BIG DATA & THE

INTELLIGENCE
ECONOMY

CANADA’S HYPER CONNECTED LANDSCAPE

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL (ICTC)

 BIG DATA &
THE INTELLIGENCE
ECONOMY
Content
Foreword 3

Executive summary 4

Introduction to the Intelligence Economy 7

Framework 9

Canada’s Big Data Market 10

Big Data business models 13

Labour market & skills outlook 15

Big Data emerging occupations 19

Capitalizing on connectivity: ways forward 22

Conclusions 26

Team 28

Footnotes 29

Information and Communications Technology Council

2
FOREWORD
Big Data is revolutionizing how intelligence is stored and informative analysis can be drawn. The advent of the hyper
connected digital economy, powered by the Internet of Things (IOT), is creating a new economy where data is the new
commodity. Support for shorter run collaboration will be necessary for Canadian industry and academic research to respond to
a world market estimated to be $125 billion in yearly spend. The Canadian analytics market is estimated to be $1.1 billion per
year itself, without counting indirect operational benefits.

While the fruits of big data analytics are desirable, to open its inherent richness requires crossing organizational lines.
Analyzing and qualifying data that is inherently much more complex than traditional reporting means that a person must be
knowledgeable in the domain and of the techniques being used to manipulate and analyze the data. ICTC’s research asserts
that demand for big data specialists will intensify over the next five years as businesses increase capacity to implement real-
time data solutions. Slowly the separation between those that prepare the data, analysts and decision makers is being blurred.

As a result, organizations struggle to recruit and properly train data scientists and analytics professionals, currently employed
in more than 33,000 occupations across Canada. These professionals have a holistic skillset not necessarily understood in
a market where specialization in a single stream, certification or degree is valued more. This report outlines the recruiting
challenges that face organizations looking to employ big data scientists, with some suggestions as to their mitigation. Some
desirable up-skilling paths available to existing specialists already in place are also presented.

It is difficult to downplay the business opportunities that will be created by big data analytics driven by the tsunami of data
being generated by the IOT ecosystems, estimated to be a 30% growth over 5 years. From the perspective of an individual,
corporation or government, the combination of quality tools with easy-to-access data of reasonable quality will lead the way to
a better quality of life, increased operational efficiency and make evidence-based policy making a standard instead of an ideal.

This report is the result of an 8-month consultation of industry and academic experts as well as a synthesis of existing relevant
research extracts. The recommendations therein are meant to inform leaders on the opportunities and challenges in the area
of big data adoption and how they can best prepare their organization for them.

The critical questions to address for business leaders, academics and policymakers as we move forward are how we enable
organizations to take on the dramatic shift occurring within the marketplaces and how to create the leadership and inquiry skills
required to make use of the opportunity that has presented itself as a result of the data deluge.

We hope that this report will serve as a useful tool for Canadian businesses that are considering adopting big data capabilities
to increase the yield of their operations or aggressively expand into the worldwide analytics market.

Robert Warren
Chief Data Scientist
Kira Systems

3 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Harnessing the full potential of data as a modern age commodity will define new business
frontiers and accelerate economic activity in years to come.” – ICTC Advisory Committee

Big data has been described as the “new commodity” for the 21st century economy for its immense, untapped value. It is
being used to streamline connectivity, reveal insights about consumer trends and introduce new efficiencies throughout
the economy. Big data is emerging at a time of hyper connectivity, where millions of network sensors are being integrated
in the physical world allowing users to collect trillions of information bytes. This Internet of Things (IOT) ecosystem, which
describes the extension of the internet to the physical world through rooted embedded technology, will feed directly into
big data by enabling the collection of even more information. The IOT ecosystem alone could generate up to $19 trillion
in economic activity by 20201, exceeding the annual GDP output of the European Union. Amid the unstoppable torrent of
data that individuals, businesses and nations are generating, new business models are being created to transform raw data
into actionable, real-time intelligence. Making this data intelligent and applicable to specific industries and business models
could create one of the biggest economic opportunities Canada has witnessed since the dot-com boom of the 1990s.

Canadian Market

Canada is a global leader in mobile and cloud adoption, making it fertile ground for the emergence of a globally competitive
intelligence economy. IDC estimates that Canada’s big data service market is valued at $1.5 billion annually on the software
side alone. On the basis of industry research and secondary data, ICTC estimates that Canada’s big data service market,
inclusive of Canadian and foreign vendors operating in Canada, generates more than $1.1 billion annually in revenues. This
market is expected to nearly double by 2020 as investments in big data services and infrastructure increase.

Labour Market and Skills

According to ICTC’s estimates, in 2016 there are approximately 33,600 data analytics specialists directly employed across
Canada, the majority of which are an outgrowth of traditional database analysis and administration roles. A much smaller
percentage are employed in more specialized roles that intersect with engineering, systems management, business
analysis and programming. When we factor indirect and induced employment, this translates into a total labour force of
approximately 43,700. ICTC projects that by 2020, 43,300 data analytics specialists will be directly employed in Canada, an
increase of 33%. When we factor indirect and induced employment, this will result in a total labour force of 56,000.

Occupations related to big data analytics have been very difficult to recruit for because of the rare blend of mathematic,
statistical and business skills required to transform raw data into actionable business solutions. The combined growth of
cloud computing, analytics and advanced data science has become a determining factor in Canada’s talent quest, and
will be primarily responsible for the skills shortage of big data analytics and related professionals. This shortage is further
compounded by relatively few post-secondary offerings in emerging ICT sectors.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 4

Capitalizing on Connectivity: Ways Forward

On average, Canadian companies invest less in digital technologies than their counterparts in the United
States and other advanced industrialized economies. Part of the challenge is that digital technology
adoption requires more than just investment in technology, but also requires upgrades in business
processes, digital skills and technology management expertise. Therefore, the capacity to adopt and
innovate through big data analytics brings to light several interrelated challenges Canadian companies
face related to employment and skills, privacy and lack of funding to invest in emerging technologies.
To make Canada a more competitive player in the global big data market, industry, policymakers and
post-secondary institutions must come together to overcome adoption challenges and skills shortages;
they must also drive Open Data initiatives and ensure the integrity of consumer and citizen privacy in the
application of big data analytics.

