Reading news articles and blog posts are beneficial ways to keep up with current news regarding Business Intelligence. Since there is an abundant number of sources, there is always something to read and learn from. Signing up for an account with Morning Brew, IT Brew, DOMO, and Data Pine are some examples of methods to stay notified of daily news. Computer Weekly, InfoWorld, and IT Pro are examples of websites with various articles to learn more about BI and related news. Reading BI blogs and news is useful for everyone, whether you are new in the field or an established professional, because staying up to date is a key component in data-decision decision-making.
There are various trending topics, conducted surveys on a global level, and statistics within the business intelligence realm. As students in the Business Intelligence field, it is important to make it a habit to analyze what we know to figure out patterns and come up with possible answers and findings. In the case of trends, surveys, and statistics in BI, the top trends in 2022 include SaaS/Adoption, Data Literacy, Data Visualization/Storytelling, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Automation.
Having a facts and figures section that explains the BI demographics can provide students with more understanding of the value in the field of study. For example, a few of the articles talk about the different percentages within the mobile business intelligence market and the forecast models that share profits in the field. Other examples include the demographics of the profits made through business intelligence on a global level. When creating this section, keeping up with the trends is part of the business intelligence market. The facts and figures section helps to create a space where students can read about what is known in the industry. Another use is to learn and understand the market through external sources. For example, understanding how one’s role as a business intelligence specialist is important in performing well in a career. Job statistics also show security within the growing need for analysts and data scientists. There are various topics that support student understanding of the value that data brings to various companies. The concepts are applicable in any field requiring research on customers and clients to best suit the needs when making a successful business.
It is important to know the history of BI to further understand the topic. The evolution and formation of BI helps us see the changes over the years and appreciate its present form. Starting off as pen and paper, BI has molded into what we see today just like how technology has formed and made its profound mark in the digital world throughout history. We can see various milestones of BI, from slowly forming in the 1950’s in the Digital Era, continuing to take shape in the 1960’s during the computers and databases, officially marking its presence in the 1970’s during the first BI vendors, the birth of data warehouses in 1980, and so on. As BI continues to grow, we can continue to see new and exciting changes.
Imagine the difficulty in trying to access data regarding billions of people quickly and accurately. This would be even more difficult in a life and death situation; thus, BI is essential and prominent in the healthcare field. Inaccurate data handling, incomplete processing, and poorly designed workflows can be disheartening, disastrous, and costly. To combat such issues, there are various BI tools to help carry out tasks in healthcare, which helps healthcare professionals be more efficient in collecting and analyzing data and information to better serve patients. For example, Domo and Sisense Software help coordinate information, analyze databases, and produce relevant patterns for future use.
BI plays an important role in the government sector since it helps store information of millions of people as well as provide accurate and efficient ways of retrieving data. After implementing BI tools in recent years, citizens can expect quicker and more convenient services and programs from the government to collect, process, and store data. Business intelligence solutions can improve operations in customer intelligence, e-government, and financial and budget management. These methods will help agencies maintain a cross-sectoral environment for all agencies that will lead to building a cost-effective, structured, and citizen-focused system. BI resources such as Tableau, ETL tool, and visualization tool are some of the many tools used by the government. BI serves a vital role for storing data of millions of citizens, since the government can use helpful BI tools for unique identification.
Pursuing higher education is important to advance one’s career and to gain a deeper understanding of one’s intended field of study. Though earning a Bachelor’s in Business Intelligence is enough for several entry-level jobs, earning a Master’s in Business Intelligence can take your career up a notch for favorable positions in the field (especially if your Bachelor’s degree was in a different area of study.) Taking the courses best suited for BI will help you get a richer and extensive knowledge for the field, with common courses including data mining, data warehouse, and database design. Completing certifications (SAS Visual Business Analytics Professional Certificate, Certified Business Intelligence Professional) and becoming familiar with common software (Excel, Tableau, PowerBI) on your own time can help push your career even further.
There are various dashboard and modeling tools used within various companies. Depending on a productivity software tool that companies decide to subscribe to, the different modeling softwares may vary. For example, if a company decides to purchase a Microsoft 360 suite, then most likely the tools used by employees within that organization will use Excel, SQL, and Power BI (which is included in an upgraded business version of the subscription). If a G-Suite is purchased, then Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and various other data processing tools will be used to visualize data through Data studio. Other tools would include Tableau from the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool from Salesforce. All the tools utilize a similar concept of what it means to visualize data. The objectives that fulfill the business requirement are similar. To visualize data means to communicate findings related to one's business. Based on the discoveries made by processing data, teams can make decisions that reflect the data found. This responsibility is held by the business intelligence specialists at the company.
