In this age of high technology, business growth depends on accurately predicting and predicting business patterns. The ability to study data and trends to determine what can be achieved in a company is a big part of business intelligence.
Business Intelligence (BI) analysts work with companies to research competitors and understand market seasonality through data analysis. Therefore, it is a plus if you understand business patterns and have consulting skills. If you want to scale, here are 10 skills you should learn to become a business intelligence analyst.
1. Data mining
A business intelligence analyst’s primary role is data visualization. This is only possible if you understand how to extract and mine data. Data mining skills help you understand where to extract data related to the company you work for.
Data is usually always available in large data sets, but data mining skills can extract useful information, clean it up, and make it available. Her three basic methods of data mining are classification, clustering, and association.
Data classification classifies large data sets into categories such as public data, sensitive data, local data, and internal-only data. The second part of data mining is data clustering. Suppose you have extracted public data. They should be further divided according to their similarities.
Finally, data association finds relationships between extracted data and why they are similar. But you can see why data mining skills, which form the foundation of business analytics, are important to business intelligence.
2. Data preparation
Now that you know how to mine data, learn how to prepare this data. Data mining involves bringing together similar data, but the extracted data must be organized and structured. Business intelligence can only use organized, structured data, so that raw data must be transformed into analytics-ready data.
You should also be proficient in: Data Structures Every Programmer Should Know Because business intelligence requires programming knowledge. As part of your data preparation skills, you should learn how to filter, clean, and transform your data.
These processes help identify errors, capture and store data, and give you an edge in reviewing data to make informed business decisions. It can also prevent the generation of unreliable analysis results.
3. Business knowledge
Business knowledge and an understanding of your company’s business model will help you know how to direct your company’s resources in the right direction. Business intelligence analysis is more than just collecting information. You need to understand how to use the cleaned data to produce the results your company needs. These should be actionable information to make the right decisions.
Our vast business knowledge allows us to support your company’s vision by providing consulting to leverage market trends to improve your bottom line. These skills also help you interpret data in ways that align with your company’s vision and mission. So you are not compiling chunks of data. Visualize them and align them with your business growth.
4. Analytical and critical thinking
Critical thinking should be built into the business intelligence analyst’s responsibilities. It also sets the stage for your success as a Business Intelligence Analyst by gathering data, analyzing it, and drawing useful conclusions for your company.
Analytical and critical thinking skills help you to properly scrutinize your data and build something useful out of the data you collect. Critical thinking also helps you recognize weaknesses in your company’s systems based on the data you collect.
For example, say you work for a food service retailer like McDonald’s and collect data on in-person sales and online order influx. Critical thinking can help you decide whether to enhance your personalized online sales strategy or improve your customers’ dining experience. We also want to make decisions for the current season based on the data we collect while maintaining company goals.
5. Programming language
Programming is at the core of business intelligence analysis. Basic knowledge of SQL programming is required to pre-aggregate, filter, and select only the data needed for analysis. With your knowledge of SQL queries, you can create thousands of views (rows and columns of data), reducing the amount of data your BI tool needs to process. This process makes analysis easier and faster.
Therefore, learning Basic SQL commands and queries is an important skill for business intelligence analysts. The SQL programming language also helps with data extraction, data quality, data validation, and analytical reporting. In addition to the SQL programming language, basic knowledge of Python and R programming for data visualization is also required.
6. Statistical analysis
Through statistical analysis, you can spot market trends and predict business patterns. Organize and analyze raw data to create trustworthy information. During statistical analysis, we remove all bias from the data set, leaving the data structured.
Business Intelligence Analysts should have statistical analysis skills to describe patterns that can predict future changes in market demand, services, or prices, depending on the company they work for. You need this skill to derive useful information from messy data and reduce uncertainty when making decisions.
7. Create reports and dashboards
Learning how to create reports and dashboards will help you organize and manage your company’s data. It helps store data in patterns that can easily calculate company growth and performance. You can also use the reports you create to predict future company trends and present them to stakeholders who want to invest in your company.
In addition to Choosing the ideal reporting tool, it is convenient to learn how to navigate the reporting software and visualize data related to your company. We also want to create reports that are simple and easy to understand. Developing your dashboarding skills makes it easier to present your data on an all-in-one platform.
As a business intelligence analyst, communicating data in the simplest way is critical. Therefore, the ability to create reports and dashboards that simplify data is critical.
8. Data visualization
Data visualization skills include understanding the purpose of data, working with data visualization tools, and telling compelling stories using graphs, web maps, charts, and tables. Additionally, learning how to present data to laymen using charts and graphs is essential. Combining stats with art and having strong visual design skills is a plus.
Once you have collected clean data and run it on various databases, you can upgrade your data visualization skills to become a better business intelligence analyst. It’s also important to learn when to use which chart type. We want to avoid using the wrong chart type which can confuse people.
9. Organization and time management
The ability to manage time efficiently and interpret data quickly is critical to the company’s growth. If you work for a healthcare company that is expanding its medical services and trying to get data on how many individuals have been treated in the past, you need to systematically sort these analyses.
A small error in numbers can do a lot of damage to your company’s image. In addition to being meticulous, it is important to communicate information in a timely manner, especially when providing data to shareholders who want to review some reports before making an investment. Help your company make relevant decisions on time by providing the necessary data on time.
10. Industry knowledge
Finally, you need to have industry knowledge about your company. If you work in the health and fitness or digital marketing niche, you should be up to speed on the latest trends and trajectories. Read the numbers and see what other competitors are changing. Had they rethought their strategy, they could have done the analysis.
Analyze company data and find ways to leverage that information to enhance company resources. However, this is only possible if you understand how you do things in the industry and what drives it.In addition to being an asset to the company, having industry knowledge will help the business his intelligence her analyst. It also increases the value of the list.
Become a Top Rated Business Intelligence Analyst
Not only do you need advanced skills as a business intelligence analyst, but you also need the right BI tools to advance your career and earn top ratings. His one of the best is Power BI. With Power BI, you’ll get accurate results in no time.
So, to become a top-notch business intelligence analyst, you can start by taking some online courses to help you master Power BI.