Overcoming Adoption Challenges

● Given the scarce availability of data scientists in today’s market, SMEs will have to look
internally to drive big data adoption. This includes leveraging existing business domain
knowledge to understand the existing gaps and whether advanced analytics can help fill those
gaps.

● SMEs should view big data as an evolution of business analytics. This can help them identify
which existing team members may be suited for upskilling in big data technologies, such as
enterprise data operating systems, predictive analytics, coding and statistics modelling.

● SMEs should consider moving beyond data governance (ensuring that the right corporate data
is available to the right people at the right time) to information governance (ensuring the
same sort of knowledge applies to the intelligence generated from this data). Because big data
requires multiple data elements to see the “big picture,” different rules are likely to apply
regarding data security, privacy and ownership.

Overcoming Skills Challenges

● Organizations must first understand what they can do with big data before they consider its
adoption. Having a clear understanding of the business objective will allow managers to zero in
on the skills they need.

● Post-secondary institutions should consider developing data analytics programs that provide
collaborative education and training between math and computer science on the one hand
and business on the other. According to ICTC’s Advisory Committee, computer science may
be the ideal base for building qualified big data analytics specialists because it introduces
students to concepts outside of core computer programming, allowing them to apply what
they’ve learned in different domains. ICTC’s Advisory Committee described this approach as the
“heart of data science.”

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 5

Driving Open Data

● To foster Canada’s commitment to Open Government, especially as it pertains to Open Data,

policymakers should consider encouraging Open Data at all levels of government. Open Data
is a powerful means for stimulating innovative alliances and business models in the digital
economy. According to ICTC’s Advisory Committee, governments currently have too much
data without the resources to analyze it all. By making some of this data public in aggregate
form, entrepreneurs and public and private organizations can use it to derive economic and
business value and increase public consumption.

● In addition to making data sets legally open, policymakers should consider making the data
technically open as well. This includes making all Open Data materials available in electronic,
machine readable forms in accessible software formats. This ensures that the public has fewer
restrictions in accessing publicly available data.

Addressing Privacy Concerns

● The drive toward big data analytics can potentially make violations of privacy easier. To address
this, organizations must adopt a “privacy by design, security by design” approach to privacy.
In the absence of custom-built infrastructure to mine big data for fraud detection and privacy
breaches, off-the-shelf big data tools and techniques, such as Hadoop and stream processing,
can significantly increase security and privacy intelligence.

● The need for security professionals is unprecedented, but the responsibility lies beyond
the education sector. According to ICTC’s Advisory Group, “Security professionals are in
massive demand. Every security grad coming out of post-secondary gets hired quickly.
Companies only want the experience. Not only are we missing the data scientist, we also
need an equivalent number of data security personnel at companies. You simply cannot grow
one without the other. If we’re going to hire more data scientists and data analytics specialists
and publish more open data, we need an equivalent number of security professionals who can
deal with a breach.”

● In publicizing Open Data, policymakers must ensure that information is anonymized, where
necessary, and excludes sensitive information like health records.

Information and Communications Technology Council 6

 INTRODUCTION TO THE
INTELLIGENCE ECONOMY
Intelligence is the next frontier of the digital economy and is the apex of several decades of technological innovation that
has made cloud, social, mobile and automation technologies indispensable to the way we live and do business. Just
as the shift from an industrial to a digital economy revolutionized our globe, the transformation from digital to real-time
intelligence has the potential to create multiplier economies that can add trillions to global GDP.

The big data market is emerging at a time of hyper connectivity, where millions of network sensors are being embedded
in the physical world allowing users to collect unlimited amounts of data. This Internet of Things (IOT) ecosystem, which
describes the extension of the internet to the physical world through embedded technology, will feed directly into big
data by enabling the collection of even more information. The IOT ecosystem alone could generate up to $19 trillion in
economic activity by 2020, 2exceeding the annual GDP output of the European Union. Amid the unstoppable torrent of
data, new business models are being created to transform raw information into actionable, real-time intelligence. Big
data analytics refers to the tools and resources that businesses are using to make this happen.

The extent to which big data adoption is happening in Canada is subject to debate, although early signs suggest SMEs
are leveraging cloud-based tools like Amazon Web Services, SAP and Microsoft Analytics to collect, process and
visualize large sets of data. A cluster of big data analytics service providers is also emerging all over the country, some
of which are building their services on top of AWS and other cloud-based solutions.

Big data has been described as the “new commodity” for the 21st century economy for its immense, untapped value; it
is being used to streamline connectivity, reveal insights about consumer trends and introduce new efficiencies in every
industry. Against this exciting backdrop, the current study explores the growth of Canada’s intelligence economy from a
business and employment perspective, completing ICTC’s foray into SMAAC (social, mobile, apps, analytics and cloud)
technologies. To better understand the dynamics of the big data ecosystem in Canada, this study focuses on:

● The contribution of the big data ecosystem to the Canadian economy

● Labour market intelligence outlining the technical ICT employment trends in big data analytics, as well as the
skills and educational requirements of emerging big data occupations

● How big data is being used as a business model to drive competitiveness in various industries.

7 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

The emergence of the Analytics of Things – a phrase that describes the application of big data analytics to the Internet
of Things – will transform the end-user experience and, according to some estimates, create a market where 100% of
large organizations purchase external data by 2019. The Analytics of Things will grow at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 30% over the next five years3, and will likely feed into advances in deep learning, statistical modeling and
neural networks4 that will usher an even more profound transition from programmatic to proactive software. This leap
in machine intelligence requires continuous updates – an endless stream of unstructured data – that can be processed
immediately for real-time decision-making.

