SOLUTION BRIEF
Top Analytics Skills In Demand — The Focus Is On Business, Not Tech A report from MONEY, a division of Time magazine, identified the ability to handle big data as a primary job skill in today’s marketplace.1 Robert Half found that accounting firms increasingly want their workers to be able to handle analytics.2 The same goes for marketers, an Econsultancy study found.3 As organisations build their operations around data, skills development for analytics professionals may not be so much about analysing data as it is about gaining a better understanding of how different lines of business work. That said, analysts still need to have the expertise to handle robust data sets, regardless of how they are trying to apply that information. Here’s a look at foundational, practitioner-level, and advanced business analytics skills.
Foundational Skills Understanding how a business works, how processes intersect, and what can be done to optimise, automate, and improve operations underpins all of the work performed by analytics professionals. In today’s operational climate,
that means having the ability to deeply understand how day-to-day operations impact the customer experience. An Accenture study found that improving the customer experience is emerging as a priority for the majority of businesses, and companies are looking to digital technologies to help them achieve the goal.4 With this in mind, foundational skills for business analysts include: • Using business process analysis and optimisation tools to eliminate roadblocks to digital innovation • Making data actionable for end users so they can use analytics information and similar details to improve the customer experience. • Creating efficient data workflows in background apps and services to interconnect processes. Analysing data, and applying the results of that analysis to the business, requires an acute awareness of process optimisation best practices — making business process improvement skills foundational for any analyst.
Practitioner Skills Business process improvement covers the big-picture idea of what an analyst needs to handle, but the day-to-day work comes down to being able to dig into data sets and turn the large quantities of information businesses handle each day actionable for the business. The MONEY report mentioned earlier also found that analysis skills can lead to a salary jump. Analysts with expertise in Statistical Analytics System technologies
Continued on next page
0800 282 353 • LearningTree.co.uk
SOLUTION BRIEF Top Analytics Skills In Demand — The Focus Is On Business, Not Tech (continued)
can expect an approximate salary boost of 6.1 percent compared to other professionals. Additionally, experts in data mining and warehousing are, on average, seeing salary increases of 5.1 percent, and those with skills in data modeling experience a five percent salary increase.
Algorithms and similarly established procedures are useful. Every business is unique enough that demand for custom algorithm creation isn’t disappearing. However, the speed at which machines can learn when they are programmed to do so is staggering, and analysts that deliver on this potential could become invaluable to the business.
Leadership
Advanced Skills Data analysis is in such great demand that the list of useful advanced skills could go on and on, however, there are two key areas of emphasis stand out.
Machine Learning Data creation rates are escalating to a point that algorithms are going to become far less than ideal when it comes to identifying trends and takeaways from large data sets. With technologies gaining prominence, such as self-driving cars and robots that can work alongside humans on the factory floor, business analysis professionals who drive machine learning forward can gain a huge edge in helping organisations unlock the next generation of big data functionality.
With more and more line-of-business units looking to build analytics into their operations, and more businesses building their core strategies around data, analysts have an opportunity to drive positive change and innovation in enterprise environments. The problem is that business analysts also have a reputation for being somewhat reclusive people who reside in the background, and interact with computers and robots instead of people — and those stereotypes aren’t exactly conducive to helping big data professionals gain inroads into other parts of the organisation. Analysts who develop soft skills, learn how to lead, and become experts at operating businesses and managing people can position themselves for career growth as more companies embrace data.
The business analysis sector is facing a great deal of change. Learning Tree offers the combination of technical, business, and leadership training that analysts need to get ahead — or that organisations can use to guide the leaders of the future.
Sources: 1 http://time.com/money/4328180/most-valuable-career-skills/ 2 https://www.roberthalf.com/finance/blog/essential-business-analytics-skills-for-finance-professionals 3 https://econsultancy.com/reports/measurement-and-analytics-report/ 4 https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/improving-customer-experience-is-top-business-priority-forcompanies-pursuing-digital-transformation-according-to-accenture-study.htm
0800 282 353 • LearningTree.co.uk UK1611 AnalyticSkillsSB