5 Ways IT Strengthens Business Analytics Across Industries

Business analytics and information technology (IT) are like two peas in a pod. They work in perfect harmony, each complementing the other, and helping them evolve. In today’s day and age where nearly 147 zettabytes of data is generated each year, a lot of it goes unused, and unnoticed.

With more users and businesses coming online, the IT industry is seeing a whole new revolution. They rely on solid IT infrastructures to operate, be it with hardware or software systems. There’s a lot of technical data that is generated in the process. With 60% of organisations implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in their operations, the number is only estimated to grow over the next few years.

By bringing data and advanced tools like AI, ML, and several other tools and techniques, business analytics is bringing the best of both worlds to IT professionals, who can leverage this power and revolutionise the way IT yields productivity and profitability. Consequently, by optimising IT operations, business operations will also see a positive change in its functions and growth – all anchored by an IT business analyst.

Ways IT Business Analytics Bring Transformations Across Industries

Together, the combination of business analytics and IT is unstoppable. Its impact automatically spills over several industries that work in collaboration with IT. A strong foundation of IT knowledge as a business analyst can help build robust strategies and next-ups for businesses, which can be scaled and measured with the help of business analytics. Let’s look at a few ways and examples of how IT business analytics makes a difference in IT as well as other industries:

1. Data Infrastructure and Management

The field of IT is surrounded by numbers and massive amounts of data. It requires a strong infrastructure to store and manage all the data efficiently. Since this data is precious, it cannot be at risk of losing, and thus requires a system that prevents any such scenarios. A robust infrastructure is the foundation of effective business analytics, which will help optimise data in all the possible ways.

• • Data Warehousing and Data Lakes

You know how a single library holds all the books, past and present? That’s pretty much what data warehousing also looks like. It acts as a centralised repository for structured data accumulated from various sources, whereas data lakes also shelter unstructured data. They enable historical analysis, reporting, data integration, exploration, and transformation, smoothly carried out with business analytics.

• • Data Integration and ETL Processes

With the help of business analytics, IT professionals can integrate data from various sources and view them in a unified manner, ensuring consistency and accuracy. The extract, transform, load (ETL) process aids in doing so, by extracting data from various sources, transforming data into a consistent format, and loading it into warehouses and lakes.

• • Example

For instance, an e-commerce platform can extract data from various user touch points like website login, point-of-sale systems, customer relationship management systems, etc. Since these appear in different formats, they will be transformed into a consistent format. The final step of the process is to load the resulting data into data warehouses and lakes, where it can be taken ahead for analysis.

2. Data Visualisation and Reporting

Since data comes from multiple sources, in multiple formats and ways, it all looks a little messy at first. Even after data cleaning and preparation, it will remain quite complex due to the nature of the datasets. By identifying patterns and trends in data, it can be prepared in graphical formats such as graphs and charts to make it easy to understand for the stakeholders and decision makers.

• • Data Storytelling

There’s only one thing that makes data more interesting and engaging – a good story. With proper storytelling, data can be presented in a narrative format which engages the audience and conveys a clear message, quite directly to the listener. By sharing a compelling story with data, not only can IT professionals convey the data but also drive data-driven action with the stakeholders.

• • Business Intelligence Tools

Like storytelling, data reporting is equally important. Business intelligence (BI) tools enable organisations to gather, store, analyse, and report data to generate valuable insights. With ETL, data warehousing, data mining, and reporting tools, data can be seamlessly organised and integrated into a well-maintained system which can be shared ahead as well.

• • Example

Every year there’s a Black Friday sale, which is a big deal for retail stores online as well as offline. Website traffic during this sale is off the charts. Mining, collecting, and storing all the data from the sale can be efficiently done with the help of BI tools like Power BI. To share progress on what products or categories experienced the most traction, the same data can be presented with a compelling story, narrated with data visualisation tools like Tableau, such that understanding the data becomes a smooth ride.