Although deep learning Artificial Intelligence (AI) has yet to become mainstream, organizations like Microsoft, IBM
and many others have already embedded these capabilities in various platforms, from supporting collaboration to
cloud-based cognitive APIs5. As sectors like healthcare, financial services, telecommunications and consumer goods
increasingly come under the purview of the intelligence economy, machine learning will be at the forefront of innovation.
Wherever there is machine intelligence, there are data and computation. This study therefore seeks to understand this
emerging relationship and the role of data in driving the economy.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 8

FRAMEWORK
This study draws on both quantitative and qualitative methods for researching and analyzing the big data
ecosystem in Canada. This includes:

● A review of the existing literature, including academic, industry and public policy
research

● Review of post-secondary education programs related to big data analytics

● Key informant interviews (KIIs) with more than a dozen industry and academic
representatives involved in Big Data and related technologies

● A vacancy analysis of big data occupations in Canada

● Economic analysis (labour market and GDP)

● Insights and inputs from a 13-member Advisory Group comprised of industry and
academic stakeholders

ICTC’s KIIs and Advisory Group members provided comprehensive support and feedback throughout
the study and validated the findings. Given the abundance of existing research on the market size
and composition of big data vendors in Canada and internationally, this study focused primarily on the
implications of big data for the intelligence economy, a broad term used to describe the commoditization
of information. The study explores how big data is being used by large firms as well as micro, small-
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In doing so, it dissects the labour market implications of this
rapidly expanding ICT sub-sector and explores several emerging skillsets and occupations involved in
provisioning big data analytics.

9 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

CANADA’S BIG DATA MARKET
The annual spend on big data analytics and related services is estimated to be as high as $125 billion globally.
6
While estimates about the size and growth rate of this industry vary, the big data market is forecast to grow
significantly in the next five years as IOT generates massive data flows that must be extracted, evaluated and
analyzed. Making this data intelligent and applicable to specific industries and business models could create one of
the biggest economic opportunities Canada has seen since the dot-com boom of the 1990s.

Globally, the big data analytics service market is dominated by large multinational ICT firms such as IBM, Intel, HP,
Fujitsu, Accenture 7 and Microsoft. Emerging platforms such as cloud and mobile are enabling even more data to be
captured, which has resulted in a big data boom in parts of the world that aren’t typically associated with the digital
revolution. North Africa, Latin America, Eurasia and Southeast Asia are all witnessing a proliferation of big data8.

Canada is a global leader in mobile and cloud adoption, making it fertile ground for the emergence of a globally
competitive intelligence economy. IDC estimates that Canada’s big data service market is valued at $1.5 billion
annually on the software side alone. 9However, a closer examination of the hardware, services and infrastructure
components reveals a potentially much bigger ecosystem.

In estimating Canada’s big data analytics service market, ICTC compiled a list of service providers from across the
country, taking into account their annual revenues. ICTC omitted many of the large multinational firms operating in
Canada, such as IBM and Microsoft, due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate information that applied specifically to
the Canadian market. This exercise revealed that the vast majority of Canadian big data providers are SMEs, which
is in-line with the overall trend in the ICT sector.

On the basis of industry research and secondary data, ICTC estimates that Canada’s big data service market
generates approximately $1.1 billion annually in revenues. This market is expected to nearly double by 2020 as
investments in big data services and infrastructure increase (figure 1).

Figure 1. Canada’s Big Data Services Market, 2016 – 2020 ($ millions)

$1,814
$1,446
$1,103

2016 2018 2020

Source: ICTC; Industry Canada (2015).

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 10

Ontario, which accounts for more than one-third of the ICT sector’s gross domestic product, is home to
more than half (55%) of Canadian big data service providers. Quebec and British Columbia collectively
account for one-third of the service market (figure 2).

Figure 2. Regional Breakdown of Canadian Big Data Vendors

Atlantic 3%

British Columbia
Quebec 14%
19%

Prairies 10%

Ontario 55%

Source: Industry Canada (2015).

Ontario is home to a number of industries that depend on large volumes of structured and unstructured
information, making big data analytics top of mind for CIOs. The demand for real-time intelligence
drove a unique public-private partnership between the Government of Canada, Ontario Centres of
Excellence, academic institutions and IBM, which came together in 2012 to establish a $210 million
research and development initiative aimed at bolstering regional infrastructure related to data analytics,
cloud computing and high performance computing (HPC)10. The agreement was a big boost for regional
big data start-ups, which now have access to advanced computing tools to bring their innovations to
market11.

Success stories like the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) are enabling
a new generation of entrepreneurs to embrace information to solve real-world challenges in health,
infrastructure, utilities, mining, advanced manufacturing, cyber security and financial services. A closer
look at the service industry in Canada already reveals that this entrepreneurial expansion is already
taking place (see figure 3).

11 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

Figure 3. Big Data Analytics Service Providers by Industry, 2015

Manufacturing
14% Consumer
Healthcare 13% Goods 8%

Other Tech. 25%

Other 19%

Aerospace 54%
Services 67%

Source: Industry Canada (2015).

Excluding multinational corporations, two-thirds of Canadian big data service providers operate in the service-
producing industries (figure 3). Around 14% are involved in advanced manufacturing and related industries and 19%
offer niche services that can be classified outside of traditional services and manufacturing industries.
While significant, Canada’s big data services market is a small player on the global scale. Estimates of the existing
global big data market vary from a low of $23.76 billion12 to $125 billion13. The global market outlook for 2020 varies
from a low of $76 billion14 to a high of $190 billion annually15. The global Hadoop market alone is forecast to exceed
$50 billion by 202016.

While the use of big data analytics is increasing in academic and industrial circles, mainstream adoption in sectors
such as transportation, retail, health and natural resources remains a challenge. Access to skilled talent still remains
the main impediment to wide scale adoption of big data analytics in Canada, a phenomenon that will be further
explored in the Labour Market and Skills Outlook section.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 12

 BIG DATA BUSINESS
MODELS
Leveraging big data analytics is no longer considered a novel
“Harnessing the full potential of data as
approach to decision-making, but an important strategy for
a modern age commodity will define new
organizations looking to raise their competitiveness. The
business frontiers and accelerate economic
ability to generate value from unstructured data is helping
activity in years to come.”
organizations develop better products and services, market
– ICTC Key Informant
those offerings effectively to the right audience and implement
new efficiencies that drive down costs. This is true of virtually
● Canadian industries are using big data
every industry that is using big data (refer to figure 4 for
analytics in a variety of ways (see figure 4).
examples).

