Burberry employees graduate from in-house Data Academy
Burberry has announced that the first batch of employees have graduated from its in-house Data Academy.
The two-year programme aims to help employees learn cutting-edge data science techniques such as machine learning, data visualisation and coding whilst still employed in their day job.
In a statement, Burberry said the programme will help the business to tackle challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly as changes in customer behaviour have led to historical data being a less reliable method of mapping present or future retail patterns.
Vineet Bhalla, head of IT transformation at Burberry, said: “The Data Academy is an innovative way of developing our teams with business-critical data skills. Running the programme has demonstrated the value that a data-driven approach brings across the IT department, teams can now apply their expertise to key areas like security, master data management and user adoption.”
Burberry is runing the progamme together with Decoded.
Kathryn Parsons, chief executive of Decoded, said: “Data skills have never been more critical to the future of retail. Machine learning and advanced analytics have the potential to make the way we do business exponentially faster, stronger and better. Burberry understands the importance of this and are getting ahead of the game. By building data skills in-house they are sending a powerful message about their commitment to future ways of working.”
Burberry will be running a second course in 2021 which will be expanded beyond IT to include a range of different departments.