Also Read – 6 Steps in the Business Analytics Process | Explained In The Easiest Manner

3. Cloud Computing and Big AI

To make things a lot easier, today we have cloud computing technologies, which provide a scalable and cost-effective platform to store, process, and analyse vast amounts of data for businesses. These services are easily scalable based on increasing data volumes and computational needs, and provide extensive security measures to protect sensitive data.

• • Cloud-based Analytics

Remote collaboration and analysis become easily possible with cloud-based analytics as these are accessible from anywhere. Apart from extremely well maintained security and scalability features, cloud-based analytics are also cost-effective with pay-as-you-go pricing models that show the costs upfront and avoid any unnecessary investments.

• • Big Data Technologies

Organisations can easily collect, store, and analyse large amounts of data, all thanks to big data technologies. Several tools like Hadoop and Spark provide powerful frameworks to process vast amounts of data simultaneously. It works perfectly well with structured data, and manages efficiently with semi-structured data as well – making things slightly easier for IT business analysts.

• • Example

Netflix, definitely a brand you have heard of before, is a great example of how cloud computing and big data work in tandem to create a seamless experience. After collecting vast amounts of user data on viewing habits, types of shows watched, watching time, etc., it stores and processes such data on cloud-based data warehouses. This data is then processed through a few machine learning algorithms to identify any patterns and trends to develop insights, which are utilised by Netflix’s recommendation engine to suggest personalised content recommendations to the users. And just like that, Netflix continues to serve such engaging and personalised streaming experiences to millions of users worldwide.

4. Advanced Analytics and AI

Business analytics has come a long way too. Many advanced analytics and newer trends have left a significant impact on the IT industry. By leveraging predictive analytics which predicts future trends and patterns, and prescriptive analytics recommends optimal actions based on data-driven insights, advanced analytics and AI have enabled organisations to automate processes and make data-driven decisions.

• • Machine Learning and AI

Like business analytics, machine learning and IT have a long history together. Together, machine learning and AI have revolutionised the way IT professionals operate. From automating routine tasks and freeing IT professionals for strategies, to identifying unusual patterns or anomalies in data and detecting security failures and threats – machine learning covers it all.

• • Natural Language Processing (NLP)

NLP enables machines to understand and interpret human languages better in order to automate and optimise certain operations. With the help of NLP, chatbots and virtual assistants can provide answers and automated support to rising queries. It can also be used to analyse customer feedback to gauge brand reputation and understanding, which can be used by IT analysts to set the right tone of the brand’s presence in the marketplace.

• • Example

For instance, and you might relate to this one, imagine an IT service desk with numerous requirements coming in a day – some for password resets and others for more complex issues. Machine learning algorithms can help classify the tickets raised based on their subject and content. With such initial automation, IT teams, or even advanced NLP, can respond to ticket requests more quickly and efficiently.

5. Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

With businesses’ increasing reliance on data and technology, cybersecurity has become a huge concern. It is important to implement robust measures to prevent unauthorised access and protect sensitive data from any threats. A lot of this data can be accessible from anywhere, and while that is a good thing if utilised well, it can prove dangerous if the access reaches any unauthorised personnel.

• • Data Security and Privacy

One of the best practices to protect data is to use data encryption, both at rest and in transit, to avoid any scope of privacy breach. With stronger access control and network security, IT analysts can ensure that the data is protected through firewalls and other security measures and becomes inaccessible to those not authorised to review the data.

• • Ethical Considerations in Business Analytics

While business analytics heavily relies on data, it is equally important to respect the laws and regulations of data protection and privacy. The algorithms used should be unbiased and clean, such that it does not break any confidentiality policy, and is in alignment with the compliance and regulation laws.

• • Example

In the healthcare industry, patient data is quite sensitive and confidential. Apart from the patient and the family members that are shared access with, patient-related any information is not disclosed to anyone, except for the staff. Since a lot of it is stored in computers, IT analysts encrypt the data – at rest and while in transit, to prevent unauthorised access to the patient’s files. There are several stages of access controls and informed consent before one can access the patient’s recorded data, thus keeping it quite secure.

