Modern businesses have evolved. Strategies, working methods, standard procedures, regulations, strategic planning, and everything else are now dependent on data. With loads of available data, the requirement is for professionals who can segregate and utilize the data for all the mentioned and remaining aspects of the business.
Turn to Business Analysts– the professionals enriched with technical and business expertise. Business analyst employment is expected to soar by 14% from 2020 to 2030, reflecting the burgeoning demand for data-driven decision-making. In case, you are the one looking to enter the field but lack associated information, get hold of all the relevant details by reading through the article.
What is Business Analytics?
Business Analytics refers to the detailed examination of elements or structure of business. The elements of business are ‘data,’ and hence, it is the entity that is highly worked upon to meet the ultimate aim of business growth. Therefore, business analytics refers to the process of utilizing the raw material of a business, i.e., data through mining, visualization, forecasting, optimization, and simulation.
The results, patterns, trends, or any other information one gets is for the use of developing strategies or make decisions. The overall process is based on statistical, operational, and quantitative approaches. Hence, mastering business analytics requires the presence of a combination of skills such as technical knowledge, business familiarity, and effective communication, along with the presence of mind and the ability to find paths at the dead end.
Job Roles and Responsibilities of Business Analyst
A professional capable of performing business analytics is hired as a business analyst at companies. Responsible for bringing together the complexity of technical knowledge with the art of succeeding in the business, the business analyst has the following roles and responsibilities to take care of:
Analyze
It is the most obvious work that companies expects from business analysts . The professionals have to understand the goals of the business and then utilize the data for improvement and growth. It involves finding discrepancies in existing processes and systems. Their contributions to solutions and decision-making associated with patterns and insights gained from the data are the success keys.
Incorporate Technology
Being the bridge between technology and business, inclusion of technical advancements to automate the processes and monitoring are very much important. Business analysts are also concerned with understanding the shortcomings in compliance and the possibility of security breaches. Such professionals are mainly part of the IT department in businesses.
Project Development
Business analyst need to take up the initiative and, hence, initiate and manage the project. The key aim of such projects finding a solution to existing problems in the company. It requires teamwork and collaboration for successful completion.
Communicate Results
Business analysts are responsible for the effective presentation of their work. When discovering and presenting the problems and solutions based on the data, they have to ensure the delivery of clear and precise strategies, goals, and objectives. Their solutions needs to be logical, well-researched, and should have the potential to convince the stakeholders and audience.
Types of Business Analytics
There are four main types of analysis done in business: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive.
Descriptive Analytics
It is the simplest and highly preferred analytics that contributes to easy understanding of the events. It summarizes the results of ongoing processes and hence offers insights into past processes. Further utilization for effective future planning and decision-making is possible with descriptive analytics. In performing descriptive analytics, the information is gathered from different sources, analyzed, and presented with effective visualization.
Diagnostic Analytics
The another name of diagnostic analytics is ‘Root-Cause analysis’. Hence, you can expect the prime interpretation obtain from diagnostic analytics includes the reason for the occurrence of the event or situation in the past. It uses data mining, discovery, probabilities, likelihoods, outcome distributions, and correlations to understand the results. With diagnostic analytics, businesses can help analyze the reason for loss, profit, and inability to meet expectations.
Predictive Analytics
As evident by the name, these analytics are primarily concerned with the future and hence offer insights based on the likelihood and prediction. Here, the goal is to offer actionable insights for future actions. Predictive analytics provides information on possible trends, market requirements, customer behaviors, and much more. These are essential for businesses as they can offer the exact requirements in a timely manner and hence remain a step ahead.
Prescriptive Analytics
Prescriptive analytics builds on the foundation of predictive analytics to provide actionable recommendations on how to achieve desired outcomes. It answers questions about what actions to take when to take them, and why they are necessary. By leveraging simulation and optimization techniques, prescriptive analytics identifies the most effective and profitable paths forward. It relies on historical data and utilizes machine learning algorithms and statistical methods to generate these recommendations, ensuring the achievement of informed and strategic decisions.
Difference Between Data Analyst v/s Business Analyst v/s Data Scientist
Today’s rapidly evolving tech age relies heavily on data. Eventually, data has become a crucial factor for overall growth and resilience. Hence, businesses present various attractive job roles in the form of a data analyst, business analyst, data scientist, etc. However, each career role requires a different skill sets, experience, and learning.
