into the internet of things by the year 2020.
We’re focused on enabling insurance providers and motor manufacturers to respond to these changing needs and leverage the growing volumes of data, through the delivery of data insights.
Role of data in self-driving cars
Data will be key to fulfilling the government’s vision for the first self-driving cars on the roads in 2021, enabled by the creation of a compulsory insurance framework that covers motorists when they are driving and when they have handed control to the vehicle.
Understanding risk and liability will be heavily reliant on data collected from the vehicle.
But we believe these changes are the tip of the iceberg.
Data and digitisation are fundamentally changing how many businesses, including insurers operate, and this is driving change in our laws and regulations.
Why LexisNexis is creating new entry-level data scientist jobs
The Digital Charter the UK government has introduced will set out a framework for how businesses, individuals and wider society should act in the digital world.
The ability to further leverage data lies in generating and maintaining customer confidence and trust.
Clearly the world is going to need more and more data scientists as everything becomes more and more digitised, and we have seen the demand for data scientists grow significantly in the past five years.
We have therefore just in the past few months launched a data scientist recruitment programme to find the cream of the crop from the newest talent emerging from our universities.
We plan to nurture that talent, providing an opportunity over two years to explore and identify the area of the business most suited to their skills.
Finally, Data Protection Day underlines our responsibilities as trusted data custodians.
The GDPR has provided a strong framework for European businesses – but there is still work to be done on defining the governance and philosophy of data use, and how we structure the data to ensure it brings value to consumers and businesses.