● Big data analytics is empowering companies

Data is being described as the modern age solution for the
to take a pragmatic, evidence-based
digital economy for its immense, untapped value. This extends
approach to all aspects of their business,
beyond its ability to reveal insights about consumer trends and
including communications and marketing,
behaviour. Like oil in the 18th century, data in the 21st century
operations, transportation and logistics,
ensures smooth functionality of everything in our economy.
cyber security and risk management.
Without it, there would be no progress17.
The economy’s growing dependence on data has created new
business models and investment strategies allowing companies
to monetize their existing data and entrepreneurs to create new
big data solutions. The latter are building their services on top
of open source and cloud technologies, allowing for scalability ● Build to order: Products and services

at significantly reduced costs. Their “end product” isn’t the data tailored specifically to a customer’s needs (e.g.

itself, but the knowledge it can reveal about the underlying customized product market analysis by region).

business they are serving as well as the overall market.

As hyper connectivity continues to expand as a result of lower ● Service bundle: The combination of

internet costs and greater demand for smart technologies, several offerings into one to create more effective

big data analytics providers will have a large opportunity to value-added services19 (e.g. transport companies

capitalize on business-to-business (B2B) and business-to- provide delivery service with a monitoring service to

consumer (B2C) markets. Any successful big data business track shipments).

model will depend on two key factors – customization and

duration of relationship with the customer – and will require at ● Plug and play: Offering the same product

least one revenue source. Below are three delivery methods to every buyer (e.g. a utilities company selling

businesses are using to commercialize big data analytics aggregated data about their customers’ energy

products and services 18: usage).

13 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

These are only some examples of how companies are monetizing data analytics. The business models
that companies adopt will depend largely on whether their products and services are intended for mass
consumption or are custom fitted for certain businesses or industries. There’s also nothing stopping
existing companies from mixing and matching their delivery with various revenue sources, such as pay
per use, commission or a subscription model.

In order to put this business plan into action, companies need to establish the appropriate internal
capacity for data analytics. Cloud-based solutions like Amazon Web Services are providing incredible
computing power to SMEs at a fraction of the cost. Given that big data sources aren’t easily accessible,
developing industry-level partnerships is a crucial part of the business strategy. Companies and
entrepreneurs must demonstrate the value of data analytics in order to enter licensed agreements with
industries that are willing to grant access to their information. Fostering trust and respecting consumer
privacy will be critical in that respect.

Figure 4. Examples of Big Data Analytics Usage by Industry

E-Commerce
Terapeak provides e-commerce businesses powerful tools to optimize listings, source
inventory, evaluate sales and find products on leading e-commerce platforms like
Amazon, eBay and Ali Baba.

Retail
Loblaws is using big data to learn more about its customers in order to offer value added
services and promotions, such as rewards and discounts.

Telecommunications Equipment
Ericsson provide expert analytics to marketing and customer care teams to measure
customer satisfaction and boost client experience.

Utilities
Smart thermostat company Nest is providing utilities companies with select user data,
allowing them to measure grid activity in order to reduce energy wasting and boost
savings.

Telecommunications Services
Telus is using big data to tailor its offerings to customers at the right time, while
safeguarding their privacy.

Information and Communications Technology Council 14

 Oil and Gas
Shell uses big data and industrial IOT to develop a “data-driven oil field” that brings
down the cost of production, monitors equipment in real-time, manages cyber risks and
increases efficiency of transport, refinement and distribution.

Financial Services
Scotiabank uses big data for predictive analytics and counterparty credit exposure
(CCE).

Healthcare
Hospitals and healthcare practitioners are collecting as much information about patients
as they can to predict epidemics and design new treatments that can reduce waste and
improve service delivery.

Manufacturing
Manufacturers use advanced analytics to compare different production inputs on yields by
measuring temperatures, coolant pressures, quantity and carbon dioxide flow.

LABOUR MARKET &

SKILLS OUTLOOK
Amid global economic volatility, collapsing commodity prices and uneven demand in emerging markets like China,
Canada entered into a mild recession in 2015, the first of its kind in seven years. As a result, national unemployment
reached 7%, as cyclical industries such as manufacturing and construction shed jobs. Taking into account this broader
macroeconomic environment, ICTC uses a conservative baseline approach for estimating jobs growth for data analytics
specialist

Although the Canadian economy is not expected to return to full capacity until 201720, demand for highly skilled ICT
workers is forecast to rise steadily over the next five years as businesses adopt new emerging technologies, including big
data analytics. The number of ICT workers across all occupations is forecast to rise in lockstep with the data boom, as
businesses ramp up capacity to implement real-time data solutions. This transition appears to be much more important
for Canadian businesses, which are more likely to rate real-time data as “very important” compared with their global
counterparts, according to a 2012 study by IDC21.

Information and Communications Technology Council 15

For the purpose of simplicity, the broad umbrella of professionals involved in big data analytics (i.e., data scientists,
database technology engineers, quantitative analysts and data architects, among others) are referred to as big
data analytics specialists. According to ICTC’s estimates, there are approximately 33,600 data analytics specialists
directly employed in Canada in 2016, the vast majority of which are an outgrowth of traditional database analysis and
administration roles. A much smaller percentage are employed in more specialized roles that intersect engineering,
systems management, business analysis and programming. Collectively, they contribute approximately $5 billion
annually to Canada’s GDP. When we factor indirect and induced employment, this translates into a total labour force of
approximately 43,700.

2016
DIRECT EMPLOYMENT: 33,600

CONTRIBUTION TO GDP: $5 B

2020 (PROJECTED)
DIRECT EMPLOYMENT: 43,300

CONTRIBUTION GDP: $6.5 B

Figure 5. Share of Data Analytics Specialists by Sector, 2015

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Public ICT Finance Professional Healthcare Trade Information Other

Administration Services & Cultural

Source: ICTC; Statistics Canada (2015).

