A Business Intelligence Analyst analyzes data and collates pertinent findings. Then, they share them with the organization to effect positive change.
Business intelligence analysts are professionals with analytical and technical skills. They analyze data and share findings that could be useful to the business. This article explains what a BI analyst does, how it is performed, and what salaries you can expect by 2022.
Who is a Business Intelligence Analyst?
Business intelligence analysts are professionals who have the technical and analytical skills necessary to analyze data and collate relevant findings. They then share these findings in a way that can effect positive change in a company. Many BI analysts can be used to solve specific business problems using the company's data storage.
Business intelligence analysts help companies develop and maintain their competitive edge by analyzing complex data. This career combines a love of statistics with the ability to help an organization achieve its business goals.
A business's ability to correctly gather and analyze data can have a significant impact on its performance. Business intelligence analysts analyze data to produce financial and market intelligence reports. These reports highlight market trends and patterns that could impact a company's operations or future goals.
Analysts in business intelligence help companies make sense of the huge amounts of data they have. They help businesses streamline processes, increase profitability, and stay ahead of industry trends.
A combination of technical skills, professional expertise, and education is required to correctly evaluate and assess data. The following tasks are typical for a BI analyst:
- Analysis and extraction of company information, including financial, personal, expense and revenue reports
- Collecting data on reported issues and providing solutions that improve the performance of processes and systems.
- Analyzing the cost-benefit of initiatives that are intended to improve performance.
- To implement changes, you must work with your leadership team and other teammates
- Evaluation of the effectiveness and acceptability of techniques
- Collaborating with other teams to evaluate the resources, staff, equipment, and facilities required
- To set strategic goals, we need to meet with senior leaders and key stakeholders
- Interactive presentations and reports generation for data dissemination to diverse audiences
Business Intelligence Analysts Educational Qualifications
A specialized certificate or program can be a great way to learn skills like data analysis and Power BI. Online courses and certificates may offer the flexibility needed to master a new field. No prior experience is usually required.
A bachelor's Degree can equip aspirants to have the technical and critical thinking skills necessary for a career in BI analysis. You must focus on quantitative subjects like finance, math, and data science.
A master's in may help professionals transition to a position as a business intelligence analyst by building upon their previous experience and education.
A master's in data science can help you understand data better. An MBA program that focuses on business analytics may be for you if you already have some knowledge of data processing.
Understanding the Differences Between BI Analysts and BI Architects
Let's look at the differences in BI roles.
- BI analysts will execute BI queries and generate reports and dashboards.
- Business analysts work with business divisions to gather technical requirements for Ops and Analytics platforms, analyze business processes and make suggestions for improvements.
- BI architects often have to build and execute the technical infrastructure necessary for business intelligence operations. This includes BI systems, apps, and data analytics tools. They are also responsible for choosing BI and analytics systems and ensuring that all service-level agreements and performance criteria are met. These are tasks that are not usually covered by BI analysts.
- Many organizations also have BI programmers who are similar to BI architects but more technical than BI analysts. BI developers focus on APIs and SDKs to write code that creates analytics apps, gateways, integrated capabilities, and deeper, multidimensional studies.
Roles and Responsibilities for a Business Intelligence Analyst
You will be required to perform the following tasks as a business intelligence analyst.
1. Analyzing Data
The business intelligence department is responsible for overseeing the management of new data once it arrives. This includes certifying and inspecting consumer data, delivering new information to the appropriate data warehouse, and analyzing new data.
Data analysis includes identifying ways your company can use data more efficiently and developing new initiatives. Many businesses use business intelligence tools for automating the most basic of tasks. Your team may save time and money by standardizing data analysis. This will make everyone's job easier.
2. Assist With the Decision-Making Process
Your role as a business intelligence analyst involves more than just analyzing raw data. Many C-suite executives rely upon the BI team's data to make critical business decisions. Even if your job is new, the daily impact of your work will be significant on the entire organization.
3. Helping Maintain Data Security
Most likely, you've read about a major data breach in which millions of people's private information was compromised. This is not the type of corporate error that you should apologize for and just move on. For disclosing customer information, companies are subject to tens of thousands of dollars in penalties.
Business intelligence analysts play a crucial role in protecting the data that their company collects. He also teaches his coworkers how to handle sensitive information, and collaborates with the IT department to protect user data.
4. Visualizing Data to Identify Patterns
An analyst in business intelligence may be required to collect, cleanse and analyze data like sales revenue, market capitalization, and customer engagement metrics. Programming data models and data visualization tools may be required by BI analysts.
An essential part of a BI analyst’s job is to identify patterns in data that could lead to business process improvements. A BI analyst might examine market trends to identify ways a business could need to change its offerings.
5. Sharing Insights by Creating Reports
As a BI analyst, you may share your discoveries with others. This could include visualizing data in graphs and charts to putting together reports and presenting them to customers. Business intelligence analysts will also be expected to make suggestions for improving or expanding the business based on their findings.
6. Collaboration with Business Users, Department Heads
Managers and corporate clients expect BI analysts to work with them to identify the data required to solve their problems. They will then collect the data, run BI queries and create dashboards, data visualizations, and reports to aid stakeholders in extracting meaning out of the analyzed data.
To speed up the analysis process, BI analysts work with enterprise clients to implement self-service BI. They train them on how to alter and analyze data.
7. Supporting the BI Strategy
BI analysts can also help companies analyze how to adopt new regulations for data gathering and analysis, such as maintaining data integrity. They might also be responsible for recruiting data professionals such as data architects.
