The job of data scientist has transformed in recent years as companies have seen success on the international level. What these professionals have to do to be effective however is far from glamorous or flashy. According to InformationWeek, the bulk of a data scientist's role is the mundane but powerful task of cleansing information.
The source noted that Scott Nicholson, responsible for keeping track of information at Accretive Health, told a group of colleagues at an industry gathering that 70 percent of working with a company's digital resources comes down to matters of
data quality. He said that it is "messy but necessary" to give this type of attention to maintenance and cleansing.
Nicholson said, according the news provider, that data scientists should stay in close contact with corporate executives. He noted that this communication means that the problems the workers solve will be the ones that actually matter to the company.
Nucleus Research, predicting a bumper year for business intelligence usage in 2013, noted that company executives can now look to examples in the mainstream media when they want to see the benefits of data usage. Baseball general manager Billy Beane and political forecaster Nate Silver have seen their stars rise in recent years on the back of effective analytics.