How to become a Business Intelligence Analyst

Business Intelligence has become one of the top most method of eyeing the competition in the market. And it is adopted by companies to make sure that they are fully aware of the market trends so that they are ahead of their competitors. Business Intelligence is actually a process that incorporates latest technology and softwares for analyzing market trends and data and then converts it to useful and meaningful information. This information is then used by managers, higher officials and executives to make informed decisions that would be beneficial for the company.

Business intelligence is a very important tool these days. It is actually because of a couple of reasons:

Time saving: Business intelligence utilizes softwares which produces accurate and precise results. But most importantly it produces results in a very short or no time. Thus companies can stay ahead of each other.
Comparative effect: The softwares used for business intelligence have an edge. They not only compute data, but they also compare the data with the previous logs in their system. This helps them in making a historically informed decision.

The person who is responsible for collecting all the business intelligence for a company is the business intelligence analyst. And he/she is actually an integral part of the decisions made by a company. As the success and failure of the company depends on the information he/she brought in.

Role of a Business Intelligence Analyst
Career path of Business Intelligence Analyst
Business Intelligence Analyst Salary
Business Intelligence Analyst Jobs Market Trends
Top Business Intelligence Tools
Business Intelligence Analyst Interview Questions
Final Thoughts

Role of a Business Intelligence Analyst:

To put it in a nutshell, a business analyst converts data into useful and meaningful information. That’s all. But it is not as simple as it seems. The process of converting information to data is tedious as well as complex.

The business intelligence analyst uses techniques such as data modeling, data visualization, data analysis and data mining plus softwares such as Datapine, MicroStrategy and Microsoft Power BI to get the information required for the company. If you’re looking to enhance your data analysis skills, our Microsoft Power BI Desktop for Business Intelligence Course Review offers a comprehensive look at what to expect.

Some of the things that are accounted as part of the job description of Business intelligence analyst are:

Collection of raw data and converting to meaningful information.
Supplying the information to relevant departments.
Coordinating between departments to get their hands on the information they need.
Keeping the IT department in loop on the availability and acquisition of new softwares and tools.
Making a database of the record collected by them.

Career path of Business Intelligence Analyst:

There is a good demand of a business intelligence analyst in the market so a lot of people are aspirants to become a business intelligence analyst but they do not know the path they should take to get what they want. You can learn Business Intelligence without cost by enrolling in these free and highly recommended courses.

1. Under-grad Degree:

One may think that as the name includes business then he or she must have an undergraduate degree with business majors. But that is not the scenario. This is the world of computer. And the trivial days of business management and intelligence is over. Thus one can have an under-grad degree with subjects like engineering, computer science, business administration, information systems and data science and can still pursue the career of a Business Intelligence Analyst.

Since this subject is as related to computers as it is to business management, the students should also have a know-how of data analysis, data mining, database design etc. And the students should also be skilled in data entry and calculation software’s such as Excel, Matlab and SQL.

2. Getting an Internship:

Getting an internship is also of vital importance to this career selection. The most important yet ridiculous thing about getting an internship is that it would let the students know what stuff they are getting into. And if they think that this is not their cup of tea then they may exit this career there and then. Some real perks of getting an internship are:

It looks good on the CV. Yes, you heard us right. If you get an internship at a good and reputable company after graduation or during your degree then it can add great value to your CV and resume. It would also reflect your commitment and dedication towards your career to the companies hiring you.
Hands on experience gala. Internships like these are also of a great benefit for the students. They get a glimpse of the work that they would have to do in the industry. Also they are among the lower staff in the office thus they get to do more work than anyone else. This also adds a lot to their practical experience.
Getting an internship is also beneficial because it helps the students to form connections with other fellow students. And these connections turn out to be of vital importance in the future.

Thus after you graduate or during your degree you must consider a job as a data analyst, data miner, data report writer or business analyst. These jobs will help you in getting in proper shape for your job in the industry.

3. Getting Professionally Certified by an Institution:

Getting a professional certification if also of vital importance to this career path. You can get a professional certificate in any of the following fields if you want to take up this career path:

Business management: You can get a certified professional business manager by taking up and completing a course from the esteemed Harvard University. And you also do not need to be on campus for it. This course can be taken up and completed online from the comfort of your homes.
Computer Science: It is also another online course that can be completed from Harvard University or University of Virginia. Both these course teach the fundamentals of computer science and also offer a professional certificate. Moreover, these courses are free. And after completing these courses you can pursue career as business intelligence analyst.

Now let us talk about the perks of getting Professionally Verified.

Frankly speaking, getting professionally verified looks good on the CV. It tells the company that you already have a lot of experience in the field. And it indirectly reflects your commitment and dedication.
Some companies at the time of recruitment are hesitant in hiring candidates that have no knowledge of the field because they believe that would have to teach the candidate. But if you have a professional certificate then they would hire you without hesitation.
Another perk is similar to the one mentioned above. It helps you develop connections with the professionals in the market. And these connections might come in handy during the time of a job hunt. You can check out Best Business Intelligence Tools.

The best professional certification that you can get to pursue a career in business intelligence analyzation is Microsoft’s Certified Solutions Expert in business intelligence. This certification shows two main things. First is that you have the necessary skills in SQL to perform your tasks efficiently. Secondly, it shows that you can also implement data mining techniques in daily life.

