The rising interest in
courses on Business Analytics (BA) and Business Intelligence (BI) is a
testimony of the salience of data driven decision-making in business
management. Among the benefits that accrue are increased profitability, reduced
cost and informed decision-making.
The most visible aspect
of BA in today’s businesses is the widespread acceptance of its importance by
the C-suite of firms. BA enables
decision makers to make better decisions by accessing data analytics tools,
which previously were thought to be too complex. Data-driven companies are
increasingly using their data as a strategic asset to enhance competitiveness.
However, despite the rising use of BA,
it remains widely misunderstood. So what is BA? BA encompasses
technologies, applications, skills and practices to investigate a firm’s past
business performance to glean insights. BA tools help find meaning in data,
which results in a business improving its Business Intelligence (BI). BA could
involve statistical analysis, predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics, web
analytics etc.
The distinction
between BA and Business
Intelligence (BI) also needs to be understood. BA focuses on uncovering
insights and enables the understanding of business performance based on
statistical methods, quantitative analysis, modeling (explanatory and
predictive) to drive decision-making.
Although, BI also uses data and statistical methods, it is primarily concerned
with using metrics to gauge past performance and guide business planning. Examples of questions answered by
Business Analytics are “why did this happen”, “what if this trends continues”, etc.
Examples of questions answered by BI are “what happened”, “how many times did
it happen”, etc.
Increasingly, using BA,
companies are getting better at anticipating
and predicting outcomes and trade-offs proactively. Most
importantly, BA is empowering companies
by allowing them to use information with confidence, which helps them act on
their insights to improve business outcomes.
At Woxsen, we believe in
training our students on the latest management practices. BA/BI are an integral
part of the curriculum for both the PGPXP and the PGDM programs. The students
are made to work on real life problems using large real life databases. The
exposure at Woxsen, through a learning of the theoretical concepts and a
hands-on use of BA/BI tools is designed to equip our students to effortlessly
fit into a work environment that is increasingly moving towards data driven
decision making.