It’s not uncommon to hear businesses from small enterprises to large corporations express the sentiment “we are drowning in data but starving for insights.” Estimates suggest that the digitized world creates over 400 million terabytes of data each day, equaling roughly 147 zettabytes of total data created in 2024. Projections place that figure at 181 zettabytes in 2025.
The capacity to locate raw, stored data relevant to a business’ objectives and then aggregate, extract, organize and transform the data into actionable business intelligence (BI) provides a significant competitive advantage. In addition, businesses that deploy BI at scale can make better, faster decisions than those without the analytics systems and professionals to manage them.
Given this, professionals with expertise in applying BI to improve business outcomes are in extremely high demand. Those interested in developing knowledge in this area can do so through the advanced study of data analytics — including BI and its applications — in the online Master of Science (M.S.) in Data Analytics program from Northwest Missouri State University. This program provides students with the precise, cutting-edge skills today’s employers look for in high-level, data-driven professionals.
Transforming Data Into Insights That Drive Smart Decisions
Business intelligence and business analytics (BA) are distinct operations that data-savvy companies integrate to support data-driven decision-making (DDDM). According to analytics giant Tableau, DDDM processes enable stakeholders to use “facts, metrics, and data to guide strategic business decisions that align with your goals, objectives, and initiatives.” These decisions help organizations develop strategies and tactics to optimize operations of any kind.
As to the distinctions between BI and BA, online publication CIO notes that “BI should be considered a subset of business analytics.” In particular, “BI focuses on descriptive analytics, data collection, data storage, knowledge management, and data analysis to evaluate past business data and better understand currently known information.” BI comprises systems and processes that use data to provide real-time metrics that improve visibility into projects, processes and outcomes.
On the other hand, BA offers both predictive and prescriptive insight. This means that BA provides business users insight into what will likely happen in the future and what decision makers should do about it. Business users employ this analysis to make more informed predictions about the future and adapt to improve outcomes and achieve desired results.
The Development of BI and Data-driven Decision-making
Like everything else in the world of data and automation, BI is constantly changing and evolving from its original meaning — a half-century-old concept of a simple system for sharing information across organizations. Tableau explains that BI solutions (in their current iteration) “prioritize flexible self-service analysis, governed data on trusted platforms, empowered business users, and speed to insight.”
DDDM is the product of integrating the descriptive snapshot of BI and the descriptive insights of BA. The result creates potentially unlimited capacity to identify challenges and opportunities; model potential solutions and strategies; and deploy and execute them with a previously impossible degree of certainty.
Instances of BI and DDDM in Action
Modern organizations use DDDM every day, whether making small decisions or designing sweeping organizational changes. The following are three examples of data giants using BI-derived DDDM to reduce inefficiencies and seize opportunities:
- Google mined data from more than 10,000 performance reviews to develop a training program to improve management competency and employee satisfaction.
- Starbucks uses location analytics to predict the likelihood of success at a given location before investing in it.
- Amazon uses data to decide what products to recommend based on customers’ past purchases and search patterns.
Importance of Customer Data
Businesses that can extract, analyze and act on the mountain of data generated by their operations and customer interactions have access to insights that can increase efficiencies in sales and marketing, improve customer relations and better meet customer expectations. Companies of any size can design and prioritize business intelligence strategies that help optimize DDDM surrounding customer-facing operations, including:
- Identifying profitable customers and when, where and how to target them
- Pinpointing issues that caused problems in lead-generation
- Detecting historical reasons that cause sales and marketing results to rise or fall
Whether drawing insight from internal operations data, customer data or market data, effective BI practices are increasingly crucial to business success, driving rapid growth in the BI market. Due to this, the demand for BI professionals will increase across all sectors. Northwest’s online M.S. in Data Analytics program provides students with the expertise to step into BI roles that require using advanced tools to identify, collect, analyze, visualize and transform data. For those interested in a professional role in this realm, an advanced degree is a great place to start.
Learn more about Northwest’s online M.S. in Data Analytics program.
