Soft Skills and Hard Skills
A Business Analyst first and foremost needs to be a strong communicator and storyteller, Laney says.
Bertsimas agrees, noting that if others in your organization are not able to understand the data, nobody will find your findings useful and needful.
Business-analytics professionals – especially those in senior positions – should also have knowledge of the scientific method, as gathering and conducting analyses, reaching conclusions, and sometimes retesting are a big part of those roles, Laney says. In addition, someone in the field “not only understands the business but understands the data that the business captures and what external data sources might be available and useful,” Laney says.
When it comes to hard skills, learning a programming language can be beneficial, Bertsimas says – perhaps R or Sas or Python. He recommends taking free or low-cost online classes in these areas, as well as in Data Science and Machine Learning.
Laney says a strong knowledge of mathematics and statistics can also be beneficial. However, he notes that “there’s a host of technical products out there for doing visualization and coding algorithms, but they’re always changing.
“I really wouldn’t encourage anyone to get fixated on any kind of technology because it will be secondary in two to three years,” Laney says. “So understand the process for doing Business Analytics, understand the business, the data that’s available, how to gather and prepare data in an organized way.”
Traits and Characteristics
Business- Analyst need an innate curiosity with a willingness and ability to test different hypotheses, Laney says.
They also need to be good at working with, training others, and thus need to manage time.
“Most companies are trying to move toward what’s called ‘self-service analytics,’” Laney says. More and more, he says, companies are training everyone in the organization to be a Business Analytics professional at some level. If you want to join the best Business Analytics Course in Mumbai, Intellipaat is the best option which is collaborated with IBM.
In addition, Bertsimas says Business Analytics professionals need the maturity to understand organizational processes, workflows, and how businesses operate, especially because other employees at your company may use your analyses to make important decisions.
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