Programming is a key factor in Business Intelligence because it helps process data for useful insights. There are various types of programming software used in BI that help in analyzing data, such as R, SQL, Java, and Excel. One example is ArcGIS, where it uses Python for Location-Based analytics to help collect and analyze various pools of data geographically. There are also ways to program visualizations for data reporting, such as creating databases with SQL. Applications regarding understanding of software programming languages can support student development through the ability to command and execute programs that would help businesses make decisions.
Machine Learning is a valuable concept in the Data Science field. Machine learning is applied in the Business Intelligence field and support analysts and data scientists with conducting the latest trend reports. Text mining is affecting the world we live in today. In the digital scene, most media sharing is through text communication, having a tool to how AI is advancing and how it correlates to Machine Learning within the business intelligence field.
With the vast amount of data available in the digital world, managing data in a company is extremely important. This is made possible through data warehousing, where businesses and organizations can store and secure electronic data. Without the proper storage and organized database, some data may be difficult to find and may also lead to improper or incomplete reports. Ensuring that the quality of your data is in line with the policies that help to keep research ethical is important when a company goes through an audit. The accuracy and completeness are crucial when making reports so that false information is not presented. The time is a crucial element to think about so that companies know how to make predictions in the market for future use or how to improve based on previous data.
It is not only important to keep data secure from external and internal factors, but it is also crucial to continually keep this practice. Data security risks include accidental exposure, phishing, social engineering, insider threats, ransomware, data loss, and injections. Though there are several security risks, there are also various ways to keep data secure. For example, some solutions can be data encryption, data loss prevention, authentication, and antivirus. When it comes to securing big data, it is possible through various services such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Splunk. When dealing with data, it is important to protect both the company as well as the clients.
A big component of Business Intelligence is the integration of both technology and business. The digital transformation is changing the way we make decisions in business through real-time insights and easy-to-understand visualizations. The cross-collaboration with the different departments is what makes Business Intelligence so powerful. There are always technology support organizations that help various departments succeed in their craft. People are integrating technology into their businesses through the digital transformation. For example, Square POS systems make card payments accessible for small businesses. On a larger scale, Business Intelligence may provide Southern California Edison insights about the most common areas of power outages that would help citizens with reliable power and SoCal Edison with their business model.
The job market for those with a Master’s in Business Intelligence is plentiful and rewarding. There are many opportunities in different career paths such as business analyst, data analyst, and data scientist. Those with interests in data analytics, project management, and consulting are well suited to pursue Business Intelligence.
To succeed in acquiring a Master’s in Business Intelligence, individuals need to be analytical, detail-oriented, and logical. They also need to be strong in communicating, critical thinking, organization, problem-solving, and time management. If these skills are not up to par, do not worry because these skills will be formed and strengthened throughout pursuing BI, whether it be soft skills or technical skills. A strong sense of passion for the BI field along with a deeper willingness to learn and grow will help students easily acquire as many skills as possible to succeed. It is important to note that no one knows everything, and that is okay, especially because BI is continually changing and advancing.
Though it is important to pursue an education for Business Intelligence, it is just as important to get involved through the different affiliated organizations and associations. Students can participate and stay active in organizations such as the American Statistical Association, Digital Analytics Association, and Society of Actuaries. These are some of the numerous associations for involvement and resources. Joining affiliated organizations and associations related to BI is beneficial because you get to meet like-minded people, seek out mentors, go through personal and professional development, work with others, and hone essential skills such as communication, organization, leadership, creativity, and critical thinking.
There are also groups that students can join with news of various events and conferences to participate in. There are different BI groups based in different parts of the world such as the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Singapore, so you can choose to either join local groups for a more tight-knit community or international groups to expand your network and connections worldwide.
Business intelligence is incorporated everywhere, even in popular companies such as Starbucks, Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft. These companies use Business Intelligence to examine, analyze, organization, and visualize data. Creating and managing complex data, bringing data and business together, and developing business software are also made possible through BI. The breadth of BI is shown by being used for the different departments in data, finance, marketing, sales, and operations. Companies use BI for a competitive advantage, for using BI leads to success by enabling quick data-informed decision making. Thus, BI is important for companies to be able to handle customer expectations, profit margins, and global competition.
On this page, we would like to mention the contributions and concepts delivered by influencers in Business Intelligence. There are many articles with ranking of the trends and influences that people have provided for the field. It is also valuable to recognize these people’s innovations and concepts that all shaped the analytics world we live in today.
When considering using data, how can we make it accessible to others? What measures must people take to create an ethical workplace when using data? How does diversity affect the business intelligence field? Why is it important to use data ethically and what are some examples of times when data was not used properly? (For example, skewing the data to support marketing efforts would be an unethical way to use data). What are the consequences of breaking data ethics? Organizations are taking note of the value of collecting, processing, and analyzing data. With leading business decisions being supported by data, companies see the impact in the insights.