Data is a big thing in today’s world; and it is also key in the business world, to help predict problems and prescribe solutions. And for this reason, business analytics are very important to foster growth in your business.
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What are business analytics certifications?
Business Analytics certifications are certifications that educate one on the principles and practical application of business analytics, to grow a business. They equip one with knowledge on how to find, understand and analyze data, how to present the results of the analysis, draw meaningful conclusions from it, and give recommendations on what can be done, to further grow the business.
Business Analytics certifications help one to process historical business data, and analyze the data to identify trends, patterns, root causes, etc. to help in making informed decisions to move the business forward, based on the result gotten from the analysis.
There are four methods of business analytics, which include:
1. Descriptive Analysis: The descriptive analysis analyzes trends and patterns to tell us what has happened in the past.
2. Predictive Analysis: This is used to show us what can happen in the future.
3. Diagnostic Analysis: This is used to tell us why something happened. It is used to diagnose causes.
4. Prescriptive Analysis: This involves the testing of other techniques, to determine which outcome would yield the best result in certain situations.
Benefits of getting a Certification in Business Analytics
There are many benefits to be gotten from acquiring a business analytics certification, and they are as follows:
Business Analytics certifications help to predict what would happen in a business cycle or year, judging from trends and patterns of other business cycles and years. This is important to help a business change their strategy, if the current strategy being employed is not to their advantage, and would only bring worse results at the end of the business year.
Also, business analytics certifications help one to make informed business decisions. Information is key before one makes any decision in life, and this also applies in business. Business Analytics provides one with information, that guides one’s decision making, to grow a business.
Another benefit to be derived from getting a business analytics certification is that it helps you build credibility in your field. This is important, as the certification would expose you to a wealth of knowledge that makes you stand out in your field, as an expert.
Business analytics certification also qualifies you for better job opportunities and better pay, as a result of the certification, certifying you as an expert in the field.
Business experts also need business analytics certifications to bring about improved operational efficiency, and to help predict problems before they come, to be able to prepare well to solve them.
Also, businesses that have employed business analytics has experienced tremendous growth in their finance, as the benefits to be enjoyed far exceed the cost.
How much does a business analytics certification cost?
There are different business analytics certifications that one can enrol for, based on the area of specialization and interest.
The cost to be incurred includes the application fee, exam fee and exam re-write fee. However, these fees differ, based on if you are a non-member, a member or a corporate member.
On average, the total fee should cost $300-$500.
How long does a business analytics certification last for?
A Business Analytics certification lasts for about 3 years, after which you would be required to renew it.
How much can one earn with a Business Analytics Certification?
On an average entry-level scale, one can earn $68,000 per year. And generally, one can earn between $40,000-$100,000 per year.
Steps to Getting a Business Analytics Certification
There are some steps to take, to get your business analytics certification, and they are as follows:
To start with, choose the certification you would like to get. Business Analytics certifications differ, depending on the level of expertise. There is the ECBA, CCBA and CBAP, ranging from entry-level to the expert level in business analytics.
Then, you need to log your professional development hours, and hours of professional experience in the field, before you can begin any of these certifications. Once you have done this, you can then proceed to the next step.
The next thing to do is to examine and learn about the areas of competencies required in the examination and start studying those areas. Also, get the examination blueprints and past questions, to help you in studying and preparing for the sort of questions that may be asked in the examination.
Afterwards, start studying for the examination with materials gotten and also with past questions. After which you would then be ready to take your certification examination. For the core certifications, you should first pay the application and examination fee, while for specialized certification, you can pay just the examination fee to get started.
Then begin the process of registering and scheduling your examination.
Jobs you can get with a Business Analytics Certification
There are various job opportunities out there, for business analytics experts, which would set one on a beautiful journey to career growth and success. Below are some of the jobs you can get with a business analytics certification:
1. Market Research Analyst: A market research analyst is responsible for the collection and analysis of data and information on consumers and market trends. They make use of qualitative and quantitative research, to help people understand insights that would help their businesses.
2. Process Analyst: A process analyst is responsible for improving business performance, through the strategic analysis of data and information gotten from the process with which the business is run. Process analysts work in the IT department of businesses, to get information that can be used to improve the business process.
3. Management Analyst: Another important job that one can do with a business analytics certification is that of a management analyst. A management analyst is responsible for collecting data, analyzing the data and using the results to recommend solutions that would increase the performance, drive and efficiency of an organization.
4. Consultancy: As business analytics certified professional, you can also consult for businesses, to solve problems they are encountering in your area of expertise in business analytics.
5. Quantitative Analysis: As a business analytics expert, you can also work as a quantitative analyst in a financial company, where you collect and use data to manage risks, decide investment options to invest in; to get the best yield. A quantitative analyst can also work in fixed income, investments, valuation and strategies, equity valuation, derivatives, etc.
6. Data Scientist: A data scientist is concerned with getting and generating actionable and useful information, from analyzing data. They focus on building complex models and simulations in a big-data environment. As a business analytics expert, you can also work as a data analyst, using data to get actionable and useful information.
7. Data Business Analyst: A data business analyst is competent and knowledgeable about the technical component relating to managing and manipulating data. They understand the relationship between the variables and also identify potentially meaningful patterns within data. They then make use of these observations to understand businesses and point to areas where the business can target in the future for more impact and sales. They are relevant in every aspect of a business, and you can work as a data business analyst with a business analytics certification.
