A business intelligence analyst gathers and uses data to discover market and business trends and opportunities. Common objectives include increasing quality and decreasing costs.
Trainee Business Intelligence Analyst
Depending on the industry, a novice business intelligence analyst will work directly with certain departments, according to PayScale. For instance, they may be assigned to work closely with a sales, accounting or software development department. Their primary role is to serve the needs of internal customers who have specific data and analysis requests. They will work with internal clients and other business intelligence analysts to determine the exact needs and key metrics of projects designed to measure business performances. This may be a sales manager who needs to extract and analyze data from a customer relationship management program or an accounting coworker who needs revenue cycle reports. Business intelligence analysts monitor automated reporting dashboards that track key business metrics.
Senior Business Intelligence Analysts
Senior business intelligence analysts spend their time leveraging their technical experience to transform data into actionable business strategies. They are tasked with identifying and developing beneficial business analytics, decision algorithms and management summaries. They provide business data support through finalizing regular and ad hoc reports for various department heads. They oversee the preparation of monthly and quarterly performance reports. As internal problems or customer requests arise, they fine-tune corresponding business metrics and dashboards accordingly. They identify and drive solutions to improve business process efficiency. They also have quantitative analysis responsibilities because they provide support to data management teams, promote new methods of data collection and develop new business decision algorithms.
What Skills are Needed?
First, business intelligence analysts must have strong technical skills because they use complex software programs to mine data sources, search for trends and create customized reports. Second, they need solid analytical skills because a major part of their job involves determining the data pattern meanings. Third, concise communication and presentation abilities are required to expound on multifaceted data to management personnel. Fourth, creative problem-solving skills will be used to translate data results into potential opportunities and actionable recommendations. Fifth, a business intelligence analyst should possess exceptional time management skills because they will continually work on simultaneous large projects with multiple data streams and deadlines.
What Education is Needed?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, business intelligence analysts typically have a bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, management or information technology. Advanced positions may require a master’s degree in math, statistics or economics. Certain corporations require a master’s degree in a field related to the industry or a general MBA degree. Students who want to become business intelligence analysts should take college classes related to applied business analytics. These classes teach students how to properly use optimized modeling techniques like linear, sensitivity and break-even analyses. Database classes are a must and will introduce the student to data mining, processing and warehousing. Alternatively, operations analysis and strategy courses will help students learn how to incorporate business models and systems into their statistical evaluations.
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As markets and industries become more competitive, companies will need a business intelligence analyst to effectively transform raw data into useful business information.
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