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 16

Data analytics specialists are employed throughout the Canadian economy (see figure 5), but will be
in highest demand in industries facing increasing pressure to innovate using their existing data. In
these industries, data analytics specialists are pioneering a new generation of technologies designed
to economically extract value from massive data sets by enabling high-velocity capture, discovery
and analysis22. Industries where this level of data voracity is in greatest demand include finance,
telecommunications, e-commerce retail and ICT.

Jobs related to big data analytics have proven very difficult to recruit for because of the rare blend of
skills and experience required to transform data into smarter business solutions. What’s more, the need
to expertly mine and analyze data from disparate sources using advanced computing software, networks
and services has transformed the nature of traditional database analysis and administration roles. Big
data’s remarkable leap forward in terms of volume, velocity and variety means that labour markets are
increasingly under pressure to find skills intersecting programming, quantitative analysis, data science
and engineering.

As a result of this transformation, ICTC estimates that 1-in-5 new data-related jobs require a big
data component. Projecting that figure onto the broader ICT market, approximately 3% of total ICT
occupations will require big data skills (figure 6). The combined growth of cloud computing, analytics and
advanced data science has become a determining factor in Canada’s talent quest, and will be primarily
responsible for the skills shortage facing big data analytics and related markets. This shortage is further
compounded by relatively few post-secondary offerings in emerging ICT sectors.

Figure 6. Jobs Requiring Big Data Analytics Skills in 2016

% of All Database Analyst & Admin Jobs % of All ICT Jobs

20% 3%

Source: ICTC; Statistics Canada (2015).

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 17

Data analytics specialists come from many different educational backgrounds, highlighting the hybrid, interdisciplinary nature of the

profession. A large number of data analytics specialists have a background in mathematics, statistics, computer science and engineering.

Canadian firms interviewed by ICTC indicated that advanced degrees in data analytics from post-secondary institutions like the

University of Waterloo and University of Toronto were key in developing core skills. However, companies noted persistent challenges with

finding ICT professionals with a broad familiarity with new technologies and platforms like cloud computing.

As businesses increasingly rely on cloud infrastructure like Amazon AWS to host their big data solutions, there may be a need to

segment data analytics professionals into two categories:

● data scientists/engineers responsible for turning observed data into business intelligence

● operations managers responsible for maintaining and troubleshooting both internal and cloud-based systems and

networks

Without a strong background in cloud computing, these workers have become exceedingly difficult to source, especially operations

managers unfamiliar with services like AWS.

The growth of the IOT and subsequently AOT (Analytics of Things) will make it even more challenging to recruit data analytics

professionals. ICTC foresees that this role will become increasingly specialized in the next five years as big data expands into domains

such as risk management, deep learning, automation and robotics, machine-to-machine analytics, marketing optimization and

e-commerce. As a result of these dynamics, ICTC projects that by 2020, 43,300 data analytics specialists will be directly employed in

Canada, an increase of 33% (figure 7).

Figure 7. Data Analytics Specialists Direct Employment Growth (2016 – 2020)

45, 000

43, 000

41, 000

39, 000

37, 000

35, 000

33, 000

31, 000

29, 000

27, 000

25, 000

2016 2020
Source: ICTC; Statistics Canada (2015).

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 18

As the intelligence economy expands into many spheres, job creation will extend far beyond the confines of the ICT labour
force. It’s only a matter of time before entrepreneurs begin to commoditize the intelligence of data and sell those solutions
to existing industries. This will drive innovation and job creation throughout the economy, creating a multiplier effect. ICTC
estimates that the 43,300 data analytics specialists employed in Canada in 2020 will stimulate an additional 13,000 jobs
elsewhere in the economy. Therefore, a total of 56,000 Canadians will be employed as a result of big data in 2020 assuming
a conservative multiplier of 1.3.

BIG DATA EMERGING

OCCUPATIONS
Data Scientist Job Profile

● The data scientist is a relatively new but rapidly growing occupation. It is one of the fastest growing job categories
in the ICT workforce, and is seen as critical for organizations looking to become more data-driven in their business process
and decision-making. Data scientists develop mathematical models and implement simulations to extract knowledge
from large volumes of data for the purpose of informing business decisions. The data scientist falls into many roles and
intersecting responsibilities that go far beyond big data collection and analysis. As IOT enables deeper connectivity in
various domains of the economy, data scientists will be increasingly relied upon in the fields of advanced computing,such as
machine learning, natural language processing/understanding and artificial intelligence.

Skills

● Technical: data analytics, mathematics (quantitative methods, statistics), computer science (e.g.
Python, Hadoop, SQL Database, unstructured data), engineering

● Non-technical: imagination, business acumen, communication, critical thinking

Education

● Data scientists are highly educated. According to some estimates, nearly 90% possess at least a Master’s
degree and nearly half are PhDs23. Common academic programs include: computer science, computer engineering
and mathematics. New specialty programs in big data analytics, such as the Professional Master’s Program in
Big Data (Simon Fraser University) and the Executive Program in Big Data and Advanced Analytics (Ryerson) can
also be combined with traditional ICT or mathematics programs.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 19

 “What can I do with this data?”
● A data scientist requires the necessary
Career Transition: Statistician/Business Analyst quantitative and technical skills, but
needs to have imagination in order to
put it all together.

