Businesses today rely more on data than ever before, and as the amount of data produced online in 2022 alone is expected to be over 94 Zettabytes it is becoming increasingly difficult for firms to process the data to generate useful information. 

Business analysts use complex algorithms to process this raw data and generate information that is relevant to the business. Hence, business analytics is one of the most popular fields of study today. If you are considering taking it up as your career, here are six applications of business analytics in the real world to help you make an informed decision.

What is Business Analytics?

Business analytics is the science of converting various kinds of raw data into valuable insights for a business. The data can either be purchased from a vendor or collected by the business directly and used for generating essential insights into the customer data.

Most data is present in complex forms and does not contain any patterns that humans can easily recognise and work on. Business analysts use data mining and machine learning algorithms to find patterns in the data and develop reports that are easy to comprehend by humans.

If this definition doesn’t quite make things clear for you yet, perhaps looking at the following applications of the field will help.

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Applications of Business Analytics with Examples

Finance

The finance industry has a long history with business analytics. Everything from the stock market to the risk analysis of large companies uses business analytics. A great example is the investment bank, Barclays. Per reports, utilize business analytics to:

  • Work through complex issues to find a pragmatic route that helps the firm reach its goals.
  • Interpreting, scoping, and analyzing data at each step of a business approach before practical execution.
  • Classify various cases from legal to compliance.
  • Support the designing and management phase of plans and resources that deliver various portfolio goals.
  • Identifying and mitigating assumptions, dependencies, and risks.

As with Barclays, most other financial firms also use business analytics in various ways that help support their business growth. This makes business analysis a high-in-demand role in financial firms across the globe.

Marketing

A successful marketing strategy simply cannot work without proper market research conducted before it. Today’s market data isn’t as simple as it used to be since most consumers and businesses have had to make the switch to digital.

E-commerce firms such as Amazon have always had to rely on digital data for their market research and are therefore heavily invested in business analytics for their marketing department. Here’s how Amazon uses business analytics for marketing:

  • Analyzing the purchase patterns of customers, their wish lists, searches, and even social media interactions to generate a customer profile.
  • Using the customer profile to make highly optimized recommendations that are designed to trigger impulsive purchases.
  • Presenting users with related items to their cart before checkout to encourage more purchases in each order.
  • Targeted marketing on various websites and social media platforms.

Other marketing firms also use similar methods to help them expand profits and grow their business. Therefore, business analytics plays an important role in the marketing sector from start to finish of their strategy.

HR

While HR is meant to be the most human of all business divisions, it can also benefit from marketing. For instance, Google has been using business analytics to completely revolutionize the HR industry. Here’s what they are doing:

  • Project Oxygen analyzes internal team data and determines the characteristics of great managers, the best ways to boost retention and productivity, and optimize leadership.
  • Google’s PiLab also works on effective approaches for boosting employee satisfaction. Moreover, they work on analyzing various aspects of the office environment including employee health and caloric intake.
  • Google also utilizes predictive modeling and analytics to help optimize its people management problems and opportunities. This allows them to effective workforce planning in a rapidly evolving business environment.

Google is certainly leading the way in business analytics-powered HR systems. So far, this has helped them improve workplace satisfaction and boost employee retention as well. If you specialize in business analytics and HR, this field will have immense opportunities for you in the future.

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CRM

Customer relationship management is another field of concern for modern businesses. To facilitate this, firms such as Apple utilize advanced CRM analytics to benefit their growth strategy. Here’s what Apple does right:

  • Using analytics to know their customers.
  • Anticipating various customer needs via predictive modeling.
  • Optimize the customer experience in their stores.
  • Fine-tune their branding to match their target audience.

Apple’s use of CRM analytics has influenced firms across the world to hire analysts for optimizing their CRM strategy as well.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is another surprising benefactor of business analytics. Here’s how Tata Steel utilizes business analytics to help its business grow:

  • Tracking the manufacturing process and optimizing steps.
  • Optimize logistics.
  • Mitigating risks and eliminating delays.

Seeing the success they have had with business analytics, Tata Steel has also started hiring more business analytics professionals for their manufacturing process.

Credit

Credit firms have long depended on business analytics to help them make better decisions on giving out loans. For instance, let’s go over how HDFC Bank uses credit analysis in their everyday business:

  • Analyzing customer credit history.
  • Using predictive modeling to judge default probability.
  • Analyze purchase habits to detect fraudulent transactions.

This is not just for HDFC Bank, but rather all credit firms have similar usage of business analytics.

Why are Business Analysts Important for Companies?

If the above applications don’t make it obvious, here are three reasons business analysts are important for companies:

  1. Better Digital Transformation

With changing business environments, firms that fail to go digital will fall behind their competitors and find a place in oblivion. A business analyst can help businesses work on digital transformation by analyzing large amounts of market data and generating useful insights. This makes them valuable assets for the firm.

  1. Optimized Development Processes

With every new business process, the harmony of the staff is essential for the organization. Business analysts serve as the POC for the staff during the development of business processes.

  1. Change Management

Once a business project has been implemented, getting the firm to adapt to the changes is hard for most firms. Business analysts can help optimize change management by preparing the staff for various changes with optimized HR and other policies.

How to Become a Business Analyst?

Becoming a business analyst means much more than simply gaining a degree. As the majority of the work done by a business analyst depends on skills and experience, business analysts need to have a skill-centric education.

Here are five globally tested steps to begin your career as a business analyst:

  1. Sharpen Your Skills

Business analysts need to have several essential skills; however, the most important ones are:

  • Business Acumen
  • Communication
  • Data Analysis
  • Business Analysis Methodologies
  • Industry Expertise
  1. Take a Course

Taking a course in business analytics will not only benefit your skills but also your knowledge base of when and where you should apply a certain skill. This can help you gain an understanding of the holistic aspects of the role.

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  1. Earn Certification

Getting certified for your skills in business analytics will show hiring managers that you have the skills and training required to work as a business analyst.

  1. Consider a Degree

While the requirement for college degrees has reduced in most multinational firms, some firms may still require you to have at least a bachelor’s degree.

  1. Start with an Entry Level Role

Getting an entry-level role will help you get your foot in the door while working on building a successful career as a business analyst. You can apply for this role at any firm, but it is best to go with a startup since they would hone your skills holistically instead of limiting your growth.

The Best Course to Become a Business Analyst

IMS ProSchool is renowned for its excellent career-centric courses in various industries. Besides classroom learning, they also provide students with industry-ready skills that benefit them for a long time in their careers. They are ranked among the top 10 analytics institutions in India.

The course is designed to prepare students for entry-level roles in business analytics and also includes certification. The 4-month course is excellent for students to hone their skills in areas such as statistics, SQL, Tableau, Python, and PowerBI.

FAQs

What Can I Expect from Business Analytics?

Business analytics will train you to work with various databases for your organization. You will be required to collect data and use various statistical tools to interpret it while finding trends to report.

What Skills Do Business Analysts Need?

Several skills contribute to the success of a business analyst; however, the most essential ones are statistics, predictive modeling, data science and algorithms, machine learning, data mining, data cleaning, and python.

Who Can Pursue Business Analytics?

Any graduate can pursue business analytics. Irrespective of your field in your bachelor’s degree or school, you would be eligible to take up business analytics as your field of study. However, a strong background in mathematics is recommended for aspirants in the field.

Final Thoughts

Developing your career as a business analyst will require exceptional skills and knowledge. The first step in the right direction would be to enroll in a course that prepares you for everything from scratch, so your fundamentals are always clear. Join IMS Proschool today and explore the limitless opportunities that await you as a business analyst.