Having multiple common entities such as educational qualifications, required skills, and other similarities, it is easy to get confused among the stated professions. Hence, experts can opt for career upskilling to gain potential abilities and stay ahead of the race. Bringing to you the clarity, here are the differences between them:
| Factor | Data Analyst | Business Analyst | Data Scientist |
| Qualifications | Collection of the data, interpretation to identify trends and patterns | Bachelor’s degree in any of these: business administration, political science, economics, finance, statistics, accounting | Bachelor’s degree in any of these: computer science, mathematics, data science, statistics, software engineering |
| Prime Focus | Study and analysis of complex and latest data | Study trends in the market and business to enhance performance and recommend solutions | Extracting insights and building models using advanced analytics |
| Key Responsibility | Mathematical, analytical, and communication skills Tools like Excel, Tableau, SQL, SAS, and Power BI | Recommend methods for process improvements based on the company’s goals. Also offers business analysis in different aspects to mitigate possible risks. | Interpret and communicate complex data findings with a focus on long-term goals. Builds automated data collection tools. |
| Required Skills | Programming language, ability to work on advanced tools, analytical, problem-solving, mathematical, and communication skills | Data Science Council of America (DASCA), Certified Analytics Professional (CAP), Dell EMC Data Science Track, Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Science Associate, and others | Technical knowledge, data mining, probability, statistics, predictive modeling, machine learning, data optimization and visualization, time series analysis and natural language processing |
| Certifications | Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA),Associate Certified Analytics Professional (aCAP), Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate and others | Certified Business Analysis Professional, Certification of Capability in Business Analysis and more | Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA), Associate Certified Analytics Professional (aCAP), Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate, and others |
| Average Salary | 7 lakhs per year | 8 lakhs per year | 13 lakhs per year |
How to Become a Business Analyst in 6 Months
The business analyst position is currently attracting many working experts from diverse sectors. Freshers and experienced pros showcase their interest in developing digital-friendly skills and generating better gains. Anyone eager to build an irrefutable business analyst career in 6 months, must consider vital factors.
Becoming a business analyst is about gaining skills and knowledge in the field. There are several aspects, as listed below:
Eligibility Criteria for Learning Business Analytics
Enrolling in business analytics requires minimal eligibility qualifications. They are:
- Presence of intermediate and graduation degrees in any discipline. However, statistics, commerce, mathematics, and economics are the preferred fields.
- At least 50 to 60% minimum marks in the qualifying examination.
- Candidates may also need to qualify entrance exams; however, they are not necessary.
Business Analytics Tools
Working on business analytics requires proficiency or at least familiarity with multiple tools. Some of the most common tools that help with business analytics are:
Statistical Analysis System (SAS)
It is an easy-to-use collection of statistical tools in the analytics industry. Such thing helps in the data simplification process and data mining. It uses ML and AI and consists of modules like SAS anti-money laundering, Internet of Things (IoT), SAS Analytics Pro, statistical tools, and more.
Splunk
It is primarily used to process machine log file data. In addition, it also offers the ability to capture, index, and correlate information with real-time data. Dashboard, graph, and report formation also uses splunk.
Domo
Integrating multiple data sources, Domo provides insights into real-time data with micro and macro-level visibility. It is helpful in decision-making and finding effective solutions. The software is of wide importance in different businesses such as healthcare, hospitality, banking, automotive, retail, and others.
RapidMiner
Business analysis professionals prefer the tool for performing predictive and advanced analytics. RapidMiner controls data sets and formats and owns an incorporation with Excel, Oracle, Sybase, and others. It does not require prior knowledge of programming and, hence, is an easy counterpart.
Skills for Business Analytics
Learning skills are indispensable in every field. Today’s cutting-edge business space demands proven skills to stay ahead of industry rivalry. Business analysts prefer career upskilling to equip themselves with indispensable skills and thrive ferociously.
Learning skills are indispensable in every field. Hence, the domain of business analysis requires the presence of the following skills:
- Programming skills: These you can mark as essential for dataset access, monitoring, and manipulation. The analysts need to code as well. Programming languages like Python and R are common recommendations. Familiarity and knowledge of databases is also important.
