In this episode, Wayne Eckerson and Rich Fox discuss what differentiates data science from analytics, why and how data science addresses business needs, why balanced scorecards are relevant, and why Excel is a problem. Throughout the podcast, Fox shares many real-life examples and personal experiences.

Fox is vice president of Data Science and Analytics at Apex Parks Group, one of the largest entertainment center companies in the United States, which operates amusement parks, water parks, and family entertainment centers. He is responsible for the organization's data science practice as well as its overall data analytics strategy. He has twenty years of experience in analytics and is an experienced thought leader. He combines an analytical and data-driven strategy with a deep understanding of business and finance to drive business performance in a breadth of industries, including e-commerce, restaurants, hotels, and retail among others.

Key Takeaways

• Business users want to know three things from information: how they’re performing, why, and how they can improve
• To be agile you need analytics at every point of decision
• ‘Why’ is most important because you want to understand the operational root cause that is driving business performance
• The principle of the 5 Whys assists in getting to the root cause
• Companies do need certain reports, but they really need data science to be proactive rather than reactive
• The balanced scorecard methodology can help deliver analytic results and solutions

Below is one question and answer from the podcast

Wayne Eckerson: Why is it so hard for companies to deliver data science and not reports? What is the secret sauce to make data science work? You hear a lot of things about how there are not so many data scientists out there, and it’s kind of hard to establish a program and know what applications to apply. But in your experience working with many companies, what’s the key?

Rich Fox: That’s a great question. It is a challenge. Fifteen or 20 years ago a lot of people didn’t know what business intelligence or analytics was, but today, it’s everywhere in the news. It’s a very hot trend. Data science and analytics is probably the hottest most in-demand job in the country. Even though a lot of executives and business people say that they want it, many don’t understand what it is. And it used to be getting those old reports, and changes can be difficult for people.

The other thing I see in a lot of companies is that Excel is so ingrained in companies and so ingrained in how people work, and unfortunately many reports companies use are in Excel. And Excel files are being emailed all over the company. Last November in the Wall Street Journal, there was an article that said certain finance chiefs were telling their staff that they wanted them to stop using Excel because it had not kept up with the large amounts of data that companies have today, and users can't apply data science and data diagnostic techniques with it.