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# How to Address the Big Data Talent Challenge
- URL: https://www.thedigitalspeaker.com/how-to-address-the-big-data-talent-challenge/
- Published: 2014-07-31T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-04T05:35:53.000Z
- Description: A Big Data scientist is a multi-skilled person understanding IT, business & is creative to develop Big Data solutions. This Big Data talent is hard to find.
- Author: Dr Mark van Rijmenam, CSP
- Tags: Big Data

One of the greatest [Big Data](https://www.thedigitalspeaker.com/big-data-speaker/) challenges ahead of us is the scarcity in the available talent. The right Big Data scientist is a multi-skilled person that understands the world of IT and business and has the right creativity to develop difficult, technical, solutions that really help a data-driven, information-centric organisation. However, this mix of talent at the intersection of business, information technology, data sciences and operations can be difficult to identify and develop. For most of the companies it is a true challenge to find the right Big Data talent. Therefore organisations should start paying attention to the available talent in house and retrain them to match the requirements of today's fact-changing environment.  
  
Creating the right training programs to have them learn the right methodologies and gain the right skills takes time, but when you start today, you are ready when your companies will likely need it most. Data, and especially Big Data, is here to stay and will only require more skilled personnel. So the earlier you start developing the right talent, the better you will be of in the data-driven future. On the other hand, fortunately, more and more universities around the world are developing Big Data programs to create this multi-skilled talent.  
  
In this video, developed by PWC, they address this major challenge and explain how companies could deal with it. Apart from starting to train the talent, they should also organize their talent in a different, more innovative, way to create the right results. Creating a team that consists of the different skills, added with outside experts to match the missing skills, will help organisations create a work-around the expensive and scarce Big Data scientist. Many companies. already have different talents within their organisation that could easily work together on solving Big Data challenges if the context is correct.  
  
Big Data is a challenge for almost all companies, but with the right talent and the right mindset, organisations can achieve great results.

##### *Image Credit:* [*Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock*](https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Rawpixel.com?ref=thedigitalspeaker.com)

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is Big Data talent so scarce?

The right Big Data scientist needs a rare mix of skills spanning IT, business, data science and operations, plus the creativity to build technical solutions that genuinely help a data-driven organisation. This combination is difficult to identify and develop, making it a true challenge for most companies to find suitable candidates.

[Link to this question](#faq-why-is-big-data-talent-so-scarce)

### How can companies address the Big Data skills gap?

Organisations should pay attention to talent already in house and retrain existing staff to match today's fast-changing requirements. Creating proper training programs takes time, but starting early means being ready when the need for skilled personnel grows, since data and Big Data demands will only increase in the future.

[Link to this question](#faq-how-can-companies-address-the-big-data-skills-gap)

### What role do universities play in solving the talent shortage?

More universities around the world are developing Big Data programs specifically designed to create the kind of multi-skilled talent that combines IT, business and data science expertise, helping to build a pipeline of qualified people to meet growing organisational needs.

[Link to this question](#faq-what-role-do-universities-play-in-solving-the-talent)

### What is a good way to organize a Big Data team?

Instead of relying on one expensive, scarce Big Data scientist, companies should build teams combining different existing skills within the organisation, supplemented with outside experts to cover any missing capabilities. Many companies already have varied talent internally that can collaborate effectively on Big Data challenges given the right context.

[Link to this question](#faq-what-is-a-good-way-to-organize-a-big-data-team)