What is a business intelligence analyst and how to get a certification? Jobs in business intelligence provide a lucrative career choice.
You may have come across this term many times before either on your job site or through a friend working for some industry. There might be many of you who have no clue what a business intelligence analyst is; whatever your case, you will learn a lot about them today.
Before moving ahead in this article, it is important for people to understand what Business Intelligence is. The exact definition is as follows:
“Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term that includes the applications, infrastructure, and tools, and best practices that enable access to and analysis of information to improve and optimize decisions and performance [in business].”
So basically BI (Business Intelligence) is all about analyzing meaningful data as means to improve business operations. The information that exists in abundance inside the organization can be utilized to draw useful conclusions which can be used to make useful changes.
Business Intelligence Analyst: What they do
Now that we have a basic idea of what BI is, we can move on to learn more about a BI analyst. Basically, a business intelligence analyst is responsible for making use of the available data to come up with an accurate course of positive changes.
This person is very integral to every successful business because they are directly connected to the needs of their company. They have honed a set of certain skills which can then be used to add to the business practices.
They are required to question everything so they can evaluate whether or not existing business practices and principles are worthwhile or not. That's also a reason why business analysts should embrace SWOT analysis. They also have amazing analytical skills because without these skills their work isn’t possible.
They have impeccable communication skills because they are connected with every function of the organization and other stakeholders. If they falter with their communication, things can become very bad for the company.
Naturally, this job exists because the organization is looking for solutions, so evaluation of their findings is also something analysts do well. Otherwise, they won’t be able to implement any changes.
Business Intelligence Certification
It is an excellent career path to choose. Many of you might be interested prior to reading this article, but I’m sure quite a few of you would have recently gained curiosity after finding so much about a business intelligence analyst.
There are a variety of sites online where you can get this certification. Here are some of the best choices keeping Covid-19 in mind as it is better to stay home and work for it:
1. Smart-BA.com
This site provides its services for absolutely free. You will have a series of PowerPoint presentations, stories, articles etc., and tips on how to improve CVs as well. You can go here if you are interested.
2. BusinessAnalysisExperts.com
With a selection of ample eCourses, eBooks, and coaching platforms, BusinessAnalysisExperts.com is also an amazing place to get a certification from. Though it isn’t free, the money you pay will surely be worth it. Their homepage has all the information you could need.
3. Coursera.org
They offer a variety of courses and certifications, including for Business Intelligence Analysts. All courses are paid, but they offer a financial aid program as well. You will find a lot to learn on their website.
4. BA-EXPERTS
If you don’t have the luxury of time to invest in a full-fledged course, you will love BA-EXPERTS because they upload regularly on YouTube and their videos deliver lectures. So you can learn all you want from your smartphone.
You will find many other useful discussions here as well. So even if you can’t commit to the learning full time, you have a series of videos to take inspiration from.
5. PESTLEAnalysis.com
Although this isn’t a course like the others above, I have linked our own website because we have great information on how to become a successful business intelligence analyst. In case you need to brush up on some skills, or you just want to know more, there is plenty of information.
Jobs in Business Intelligence
Now Business intelligence analyst itself is a very broad term; there are many categories within the field to choose from. Naturally, there are people who already have sufficient experience and exposure to be able to join higher and complex job roles i.e. the role of the analyst.
There are many people however who would prefer starting a bit small so they can gain some knowledge before climbing the ladder. After all, the business intelligence analyst has great accountability owing to the nature of their job. Here are some great options to explore in the field.
● Business Intelligence Developer
A business intelligence developer is an engineer who is responsible for interpreting and displaying data to an organization via different business intelligence software.
This is an excellent job to go for because companies are always on the lookout for developers as they can simplify complex pieces of information for other members. They can even act as tech specialists in different situations owing to their background.
Although it varies from company to company, here are the typical responsibilities of a business intelligence developer.
- They have to work with business analysts and other developers to curate data.
- They have to create visual documents to help present data.
- Documenting processes for future use is a requirement.
- Troubleshooting business intelligence modelling issues and developing solutions.
- Creating and updating BI solutions for the company.
- Designing technical queries to be addressed.
- Developing exact search requests.
- Translating data into simple business terms and formats for use in other departments of the organisation.
● Business Intelligence Manager
As suggested by the name, this here is a managerial post which means that along with the knowledge of business analysis, one needs to have leadership and management skills as well.
A business intelligence manager is essentially responsible for managing data analysts and developers. They also should have excellent research skills to be able to come up with fast and innovative solutions to emerging problems.
