What is a Data Consultant? Role Breakdown and Practical Insights

With increasing dependence on data to grow, compete, and improve operational efficiency, organizations that aim to maximize the value of their data are turning to data consultants. This article examines the role of a data consultant, highlighting key technical skills, ideal experience, salary expectations, and paths to pursuing a successful career in data analytics consulting.

What is a Data Consultant?

Data analytics consultants are third-party professionals who work with organizations to understand their goals and identify key performance indicators (KPIs), developing relevant strategies for data collection and analysis based on these objectives. Using this data, they provide insights that cultivate strategic decision-making, enabling organizations to leverage their data to improve and support their operations.

Businesses produce substantial volumes of data throughout their operational processes. This data can help optimize an organization’s performance, but with relevant information difficult to identify and interpret without experience, this valuable resource is often left under-examined and under-utilized. With the help of data analytics consulting services, an organization can decipher its data, informing more responsive decisions and specialized processes.

What Does a Data Consultant Do?

Data consultants approach an organization’s data pipeline from a comprehensive perspective, providing guidance, strategy, and implementation such as:

Data Collection

Through strategic data collection, organizations can focus efforts on applicable information and avoid the challenge of data overload. Data consultants help identify useful data sources, determining what information is relevant to a business’s specific needs to implement efficient data collection processes.

Data Cleaning and Transformation

Data cleaning, also known as data scrubbing or data cleansing, is the process of removing inaccuracies and inconsistencies in a dataset. When different datasets are combined or data is transformed into a new structure for analysis, errors frequently occur. Data cleaning standardizes formats, corrects missing cell data, identifies inaccurate values, and eliminates duplicated data. Thorough data cleaning is crucial for producing reliable analysis, allowing for effective, accurately informed decision-making.

Data Governance

Data Consultants help organizations establish data governance frameworks, ensuring all data handling adheres to regulations and company processes. These policies mitigate opportunities for misuse or damage, maintaining security and data integrity as it is collected, stored, accessed, and eventually discarded.

Database Management

Database management involves creating, updating, querying, and administrating databases to maintain data integrity, security, and accessibility. This role focuses on optimizing an organization’s database infrastructure through proficient use of Database Management Systems (DBMS), enabling streamlined data storage and retrieval processes.

Data Analysis

Effective data analysis determines what data is and is not useful, identifying the data that will drive productive action. Actionable insights are interpreted from the patterns, trends, and irregularities found in these datasets, insights that can be applied to optimizing business operations. Machine learning techniques such as predictive analytics and data mining can uncover trends in data that might not be apparent through other data analysis methods.

Data Visualization

Data visualization is key to communicating complicated information in accessible ways to non-technical audiences. Tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or custom coding with libraries like D3.js can be used to create graphical representations of processed data. These visualizations help business leaders to grasp complex information quickly and make informed decisions based on their data.

Strategy Development

Strategy development is the process of understanding a business’s direction and defining what it aims to achieve with its data to create relevant data strategies that support and inform its growth. Based on these goals, data consultants formulate long-term, comprehensive plans for effective management, analysis, and utilization of an organization’s data.

Essential Skills

A career in data consulting requires a range of both specialized technical skills and workplace soft skills. Some relevant skills can include:

HELPFUL Technical Skills:

Data analysis
Database management
Data governance
Machine learning
Statistics
Data visualization tools like Power BI or Tableau
Programming languages such as Javascript, R, Python, and SQL

HELPFUL Workplace Skills:

Client-facing communication
Project management
Critical thinking
Problem-solving
Adaptability & time management

Education and Qualifications

Though expected education and qualifications may vary across specific organizations and industries, a career in data consultancy typically requires a bachelor’s degree in a related field such as Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Information Technology, Finance, and/or Business.

While not always necessary, a master’s degree in Data Science, Business Analytics, or a similar discipline can be advantageous and may be preferred by some employers. Recruiters also look for candidates with qualifications such as prior experience with information systems and client communications.

Data Consultant Salary and Career Outlook

Data consultant earnings vary widely based on factors such as industry, years of experience, location, and organization. According to Glassdoor, an expert data consultant’s average salary is $115k. Depending on experience, required skills and even geography, data consultants in the United States are estimated to earn between $79k and $151k annually, with experienced professionals in difficult and high-demand areas potentially exceeding this range.

The career outlook for data consultants is robust, driven by the increasing importance of data in business operations across various sectors. As companies continue to recognize the value of data in gaining competitive advantages, the demand for skilled data consultants is expected to grow, providing opportunities for advancement and specialization.

How to Become a Data Consultant

After building a strong educational foundation, gaining practical experience is crucial. Internships or entry-level roles in data analysis or software engineering are common starting points for data consultants. Typically, work experience in data analytics is required before being hired as a data consultant.

Mastering relevant programming languages and visualization tools is essential. Garnering hands-on experience with machine learning algorithms is becoming more important and helpful, as is expertise in designing and implementing data governance practices. Earning data analytics certifications can further validate your skills to recruiters.

Conclusion

One of the most significant contributions of a data consultant is fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making within an organization. As the demand for professionals with data expertise continues to rise, data consulting offers promising career opportunities for those equipped with the right skills and experience.

If you are interested in this rewarding and dynamic field, consider exploring career opportunities with us at Graphable. Visit our career page to learn more about current openings and join a team dedicated to making a tangible impact for our customers through data-driven insights.

Helpful Analytics Resources

• Analytics maturity model
• What makes a compelling business intelligence dashboard?
• BI Reporting
• Crafting an Effective Business Intelligence Strategy
• The power of Business Intelligence Services
• Domo vs Tableau – What are the differences?
• Domo dashboards (and dashboarding in general) 
• Domo maps
• Domo analyzer (KPI builder and ad hoc UI)