Building Relationships with Your Data: We Tell You How Date:   Monday , January 02, 2017 These days, companies of all sizes are hiring consultants to help solve complex business challenges - be it RoI related, brand recognition, product launches or basic education of services and products offered. These challenges are being further entrenched with large amounts of data being manipulated in order to draw tangible results. Whether it is a MNC or a SME, everyone is searching for answers that are deeply rooted in facts, industry figures and hard data. It goes without saying that analytics has become a crucial portion of the consulting industry and is on the verge of becoming one of the desirable skills a consultant can have these days. Huge budgets are drawn out by large consulting firms with talent being hired possessing a wide range of data science and analytics skills. Today, companies look to consultants to provide them with data science skill sets that can tackle a range of consulting projects. Hence the data scientist is fast becoming the jack-of-all-trades in the consulting world. New Analytics Architecture As data generation volume rises along with the variety of data, a rising number of tools are capable of dealing with the \'Big Data\' issue of analysis of capturing of large amounts of data in order to create value for clients. Larger firms are facing the issue of integrating such new tools into an already complex information system. Having to rely on traditional databases is being found to inferior to keeping up with new forms of data such as Twitter feeds or even call centre records. These days, for example, tools such as the Hadoop Distributed File System are fast becoming the norm in companies\' information platforms. Additionally, new Analytics tools are being created for the purpose of drawing analytical insights and also possess the capability for extraction and sourcing of data from new data storage environments. A few tools focus on those capabilities that can perform advanced analytical processes, like R and Python. Such platforms are enabling analysts to analyze data in a more interactive manner, which allows the user better understanding of the findings. Analysts are able to quickly change the data they look for as well as the manner in which they look at it. Simple point and click steps on visualizations allow the user to use and access the necessary data minus any knowledge of coding. Various charts and views of the same data source help illustrate ideas behind the data. This allows the user to see the fluid relationship amongst changing variables. Data scientists are able to use analytics techniques in order to display data in the required format by tools such as Tableau. These tools now help render the output into a cleaner visualized format that can be easily consumed by the user. We now have an inter-woven information environment in which the final deliverable is prominently affected by the data science work stream. The Evolving Role of Consultants In many modern day cases, firms are investing in the above tools in order to stay up to speeds with the rate of data growth as well as investing in the future of data analysis. Such tools are new to the market and SMEs are required to not just develop relevant applications using the tools, but also build strategic plans based on deploying the tools across their relevant information landscape. Consultants are being hired for both forms of information architecture assignments knowledge of Big Data architecture and development capabilities. Consultant data scientists are in demand for their knowledge of written code for such tools as well as their understanding of system process flow and the relevant case studies and deployment strategies. Data scientists aka coders end up being the individuals that are best suited to develop timelines for strategic proposals and plans on the best manner in which a firm can use analytics tools in order to extract the best ROI and value from them. Basic Steps to Increase Chances for Success At the end of the day, companies need to realize their customers are human and need to be treated specially. Rationally speaking, the biggest failure is when companies do not connect with their customer/s therefore missing out on the emotional factor. 5 basic steps to increase your chance for success could include: 1.Knowing the operations inside out and streamlining your processes 2.Knowing past operations as well as current customers and customer behavior 3.Knowing the market and your competition; you should also possess knowledge of your current customers in the market 4.Explore all available options and giving your gut feeling a go 5.Enter the market with the right execution Conclusion Business in the end is all about taking risks. Taking the calculated risk is what will separate majority market share owners from the others. Consultants these days are existent in a fast changing business in which new projects and tools are coming to the surface. Data Science is no longer a role for the company coder and analyst. These trends are fast seeing consultants becoming high in demand as they are being equipped with a rising number of tools and techniques.