Case Study: The Future Starts with Citizen Data Scientists
How IBM is developing the next generation of transformation-drivers by turning supply chain SMEs into Citizen Data Scientists
Company Fact File
Name: IBM Corporation
Sector: Information Technology and Services
HQ location: Armonk, NY
Revenues: $10 billion plus
Employees: 5,000 plus Employees
Web url: www.ibm.com
When COVID-19 hit, IBM Supply Chain found that its digital transformation journey had enabled the resiliency needed to tackle major disruptions. That awareness led to the decision to further accelerate their digital transformation projects. To keep up with the demand of exploiting emerging technology while preparing for future, IBM launched a first-of-a-kind transformational upskilling initiative designed to democratize data while empowering individual business technologist (SMEs). This transformative initiative is a prime example of the mantra Ron Castro, IBM Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, constantly challenges his organization with “innovate anywhere, use everywhere.”
The initiative, dubbed the Citizen Data Scientist (CDS) Certification program, was designed to help supply chain SMEs develop the data science skills they need to make data-driven decisions in a fluid business environment — and then roll it out to the rest of the company to engage employees in successful process improvement throughout every part of the organization.
In just the first year, the CDS program developed by IBM Supply Chain, in partnership with the IBM Data Scientist Profession Team, the company already was seeing results. The first supply chain SME cohorts to go through the program’s data science, data wrangling, and data visualization upskilling and reskilling structured learning program resulted in more than $1.6M in efficiency and productivity improvements and inventory savings from improved decision-making.
All this in just six months, and with zero financial investment. And the program has only continued to grow ever since in both the breadth of its content and its reach across the company.
What Is a Citizen Data Scientist?
As manufacturing moves into M4.0, the role of big data is only getting bigger — and more ubiquitous throughout operations. Data scientists, who usually have a master’s or PhD, are essential. However, there may not be enough of them to go around, and even if there are, their level of business expertise may not be sufficient in a specific domain.
Hence the rise of the Citizen Data Scientist. According to Gartner, a citizen data scientist is “a person who creates or generates models that leverage predictive or prescriptive analytics, but whose primary job function is outside of the field of statistics and analytics. They bridge the gap between those doing self-service analytics as business users and those doing advanced analytics as data scientists.”
IBM’s Citizen Data Scientist digital credential is designed to create more of these data-savvy employees so they can bring the power of data analytics to aspects of their daily jobs without having to rely on those who call data science their profession. At IBM, the CDS certification also is integrated into the company’s career path, so it serves as a starting point for those who might be interested in becoming a full-fledged data scientist.
Starting with an Innovation Foundation
The CDS certification program was established on a foundation of innovation that would encourage continuous transformation. One bedrock of this foundation was to reimagine and transform people’s analytical skills using IBM and open-source technology to retain and create a high-performing, engaged culture. Another was to leverage the reskilled SMEs to reimagine processes, then apply AI and Cloud technologies to implement new processes to accelerate transformation.
“We wanted to certify people who could really work on data to bring our broader population into IBM’s digital transformation,” says Matthias Graefe, IBM’s Director of Supply Chain Transformation. But it isn’t enough to just offer one-off classes in, for example, Python programming, which would likely result in the creation of isolated applications and solutions. The company also wanted to ensure that its latest crop of Citizen Data Scientists has an understanding of cybersecurity, because a talent in programming doesn’t automatically mean the person understands how to ensure the programming, they’re creating is also compliant, Graefe says. “We knew we wanted to achieve both sides of it — enabling people in a supportive way, while also creating a community and governance around what they are doing.”
