One option, she says, is to give existing analytics specialists new training in big-data skills such as the programming language Python.

WSJ: Big Data, Big Blunders

"It's an amazing challenge to try to come out and hunt these big snakes, " hunter Dennis Jordan told CNN Miami affiliate WSVN in the closing days of the 2013 Python Challenge sponsored by state officials.

CNN: February 17, 2013 -- Updated 0214 GMT (1014 HKT)