In 2015, data science sophistication will increase, an explosion of new tools and services will occur, and the gap will widen between the expectations of data scientists and the fulfillment of those roles by data scientists. This is all according to Aaron Auld, CEO of EXASOL AG, a provider of an in-memory database for analytics and data warehousing.

Auld‘s predictions about Big Data are all part of our second annual Technology Predictions series in which industry experts share their predictions with us about the hot tech trends that they think will take center stage in 2015. We’ll be sharing all of their predictions with you over the next couple of weeks. Read on for more from Auld.

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Prediction No. 1: Data science sophistication will increase

2015 will be the year in which data science will become a mainstream career choice. Many universities are already offering course ware in data science in preparation for the dramatic rise of this new profession. The already-high demand for data scientists will snowball in 2015, with nearly every enterprise having data scientists doing more than just studying the customer behavior that was heralded so much in 2014. Instead, in 2015, data scientists will expand into new areas—such as data forensics—to combat rising cyber threats. We’ll also see the creation of new types of businesses based on data services.

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Prediction No. 2: We’ll see an explosion of new tools and services

Data science adoption will be driven by the business and its requirements, which will lead to an explosion of new tools and services focused on specific industries and departmental needs. In addition, the gap between expectations and reality will increase in 2015. Because many technologies are still very immature, newly-hired data scientists are often inexperienced regarding business questions. They will continue to face the challenge of bridging the gap between business departments’ operational needs and the capabilities of the technical infrastructure, which will only get more and more complex.

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Prediction No. 3: The gap will widen between expectations and the fulfillment of data scientists

Data science, as the science of “optimizing your business by exploring and mining data,” is becoming a mega trend. But there is a lot of confusion in the market. Regarding the job of data scientists, many big companies have already hired complete data science labs—without any clear strategy. The role of a data scientist will evolve in 2015 by becoming a kind of human interface between “data business incubators” and the actual business departments who need to gain competitive advantage. In 2015, we will see the need for additional human resources in that area accelerate. But we will also see the number of skilled people to fulfill these requirements stay at unsatisfactory levels. Therefore, the gap between expectations and fulfillment will open even more.

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2015 Technology Predictions graphic courtesy of SiliconANGLE