Businesses today operate in a hyper-competitive data-driven environment. Through the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data, digital society produces tons of information every minute. The problem is to drive any sense of this raw data and filter useful information from the bulk. It is the same as trying to make a building out of bricks. That’s what business analytics is all about.

Business analytics deals with collecting, aligning, processing, and analyzing business data using highly specialized iterative methodologies and statistical models. A business analyst’s ultimate goal revolves around producing glean actionable business insights to solve any organizational problems. Therefore, they are responsible for increasing the productivity, efficiency, and revenue of any system. In broader terms, business analytics finds its application in every field. Due to its extensive demand and high pay off, Harvard Business Review called the job of data analyst “The Sexiest Job of the 20th Century”.

Let us dive into the top 5 applications of business analytics that are in demand in 2021.

APPLICATIONS OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS:

Most industries use business analytics on a day to day basis. Following are the most demanding and practical applications of business analytics:

MARKETING

Every company is interested in knowing the market trends and customer behavior. That’s why business analytics is gaining its ground in the marketing field. A business analyst helps to determine

• the effectiveness of marketing campaigns
• the use of social media to reach the marketing goals
• insight of the targeted audience and their demand
• the potential markets which promise massive growth

Marketing is one of the most top-rated business analytics applications. Business analysts help companies beat the competition, win customer trust, and lead at the global level. For this purpose, companies are willing to pay hundreds of dollars in salary to the business analyst in the marketing department. In the US, a Marketing Business Analyst has an average salary of $77,017 to $126000 per year. Amazing, right.

However, the question is what you need to step into the competitive market as a business analyst. Get a Master of Business Analytics or MBAN to come forward in the market as a doyen of your field. You do not need to opt for a full-time on-campus program. Go for an online master’s program and also work on the field side by side. In this way, you can come forward with high qualifications and experience at the same time.

HUMAN RESOURCES

The HR department is one of the most sophisticated areas of any company responsible for its growth. It would be no exaggeration to say that the company will be no more than a bluff pack without HR.

HR works to find the right candidate, work according to their perspective, and keep them on board. Business analysts see a significant role in this department. He works to find a highly competitive candidate by looking into their educational background, average employment, attrition rate, etc. Business analysts and HR work in concord to filter the best match for the company among thousands of candidates.

In this way, the company can have highly professional high performing candidates with the right skill set on the board.

FINANCE

The financial world is one of the most unpredictable and volatile places. Every organization strives to pass on its tricky terrains to gain maximum profit. However, no company can succeed in it without the professional command and skill of a business analyst. A business analyst works in banking, forecasting, financial planning, budgeting, and portfolio management. The professional insight in these areas can help the company maneuver their ways smartly to reach far beyond their destination.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

Outstanding development in customer relations is compulsory for any company to retain customer trust and loyalty. Business analysts in CRM systems analyze the most critical performance indicators to improve brands’ customer relations to keep the customer in the business for the long haul. It analyzes lifestyle, demographics, socio-economic information, and buying patterns.

MANUFACTURING

Business analysts help stakeholders by retrieving information from the raw data. It will help them understand the most critical steps of operations they need to consider to produce a better product. Business analysts identify and streamline equipment downtime, maintenance costs, inventory levels, risks, supply-chain management, and inventory management.

CONCLUSION

Today’s versatile and fast-growing digital world calls for business analyst demand in every department of life. Due to this, in the US, there were 2.7 million job openings for business analysts in 2020. This number will grow by at least 14% by the end of 2024. Business analytics becomes the source of high paying jobs. It becomes a stepping to other advantageous career paths, e.g., data science.