With the great developments in technology and rise in the availability of data, leveraging the power of analytics for business growth is easier than ever before. And since more and more organizations look to data for solutions for business related issues, business analysts fill the increasing demand for data expertise. However, there are specific soft and hard skills you require to make a successful career in the big data world.
Top non-technical and technical skills for business analysts:
Core business analytics skills
The big data domain has changed immensely, making it quite difficult for professionals to know where to concentrate for growth. Though, despite of this ever changing field, there are several core business analytics skills that make the base of any robust business analytics career.
A great business analyst could be defined as:
A good communicator
Ability of presenting findings in a clear and crisp manner is important for ensuring that all the members understand the insights and can put suggestions into practice to drive business growth. Business analysts should be able to recite a story with data through great communication, writing and presentation skills.
Intrusive
Business analytics professionals should be curious to continuous learning and finding out how things fit together.
A great problem solver
Business analysts use a blend of predictive analytics, logical thinking and statistics to make suggestions to solve a problem and take a business forward. In this profession which look for turning data into solutions, being a great problem solver helps in connecting the dots.
A critical thinker
Critical thinking skills are necessary for becoming a good business analyst. Business analysts need to examine deeply not just the inferences of data they gather, but also about what they are collecting. They should examine and highlight data which is useful in decision making.
A visualizer
Muddled data is not of use to anyone. To create value from data, business analysts should be able to decipher and visualize data in a precise manner that’s easy to digest.
Technical skills required for business analytics
In the present data-governed business landscape, good business analysts are catering to the demand for technical expertise by playing the role of both developer and analyst.
Possessing both theoretical and practical understanding of programming languages and tools is essential for translating data into tangible business solutions.
Important tools for business analytics professionals:
SQL
SQL is one of the most significant analytics tool and coding language of databases. Experts write SQL queries to draw and examine data from the database of transactions and create visualizations to present to stakeholders.
Statistical languages
R and Python are the two most prevalent programming languages for statistical analysis and general programming respectively. Sound knowledge of these languages is advantageous when examining big data sets.
Statistical software
While the competency to program is really helpful for a successful career in business analytics, ability to write code isn’t necessarily needed. In addition to above languages, statistical software like SAS, Sage,SPSS, Mathematics, and even Excel can be used when analyzing data.
Business analytics programf rom a top analytics institution can help you ace all the skills necessary to make a successful career as a business analyst. Premier institutions have world-class faculty and infrastructure to ensure quality learning for students.
