Business intelligence: A deep dive into data-driven field

Business intelligence (BI) leverages software and services to transform data into actionable insights that inform an organization’s strategic and tactical business decisions. BI tools access and analyze data sets and present analytical findings in reports, summaries, dashboards, graphs, charts and maps to provide users with detailed intelligence about the state of the business.

The term business intelligence often also refers to a range of tools that provide quick, easy-to-digest access to insights about an organization's current state, based on available data. With data increasingly vital to business success, business intelligence (BI) continues to grow in importance. With a strong BI strategy and team, organizations can perform the kinds of analysis necessary to help users make data-driven business decisions.

WHAT IS BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE?

Business intelligence is the process of collecting, storing and analyzing data from business operations. BI provides comprehensive business metrics, in near-real time, to support better decision making. You can create performance benchmarks, spot market trends, increase compliance, and improve almost every aspect of your business with better business intelligence. Learn other courses of Business intelligence at BIT

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE VS. BUSINESS ANALYTICS

Business intelligence focuses on descriptive analytics.

BI prioritizes descriptive analytics, which provides a summary of historical and present data to show what has happened or what is currently happening. BI answers the questions “what” and “how” so you can replicate what works and change what does not.

Business analytics focuses on predictive analytics

BA, however, prioritizes predictive analytics, which uses data mining, modeling and machine learning to determine the likelihood of future outcomes. BA answers the question “why” so it can make more educated predictions about what will happen. With BA, you can anticipate developments and make the changes necessary to succeed.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS

The applications of business intelligence tools to enhance your business operations is not a new concept. In fact, the phrase business intelligence goes back to the 1800s when the term was first used in a book to describe the way a financier had been outsmarted by competitors who used knowledge of the market to play it. Of course, we’ll be operating from a more modern understanding of the term: BI, as we use it today, refers to technologies, practices and applications that collect, integrate, analyze and present business data with the intention of making data-driven business decisions.

Applications: -

·      Sales Intelligence

·      Visualization

·      Reporting

·      Performance management

There are many possible applications of business intelligence, and these are just a few of the main uses of business intelligence. Users can glean insights into their customers, generate detailed reports and intuitive visualizations, as well as monitor business performance metrics from a single tool.

HOW BI CAN HELPS BUSINESSES?

So how can business intelligence help businesses? There are a few key ways.

First, BI gives you a methodology and framework to follow to let you be a data-driven company. This basically turns a nebulous concept into something much more concrete.

Second, BI can give you a way to hedge your decisions, reducing risk and leading to better, more methodological choices.

And finally, BI gives you the ability to create predictable, repeatable results. It gives you the ability to cause some (hopefully positive) outcome and then do that again and again because you know how you got there.

WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SKILLS?

BIT established that a career in the field is potentially rewarding and well compensated, but what skills are needed for a career in this most reward field of work? Let's take a look.

The specific BI skills necessary for a career in the field vary according to whether you want to be more of a back-end or a front-end BI professional. To simplify things, you can think of back-end BI skills as more technical in nature and related to building BI platforms, like online data visualization tools.

Front-end analytical and business intelligence skills are geared more towards presenting and communicating data to others. Regardless of the choice you make, you can always switch directions as your career progresses. You might also end up taking on all of these roles if you work at a smaller company. But no matter what path you choose, the following business intelligence skills are necessary – without them, you will be building a career based on very flaky foundations, limiting your prospects and increasing your potential for failure. First of all, SQL Programming. SQL (or Structured Query Language) is a programming language that is commonly used in BI. Even if you are more of a front-end BI professional, you’ll need to know SQL and how to use it.

TOP BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE CERTIFICATIONS

·      Certified Business Intelligence Professional

·      MCSA: BI Reporting

·      MCSA: SQL 2016 BI Development

·      MCSE: Data Management and Analytics

·      SAP Certified Application Associate: Business Intelligence with SAP

·      SAS Certified BI Content Developer for SAS 9

·      Tableau Desktop Certified Professional

·      Tableau Server Certified Professional

SALARY AND JOB ROLE

BI encompasses numerous roles. BI analysts, with an average salary of $69,078 according to PayScale, provide application analysis and data modeling design for centralized data warehouses and extract data from databases and data warehouses for reporting, among other tasks. BI developers, with an average salary of $80,237, work with databases and software to develop and fine-tune IT solutions. BI architects, with an average salary of $111,824, analyze and implement BI for their organizations, with responsibilities that range from determining platforms to building and maintaining data warehouses. BI directors, with an average salary of $129,143 per year, lead design and development activities related to the enterprise data warehouse.   

WHY BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IS THE BEST CAREER OPTION IN 2021?

If you are planning to launch your career as a BI professional, then this is definitely the best decision you are making this year as BI is trending like anything, making it a holy grail for various aspirants. Why is it one of the most sought-after career options for you?

Numerous profiles awaiting skilled BI professionals: With the expansion of this field, BI is not just limited to Business Analysts. Various other professionals are also required to run BI systems efficiently, which creates a big opportunity for people having the needed skill sets of this field. Some of the prominent job roles that seek for BI-based skills are:

·      Business Intelligence Analyst

·      Business Intelligence Project Manager

·      Business Intelligence Developer

·      SQL Server Business Intelligence Developer

·      BI Semantic Model Developer

·      Business Intelligence Administrator

·      Business Intelligence Manager

·      Business Intelligence Consultant

Following are seven essential components of any successful BI strategy, according to several BI experts.   

·      Give business ownership over BI

·      Monitor BI use and adjust as necessary     

·      Validate, validate, validate

·      Focus on business problems first, then on data

·      Prioritize — and build in processes for improvement

·      Upskill ‘citizen’ data scientists

·      Empower staff to tell stories with data      

WHAT THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE?

Like every other technology, the latest BI trends will continue to evolve. From the early days when BI was confined to spreadsheets bursting with numbers, today, technology allows for insightful visualization and immediate action. Today, BI provides organizations with new and novel ways to improve productivity, increase profits, and understand customers. As technology advances with the blink of an eye, the future of BI looks extremely promising. However, to realize the real value from BI, it is important to be aware of upcoming trends, understand if and how they can be incorporated, and have a roadmap in place to embrace technology across the business.

CAREER PATH

Many Business Intelligence Analysts begin their careers as Data Analysts, Business Analysts, or Data Report Writers, so look for those positions if you’re just starting out in the field. There are many certifications available for Business Intelligence Analysts, including Microsoft’s Certified Solutions Expert in data management and analytics and TDWI’s Certified Business Intelligence Professional. There are also certifications available in specific computer languages like SAS.

WRAPPING UP

Business intelligence doesn't have to only be for enterprise organizations. Anyone can take the methodology and apply it to their process, bringing rigor and data to an otherwise nebulous concept of “data-driven decision making.”

The core of the idea is simple: get the data you need, put it in a usable format, distribute it to your team, and then track performance against both historical data via KPIs and third-party benchmarks. By using BI, you can create better business outcomes that — critically — repeat again and again.

Moreover, with the right process in place, the right data, and the right team, you really can’t go wrong with BI.

Got more BI questions? We’ve for more than enough answers. Get in touch to learn more.

All the best for your Career….