7 Must-Have Skills to Become a Business Intelligence Analyst

The competition in every market is growing at a fast rate. Every decision you make can either help your business grow or result in loss. The right decisions taken at the right time can help businesses thrive. This includes anything from knowing where to invest to developing better business value, understanding the market standing, and analyzing ways to improve the business model and customer services.

Companies can only reach sound conclusions and decisions with a deep understanding of the market trends and customer behaviors. Pinpointing workable problems through research and data helps in designing better strategies for future projects. Once you look at the available data and ask yourself, “why did this happen?” you can proceed to “what can we do to change and improve it, and how will this help company’s growth?”

But making sense out of years of data is no easy feat and requires multiple skills. That’s where business intelligence analysts come in.

What Do Business Intelligence Analysts Do?

Business Intelligence Analysts, or BI analysts, help businesses by using available data in decision formulation. If the company was a computer, BI analysts would be its CPU. Like the CPU, they handle data management, data analysis and then produce suggestions after processing the data. BI analysts’ exact job descriptions might vary from company to company. Some companies require data analyst skills but with a business-focused approach.

BI analysts play an important role in the businesses; hence there are plenty of high-paying job openings for the role. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has predicted the growth in analytics jobs to be 14% faster than other industries between 2020 and 2030.

If you are wondering how to become a business intelligence analyst, it is a fairly simple process. Entry-level jobs require at least a bachelor’s in a relevant field. Applicants with a double degree or master’s are usually preferred because of in-depth knowledge and higher qualification. You would also want to build your resume experience by signing up for internships. If you are considering this lucrative and fulfilling job, you would want to compare your skillset with the position’s requirements. It is also worth considering tool specific options. For example, you can enroll in a Power BI training program to further expand your skillset.

Business Intelligence Analysts Skills Checklist:

Data Modeling, Maintenance, and Mining

BI analysts need to be able to map out and understand the data storage and the fitting of the sources. Moreover, they need to do data modeling: clean and packet data and predict how it will interact with other pieces. Organizing data, updating it, and using it to produce valuable information also falls under the job description of BI analysts. Having a strong understanding of database tools and applying them is one of the most important skills.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing provides a flexible and scalable room for data gathering. Since the basic input for BI analysts’ work is raw data, aspirant analysts need to be familiar with cloud computing. Practical skills like strong organizational and information identification capabilities help extract information from the data warehouses and utilize it in real-time.

Data Analysis with Business Knowledge

Since the entire job of BI analysts is to help make a business improve and grow, essential business knowledge is, without doubt, a must-have. Having a strong understanding of finances and the business model, analysts can design better strategies incorporating data to improve organization efficiency, revenue generation, and customer service and use computer security policy to protect your data.

Understanding the long-term and short-term goals of the company is just as important. Along with the strong statistical analysis, a glowing resume will also show the applicant’s understanding of multiple tools like Hadoop, R, and SAS.

Programming Language Proficiency

BI analysts often have to do multiple tasks, including making or processing systems for analysis or monitoring data. For this reason, being proficient in programming languages-python, C#, and Java, helps analysts secure jobs or climb up the career ladder.

Data Visualization

The BI analysts need to present data in digestible bits and visual forms. Using graphs and charts to simplify complex data helps in decision-making. It is why BI analysts need to learn the use of various graphs and maps: Bar Charts, Heat Maps, TreeMaps, Gantt Charts, or Scatter Plots. Knowing how to harness software like Tableau and Power BI make this portion of the job easy.

Strong Communication Skills

Data reporting is one of the most integral parts of the job. Since the main decisions are to be made and approved by the executive and stakeholders, the communication needs to be as strong as possible. The data suggestions made by the BI analysts hold value only if they can get the point across. Moreover, the BI analysts have to collaborate on a team and strong communication is a prerequisite for teamwork too.

Hence this soft skill is a major plus point for BI analysts. Companies prefer hiring applicants who have a double degree in IT or related fields along with a Communications degree.

Final Thoughts

Companies need to make affirmative decisions when operating in a cut-throat industry. Business intelligence analysts can help design and develop smart future strategies based on data and business analytics.

The main job of a BI analyst is to mine and maintain data that they can use for analysis. The analyzed report has the core purpose of maximizing profits and is presented to stakeholders using visuals. Thus, being tech-savvy, comfortable with using multiple software, being rational, and communicative is the basic skills an aspiring analyst should have along with strong academic qualifications.

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