Domain ICT Data “A data scientist often represents all

Expertise upskilling Scientist of the skills employers can’t find.”
– ICTC Key Informant

● The data scientist skillset has proven

very difficult to recruit for because many
Career Transition: BI and Traditional ICT Professionals organizations don’t understand the data
they have now, let alone what’s possible
when they aggregate it. The data
Math Data scientist has become a “catch-all” term
Traditional to fill the void.
ICT upskilling Scientist
Different Categories of Data Scientist

● Business-focused: lead managers and

entrepreneurs focused on monetizing
the end-product.
● Creative: excel at visualization and
Data Architect Job Profile open source technologies that enable
working with a broad range of tools.
● Developer: highly analytic and focused
● The data architect is a senior position that requires strong on developing software, statistical
business acumen, analytical skills and broad knowledge of database models and machine learning tasks.

systems, design and modeling. The role combines data analysis and ● Researcher: Scientifically trained and
highly educated, helping organizations
design with a strong understanding of big data, helping organizations develop high-yielding mathematical
translate business requirements into data-driven solutions. The data tools.

architect helps organizations integrate and make sense of data from

Making the Move
different unrelated external and internal sources. They establish
● The data scientist occupation is in high
company-wide data standards and enterprise data architecture and have demand, making it one of the most
lucrative ICT jobs.
a strong background in open source data mining and visualization. The
● Quantitative analysts, statisticians
data architect is typically considered to be the engineer that enables data
and business analysts who upgrade
scientists to do their jobs more effectively24. their ICT domain expertise (e.g.
computer science, programming) can
transition to the data scientist role.
Skills ● Business intelligence (BI) and ICT
professionals who upgrade their
quantitative skills can transition to the
● Technical: Application servers, relational and graph databases,
data scientist role.
user interfaces, data management, mining, analysis and
modelling, operating systems.

● Non-technical: enquiry, presentation skills, abstract thinking,

desire to implement best practices, creativity

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 20

 Education

● Data architects are highly educated professionals with a bachelor’s degree or higher in an ICT field, such as
computer science, computer engineering or a related field. Coursework must include data management, programming and
systems analysis, with an emphasis on big data. Although few programs exist for the data architect, professional/certification
programs in big data can prepare candidates for a career in this field. A Master’s degree in a technical or related area is
typically preferred for senior roles.

Career Progression

Experience ● Apply business skills and

● Post-secondary ICT domain knowledge to solve ana-
Education ● 5-10 years of experience lytical data challenges

● Upskilling and certification ● Develop organziational best

● Internship practices and maange team
● Develop business acumen
● Apply big data/IOT to business
and domain knowledge
Expert
Training Management

Companies are awash in unstructured data

● The data architect is in very high demand, commanding one of the highest salaries in the labour market due to
organizational need to make sense of unstructured information.

“You want a big data specialist, but cookie-cutter programs simply don’t produce them.
Education institutes must complement technical skills with a holistic background. That’s how
the real world operates.” – ICTC Key Informant

● Absent of certification programs, successful big data architects must understand how their chosen industry functions
3%
and build data systems that meet the current/future needs of the end-user.
The job will be completely different in five years
● A non-linear career path means data architects should model their career around the next big thing. Understanding
emerging technologies within and outside of the data sphere can help mold architects into leaders.

Key industries for data architects

● Financial services ● Government
● Healthcare ● Utilities
● Biotechnology ● ICT
● Telecommunications
● Additive manufacturing
● Internet/e-commerce
10 Information and Communications Technology CouncilInformation and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 21
● Retail
Overlap between data architect and data scientist

● There may be a great deal of overlap between the two roles, but the data architect is focused more on the
engineering and development side that enables the scientist to do their job more effectively.

CAPITALIZING ON
CONNECTIVITY:
WAYS FORWARD
In today’s hyper connected environment, successful decision-making is increasingly driven and informed by analytics. With
up to 50 billion devices expected to connect to the internet by 2020, the IOT revolution will play a large role in convincing
both private and public organizations to adopt capabilities that allow for careful analysis of network data. However, there is
growing evidence to suggest that organizations are not readily adopting big data analytics to sufficiently capitalize on the
opportunity.

On average, Canadian companies invest less in digital technologies than their counterparts in the United States and
other advanced industrialized economies. Part of the challenge is that digital technology adoption requires more than
just investment in technology, but also upgrades in business processes, digital skills and technology management
expertise25. Therefore, the capacity to adopt and innovate through big data analytics brings to light several interrelated
challenges Canadian companies face concerning employment and skills, privacy and lack of funds to invest in technological
infrastructure. Entrepreneurs also face challenges monetizing big data due to restrictions placed on public data. The
following section provides some recommendations for Canadian businesses as they consider adopting Big Data.

Overcoming Adoption Challenges

Is big data too big for my company? That’s the question facing many small- and medium-sized business owners. Given
how challenging it has been for larger organizations to implement a big data strategy, SMEs feel even more limited given
their current technological and organizational frameworks. As big data analytics emerges from the exclusive domain of
statisticians, IT departments and multinational companies to open source solutions available to all, SMEs have greater
incentive to adopt. Therefore, small business owners should be asking, how should my company reposition its technological
infrastructure in order to derive value from big data?

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 22

Below are three ways SMEs can overcome adoption challenges:

● Given the scarce availability of data scientists in today’s market, SMEs will have to look internally to drive
big data adoption. This includes leveraging existing business domain knowledge to understand the existing
gaps and whether advanced analytics can help fill those gaps26.

● SMEs should view big data as an evolution of business analytics27. This can help them identify which
existing team members may be suited for upskilling in big data technologies, such as enterprise data
operating systems, predictive analytics, coding and statistics modelling.

● SMEs should consider moving beyond data governance (ensuring that the right corporate data is available
to the right people at the right time) to information governance (ensuring the same sort of knowledge
applies to the intelligence generated from this data). Because big data requires multiple data elements to
see the “big picture,” different rules are likely to apply regarding data security, privacy and ownership28.

Overcoming Skills Challenges

Skills mismatches aren’t unique to big data analytics, but extend to the other SMAAC technologies that have expanded
rapidly over the past several years. According to ICTC, the growth and widespread diffusion of SMAAC technologies is
contributing to the insatiable demand for highly skilled workers, culminating in a hiring requirement of over 182,000 ICT
workers in Canada by 201929. Already in Canada there are well over 410,000 people employed as a result of SMAAC-
related technologies30, a figure that is expected to increase significantly over the next five years.

Overcoming skills challenges for data analytics specialists involves active engagement on the part of industry, education
and professionals themselves. Each have a role to play in closing the gap between high demand and low supply. Currently,
the skills gap is resulting in six-figure salaries for data science professionals that could price some companies out of the
market, thus limiting their adoption of big data.

Industry
● Organizations must first understand what they can do with big data before they consider adopting it. Having a clear
understanding of the business objective will allow managers to zero in on the skills they need.

