We know this is a confusing question to ask. You are probably wondering why would not the business analyst and data analyst be involved in technical projects? The truth is, it really depends on the task at hand. In some cases, there is an interaction between the two roles, but it comes down to how the role of business analysts evolved over time and how we will begin to see business analysts in their true form over the next few years.
Therefore, in this blog, we will discuss how a business analyst or data analyst is not a non-technical job. Keep reading this blog to know the facts.
What Is Business Analysis?
Business analysis is a fully automated tool. It has gained popularity in the recent past without any drastic changes in its structure or methodology. The top-rated business analysts are hired by companies that have to optimize the profit and avoid losses due to various reasons. These reasons involve bad planning, shortage of workforce, rise in salary costs, etc. The business analysis develops solutions for such problems.
As digitalization and technology continue to transform the way we live, businesses have established themselves and created new ways of doing business that ensure their success. Business analysis has been around for a while and still continues to evolve in order to keep up with the demands of today’s digital age and business requirements.
Who Is A Business Analyst?
Business analysts play an important role in many organizations. They analyze data and provide solutions for many IT-related problems. Business analysts have many opportunities to grow and gain skills within their careers. They can earn different certifications and training that help them to grow.
Getting a relevant certificate within your domain helps to solidify your knowledge and skills. It also helps you to stand out from other candidates. Employers often prefer certified professionals over uncertified candidates.
BA works to improve the processes of a company. They bridge the gap between IT and the business structure. Business analyst aims to improve the software, services, and product processes. These are the processes that the company uses or offers.
Business analysts test the IT-related needs of a company. They also provide solutions that make a business system strong. To perform these tasks, BA uses data analytics. For instance, a BA identifies the IT needs of an organization and provides IT solutions to meet those needs.
Business Analyst Job Profile
Business Analysts are responsible for analyzing and interpreting business needs, processes, and procedures. They must then translate these needs into appropriate technical solutions by conducting research, gathering requirements, and developing functional specifications. Business Analysts typically work in an Agile environment and may utilize a variety of tools to help them do their job.
The duties of a Business Analyst may include:
- Research technologies and services to determine what is available and how they can be used to meet the company’s goals.
- Identifying project requirements by communicating with stakeholders and users to understand their needs and goals.
- Creating detailed functional specifications based on requirements gathered from other sources such as interviews or surveys.
- Developing test plans that include test cases that can be used when testing software programs or applications once they are developed by programmers or software developers.
- Creating user manuals or training materials for software programs or applications once they have been developed by programmers or software developers.
What Is Data Analysis?
Data analysis involves looking at the data and finding patterns in the data. The data can be in any number of formats, including numbers, text, or images. Data analysis is used to gain insights into a wide range of topics such as customer behavior, product sales, and competition. The results of your analysis can help you create better products or marketing strategies for your company.
Data analysis differs from other types of analyses because it requires that you have access to large amounts of data. For example, if you are analyzing customer feedback about your product on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, you need to have access to all these comments so that you can find patterns among them. You can’t analyze just a few comments because they won’t give you enough information about how customers feel about your product or service.
Data analysis is also different from other types of analyses because it requires advanced knowledge of statistics and mathematics. In fact, many companies hire people with degrees in statistics and mathematics as data analysts because these individuals are well-equipped to handle large amounts of complex data sets and find meaningful patterns within them quickly.
Who Is A Data Analyst?
A data analyst is someone who works with data to help users make better decisions. They gather, clean, analyze and visualize data to help people make sense of it.
The role of a data analyst has become increasingly important in recent years thanks to the rise in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and automation. As more companies turn to these technologies for their business processes, there is an increased need for humans who can understand the results they produce — which is where a good data analyst comes in.
Data analysts have always been important, but their roles are changing as technology becomes more advanced. They are now tasked with gathering large amounts of information from different sources and using it to come up with new strategies or develop new products and services for clients. This can be done through the use of software programs like SQL (Structured Query Language) or Python that allow them to work with databases or APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Data analysts are also responsible for cleaning up their data so that it’s easier for other people to understand what they’ve found.
Data Analyst Job Profile
The main role of a data analyst is to take raw data and turn it into something that can be used by others in the organization. This means taking raw sales figures from different regions, for example, and turning them into reports showing how each region performed compared with the company’s overall sales target for the quarter or year. The same applies to customer data: Once collected by sales staff or call center operators, this information needs to be analyzed so that managers can see which customers are most profitable for the company or where customers are most likely to respond positively to offers made by sales staff on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
Data analysts may be asked to perform the following tasks:
- Analyze data to generate reports and recommendations on how to improve business processes
- Identify potential areas of improvement within an organization based on existing data
- Build metrics dashboards to help visualize key performance indicators (KPIs) across departments
- Perform research into customer behavior by looking at social media posts and other sources of unstructured data
- Build models based on past events to predict future outcomes
- Analyze historical sales figures and customer behaviors to identify new opportunities for growth
Is The Business Analyst Or Data Analyst A Non-Technical Job?
