by Angela Guess
John Weathington recently wrote in TechRepublic, “When most people imagine a data science team, they envision a think tank centrally located in corporate headquarters that is assiduously working to propel the company’s next big strategy. Some even think of data scientists in more of a research and development function, doing deep data analysis in hopes of a breakthrough innovation. While these placements in the organizational structure are viable and appropriate, there’s another, less-obvious place where your data scientists can really make a difference — at the heart of your company’s operations in what I call operational data science. It may seem a bit odd to put your data scientists on the front line; however, in some circumstances it makes a lot of sense.”
Weathington goes on, “I recently did some work for a large financial institution to help increase their cybersecurity defenses. When we considered options for organizational structure, it made sense to put a small team of data scientists in an operational role when a possible breach was detected. As the technical team was deployed to defend the incoming attack and protect sensitive systems, the data science team was deployed for real-time informational support. Reminiscent of the brain trust that’s assembled in mission control whenever NASA launches a rocket into space, it’s worth considering a real-time, operational data support function that your data scientists would man when necessary.”
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