- Statistical knowledge: Maths, probability, and statistics are also essential for data analysis and predictions based on the obtained information.
- Data visualization: Business analyst professionals ensure maximum usage of data. Hence, the numbers need to be converted into actionable insights. Different types of accurate representations are essential to be known while making information and ideas clear to understand.
- Testing and debugging: Analyzing the efficacy of the product and understanding the existing problems, if any, is vital.
- UML diagramming: It is significant to ensure effective visualization and understanding of data flow and control. You must know the importance or function of each symbol and the method to use them.
- Interpersonal skills: The collaborative work required in the field is only possible with good interpersonal skills. Active listening, understanding the information, and the ability to precisely and concisely summarize the information are some of the essential interpersonal skills.
- Documentation: Reporting and documentation are necessary to ensure every team member remains on the same page. Further, it is also important for future endeavors. Effective documentation, including every necessary point and maintaining clarity, is crucial.
- Communication skills: When presenting the data, the ideas, opinions, and strategies need to be communicated effectively. Business Analysts should understand each audience level, requiring the ability to communicate in both technical and layperson’s language, as necessary. Further, the communicated information must resonate with the audience to ensure effective delivery.
- Domain and business expertise: Analyzing a business is impossible if you lack domain expertise. You must know the intricacies of both the business and domain to understand the reasons for happenings and to plan out effective strategies for the future.
- Overviewing: With bits of information on every aspect in front of you, the ability to get hold of the big picture will only help you connect the dots. It will help you understand the reasons for failure and the shortcomings to consider, avoid, and predict accordingly.
Path to Become a Business Analyst
The demand surge for skilled business analysts keeps increasing rapidly, enhancing business growth and productivity. Firms search for talented analysts to decode complex patterns, optimize yields, and establish an indispensable position in today’s data-driven world. Hence, the demand for mending business analyst career paths has become popular for many experts.
However, going through a strategically planned path is essential for experts to grab exciting growth offers. If you’re eager to kick-start a business analyst career, just a bachelor’s degree with good academics is enough for upskilling.
The steps that can assist you in becoming a business analyst include:
Know Your Work
Begin with getting hold of the expectations from a business analyst. Understand what you can do and what you can not, i.e., know your weak points. Compare it with what you have already learned and worked on while gaining the degree. After knowing the areas where you lag, head on to the second point.
Have a Degree
Remember that having a degree is obviously a must to step into the field. A bachelor’s degree in fields like finance, data science, computer science, information management, and statistics is good to go. Further, you can also gain a master’s degree for more knowledge and skill development. Degrees like Master of Business Administration (MBA) and other such programs can be taken.
Enhance Your Skills
To step into the business analytics profession, you must learn all the relevant skills. With this, you must know business intricacies, data analysis, business analysis methodologies, and industry expertise. You must be experienced in programming, handling tools, and technologies and must have effective analytical skills.
Take Course
If you lack certain knowledge, experience, or familiarity, it is best to take a relevant course. Ensure that the course provides you with up-to-date knowledge and the most advanced tools and technologies. You can also go on to earn business analyst certification, proving your worthiness in the field. Some of the well-known certifications to gain include Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), IIBA Certification of Capability in Business Analysis (CCBA), and others.
Gain Experience
Having industry experience helps you get familiar with the actual scenario, and hence, having it is essential. For industry experience, do consider getting internships, regardless of pay. You will know the challenges faced, the overall scenario, and the processes and tasks involved in the daily life of a business analyst.
Network
Networking is essential to know the right opportunity at the right time. It can even help you create an opportunity for yourself. Connect with professionals in your field on LinkedIn. Alternatively, meet them during events, business meetings, or other meet-ups.
Learn Continuously
The field of business analytics keeps on updating with the latest methodologies, techniques, and tools. You must stay current with all the happenings in the domain and ensure that you practice it in your work. Following the best professionals in your field, taking courses, and attending conferences is certain to help in the endeavor.
What Are the Benefits of Learning Business Analytics?
