Business Analytics Career : Everything You Need to Know

As data generation has become a common trend among humans over the last decade, the companies have started consuming this data to make complex business decisions. They rely on this information/insights to understand their consumer personas and accordingly plan their marketing, product release and much more.

But this raw data needs to get processed to make it useful. In simpler terms, a data analyst is required to first select through the collected information, determine its relevance and filter it to make it simpler to understand and get results. 

When this data reaches a business environment, a business analyst uses this gathered information to apply it directly for making strategic business decisions and solving existing business problems.

Let’s read on more to know how a business analyst does this and explore how you can set yourself up for this course.

Skills for a Business Analyst

Business analysts are professionals who are responsible for analyzing organizational operations, its systems and processes, assessing its business model, identifying improvement areas, and accordingly providing suitable solutions. Skills for a business analyst are a combination of hard skills and soft skills which mean these are related to one’s technical skills and knowledge as well as his emotional intelligence. Business analyst skills can be acquired not only through some sort of training, but more through experience that developed into ability to analyze and understand situations. A business analyst needs to perform multiple tasks; so they must have a strong combination of technical and non-technical skills. 

Here are some of the crucial technical and personal skills for a business analyst that are required in order to perform efficiently and successfully in this field.

1. Programming Language Skills:

In today’s technology-driven world, a business analyst must have thorough knowledge of handling various tools and technologies to access and analyze the information. It is one of the mandatory skills needed for business analysts. They should have hands-on programming language experience to analyze massive data and visualize business models. 

2. Review and Statistical Analysis of Data:

A business analyst must research and explore to gather all statistical data and analyze them to find out business solutions. The statistical analysis of data gives insights into many important factors, can identify gaps and help in risk assessment. One needs to have relevant IT and technological skills to be able to gather, review and analyze accurate information. 

3. Financial Planning:

The analyzed data has to be used to find out the cost implications of the solution. Business analysts must be able to guide how to achieve the business objectives and goals by proper financial planning.

4. Analytical and Critical Thinking:

A business analyst should be clear about the organization's goals and problems, and work towards finding the potential solutions. He must apply critical thinking and analytical approach to explore multiple options and prioritize business requirements even in the non-ideal situations.

5. Communication: 

A business analyst uses communication & interpersonal skills at different phases to convey ideas, facts, and opinions to stakeholders. It also boosts confidence while facilitating meetings.

6. Negotiation and Decision Making:

Negotiation skills play a significant role in making technical decisions. Business analysts need to persuade people to view things differently, convince them to consider other alternatives, and ultimately get everyone to agree on how to implement the solution.

Business Analyst Career Path

All organizations need a business analyst who can collect, analyze, and apply data to guide them on best practices. This makes the business Analyst career path lucrative and exciting. However, to ensure a successful career path as a business analyst, you need to accomplish either a strong knowledge of information technology or a good business background. The business Analyst career path generally goes through the following steps: 

· Earn a degree in accounting, finance, IT, etc.

· Get an entry-level job as a junior business analyst position. 

· Become a subject matter expert (SME) by gathering a few years of experience

· Accumulate skills by handling practical situations  

· Enhance skill-set by pursuing training and certifications in related courses

The Masters of Science (M.S) in Business Analytics program has opened up new career opportunities in a wide range of sectors, such as consulting, consumer products, retail and financial services. The Master’s in Data Science and Business Analytics program is designed to give hands-on experience to students in multiple areas by integrating the fields of analytics techniques, data management, information technology, and statistical analysis. This program enables students to become effective users of business information. The program is technically focused on the application of quantitative and qualitative technology tools to optimize business decisions. The (M.S) in Business Analytics program helps students to develop analytical and decision-making skills for informed decision-making relevant to specific industries.

Significant Roles of Data Analyst

There are multiple certification programs and courses available from a variety of educational institutions which help in skill-building for aspiring professionals in a more flexible time frame. All kinds of organizations today are hiring data analysts to effectively utilize the growing range of data they generate and collect, resulting in actionable outcomes to make or improve decisions. Firms in the fields of commerce, health care, manufacturing, and marketing use data analytics to improve processes and profit levels. 

Below is a list of some of the significant roles that data analysts have to perform in various organizations. 

• Corporate strategy analysts will focus on analyzing company-wide data and advising management on strategic direction. 
• Business product analyst deals with the analysis of the attributes of a product and consequently advising on the optimal pricing pattern based on market feedback.
• Social media data analyst utilizes data to build, monitor, and provide advanced technology solutions for social media platforms 
• Machine learning analyst is of high demand in industries that use machine learning experience on a variety of operations like data preparation, data feeds, and data analysis to make cognitive decisions.

What do  Business Intelligence Analysts do?

The role of Business Intelligence Analysts in organizations is to collate and transform data into useful insights. With the help of analytics, visualization, and modeling techniques they can identify trends that can help to make business decisions leading to process improvement in the organization. 

The Business Intelligence Analysts provide significant contributions in organizations that are ready to capitalize on the massive data. Business intelligence analysts always work on new ways of data collection and data analysis. The business intelligence analyst analyzes the data of the company itself as well as from competitors, in order to discover ways to improve the company’s performance. Business intelligence analysts review a company’s operations, processes, and policies, and suggest measures that can increase efficiency and profit margins. 

 Are You Geared up to Become a Business Analyst?

Data analytics career offers a wide variety of opportunities across industries because the demand is high, but the supply of expert people is limited. Those looking to enroll in a Data analytics career are required to gain expertise in the data analytics tools and techniques.  

In today’s competitive environment, the business analyst is a valuable resource in organizations in guiding management to make tactical and strategic decisions. So a career in Data Analytics is excellent, and there are several opportunities available worldwide. If you want to be a business analyst, the upGrad Campus Business Analyst Course is the perfect platform for you. Taking this certification will help you land your dream job - Business Analyst. Click here to know more about the program.