Business Intelligence Analyst — Role and Responsibilities
Businesses of all sizes today aim at becoming data-driven organizations, which has become one of the topmost priorities of new world companies. The revolution in big data led to an unprecedented idea that preached smaller storage and more capable technology, warehousing, and sifting through enormous amounts of information. The absolute volumes of data gave rise to multiple business intelligence prospects. Today, organizations have to build up their business intelligence competencies by working on big data by querying, data collection, data mining, data visualization, and other data analytics machinery. One must use those tools skillfully to yield insights that can advise and guide decision-making in business. That necessitates a role designed for one with a combination of technical skills and business knowledge, problem-solving, critical thinking, and non-technical skills such as communication skills.
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Thus, the job of a Business Intelligence Analyst is to lead an organization into becoming a data-driven one by using the data in helping the business to make real-time decisions. Business Intelligence Analysts must have the technical skills required for data analysis and understand the industry’s data. Applying the data in business with the help of case-specific data science methods yields productive outcomes.
Roles and Responsibilities
Most of the data analysis process is done by Business Intelligence Analysts. The preliminary work of a Business Intelligence Analyst is to assess the characteristics of big data. The volume — to know the amount of data to be managed, variety — the different types of data accessed, velocity — the flow and ease of access of data within the information system, and veracity — the usefulness of the data, will have to be assessed.
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In simple words, their work involves collaborating with other business users and executives in finding out the data that should be collected for their operations, upon which data analysis and business intelligence queries must be made. Later, they will bring out data visualizations and analytical data models, dashboards, and reports, thereby extracting insights from the datasets.
In addition to the above, A Business Intelligence Analyst job description would also contain compiling data on conveyed issues and recommending solutions to increase the performance and efficiency of the systems. Also, they will have to work with management and other coworkers to enforce improvements and engage with teams to determine the number of resources, personnel, facilities, etc. An organization also requires cost-benefit analysis to increase optimization, which falls under the umbrella of the Business Intelligence Analysts. An array of non-technical skills and technical skills are always handy for this role since preparing reports and conducting interactive presentations for diverse audiences will be part of the job.
Skills Required
A Business Intelligence Analyst usually handles both IT and business operations. Thus, the skillset will consist of a combination of both areas. Since the role acts as a bridge between various IT areas and data science, such as data analysis, integration, visualization, and business use of data, a wide range of skills are preferred.
Proficiency in data science aspects such as data analysis, data mining, query, modeling, visualization, profiling, and validation is deemed a must for the role. Knowledge of query languages, SQL in particular, and programming languages such as python and R and the ability to interpret problems using these has importance. In addition to these, knowledge and familiarity in database management systems, data warehousing technologies are necessary for business intelligence analysis.
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Non-technical and business skills like critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, effective communication skills, inquisitive nature, and domain-specific skills such as general business acumen and organization-specific industry knowledge will be essential. A Business Intelligence Analyst should have high comprehension and listening capability to understand the data to organize, analyze and meaningfully present it to others.
Education
An undergraduate or postgraduate degree in data science, statistics, business administration, or computer science is not imperative for the role, but it could be of great help. One can also refer to a plethora of online certifications and courses which have great content that would satiate the requirements of this role. Aspiring enthusiasts can learn business intelligence analytics and various other corresponding concepts and acquire skills even though they do not have degrees in the relevant subjects.
Conclusion
The role of Business Intelligence Analysts today has growing importance. The demand for professionals with the required knowledge and skills is rising as companies are constantly looking towards data-driven business and innovation, and the salary prospects are also incredible. Enthusiasts can excel in this role provided they dedicate their time in furnishing the knowledge, technical and domain-specific, and corresponding skillset.
