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  The following article originally appeared in the Career Advancement Management Report, Volume 38: Companies are collecting mountains of digital information that they are using to create more effective marketing campaigns, improve manufacturing and order fulfillment departments, develop products, improve quality control and assurance, and otherwise better operate their businesses and serve their customers. This information ranges from in-house data and reports, to customer tweets and blog postings, to customer activity at Web sites. Data scientists assess the information, and then explain to company executives how it can be used to make better business decisions, reach more customers, or provide better services. The Wall Street Journal reports that "top data scientists can command multiple job offers with salaries well into the six figures and sometimes even seven figures." Eric Haller is the Executive Vice President of ExperianDataLabs. Experian helps businesses manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers, and automate decision making. It also helps people to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft. In 2015, Experian was named by Forbes as one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies.” Haller discussed the fast-growing career of data scientist with the editors of the CAM Report. Q. How did the career of data scientist develop? A. The role of the data scientist emerged as a result of the vast amount of data companies are acquiring. The problem: most of this data is jumbled, indistinct information. How, then, can a company use this for its own benefit? It was obvious there needed to be someone companies could rely on to take this data, build connections and correlations, and assemble insights useful for the growth of the company.The result: the rise of data scientists. Q.What makes the career of data scientist such a hot profession? What will aspiring data scientists find fun or interesting about this career? A. Individuals in this profession are innate explorers.They are always reinventing the wheel; coming up with new approaches to old challenges; finding solutions to vexing problems. And they do so by listening to hard data. Couple this with their analytical background and one can see what makes data scientists so attractive to the business world. Data scientists are the wizards making seemingly unattainable ideas and goals a possibility for companies—companies that need risk assessments; companies that strive to better optimize their marketing towards key consumers; companies that could use improvements to their digital consumer user experience. The realm of possibilities is seemingly endless for data science. Take for example these ongoing ventures. At the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore physicians are perfecting cancer treatments using successful plans of past patients. In Kansas City researchers are maximizing the productivity of area lands by studying detailed soil data. And in Indiana the state government is analyzing population data to prioritize funding for the most effective programs, including those that reduce infant mortality rates. Across the nation examples like these abound. The common thread? Big data—or the accumulation of data too large and complex for processing by traditional database management tools. In each instance, data scientists are helping to solve some of our most vexing public, societal, and corporate problems. Every day, from every corner of the world, Experian is working to attract this talent and utilize them to help a host of companies, from financial institutions to healthcare organizations, make strategic decisions towards sustainable growth. No matter the project or task, data scientists are constantly examining problems and discovering solutions that are good for businesses, consumers, and society. Q.What are the key traits of successful data scientists? A. Perhaps the most important skill necessary to succeed as a data scientist is effective communication and advocacy for a position. Data science is a brainy, technical field. While scientists working in the field understand the complexity of the information they study, it is highly unlikely that their client does. Data scientists must therefore be able to think and communicate like business people—to bring the conversation down to a level anyone can understand. It is the only way they are able to successfully deliver and implement their findings. Q.What’s the best way to prepare for this career? A. Take a free online class – Free online courses from top universities or top subject-matter experts are available via sites such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX. Practice – You can download a public dataset from Kaggle,which hosts open data science competitions. (Competitors are given a data analysis problem to solve and there are cash prizes for winners.) Join a LinkedIn group – Join groups associated with data science on topics such as big data, analytics, machine learning, and data management. Get to know working data scientists – Use these groups and educational opportunities to look for opportunities to network with people working in data science, either in person or remotely if you aren’t in the same location. Q.What's the future employment outlook for data scientists? A. The need for data scientists will only continue to grow in the future. A report came out a couple years ago that estimated by 2020 the amount of data globally will grow ten-fold from today. That’s a tremendous amount of data. Raw data. Untapped potential.  This alone puts the importance of data science as a profession into perspective. Data scientists are the pioneers going “where no man has gone before” for the good of our future.

