Data Science @ Shopify
Vector Institute
2021-05-06
Ian Whitestone
Data Science?
"Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract knowledge and insights from data, and apply knowledge and actionable insights from data across a broad range of application domains.” - Wikipedia
“Data science is the field of study that combines domain expertise, programming skills, and knowledge of mathematics and statistics to extract meaningful insights from data” - Data Robot
Data Science?
“Data science combines the scientific method, math and statistics, specialized programming, advanced analytics, AI, and even storytelling to uncover and explain the business insights buried in data” - IBM
“Machine learning, AI & big data” - Someone, probably
Data Science:
Data scientists create business value with data.
How to add value with data?
How to add value with data?
How to add value with data?
Roles in data
Data @ Shopify
Data Foundations
Analytics
- Conduct research to inform how products are built
- Set metrics, KPIs & targets
- Monitor product performance
- Perform deep dives to understand user behaviour
- Investigate anomalies
Inference
- Does this new website design perform better than the original version? (A/B testing)
- What was the impact of product X on retention rates? (causal inference)
Data Products
(external customer facing)
How likely is this transaction to be fraudulent?
Should we offer $10,000 in funding to business X? What is the likelihood they will be able to pay it back?
What new countries should a business expand to, based on their historical data and what similar businesses have done?
Basic analytics & business performance monitoring for merchants (no machine learning required!)
Data Products
(internal customer facing)
- Forecasting & anomaly detection
- Customer upgrade scoring
- Customer churn prediction