Data science is a data-driven approach to problem solving and scientific exploration that involves the process of collecting, managing, re-engineering, analyzing, explaining, and visualizing data and analysis results. A data-driven system of government acquires, processes, and leverages data in a timely trend to create efficiencies, restate on and develop new products, and navigate the competitive landscape.

As organizations have become increasingly adept with reporting and analysis, there has been increased demand for strategic decision-making using data. We have been calling this new area “decision sciences.” These teams delve into existing data sources and meld them with external data sources to understand the competitive landscape, prioritize strategy and tactics, and provide clarity about hypotheses that may arise during strategic planning. A decision sciences team might take on a problem, like which country to expand into next, or it might investigate whether a particular market is saturated. This analysis might, for example, require mixing census data with internal data and then building predictive models that can be tested against existing data or data that needs to be acquired. collaboration between data services and decision sciences is essential these days.