The phrase Business analytics instantly conjures up heavily numbered spreadsheets, detailed pivot tables, intense statistics, and insights from your business functions that collectively go beyond one’s head. But let me tell you that the notion of analytics demanding crazy mathematical ability and high-level logical reasoning is a myth, and it’s about time this myth is busted.
What is business analytics?
Simply put, it’s the process of measuring, collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and finally drawing results of trends in your various business activities. It defines your business narrative for you to absorb how you’ve been performing today, vis-à-vis what effective changes you can bring about tomorrow for better business outcomes.
The fundamental laws of business analytics require one to understand the scope, goals primarily, and desired results of any business.
The ideal business analytics certification helps you learn, employ, and extract a comprehensive understanding of performance – across departments, be it finance, marketing, or supply-chain, to name a few. A beginner’s guide to how to crack the code of analytics, utilize business tools effectively and draw up a simple, and easily comprehensible diagrams for further decision making today, is massively pertinent to today’s competitive business environment.
The digitalization of this fast-paced world has nudged most industries to navigate brand building possibilities via social media. But have you ever wondered, what happens once a brand’s campaign is live and running? How to track it, measure it, and ascertain if the seeds of planning have borne a luscious fruit in reality? If these intriguing questions have tapped your grey cells and got you thinking, you’re at the right place.
A beginner’s pit stop in any business analytics certification course across multiple offerings is getting the most out of the mother of analytics tools – Microsoft Excel.
As individuals, especially in this digitally charged atmosphere, are trying to find their calling in the realm of business analytics, many are digging deep to discover the plethora of tools that Microsoft Excel has to offer.
THE KEY TO EXCEL:
- Microsoft Excel is genuinely a wonder-tool when it comes to giving life to rakes of data, and making the same into a crisp and concise format. With simple pie diagrams, detailed tables, and scatter charts, all the way to elaborate pivot tables.
- Excel 101, suggested by every business analytics certification course, begins with imbibing one with the knowledge of various mathematical functions made easy. Thousands of rows of data can be integrated by a single service to sum it up, format, and multiply. Hence, the notion of one being a mathematics pro is BUSTED!
- Lazy to input data such as dates, serial numbers, or schedules? No problem, drag your cursor across the row/column and Excel by default, will do it for you.
- Excel further offers accurate, intuitive business analytics solutions to discover, link, and establish a structure for your company’s vast databases.
THE POWERBI REVOLUTION
- PowerBI is a state-of-the-art tool offered by Microsoft to businesses across industries. Housing an unbelievable quantum of data in every category imaginable, along with sub-categories, PowerBI, all you have to do is input your essential requirement. And just like that with a tap of a button, this phenomenal analytics tool gives you results that you can further export to excel to breakdown.
- It is a supremely, precise, in-house tool that helps you conclude to facilitate better decision making. PowerBI is especially vital if one intends to perform a Competition Tracking Report (CTR), or only a study of how your business’s competitors have been playing in a specific domain.
- Understand the areas with massive scope and potential, displayed over some time, backed with proven and verified statistics.
- By synthesizing data extracted from PowerBI, your business also can understand user behavior to draw consumer insights via an intrinsic study of data belonging to a specific timeframe.
- Although relatively simple to use, PowerBI may be daunting for a layman at first glance. But don’t you fret, as quite a few skill-development platforms offer a course on how to get started with PowerBI.
SOLUTION BY STATS
- Do you think creating useful dashboards and impressive charts is a daunting task? Well, you guessed it. Coupled with in-built business analytical features, Excel aids you in constructing and design powerful dashboards to speak to your audience.
- If your business is toying around with various alternative strategies and wondering which is the best pick, carefully curated hypotheses can also be tested using Excel’s data-crunching abilities. Numbers, my friend, don’t lie!
- Group your data with Excel’s ANOVA tool. ANOVA is generally employed in research methodology to understand what their business data indicates. ANOVA is especially handy if your business needs to make a swift and practical decision, as it is backed up with evidence and credibility
- In the grand scheme of things, companies generally have the main plan, followed by back up options. If things don’t go according to the main agenda and your business has to resort to the best pick from the back-up options, ANOVA as a tool comes in handy to aid your judgment.
The road to mastering the art of incorporating Analytics as a Business norm lies in taking the first steps to begin testing primary Excel offerings before venturing to more intensive tools. The plethora of online programs to help you get started is endless, so nothing stops you from conquering the competitive landscape! The scope of excellence in your chosen field after adopting analytics to monitor your progress has no boundaries.
Who said the knowledge of analytics is limited only to those who choose Business analytics and research as their career? Honestly, every individual should attain the basic knowledge of navigating what specific numbers genuinely mean, as it is the first step to building a brand – be it a personal brand or commercial.
Numbers indicate growth, pitfalls, and the truth is that you’re playing the game of survival right. So, monitor your activities and adopt this catalyst today for a brighter future.
Knowledge is power, and analytics gives your data the perfect stimulus your business needs.