New technologies are creating new in-demand skill areas across a broad range of industries and sectors.
Data know-how
Today’s professionals are expected to have data know-how. That means asking the right questions about data, telling compelling stories from data, and using data to solve challenging business problems and drive innovation. Businesses rely on data to make informed and insightful decisions every day. Data capability is what separates leading businesses from the pack, maximising their ability to deliver value for customers.
Need an example? Let’s look at Sydney Trains – a service critical to keeping Sydney ticking. The UTS Data Science Institute conducted research with Sydney Trains on ways to optimise run-time performance by looking at massive datasets describing train operation and people movement. If the resulting machine learning models improve on-time running by just 1%, customers could save as much as $5 million in lost time.
Data + artificial intelligence = innovation
Data is the fuel for the modern artificial intelligence (AI) engine. It is data that helps the most cutting-edge machine learning algorithms learn from the past and make amazing predictions about the future.
The ability to interpret and work with data has never been more important. Don’t believe us? Your data is being used right now. Netflix is using your viewing data to recommend what you might like to watch tomorrow. Siri is using data from millions of people to understand what you are asking right now, and businesses are purchasing data to design the best possible products for their customers in the future. Everyone has become both a user and source of data.
The ‘NBN broadband service demand forecast’, a joint project with NBN Co, CSIRO Data61 and the UTS Data Science Institute, is a good example of how big data and clever artificial intelligence algorithms can deliver real value for business and consumers alike. Linking data about the roll-out of NBN and modern machine learning technologies, the project replaced traditional manual analytical approaches with a fast and highly automated system. The result? It reduced analyst workload by 62.5%, increased NBN forecast accuracy by 30% and resulted in 96% of connections being delivered on-time. Learn more about this groundbreaking work in our free taster course.
If you’re looking to increase your knowledge in data and AI, UTS Open has a suite of short courses and microcredentials. Our short courses and microcredentials are delivered by experts, powered by industry collaboration and designed for real-world application.
