Through the course of this article you will unlearn more than you learn. There is an alarming number of misconceptions regarding business analytics and business intelligence (the first one being the interchangeable usage of these two terms). We shall try to bust a few of those and until some effective knowledge about the desirable offerings in a course.
Business analytics is not what it used to be anymore
Contrary to popular opinion, business analytics is not more business and less analytics, not anymore. Things may have been different a few years back but now, if you want to succeed as a business analyst you cannot take the analysis part lightly because if you do, someone might just replace you.
A good course focuses on data and statistics
A good business analytics course will push you to acquire knowledge about data and the various tools and techniques used to handle it. There should be a significant amount of stress laid upon basic statistics and traditional statistical methods.
You should be a master of MS Excel and a good handler of SQL. Do not let them tell you that learning SQL is not important. If you are conversant with SQL that means you do not need to depend on someone else for making the queries of the data.
And before you start learning SQL, it is a good idea to grasp the database theory.
With basic knowledge of SQL and mastery of Excel you can move towards the most important tool in a business analyst’s repertoire.
There must be some focus on Tableau
Separate courses for Tableau are out there by the scores. However, if you are taking up a business analytics course why not choose one that teaches Tableau. Tableau is a widely used tool for business intelligence and data visualization. It has a few analytical features too apart from having the best visualization features. Tableau lets you create insightful presentations at a brisk pace while allowing the stakeholders to easily interact with the presentation.
Getting the business acumen
In order to call yourself a business analyst you need to understand how a business works. A good mentor will help you not only to use the tools and techniques but also to build a perception of business that is piercing, analytical and unbiased. Sacrificing your hunch or intuition for data can be hard. You need to do it day in day out.
Do not stop learning
The certificate you get after completing a BA course is just the means to get started. You can never stop learning. If you have mastered Excel and SQL go for R. If you have mastered R, go for Python. If you have achieved what you wanted to achieve as a business analytics professional aim for something bigger. The online courses have opened up many doors, brought crucial knowledge within the budget. It is an opportune time and there can be no excuse for sitting idle.