How to Structure a Data Science Team: Key Models and Roles to Consider
People or organizations carefully following the trends and
expert opinions in data science and predictive analysts will know that it is
best to start from machine learning.
Experts often advise that it is best to take one step at a time. Start
with the proverbial’ low hanging fruit’ and then move on to bigger and more
complex operations as you gain relevant experience along the way.
Machine-learning-as-a-service (MLaaS) platform
Current trends and indications clearly point towards the
value of machine-learning-as-a-service (MLaaS) platforms. Machine Learning is
fast turning into a commodity thus making it well within the reach and
resources of small and mid size organizations.
Leading vendors such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google provide Application
Process Interfaces (APIs) and platforms to run basic ML operations without the
elaborate need to invest in building complex infrastructure and hire
professionals with deep knowledge and expertise in data analytics. It is a
prudent move for organizations to take this lean and frugal approach in the
beginning before gaining enough expertise to build and deploy your own
analytics arsenal.
The question then arises is how to adopt and implement this
incremental approach. In the following
section we discuss about data science team structure and level of complexity
associated with them.
Data science team structures
Before you embark upon data science and predictive
analytics, it is important that you are fully aware of how the initiative is
going to be planned, introduced, implemented and further upped in terms of team
structure. There are three basic
structures that can ease the process for you.
IT-centric structure
Owing to one reason or another, hiring a data analyst may
not be the best option. Under such circumstances you can utilise the talent you
have in-house with Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) assuming the lead role. Tasks
like data preparation, creation of user interfaces, data development and model
deployment can be efficiently handled by in-house IT time with the help of
MLaaS solutions like Amazon Machine Learning.
Benefits of IT-centric structure
All the computational resources and infrastructure is
provided and maintained by a third party vendor.
Option to train in house IT team members to leverage the power
of predictive analytics is always available
Organizations can leverage new investments with existing IT
resources
On the fillip side, the primary limitation of this model is
that service providers offer very limited data cleaning procedures and machine
learning methods.
Corporate
training in data science from a premium online analytics institute can help
you leverage its full potential without the restraints of limited resources or
manpower by allowing to properly structure a data science team.
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