● Building from ICTC’s 2015-2019 Outlook, industry must become a more critical partner in validating relevant skills
and increasing efficiency in skills training. One of the very best ways of doing this is by providing more internship,
co-op and placement programs that can match generally qualified youth and other job-seekers to a career in data
analytics. For example, ICTC’s Career Connect program provides a wage subsidy for employers looking to hire
Canadian youth in high-demand ICT roles.

23 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

Education
● Post-secondary institutions should consider developing data analytics programs that provide collaborative
education and training between math and computer science on the one hand and business on the other. According
to ICTC’s Advisory Committee, computer science may be the ideal base for building qualified big data analytics
specialists because it introduces students to concepts outside of core computer programming, allowing them to
apply what they’ve learned in different domains. ICTC’s Advisory Committee described this approach as the “heart
of data science.”

● Post-secondary education programs geared toward executives with a strong business background may also be
beneficial. ICTC’s Advisory Committee commented that the Executive Education stream provided by Queen’s is
a good starting point for executives seeking knowledge of statistics, mathematics and SaaS related to big data
analytics. Future programs must introduce executives to unstructured data sets because that’s most prevalent in the
real world.

Driving Open Data

The information age has created a political and cultural push toward Open Data, the idea that some data and content should
be freely available for public use for any purpose. Increasingly, Open Data is being seen as a way to increase accountability
and civic engagement, especially at the national level. This led to the establishment of the international Open Government
Partnership (OGP) in 2011, which was designed to “foster a global culture of open government that empowers and delivers
for citizens, and advances the ideals of open and participatory 21st century government31.”

The OGP has 65 signatories at the time of this publication, with Canada being among the first to join the initiative on
September 19, 201132. The Government of Canada also launched open.Canada.ca in order to advance the ideals set forth
by the OGP, including commitments on access to information, transparency, e-government, legislative openness and open
data.

The open.Canada.ca portal has issued the following mission statement:

“The Government of Canada is working with the national and international government community to create greater
transparency and accountability, increase citizenship engagement, and drive innovation and economic opportunities through
Open Data, Open Information, and Open Dialogue33.”

To foster Canada’s commitment to Open Government, especially as it pertains to Open Data, policymakers should consider
the following:

● Encourage Open Data at all levels of government. Open Data is a powerful means for stimulating innovative
alliances and business models in the digital economy. According to ICTC’s Advisory Committee, governments
currently have too much data without the resources to analyze it all. By making some of this data public in
aggregate form, entrepreneurs and public and private organizations can use it to derive economic and business
value and increase public consumption.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 24

● In addition to making data sets legally open, policymakers should consider making the data technically open as
well. This includes making all Open Data materials available in electronic, machine readable forms in accessible
software formats. This ensures that the public has fewer restrictions in accessing publicly available data34.

Addressing Privacy Concerns

“The preservation of privacy largely relies on technological limitations on the ability to extract, analyze and correlate
potentially sensitive data sets. However, advances in Big Data analytics provide tools to extract and utilize this data, making
violations of privacy easier. As a result, along with developing Big Data tools, it is necessary to create safeguards to prevent
abuse35.”

The relationship between big data and privacy is a “thorny bush,” according to a member of ICTC’s Advisory Committee.
Large companies already experience several security breaches each year that go unreported. These challenges will be
compounded by the IOT expansion, which is not only enabling the collection of more consumer data, but leading to its
monetization. With organizations collecting trillions of bytes of information from their customers, the issue of notice and
consent becomes more critical. Academics and security professionals note that the privacy notices that consumers agree to
before they access a service become irrelevant once their personal information reaches the big data stage36.

In light of these challenges, industry and policymakers should consider the following:

● Privacy by design, security by design: In the absence of custom-built infrastructure to mine big data for fraud
detection and privacy breaches, off-the-shelf big data tools and techniques, such as Hadoop and stream
processing, can significantly increase security and privacy intelligence. Big data can transform security analytics
by collecting an unprecedented amount of information from internal and external sources, performing deeper
analytics, providing a consolidated view of security information and achieving real-time analysis of streaming data37.

● The need for security professionals is unprecedented, but the responsibility lies beyond the education sector.
“Security professionals are in massive demand,” according to ICTC’s Advisory Committee. “Every security grad
coming out of post-secondary gets sucked up quickly. Companies only want the experience. Not only are we
missing the data scientist, we also need an equivalent number of data security personnel at companies. You simply
cannot grow one without the other. If we’re going to hire more data scientists and data analytics specialists and
publish more open data, we need an equivalent number of security professionals who can deal with a breach.”

● In publicizing Open Data, policymakers must ensure that information is anonymized, where necessary, and
excludes sensitive information like health records.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 25

CONCLUSIONS
While big data has been described as “Hubris” by some leading researchers38, its actual and potential economic impact is
measurable. That society can infer a great deal of information from a large body of data isn’t anything new. Rather, what
has changed in the 21st century digital economy is the computing power we can bring to bear in our understanding of the
world. At the very least, this is forcing companies to apply statistical analysis, which have been around for decades, to their
current business. There’s nothing “Hubris” about the millions of network sensors being embedded in the real world, or about
the massive uptake in open source big data platforms like Hadoop. If there is Hubris, we argue it’s the buzzword “big data”
itself, which often requires demystifying before we can have an honest discussion about what it means for businesses and
governments.

As the preceding research demonstrated, many organizations simply haven’t understood what they can do with their exist-
ing data, let alone use it to transform their business. Once organizations have made the cultural shift, the process doesn’t
necessarily get any easier. The supply of data scientists and related professionals are well below industry demand, which
means that organizations simply can’t find or can’t afford the resources they need to make big data a reality.

