Article Contribution by Ms Samantha Sow
Introduction
What if you could analyse your past business performances and results, and use that information to prepare for the future?
This is essentially what business analytics is all about. Business analytics encompasses the extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) of data to create predictive models and the application of optimisation techniques. After which, the insights and results are communicated to employees and customers. In short, it utilises a data-driven methodology, such as statistics and data modeling to create insights for the business.
In today’s business environment, not only is data-driven decision-making fast becoming a norm but people are also using customised dashboards to access information in many organisations. What makes business analytics attractive is the fact that it is adaptable to almost all facets of the business.
Analytics
Every material in our culture ultimately comes from natural resources. To be specific, oil is an important source of primary energy in the world, powering our vehicles, offices, and many more. However, back in 2017, the economist published a story titled, “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data. Because of this abundance of data, the nature of competition changes, giving rise to the titans—Alphabet (Google’s parent
company), Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
Over the last decade, business analytics has undergone some major developments. One big change is our scope of data, due to the phenomenon of increasing amounts, otherwise known as big data. Today, it is not just information and online companies that can build products and services from data insights. In fact, it is every company in every industry.
To illustrate, if your company manufactures, transports, or consumes products, or works with customers, you have a data trail of the activities. Every customer, device, shipment, or consumer leaves a digital trace. You have the ability to analyse these data for the benefit of customers and markets and streamline your operations with data-driven business decisions. In the same manner, the term “data citizen” refers to an employee who uses data to do their job. This data literacy skill is crucial to understanding how we knowingly generate data that directly impacts our lives. As an example, if you are able to extract the full story of data visualisation, you are already one step closer to becoming a data citizen.
Data Citizen
In the Skills Demand for the Future Economy (2022) report, analytics is one of the main priority skills for tech lite roles. If we look at the bar chart, analytics roles that are growing in importance include data analysis/analytics, statistical analysis, big data analysis/analytics, data visualisation, and information modeling application. For the reasons above, you need to be proficient in the skills to realise the full potential of analytics.
A good business analytics course should be technically precise, applied, updated, delivered, and supervised by experts. At NUS Advanced Computing for Executives (ACE), we have developed a business analytics program to train the participants to design and evaluate algorithms and insights using descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive methods. At the end of the programme, participants can acquire competency in using business analytics
tools in their organisations so that they could deploy them in real-world applications.
Make decisions with your data and increase revenue for your organisation by attending this *Professional Certificate in Business Analytics course today!
*Up to 70% Funding. (Terms and Conditions Apply)