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4 Emerging Trends in Business Analytics and IT

Business analytics and IT are both rapidly evolving domains, each with its own set of technological advancements and achievements. Here are some of the emerging trends which collectively shape the future of business analytics and IT:

1. Augmented Analytics

With more data, there is now potential for the data to be automatically prepared for analysis, processed, analysed, and visualised by the system itself. NLP will be used to interact with data and generate insights based on the data analysis. With tools like NLP, human intelligence and AI advancements will come together to enhance decision-making processes.

2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

While AI and ML have already become an integral part of the IT industry, the two are seeing incredible growth and advancements on their individual ends. They will be leveraged, alongside predictive analytics, to estimate future trends and outcomes to watch out for, and strategise accordingly. With AI, the process of data analysis will also be automated and IT analysts can focus on generating insights and strategic next-ups.

3. Internet of Things (IoT)

By analysing real-time data from IoT devices, several operations can be optimised and automated to make the process more efficient. By predicting equipment failures and maintenance, IT professionals can regulate infrastructure costs and schedule maintenance well in advance, which will also prove to be quite cost-effective.

4. Ethical AI

Despite the long run of AI and one that lies ahead of us, one thing remains of utmost concern: ethics. The use of AI algorithms is completely reasonable if the utilisation is fair, unbiased, and transparent. AI models are now trained to be more understandable, transparent, and free of bias in order to yield unadulterated results.

Also Read – Top 8 Tools Every Business Analyst Should Use In 2025 To Solve Problems

How to Excel as IT Business Analysts with IMS Proschool

Ranked among the top 10 analytics institutes of India, IMS Proschool is definitely the right choice to learn business analytics with. Like data visualisation, the lessons at Proschool are designed to be engaging and immersive, such that the learning experience becomes more enhanced and compelling for the students. Here are top 5 reasons to choose IMS Proschool’s Business Analytics program and become an excellent IT business analyst:

1. Learn theoretical as well as practical knowledge by solving 15+ case studies and projects.
2. Whether you are a coder or non-coder, this program is for you. In fact, it covers highly demanded business analytics tools like Excel, SQL, Tableau, Python, and Power BI.
3. Don’t miss out on analytical skills. The program helps build a robust foundation of problem-solving mindset, which is the most crucial skill for business analysts.
4. If you have found your calling, upgrade your course to domain-specific analytics and master the domain (and career) of your dreams.
5. It’s not over after successful completion of the program. It is only the beginning of your professional journey, where you can find placements from 800+ jobs in 30+ renowned companies!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the role of IT and business analytics?

The role of IT and business analytics is to drive innovation by building robust infrastructures, integrating data, deploying, and managing hardware as well as software tools. Their collective role is to increase efficiency, optimise operations, and boost organisational growth and profitability.

2. Do IT business analysts require coding?

A basic understanding of coding definitely proves helpful for an IT business analyst. Since a lot of data integration is done via programming languages, it is a required skill. However, even if you don’t know coding, there are courses like IMS Proschool’s Business Analytics Program which cover the industry-relevant programming languages for coders as well as non-coders.

3. What are information systems and business analytics?

Information systems (IS) is a domain that focuses on design, implementation, and management of information technology solutions within organisations. IS revolves around understanding how technology can be used to improve business processes, and business analytics involves leveraging IS-generated data to generate insights and encourage more informed strategic decisions.

4. What is the scope of business analytics?

The scope of business analytics is endless, ranging from multiple applications across various industries. Its applications are leveraged in finance, marketing, human resources, IT, manufacturing, customer relationship management, and healthcare, among other industries. According to several market research reports, the market size of business analytics is projected to reach billions of dollars in the next few years.

Conclusion

To bring IT and business analytics together is to unite two lost best friends, each better with the other. As an IT professional, business analytics is definitely a field worth exploring – not only because it is in demand, but also because the knowledge of IT gives you a competitive edge in the industry. As an IT business analyst, you can help scale infrastructure as well as business, both, and ensure that the organisation’s growth will be as bright and promising as your future in business analytics!