Business analytics is the key to boosting business profit and productivity. Firms at startup or MNC levels state their urge to hire skilled analysts to upscale their positions. Analysts are key pillars for businesses enriching their abilities to sustain in complex environments. Also, the working pros from diverse domains understand the dire need for skilled analysts. Hence, business analytics learning is essential for experts generating short-term and long-term wins. Being an essential component for every business, the different benefits you can obtain here are:
- Gain in-demand skills: With numerous advantages and the high importance of business analytics in companies, the requirement for efficient and skilled business professionals is high. Pursuing business analytics helps me gain the skills that are in high demand in the industry. It includes data science, visualization, and the ability to make decisions based on data and others.
- Strategic Advantage: With the in-depth market understanding gained through the knowledge, professionals get a strategic advantage in planning their future career goals. Further, business knowledge and innovative approaches add to the ability to identify opportunities for service or product development.
- Entrepreneurial Success: The above-stated knowledge is also helpful in paving new career paths, such as that of entrepreneurship. One can identify the weaknesses or existing shortcomings and work on them to enhance their earnings and offer a solution to the public.
- Worthy Contribution: Business analytics plays a major role in converting numbers, figures, and minimal information into actionable insights. It helps make logical decisions for future strategies rather than depending on intuitions or baseless predictions. Hence, by learning business analytics, the candidate can play a critical role in the company’s decision-making process.
- Earning Potential: Professionals with a good set of skills and enough experience also get to gain a good salary package. It is a high-paying field with better job prospects. The possible salary ranges are listed below.
Salary Range in Business Analytics
Business analysts are amongst the experts with lucrative salary scales. The new-age development of analytics leverages business yields endlessly. Firms from startup and MNC levels prefer hiring skilled analysts with better employability. Hence, working pros develop multidimensional skill sets to crack financially rewarding jobs.
The salaries earned by business analytics professionals in India at different levels are:
| Salary | INR (per annum) |
| Business Analyst | Five lakhs to 11 lakhs |
| Senior Business Analyst | Ten lakhs to 20 lakhs |
| Business Analyst IV | Three lakhs to 15 lakhs |
| Principle Business Analyst | 14 lakhs to 26 lakhs |
| Director of Business | 18 lakhs to 30 lakhs |
| Senior Director of Business | 25 lakhs to 37 lakhs |
Career Opportunities for Business Analysts in India 2024
With top multinational companies offering job opportunities in business analytics, some of the prominent names you can associate with are JP Morgan Chase, Microsoft, Google, Deloitte, UnitedHealth Group, Procter and Gamble, Amazon, Verizon, and many more. The jobs are available in different business sectors such as finance and banking, healthcare, e-commerce and retail, technology, consulting, and others. The companies and hence the professionals in business analytics are also being inclined towards:
- Data-driven decision making
- Predictive analytic
- Focus on data ethics
- Incorporation of AI and ML
- Emphasis on privacy concerns
Career Options for Business Analysts
As per the reports, the global data and business analytics market expects a 10.9% growth by 2027 inspiring experts to upgrade their skills. The rise of business analytics allures many experts to craft a successful career path in their domain with required skills development. It unlocks diverse career options for working pros driving compelling growth and success. Hence, upskilling and reskilling have become impactful growth metrics with optimized career returns.
Opting for business analytics, one can choose among the following job designations:
Data Analyst
As a data analyst, candidates have to deal with logistics, sales figures, and market research to ensure the effective presentation of ideas, suggestions, or strategies. It is a collaborative work requiring connectivity with the IT department, data scientists, and management.
Financial Analyst
Responsible for managing the finances, their job role requires predictive analysis in the domain of finance. Accordingly, they have to work on market trends and analyze each associated factor to ensure maximum returns from the investments. They are tasked with finding the most effective investment options and combinations through profit/loss analysis.
Big Data Analyst
They are required to exhibit problem-solving by working on presented data with unexplained relations among data. Big data analysts are required to possess quantitative and data interpretation skills, programming skills, auditing skills, and data mining skills.
HR Analyst
As an HR analyst, you must apply the skills of statistical analysis, trend analysis, relationship management, performance optimization, and identification. Their work is to enhance the hiring process while positively influencing the environment and culture of existing employees.
Technical Team Lead
Leading the team, they are expected to represent responsibility along with multi domain knowledge and expertise. Their focus is on delivering consistently high quality.