As the IOT landscape continues to emerge big data analytics will increasingly be seen as a business enabler, a modern age
commodity for its immense, untapped value. This is creating a tremendous opportunity for Canadian industries throughout
the economy to improve their business processes and become more competitive. It’s also creating immense opportunity for
ICT and related professionals to secure highly lucrative employment opportunities for years to come.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 26

 TEAM
Research Lead Sam Bourgi

Research Coordinator Don Del Castillo

Stakeholder Relations Gesine Freund ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This publication was prepared by an ICTC team including The contributions made by the key informant interviews was
Sam Bourgi, Don Del Castillo, and Gesine Freund. essential in developing this report. ICTC would like to thank
Communications coordination and invaluable support was the following contributors who served on ICTC’s Big Data
provided by Samantha Sjodin. The team worked under the Analytics Advisory Committee:
guidance of President Namir Anani and Senior Director Dr.
Meenakshi Gupta. ● Andre Hiotis (InfoKnowledge)
● Andrea Lodi (École Polytechnique de Montréal)
● Arthur Toxidis (Loblaw Companies Limited)
● Austin Scott (Shell Canada)
FUNDING PROVIDED BY: ● Françoys Labonté (Centre de recherche en
THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA'S SECTORAL informatique de Montréal – CRIM)
INITIATIVES PROGRAM ● Heerbod Etemandi (Infor)
● Jack Noppe (Terapeak)
● Ngoc Huynh (Invest Quebec)
● Pierre Boucher (Ericsson)
● Ram Kodali (Telus)
● Richard Hagemeyer (Algonquin College)
● Rob Warren, PhD (Kira Systems, Adjunct Professor,
Carleton University)
● Rostam Azarbehi (Azarbehi Group/Kids Solutions/
Brain Health Solutions and Rehabilitation Inc.)

This study was funded by Government of Canada. The

authors made all reasonable efforts to ensure accuracy and
fair reflection of the diverse perspectives gathered during
consultations in compiling the document. The opinions
and interpretations in this publication are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the federal
government.

Technical comments regarding this publication can be

27 Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)
directed to:
FOOTNOTES
1
Theo Priestley (October 5, 2015). “The Internet Of Things Is A Fragmented $19 Trillion Roulette Gamble.” Forbes.
2
Theo Priestley (October 5, 2015). “The Internet Of Things Is A Fragmented $19 Trillion Roulette Gamble.” Forbes.
3
IDC (December 11, 2014). IDC Press Release.
4
George Nahon. Learning from Machin Intelligence: The Next Wave of Digital Transformation. Orange Silicon Valley.
5
AlchemyAPI: An IBM Company.
6
Gil Press (December 11, 2014). “6 Predictions For The $125 Billion Big Data Analytics Market in 2015.” Forbes.
7
Jeff Kelly (3 January 2014). “Big Data Market Size and Vendor Revenues.” Wkibon.
8
Stephen DeAngelis (20 May 2014). “Big Data Analytics in Emerging Market Countries.”
9
Mark Cox (27 March 2015). “Big Data big deal in Canada?” Channel Buzz.
10
OCE (April 11, 2012). “IBM, Governments of Ontario and Canada, OCE and Seven Ontario Universities Work Together to

Build a Smarter Ontario.”

11
OCE (Dec. 11, 2014). “Agreement means big boost for big data start-ups.”
12
Louis Columbus (June 24, 2014). “Roundup Of Analytics, Big Data; Business Intelligence Forecasts And Market

Estimates, 2014.” Forbes.

13
Gil Press (December 11, 2014). “6 Predictions For The $125 Billion Big Data Analytics Market in 2015.” Forbes.
14
Louis Columbus (June 24, 2014). “Roundup Of Analytics, Big Data; Business Intelligence Forecasts And Market

Estimates, 2014.” Forbes.

15
Mind Commerce. The Big Data Market: Business Case, Market Analysis & Forecast 2015 – 2020.
16
Louis Columbus (June 24, 2014). “Roundup Of Analytics, Big Data; Business Intelligence Forecasts And Market

Estimates, 2014.” Forbes.

17
Joris Toonders. “Days is the New Oil of the Digital Economy.” Wired.com.
18
Robert Souza, Enrique Checa and Ravi Cahbaldas (March 5, 2014). “Seven Ways to Profit from Big Data as a Business.”

BCG Perspectives.
19
Jean-Manuel Izaret and John Pineda (March 12, 2013). “Better Bundling in Technology, Media, and Telecom Markets.

BCG Perspectives.
20
Bank of Canada (15 July 2015). Bank of Canada lowers overnight rate target to ½ per cent.
21
IDC (2012). IDC’s Digital Universe Study.
22
IDC (2012). IDC’s Digital Universe Study.
23
Burtch Works (November 2014). “9 Must-Have Skills You Need to Become a Data Scientist.”
24
Harold Nguyen (August 7, 2014). “Data Science vs Data Engineering.” Insight Data Engineering.
25
Industry Canada. Capacity to Innovate Using Digital Technologies.
26
Carl Johan Rising, Michael Kristensen and Steffen Tjerrild-Hansen. (Summer 2014). Is Big Data too Big for SMEs?

Stanford University.
27
European Commission (July 2013). Business opportunities: Big Data.
28
Robert L. Mitchell (Oct. 23, 2014). “8 big trends in big data analytics.” Computer World.
29
ICTC (2015). The Smart Economy Reshaping Canada’s Workforce: Labour Market Outlook 2015-2019.
30
ICTC (June 2013). Canada’s Mobile Imperative: Leveraging Mobile Technologies to Drive Growth.
31
Open Government Partnership. Open Government Declaration.
32
Open Government Partnership. Canada.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 28

33
Government of Canada. Open Government.
34
The World Bank. Open Data Defined.
35
Cloud Security Alliance (September 2013). Big Data Working Group: Big Data Analytics for Security Intelligence.
36
ICTC (2015). Monetizing IoT: Capitalizing on Connectivity.” Trend Focus (3).
37
Cloud Security Alliance (September 2013). Big Data Working Group: Big Data Analytics for Security Intelligence.
38
K.N.C. “The backlash against big data.” The Economist.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) 29

 Copyright © 2015
Information and Communications
Technology Council - ICTC
Our mailing address is:
Information and Communications
Technology Council - ICTC
116 Lisgar Street
Suite 300
Ottawa, ON K2P 0C2
Canada