Big Data: Bigger Every Day

A recent Harvard Business Review survey of Fortune 500 companies and federal agency executives revealed a major trend: 85% of those companies had big data initiatives underway or in the planning stage. They were certain that data analysis played a major role in their future, but were less clear about where the talent to run those initiatives would come from.

In fact, 70% of companies who planned to hire data professionals indicated that finding the right candidates ranged from "challenging" to "very difficult to find or hire." Arindam Dutta, general manager and director of HP's Asia Pacific and Japan BPO unit, told InformationWeek that the focus for his company is "finding the right talents, and finding them in abundance.”

Because of the explosion in the data industry, Dutta says, HP needs analysts who can quickly make sense of the data and have “meaningful insights that the company can use."

Organizations across the country – like those Fortune 500 companies and federal agencies surveyed by Harvard Business Review – will push that demand for experts even higher. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there will be 1.5 million more jobs in the big data field than candidates to fill them.

Meet the Demand

An MS-BA from the W. P. Carey School of Business can give you the tools to see the trends in the numbers and determine what the data means. Because the program has been developed by two highly ranked W. P. Carey departments on the front lines of business – Information Management and Supply Chain Management – you’ll be prepared for where big data is headed, not where it has been.

Ideal for recent undergraduates with a strong quantitative background, the MS-BA is a lock-step, ten-course curriculum that builds upon your existing skills and knowledge, building your expertise so you can make an immediate impact in an exciting, emerging field after only nine months.