The truth is that business analysts and data analysts can be both technical and non-technical. The Business Analyst and Data Analyst are two of the most common job titles in the IT industry. The business analyst role is often confused with that of a data scientist or data analyst.
The main difference between the two roles is that business analysts focus on gathering, understanding, and communicating business requirements, while data analysts focus on gathering, understanding, and communicating data.
However, this does not mean that a good data analyst cannot do business analysis or vice versa. In fact, a great business analyst should also be able to do some basic data analysis.
A good business analyst understands what questions need to be answered and understands how the data can help answer those questions. A good data analyst knows how to use the right tools (including Excel) to collect, analyze and present the necessary information needed by their organization.
Technical Skills That Every Business Analyst Must Have
Business analysts are often referred to as non-technical because they do not need to know how to write code. However, this does not mean that they do not need to understand technology or data. A good business analyst should be familiar with the latest technologies and how they can be used in their organization.
Data Analysis
Business analysts must be able to analyze data from various sources, including websites, social media channels, customer surveys, and other sources. They often use data visualization tools such as charts and graphs to present this information in a clear manner that is easy for others to understand. Business analysts also use their analytical skills when creating reports based on their findings.
Data Visualization
The ability to visualize data is an essential skill for any BA because it allows them to present their findings clearly and concisely so that other stakeholders can understand them easily. BAs may use tools such as graphs or charts in order to make their findings clear and understandable for others within the organization who aren’t familiar with data analysis techniques.
Technical Understanding
Business analysts need a basic understanding of how technology works so they can communicate effectively with technologists who are building software applications or implementing systems upgrades or enhancements. For example, they may need to explain what type of user interface a particular feature requires or how it should work when implemented correctly.
Software Development Skills
Business analysts need strong software development skills because they often work with developers when creating new solutions for clients’ problems.
SQL (SQL Server)
SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is used by database management systems such as Microsoft’s SQL Server. Business analysts often use SQL queries when analyzing data stored in a database.
Other technical skills that every business analyst must acquire are:
- Data visualization
- Excel pivot tables
- Tableau (or other visual analytics software)
- SAS or R (statistical software)
- Power BI (Microsoft’s data visualization tool)
- Python (or another programming language)
- Access (Microsoft’s database software)
- Java (or another programming language)
A good place to start is by reading the job description for your dream position. If you see any technical skills in there, then make sure you have at least some knowledge of them before applying.
Technical Skills That Every Data Analyst Must Have
Data analysts are the people who translate data into information. They should be able to apply their knowledge of statistics and mathematics, such as probability and statistical analysis, in order to extract useful information from raw data.
Data analysts also use their programming skills to write programs that can manipulate data, extract patterns and trends, and even predict future behavior. The following are some of the most common technical skills that every data analyst must have:
Data Visualization
Visualizing your data can help you make sense of it, find trends and patterns, spot anomalies, and make decisions based on what you see in the graph or chart. Data visualization is not only an art but also a science that helps you understand the relationship between different variables more clearly than reading numbers alone would allow you to do so.
Data Wrangling (Munging)
Data munging is about preparing your data for analysis by cleaning up its format, removing duplicates and missing values, transforming it into another form (for example, from one type of measurement scale into another), grouping similar records together, etc. This is essential because no matter how good your database engine may be at storing and retrieving massive amounts of information at high speeds.
Big Data Technologies
Data analysts need to be familiar with big data technologies like Hadoop, MapReduce, Spark, Hive, and Pig. These tools allow them to process huge amounts of data quickly. As a result, they can provide their organizations with valuable insights in real-time.
Programming Languages: Python, SQL, And R
A common misconception about data analysis is that it’s all about numbers — but while numbers are definitely important, they’re not enough on their own. Data analysts also need to understand how to pull information out of databases, create visualizations with charts and graphs, manipulate data sets, and more. In order to do all this effectively, you’ll need to be comfortable working with programming languages such as Python, SQL (Structured Query Language), or R (R programming language). These languages allow you to manipulate data sets using code so you can generate insights from them.
Other technical skills that every business analyst must acquire are:
- Java
- Matlab
- RDBMS
- SAS / Excel / Tableau / STATA Server Reporting Services
Conclusion & Takeaway
The business analyst and the data analyst are two different-but-related roles, and each has a wide range of responsibilities. It’s important to keep in mind what skills you will need for your role—and which ones you will not. You can also upgrade your skills by educating yourself on different courses or taking online classes. Be sure to explore some of the options before deciding on one that’s right for you.
If you are looking at expanding your knowledge, take the time to check out the Business Analyst Training and Data Analyst Training programs offered by Wolf Careers Inc.
Wolf Careers Inc. offers a variety of training programs that are ideal for anyone who wants to advance their career in IT and technical support. Our goal is to provide the best possible training so our students will be ready for the real world after graduating from one of our programs!
Our courses are designed to help you learn the skills required for success in your role. Whether you are looking to advance your career or just want to gain a better understanding of what data analysts do, our online training program is a great way to get started. Get yourself enrolled today!
