What makes a good analyst?

One of the features of the web analytics market at the moment is not some much the advances in the technologies but the desperate lack of talent on both sides of the Atlantic to drive value from the implementation of these technologies. Where are all the analysts needed by organisations to interpret the data and advise on potential courses of action?

A recent Forrester report highlighted what many of us already know and that wsas that the implementation of analytical technologies are likely to fail if you don’t also invest in the resources to maintain and leverage the new capabilities. It’s not just about hardware and software; it’s also about “peopleware”. People are the third and vital ingredient in the mix.

The trouble is that online marketing analysis is a relatively young industry and there are not enough people out there yet with the relevant experience to go round. So, organisations are faced with the choice of either offering high packages to lure people way from other organisations or they have to find candidates with potential and then train and develop them in-house (always carrying the risk that they will then be poached by somebody else). So with the rush on to find good people, what makes a good analyst?

I wrote my first job description for a “web analyst” about 6 years ago. In many ways it wasn’t that different to the job descriptions I wrote for marketing analysts 8 to10 years before that. It was just that some of the tools were different. Here are some of the attributes that I think make a good potential analyst and what I would look for in a selection process.

Presence

First and foremost a good analyst needs to be able to put his or her case across and get action as a result. They need to be taken seriously by the rest of the organisation. This requires good communication skills and the ability to influence discussions and outcomes. Someone might be technically very good but it’s wasted if they can’t get their message across.

When recruiting analysts in the past a major part of the selection process would be getting the candidate to deliver a data based presentation to a group of prospective colleagues and internal customers. If they couldn’t get their point across clearly and concisely, they often didn’t make it through to the next stage.

Commercial awareness
In my mind a good analyst has to as commercial aware as the people they are dealing with in business. He or she has to understand the business implications of their analysis and recommendations. They have to be close to the business and also have a firm grasp of the context in which the business operates. There’s a difference between “insight” and “actionable insight”.

Data dexterity
Obviously an analyst has to be numerate and feel comfortable with numbers. I also think that a good analysts needs to have “data dexterity”. By this I mean that the analyst has to feel comfortable working with large volumes of data from disparate data sources and to be able to spot relevant patterns and trends. I think this is different to being numerate. Producing an analysis is also different to producing a report.

The other key skill is the ability to spot when the data is blatantly wrong and “just doesn’t look right”. To many times I have seen analysts come a cropper in the past when they make recommendations based on what was obviously dirty data.

Attention to detail
I think a good analyst needs to be able to both think strategically and also a low levels of detail. As the saying goes “the devil is in the detail” and often there are problems or issues that needs to be addressed that require close attention to the detail. Above all I think the analysts does need to be suspicious and questions things that don’t look right. A simple mistake can prove very costly down the line.

Having said all this, a good analyst does need to be technically competent but that, in a way, is a hygiene factor. The list above, for me, are the things that enable you to separate the winners from the “also rans”. It looks like an optimistic set of requirements but someone with the right temperament and attitude can be trained in some of these areas. What you need to look for is the fertile ground.

So the next generation of web analysts may be not necessarily be where you might expect them to be. They may be in related or even quite separate functions or industries. But if they have the right qualities and attributes then they may prove to be worth tracking down.

Happy hunting!

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