Soccer (or football) fans everywhere will turn their eyes to France over the next month to cheer on amazing women from 24 countries contending on the global stage.

These women compete at the highest level in an area that for too long was viewed as a man’s game.

In many ways the same can be said for analytics.

Women have always contributed mightily to math and statistics – from Ada Lovelace and Florence Nightingale in the 1800s, Gertrude Cox, Katherine Johnson, and Marjorie Lee Browne in the 1900s, and many more today.

More and more companies are seeing an increase in women entering analytics fields who are encouraged to bring their skills to bear on complex big data problems.

Just like the top soccer players need advanced abilities to attack, defend, work as a team and achieve goals, so too do women in analytics. These data scientists, statisticians and analytics pros use their talents to attack their organizations’ thorniest problems, whether fighting fraud, defending computer networks, bringing together disparate data and teams, or improving customer relationships, risk management and much more.

And while some SAS customers are using advanced analytics to find the next soccer star, SAS remains committed to encouraging and nurturing the best and brightest people to learn and excel in advanced analytics, including amazing and skilled women.

As I watch world-class soccer on the fields of France, I will also be applauding the remarkable women using analytics in countless boardrooms, classrooms, factory floors and workplaces around the globe.

In our data-driven world, we need all the playmakers and goal-scorers we can find. After all, in business, the beautiful game is analytics.

For more on SAS’ global efforts:

• See SAS Canada’s Women in Analytics hub
• Read Analytics: It’s a Woman’s World from SAS Insights
• Review SAS’ efforts to empower women 

Top photo (cropped) by Helgi Halldórsson // attribution by Creative Commons

Bottom photo (cropped) by James Boyes // attribution by Creative Commons