10 Business Analytics Certifications you should get immediately
There are many business analytics certifications that you can get to boost your career in business analytics, and we shall examine some of them here:
1. Wharton’s Business Analytics Specialization Course by Coursera:
This is a business analytics course by Coursera, which exposes learners to how data is used to describe, predict and make informed business decisions. The course focuses on four key areas, which include: Marketing, Human Resource & Talent Management, Operations, and Finance. And it has four targeted courses such as Customer Analytics, Operations Analytics, People Analytics and Accounting Analytics.
Wharton’s Business Analytics Specialization Course has a capstone project, where learners apply knowledge gained in practical situations, to get hands-on experience. The course takes a duration of 20 weeks, with an allocation of 2-5 hours per week.
2. Advanced Business Analytics Specialization by University of Colorado (Coursera):
This course equips you with business analytical skills, which enables you to make use of data to solve complex business problems. Skills such as how to extract, and manipulate data using SQL Code, how to execute statistical analysis for descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analysis, how to discuss, interpret and predict analytical results, etc. are taught.
The program has five courses, namely: Introduction to Data Analytics for business, Predictive Modelling and Analytics, Business Analytics for Decision Making, Communicating Business Analytics Results and Advanced Business Analytics, etc. The course takes a duration of 4-5 months, with a study time of about 3-5 hours, per week.
3. Business Analytics MicroMasters Certification by Columbia University (edX):
This is a series of 4 graduate-level courses, which gives insights to help learners understand and improve business performance, with the use of data. It also exposes one to how to use statistical and quantitative analysis to make informed decisions.
The program covers analytics in python, data, models and decisions in business analytics, demand and supply analytics, marketing analytics, etc. The course takes a duration of 12 weeks to complete, per course; i.e. 48 weeks is required to complete the entire program; and about 8-10 hours of study is required per week.
4. Business Analytics -Nanotechnology Program (Udacity):
In this course, one would be exposed to foundational data skills that apply across several functions and industries. The course focuses on how to collect and analyze data, model business scenarios, and present results with devices, such as Excel, Tableau, SQL. It is an introductory program that focuses on courses, such as introduction to data, SQL for data analytics, data visualization, etc.
The course takes about 3 months, with an allocation of 10 hours per week for completion.
5. Business Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making by Boston University (edX):
In this business analytics program, learners would be taught how to create compelling data visualizations and how to use the tools to achieve that. It is an advanced level course, and an elementary level knowledge in statistics would help during the program.
It also teaches the end-to-end process of making effective data-driven and evidence-based decisions. The course is a part of two MicroMasters programs, which are Digital Product Management and Digital Leadership. It takes a duration of 8 weeks, with 3-6 hours of study per week.
6. Strategic Business Analytics Specialization by ESSEC Business School (Coursera):
This course is designed to help one learn how to practically apply business analytics techniques and Big Data. It exposes one to how data can be used to leverage data sets and interpret them, and how to present this interpretation to stakeholders, for the sake of making decisions.
The program has four courses, which are: Foundations of strategic business analytics, foundations of marketing analytics, case studies in business analytics with Accenture, and Capstone project. It takes 16 weeks, with a study time of 2-5 hours per week, for completion.
7. Business Analytics by Harvard Business School:
The business analytics program by Harvard Business School borders on the quantitative methods used to analyze data to make better management decisions.
The course contains five modules, which include: Describing and Summarizing data, Sampling and Estimation, Hypothesis Testing, Single Variable Linear Regression, Multiple Regression. It takes 8 weeks to complete the course.
8. SAS Visual Business Analytics Professional Certificate by Coursera:
Here, you would learn how to access and manipulate data, analyze data with various kinds of interactive reports and designs, to visualize the data. The course also exposes one to how to prepare Data using SAS Data Studio, etc.
9. IBM Data Analytics with Excel and R Professional Certificate by Coursera:
This course is focused on teaching how to use Excel spreadsheets to perform a variety of data analysis tasks, such as data wrangling, using pivot tables, etc.
Also, one would learn how to create relational databases and tables, query data, sort, filter and aggregate results with the use of SQL and R from Jupyteslab. Learners would be exposed to skills such as data analytics and modelling, data science, pivot table, Cognos analytics, dashboards, etc.
10. Data Analyst Master’s Program:
In this program, you would learn how to work with SQL databases, the language of R and Python, how to create data visualizations, how to interpret data in python using multi-dimensional arrays in Numpy, etc.
The program also exposes one to how to use clustering methods including K-means, DBSCAN, hierarchical clustering, etc. It has a total of six courses.
Business analytics is important in every business to foster growth and be able to predict and solve problems, as they occur. It is truly a valuable skill and certification to acquire.
FAQs
Business Analytics certifications are certifications that educate one on the principles and practical application of business analytics, to grow a business.
On average, the total fee for a business analytics certification costs $300-$500.
A Business Analytics certification lasts for about 3 years, after which you would be required to renew it.
1. Market Research Analyst
2. Process Analyst
3. Management Analyst
4. Consultancy
5. Quantitative Analysis
6. Data Scientist
7. Data Business Analyst
References
- online.hbs.edu/blog/post/importance-of-business-analytics
- iiba.org/business-analysis-certifications/4-simple-steps-to-business-analysis-certification/
- online.hbs.edu/courses/business-analytics/#syllabus
- coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-data-analyst-r-excel/
- simplilearn.com/data-analyst-masters-certification-training-course/
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