If you feel like you have the knack for management, do consider applying for this position in some company of your liking. Here are some of the responsibilities associated with the job.
- Assessing company needs.
- Gathering information.
- Reporting emerging industry trends to the rest of management of the organisation.
- Oversee performance management in your department as well.
- Gather relevant data from company resources.
- Analyse data to determine problem areas in company processes.
- Recommend solutions to reduce or eliminate issues and increase profitability.
- Create reports for presentation to upper management.
- Hire and train new analysts.
- Manage the schedule of your staff.
● Business Intelligence Engineer
The hard workers of the gang, business intelligence engineers are responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining systems that are used to collect and analyze business intelligence information.
This is a very tedious job, but well worth the effort because the work this engineer does is vital for the success of an organization. If you want to be one, here are some of the responsibilities you can expect to find.
- Coordinating with customers and Business Analysts to determine business and analysis requirements.
- Support Database Administrators and Developers to build data warehousing systems for business intelligence, reporting and analytics.
- Assist in data administration, modelling and integration activities in said data warehouse systems.
- Implement business intelligence solutions to achieve data reporting and analysis goals.
- Support the development of business intelligence standards to meet business goals.
- Coordinate with the business units to identify new data requirements, analysis strategies and reporting mechanisms.
- Assist in design and generation of reports in a timely and accurate manner.
- Work with the business units to improve business operations.
Business Intelligence Analyst Salary
There is no way to determine the exact pay range for a business intelligence analyst because it differs from company to company and country to country, you can be sure that it is a highly lucrative career choice.
Because so much of the performance of a company depends on the decisions a BI analyst implements, they are very sought after. If you manage to acquire an MBA degree, you will get paid even more for the qualification and the experience.
So if you are just about to start a job, or you are thinking of changing jobs, you should consider becoming a BI analyst because it is important to earn well along with other things.
How would the Technology Industry use Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence Analysts generally choose the industry of their liking based on their background; those of them who have a tech background in terms of education or experience would be more comfortable in operating in this industry.
Technology especially could utilize a Business Intelligence analyst very well because the rate at which it evolves and improves is exponential. A Business Intelligence expert would know what to do with this evolution because that is precisely their job.
With so many rapid changes, it often becomes overwhelming to cope with them all. No company has unlimited resources to achieve every single milestone that seems to evolve with technology.
The companies which know what to pick and choose do better than their competitors. This is why business analysts in this specific field are so important.
This is why tech is a very popular niche for business intelligence analysts to operate in. They have a lot of room to innovate practices and business operations to better conduct their work.
Technology is one of the biggest core competencies a company could have and a business intelligence analyst is the key to ensuring this competency gets taken full advantage of.
Moreover, the technology industry is directly connected to a multitude of other industries as well, so naturally needing a business intelligence analyst becomes even more important to streamline everything.
How would the Airline Industry use Business Intelligence?
Aviation is as global an industry as it can get because it is responsible for connecting the world and its people together much faster and safer than other modes of transport.
With so many airlines emerging worldwide, the industry is becoming more and more important. Naturally, due to the abundance of global travel, there are huge chunks of scattered data within the industry.
In order to make sure that the industry thrives, this big data has to be clustered into meaningful information which can be used to make positive beneficial changes. See why business intelligence is so important to the airline industry?
Using and rather organizing data obtained from the industry can help make the services offered by airlines even better. Another important advantage of using business intelligence here is to figure out mechanisms to minimize the carbon footprint of flying.
While we all know the best strategy to save the environment from planes is to stop using them. Since that is no longer possible in today’s world, we need to come up with creative solutions that won’t harm business and will help save the environment as well.
Business intelligence analysts can achieve this objective very well. They know what steps to take to ensure the people get the best possible service all the while helping curb climate change as much as possible.
Conclusion
Now that you are more familiar with the role of a Business Intelligence Analyst, you can perhaps see it as a viable career choice for yourself.
In this article, you have learned what business intelligence is, why its analysis is important for organizations, the various jobs you can have in the field as a business intelligence analyst, and their need in great detail.
We have also seen how business intelligence serves global industries like aviation and technology. Business intelligence is never going to slow down in terms of growth as a need for different organizations.
Should you choose it for yourself, you will not only earn amazing money as a business intelligence analyst, but you’ll also acquire bulletproof skills that will serve you in other jobs and experiences as well.
Even if you don’t plan on making it your career, having a decent amount of knowledge about how it works will help you in your current jobs because you can make valuable suggestions to your organization. We have listed great courses in the article.