As the veil was lifted off the second annual #SuiteLife Awards, Experian Marketing Services, the recognized leader in data-driven marketing and cloud-based marketing technology, acknowledged several of the world’s premier brands for exceptional marketing campaigns. The second annual #SuiteLife Awards recognized brands that embody the idea of improving the customer experience through data and analytics while driving results for the business. “Consumers should always be at the forefront as brands develop and implement marketing campaigns. Each program should be able to answer the question: How can I add value to my customers and improve their experience?” said Matt Seeley, president, Global Experian Marketing Suite. “We are proud to recognize these brands as #SuiteLife Award winners and to work with them on a daily basis, because they exemplify what it means to create exceptional customer experiences.” Winners were announced during Experian Marketing Services’ 2016 Client Summit in Las Vegas, Nev. During the ceremony, the audience was asked to cast their vote for their favorite campaign. The People’s Choice Award went to American Eagle Outfitters, a leading global specialty retailer. 2016 #SuiteLife Awards winners include: Hilton Worldwide — Best Real-Time Contextual Marketing Campaign Hilton Worldwide developed a distinctive email marketing program that enabled the organization to provide highly personalized email messages to a large number of its HHonors members, while maintaining a reasonable level of effort and management of email resources. Pet Supplies Plus — Best Acquisition Campaign In an effort to increase sales and acquire new customers in underperforming locations, Pet Supplies Plus created a coupon incentive program that helped increase awareness of the brand. Throughout the customer acquisition campaign, Pet Supplies Plus was able to increase store sales by more than 10 percent, and it retained a significant number of customers post-promotional campaign. Finish Line — Best Cross-Channel Campaign Finish Line developed a thoughtful, creative cross-channel marketing campaign that engaged customers across various marketing channels, including ecommerce sites, display advertising, paid search, social channels and email, among others. Leveraging email interaction data from Experian Marketing Services, Finish Line retargeted customers and evolved its interaction through email channels and its mobile app. The campaign helped drive significant traffic, conversion, revenue and brand recognition.  The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. — Best Mobile Campaign As part of the Very Merry Gift Guide campaign, The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. developed an innovative, unique and engaging experience for its most loyal customers. Using Experian Marketing Services, the company developed a mobile strategy that offered customers the opportunity to receive daily SMS/MMS mobile message reminders about its curated and personality-drive holiday gift guides. The mobile campaign exposed a breadth of products and allowed Bon-Ton to provide an added value to customers by helping to find the perfect gift for everyone on their list, through an interactive experience. MAC Cosmetics — Best Creative Campaign MAC Cosmetics created a unique, forward-thinking Halloween email marketing campaign that included animated video. Consistent with its focus on artistry and individuality, the email campaign series featured detailed instructional make-up videos, as well as product recommendations to help customers recreate the videos’ unique looks. Neiman Marcus — Best Innovation Campaign Neiman Marcus was recognized for its in-store technology, the MemoryMirror that bridged the gap between stores and online while simplifying the customer’s shopping experience. The technology enables customers to take a 360-degree video of an outfit, allowing the customer to see the item from all angles. By enabling email and social sharing of the video, Neiman Marcus customers can share the look on social media and through email.  American Eagle Outfitters — Best “Data for Good” Campaign As a socially conscientious brand, American Eagle Outfitters has leveraged its email marketing program to support various social topics. The company’s lingerie and apparel brand, Aerie, created a campaign that shed light on self-acceptance and body-positivity. Since the marketing campaign was initiated, the brand has been recognized as a strong proponent in the social space and giving back to the community. “In order to stay ahead of the competition and adapt in today’s ever changing environment, brands need to provide customers with a meaningful journey and memorable experience,” said Jeffrey Wilks, executive vice president and general Manager, Experian Marketing Suite. “These brands are at the forefront of delivering on that ideology. Through their commitment to innovation and use of data and technology, these brands are able to intelligently interact with their customers and better serve their needs.” More than 1,000 marketers came together for Experian Marketing Services’ 2016 Client Summit, where they were able to network and attend breakout sessions to help them take their marketing campaigns to the next level. Featured speakers included: Ashley Graham, model, body activist and entrepreneur Adam Grant, author of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World and Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success Barry Schwartz, author of Why We Work and The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less Richard Sherman, All-Pro cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks Lisa Leslie, former WNBA center and Olympian Kim Lewis, vice president of omnichannel marketing for Golfsmith Jim Murphy, executive director of marketing technology and operations for Hearst Magazines Sal Tripi, AVP of digital operations and compliance for Publishers Clearing House

Serasa today launches a new service that allows Brazilian consumers to check their credit reports online for free. By visiting serasaconsumidor.com.br or by downloading the SerasaConsumidor App on Google Play or iTunes, consumers can check if they are delinquent, what led them to this status and whether it relates to bank, credit card, financial, retail, utilities, protested securities, checks without funds or lawsuits checks. Consumers will also have information about lenders, such as telephones, address, email and website as well as the value of the debt and repayment date for the delayed debt. Additionally, the consumer can renegotiate the debt directly, without intermediaries, if the company is a partner of Serasa’s free service Limpa Nome Online. People can make a free online inquiry as often as they would like. To participate in the free online program, consumers must access serasaconsumidor.com.br and fill out a registration or enter an email address and password if already registered. The service is also available on mobile Apps Android and iOS. To properly verify the user accessing the information in Serasa, after the registration, the consumer must go through an authentication process. One of the steps is to enter the mobile number and confirm the validation code received via SMS. This validation is required only on the first access. For the director of SerasaConsumidor, Fernanda Monnerat, this new service presents the opportunity for consumers to easily and safely check the existence debts in a single digital environment. "It's another tool that we provide to Brazilians so they can have access to services that make possible, above all, their financial citizenship and ability to build a more sustainable relationship with the credit. Therefore, we reaffirm once again the commitment of Serasa with the consumer,” said Monnerat. Among other free services available on the SerasaConsumidor website, consumers can opt-in to the positive data initiative, which gathers information on the consumer’s payment history, measures their payment timeliness of debts and evaluates the risk of debt distress. Through the program, it is also possible to make a document alert and stolen checks alert. Free registration in Serasa helps to reduce risk of fraud and to avoid the challenges of having personal information used by scammers. Also on the website, users will find guidelines and tests on financial education on the newly launched page www.serasaconsumidor.com.br/organizar-financas.