Analyze this: Do you need a data cruncher?

Today’s analytical tools can provide more detailed information about your customers — and how to approach them — than even industry experts would have thought possible a couple decades ago.

For that reason — and because big data is growing at a frenetic pace — the business world is seeing rising demand for data analysts who can help gather and interpret all that intelligence in order to fine tune sales strategies. Forbes recently referred to the profession as “The sexiest job of the 21st Century,” pointing to the challenges of recruiting, training and integrating as the most-skilled specialists are quickly snapped up. Additionally, the job outlook for statisticians is expected to grow 34 percent (by 10,100 jobs) between 2014 and 2024, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What can a data analyst do for your company and bottom line? For one thing, he can maximize the use of statistics to hone in on your PPC campaign, determining how it’s engaging customers, optimizing SEO and ROI and minimizing ad fraud risk. Such scientists frequently work with IT, advertising and marketing departments on improvements to visibility, graphics design, copywriting and keyword selection, staying abreast of constantly evolving developments.

If you’re considering such a hire, here are some qualifications to look for:

• Experience with algorithms, statistics and software engineering.
• Some knowledge of and/or experience in your industry.
• Ability to communicate quantitative analyses into understandable terms.
• An understanding of machine learning, i.e. the use of artificial intelligence algorithms allowing computers to learn without specific programming.
• Skill in manipulating code to instruct computers in specific analysis functions.
• Knowledge of data storage systems and how they’ll impact use of your data.
• An understanding of how to convert raw data while eliminating duplicate or bad data.
• Ability to stay on top of evolving technology, trends and theory.
• Affinity toward working independently, being self-motivated to seek reasons for data.
• Eye for spotting meaningful patterns in data and making them into “stories” for reporting.
• Objectivity and a healthy skepticism about data results; ability to play devil’s advocate.

Payscale.com places the average salary of a Pay Per Click (PPC) analyst in the U.S. at $43,059 annually (no listing was included for a Pay Per Call analyst). But across industries, the median salary of a junior-level data scientist is $91,000, according to executive recruiter Burtch Works, with those managing teams of scientists often surpassing $250,000. Last year the top specialists gained an average 8 percent salary increase, with median bonuses of more than $56,000. Most have a master’s degree and/or Ph.D., and one in three is born outside the U.S.

Be forewarned they may be expensive to recruit, since they earn an average 16 percent increase in median base salary when they shift jobs, Burtch Works reports. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents were providing in-house training to counter the lack of supply, it notes.

As for the sexy part? Open to debate.

“The best data scientists are product and process innovators and, sometimes, developers of new data-discovery tools,” contends Gil Press in Forbes. “That’s the definition of sexy.”

Learn more about data integration at http://www.dial800.com/data-integration/.