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Earlier, I referenced the tremendous amount

of data generated each day.

It has become a byproduct of modern life.

For companies and organizations,

all this data can provide insight into the ways they

operate and ultimately interact

with their users and consumers.

To obtain these insights,

organizations need people with the ability to access,

interpret, and share the stories within their data.

Organizations understand that data can inform

decision-making and

explain consumer trends and user behavior.

Data professionals use data insights

to optimize products or services.

There's a common phrase and

data-driven decision-making that

references the untapped potential of data.

The phrase is, "Imagine if we knew what we know."

Basically, it's a way of asking the following question.

How can we take all that data that may already exist

and translate it into meaningful and actionable insights?

To gain insights, businesses rely

on data professionals to acquire,

organize, and interpret data,

which helps inform internal projects and processes.

Businesses seek those who can access

data and understand its metrics.

As a reminder, metrics are methods

and criteria used to evaluate data,

both are necessary before creating predictive models that

can identify trends and inform best practices.

That's where you'll come in.

The combination of all these skills from statistics and

scientific methods to data analysis

and artificial intelligence,

all fall within the category of data science.

Data science is the discipline of making data useful.

To me, the idea of usefulness is

tightly coupled with influencing real-world actions.

Some individuals with these skills may work on developing

business insights and

supporting strategic decision-makers.

Others may use data skills to fuel automation,

testing, and analytic tool development.

Still others may focus on the analytic process itself by

adapting modeling approaches to

incorporate new and emerging technologies.

Data is the foundation for making future decisions.

It's through our actions and

decisions that we affect the world around us.

Businesses and organizations need people

like you who can think critically and

analytically about how to directly address

challenges and opportunities through data focused projects.

The work of data professionals

can provide businesses and organizations

with details about their practices

that can promote new approaches and innovation.

This might make a little more sense if

we take a closer look at an example,

a global delivery company, for instance.

Generally speaking, delivery companies are

responsible for transporting goods to consumers.

A company as complex as this is going to have a number

of different data inputs of streams that influence,

impact, and affect the ways the business operates.

These data inputs and streams may

include but are not limited to

weather and traffic patterns which

affect when deliveries are predicted to arrive.

Gas price trends and fuel economy,

which affect shipping costs and profit margins.

Truck loading times in

relation to the number of workers available,

which affects the time it takes for

the delivery to reach its final destination.

How users interact with

the company's app to track their packages,

which affects the customer experience

and the company's ratings.

Whether users engage with

marketing emails sent after they make specific purchases,

which impacts future and repeat sales.

My point is, each of these variables affects

the way organizations harness

data to transform decisions,

automating and adapting

machine-learning where applicable.

The ability to unlock transformative information

within data is a skill that businesses seek.

As you progress within this program,

you'll discover how data professionals

can make meaningful contributions to

almost any organization by

finding action oriented solutions within data.