Trends in Business Analytics
Business analytics is a rapidly advancing field with technological advancements. The urgency for data-driven work practices with real-time handling of tasks calls for business analytics. Experts from diverse fields prefer developing analytics skills and abilities to deliver scalable solutions and face data dominance here and there. Furthermore, the rise of cutting-edge tech creations creates an emergency for data governance and stewardship. The demand surge for ethical work practices brings business analytics into the limelight with enriched solutions.
Henceforth, working pros willing to modernize their careers must update their skills as per the latest trends and developments to grab exciting opportunities.
Some of the future trends evident in business analytics are:
- Generative AI: The incorporation of generative AI in business analysis is trending. Companies like Qlik, ThoughtSpot, and Salesforce have already added generative AI to their software. It has led to enhanced AI-ML and NLP capabilities, contributing to data preparation, processing, and predictive analytics.
- Embedding BI: Another one is merging BI components with the user’s standard workflow and applications. It helps keep team members and other participants updated in real-time, enhances productivity and understanding, and eases the collaboration of multiple individuals.
- Decision Intelligence: Softwares offering decision intelligence are also effective tools for businesses. Based on the machine learning algorithms, they take predictive analytics to the next level with higher accuracy.
- Data Quality Management: One of the trends in data quality management is data fabric, which facilitates the use of AI and automation for end-to-end data integration. It enhances the process of data governance and performance auditing and reduces the need for manual integration.
- Self-Service BI: The newly available trend of self-service business intelligence eliminates dependence on multiple individuals to carry out business processes smoothly. With the tool, each individual is independent in handling the data, analyzing it, and using it for important tasks. The self-service business intelligence tools offer effective data visualization and easy navigation into data and analysis.
- Data Sharing: The inevitable need for data has led to data sharing as a trend. For this reason, enabling calculations on encrypted data and sharing through data marketers helps businesses to flourish and work effectively.
- Data Security: The trends in business analytics are also available in problems related to data security and governance. Working to enhance the security, integrity, and quality of data, regulatory compliances are expected to become more broad with new laws. The higher expectations in this trend are from new inclusion in the ‘AI bill of rights.’
- Cloud Computing: It offers in-depth insights along with flexible infrastructure and immediate access to required resources. With subscription-based models and easy or lack of transportation, these are cost-efficient for businesses. They also provide data integration through unified data platforms.
Courses in Business Analytics
Undoubtedly, career upskilling is crucial in today’s digitally governed world. The rise of analytics and its integration with businesses brings notable tech advances into the spotlight. Working professionals from top-tier domains prefer reshaping their careers with potential skill sets thriving globally. Furthermore, due to changing business needs and dynamics, experts choose constant learning and attain a competitive edge. However, choosing a typical learning course can limit your growth and success prospects.
There are a variety of courses to be pursued in business analytics. Here they are enlisted as follows:
| Suitable For | Course | Fees |
| Freshers | BBA in Business Analytics | 1 lakh to 2 lakhs |
| Graduates | MBA in Business Analytics | Three lakhs to 24 lakhs |
| Working Professionals | Executive PGDM in Business Analytics | Three lakhs to 23 lakhs |
| Certification Courses | Business Analytics Course Training by Learnbay | 95,000 + 18% GST |
Conclusion
Business analytics is a rapidly evolving field that is in high demand. Pursuing a career here offers promising opportunities in top MNCs. Concerned with contributing to business growth, professionals in business analytics must develop the skills necessary to deliver quality results. There are a variety of options to strengthen one’s knowledge, technical expertise, and skills. Feeling confused or don’t know where to start? Feel free to connect with Learnbay for assistance.
FAQs
Q1. What is the difference between Business Analyst and Business Analytics?
A business analyst is a professional who offers solutions to business problems, while business analytics is the concept. It is the practice of using data analysis, statistical models, and various technologies for predictive modeling and decision-making.
Q2. What are the components of a business analytics dashboard?
The components of a business analytics dashboard are data aggregation, data mining, text mining, sequence identification, forecasting, predictive analytics, and data visualization.
Q3. What are the 4 V’s of business analytics?
The four V’s of business analytics are volume, velocity, variety, and veracity.
Q4. What are the challenges in business analytics?
The challenges in business analytics are data quality and accuracy issues, problems in ensuring data privacy and security, interpreting complex data insights, and building a data-driven culture within the organization.