4. A Professional Resume:

After a student has fulfilled the above criterion, the next thing that he or she set his or her sight’s to is to get a professional resume done. One of the fundamental mistake that students make these days is that despite having a very good professional and educational history, their CV is not so impactful and strong. It lacks to reflect all the achievements the students have made in educational and professional fields. And according to topresume.com a resume only can boost the hiring and earning potential of a student by 37%. Thus job aspiring students should definitely pay a lot of attention to their CVs as they are the only thing that advocate for them in front of the employer.

Now the best advice to the students in the regard of getting a CV done is to get it done professionally. We say this because we know a student does not have the experience of making an eye catching CV. But if they hire a company to do so then they would not only get an impactful CV in low cost but their chances of landing a job will also increase.

5. Apply for Jobs & Land a Job as BI Analyst:

The most important part of this entire discussion is to apply and land a job. Because of rejections, job hunt is a real nightmare for the students. Because rejection lowers the morale of the students. And some of the students also get during the process. But do not worry. We have solution for that too. A few tips for landing a job in your desired domain are:

Website newsletter: We advise our audience to go and find websites that post updates on the latest jobs in the markets and the trends of all the jobs that are demand in the market. And once when you have found such websites subscribe to their newsletter. These will keep you updated of all the jobs that you want to have.
Facebook Groups: Another easy yet effective technique is to join Facebook and social media groups. These groups also share relative information which might prove effective for you guys.
Connections and relations: You remember that we talked about relations and connections forming in the above paragraph. Well this is where such relations come in handy. The students who are looking for jobs can help each other better than anyone else. If a student comes across a job opening at a faraway place where he or she cannot go, he might refer the job to a fellow student who can take it. This student can in turn help another student in the future. Thus these connections can be mutually beneficial for a lot of candidates.

6. Get Advanced/Specialized BI Skills:

Another advice that we would give to our students is that they should enroll for further studies in their subjects once when they have achieved their primary objective. It is because learning never stops. And there will always be new horizons to explore.

Thus we would encourage our students to enroll in Masters level study after they land a job. It would also help paving the way for their promotion.

Business Intelligence Analyst Salary:

One thing that our viewers are most interested to know is about the salary offered in the career that they are about to adopt. But you don’t need to worry. We have also covered that in our topic here.

Similarly, according to zippia.com in America a business intelligence analyst earns on average around $75,000 annually. Where if you look closely you will see that a base level entrant earns around $56,000 whereas the top tier employees make roughly around $97,000.

So to all our viewers we say that they daringly take up this career. It will be very beneficial for them on monetary grounds. You might also be interested in Business Intelligence Analyst Salary Stats.

Business Intelligence Analyst Jobs Market Trends:

Another unbelievable thing about this job is that it is also a top trend for the market and it has been a top trend for a couple of years as well. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of America this field offered 1.5 million jobs to people in 2018 and it is expected to rise to 2.3 million jobs by the year 2026.

And it has been regarded as one of the most important jobs in business according to Forbes. The media magnate also remarked that this will be a highly profitable job as long as people are running their business. Which almost means that it will be a profitable job for a very long time. you can checkout Business Intelligence Analyst Jobs Market Trends.

Top Business Intelligence Tools:

Now let us talk about the top softwares and tools available in the market to help business intelligence analysts.

Tableau: Tableau is a data visualization software that is owned by Salesforce group of companies. It is one of the top rated BI tools from many major companies. It can represent information in the form of graphs, pie charts, excel sheets and many other different formats.With being the best software, it is also the most expensive software for Business Intelligence as well. It costs over $70 per month and is billed annually. Thus annually it costs $840.
Datapine: It is a paid software tool that can also be used as an extension. It is a very comprehensive easy to use platform with a very good graphics user interface. The best thing about this software is that it is easy to use for non-technical users also.
MicroStrategy: MicroStrategy is another tool that provides the facilities of business analytics, business management and data mining. It has another upside that it can be connected to various sources and can be viewed on multiple screens. It also supports multiple file formats including spreadsheets.
Microsoft Power BI: This software from Microsoft comes in the form of yearly payment basis. It is a tool that can be used as an extension on other browsers including Microsoft edge. This is one of the most useful tools but it is a little to work with.

Business Intelligence Analyst Interview Questions:

One of the most important things to do before an interview is to know the kind of questions that you are about to be asked. It is important because mostly the interviewers ask simple technical questions regarding the field to test your knowledge. But sometimes you might be asked a tough question to check your wit and presence of mind as well as your knowledge. Thus we have gathered a few questions from different sources that will give you an idea of the type of questions that you will be asked.

You can be asked to perform a data query during your interview to test your skills.
You can be asked about your tough past experience to judge your presence of mind and problem solving ability.
You can be inquired about SQL and its different parts.
You can be asked to give a demonstration of your knowledge of data mining to see if you are worthy of being recruited or not.
You can be challenged by providing you with company’s real data to see if you can properly anticipate the market trends or not.
Most importantly you can be asked about the different softwares and BI tools in the market to judge your technical abilities. You can also find out Business Etiquette courses.

So in the end for our concluding remarks, we advise you all to go for this job and try as hard as you can to make it big in this field. And do follow the tips that we gave you. They will surely help you. If you think that this was helping, then please tell us. And if you think we missed anything than do reach out to us. We would appreciate your feedback.