Business Intelligence Analyst: Essential Skills in 2022
Employers looking for business analysts are typically looking for applicants who have the right combination of education, experience, and abilities. You may be able to stand out from the rest of the applicants by having relevant degrees and technical competence.
You will have an edge over the rest if you are proficient in database management, queries, and user interface, as well as enterprise resource management.
This profession requires critical thinking, data interpretation, problem comprehension, and active listening. Business intelligence analysts need to have a deep understanding of data to organize, analyze and present the information to all parties.
Professionals must also be able to locate and comprehend relevant data to make rational business strategy recommendations.
These Skills are Required to Become a Business Intelligence Analyst
1. Practical Knowledge of Database Tools
Your work will include data management. It is essential to be able to use popular data tools such as Excel and structured question language (SQL),. BI analysts are increasingly looking for expertise in data analysis platforms that can solve machine learning problems.
2. A Good Understanding of Coding Languages
One may need to create systems and procedures for data analysis or business monitoring as a BI analyst. Business intelligence jobs often require knowledge of programming languages such as Python, Java, and R.
3. Previous Experience in Data Preparation or Visualization
Business intelligence is incomplete without data preparation. Data preparation is essential for business intelligence. It must be obtained, cleaned, and formatted uniformly before any conclusions can be drawn from it. Multiple data preparation tools can be used to take data from different sources and format it using the same parameters.
You should know how to use data preparation tools such as Improvado and Alteryx to be a BI analyst. These tools allow you to create infographics or visualize data.
4. Excellent Communication Skills
Business intelligence analysts are skilled at communicating insights verbally and in writing. It is essential to have the ability to communicate verbally and in writing.
This will allow you to sum up information and ideas. Keep in mind that not all decision-makers have technical backgrounds. It is important to be able to communicate complex ideas in simple language so that they can be understood easily.
5. Working Knowledge of Finance
It is important to have a good understanding of the business and financial practices before making any suggestions for business improvements.
Understanding the business structure of your company and how data can be used to maximize profits based on key performance indicators is essential. To help determine the company's future direction, you must be able to understand its short- and long-term business goals.
6. Statistics Analysis Know-How
Business intelligence analysts need to have a solid understanding of statistics. To gain a better understanding of data, you need to be able to understand the different statistical components such as the mean median, range, variance, and range.
Additional advanced statistical subjects like combinatorial optimization and set theory, probabilities equations, both continuous and discrete, as well as bivariate distribution, random variables, etc. are also important. Aspirants should be familiarized with analytical tools such as SAS, Spark, Hive, and Pig which may help businesses develop a solid BI strategy.
7. Aptitude For Descriptive Analytics
The purpose of descriptive analysis is to identify missing numbers, outliers, or aberrant or distorted distributions.
It involves understanding and familiarizing yourself with the data and then presenting it to senior leaders in a clear, concise way. For descriptive data analysis, there are many tools available, including statistical approaches and visualization charts such as scatter plots and whisker plots.
Salary for Business Intelligence Analysts in 2022
According to Forbes magazine, the job of a business intelligence analyst is most in demand in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
According to the Occupational Information Network, (O*NET), business intelligence analysts are expected to see a 15% increase in employment from 2020 to 2030 according to projections. This is significantly higher than the average for any occupation.
A bachelor's degree is usually required to start your career as an analyst of business intelligence. A master's degree is required for business analytics graduates. This will give them a competitive advantage due to their skills and competence.
Business intelligence analysts can expect to earn high-paying jobs in many industries, including financial services, medical services, and industrial production. They also have the opportunity to work in future technologies and e-commerce.
PayScale statistics, last updated November 14, 2022, show that the average annual income for a BI analyst is $66,645. Depending on the size of the company, its location, and its level of expertise, business intelligence analysts in the United Kingdom can earn between PS35,000 to PS45,000 per year.
Jobs for Business Intelligence Analysts in 2022
Many business intelligence analysts work in a company's BI and data science departments. They may work with a team of business intelligence experts and data analysts depending on the size of the company.
Middle management or a senior analyst such as the BI Manager or Head of BI, Business Intelligence Project Manager, or Senior Business Intelligence Analyst, usually reports to entry-level business intelligence specialists.
On the other hand, mid-level business intelligence analysts report to top executives such as the BI Director or Associate Director of BI. Employers typically seek the following roles:
Business Intelligence Specialist: Focuses primarily on analyzing BI data, and sharing it with other business units.
BI Project Manager: Manages a team that includes analysts and developers for mid to long-term business intelligence projects.
Domain-specific Business Intelligence Analyst: This analyst analyzes only data from a particular industry or domain to identify inefficiencies and potential opportunities.
BI associate - An entry-level professional that assists the BI specialist with collating data and generating reports.
Part-time Business Intelligence Analyst: Works as a freelancer and consults with companies regarding short-term BI assignments and projects.
Each BI analyst starts their career as a data analyst. They often move up to become business intelligence specialists, architects, consultants, managers, or even managers later in their careers.
While four-year degrees in statistics, computer science, and business management might help secure a job, the top companies do not value these degrees.
Major companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Microsoft are looking for applicants who have BI certifications from recognized universities to quickly address talent shortages.
Takeaway
Global organizations have made business intelligence a standard part of their daily work. It is the use of first- and third-party data, as well as big data, to solve business problems or unlock new opportunities.
A BI analyst is a specialist in the use of BI tools to advance an organization's strategy. They also have technical knowledge of data analytics. Business intelligence analysts are a valuable asset to organizations.