Business Analytics Cost

The costs associated with learning business analytics depend on the tools you choose to work with. Typically, Business Analysts work with spreadsheet software, data analytics and visualization tools, and programming languages. Microsoft Office 365, which includes Excel, is available starting at $6/user/month, SQL is available for free for those who intend to use it in non-production environments, and Tableau Public is a free download. 

What is Business Analytics?

Business Analytics is a group of technologies and disciplines, such as quantitative methods, statistical models, and data analysis, which are used to solve business problems. It relies on iteratively and methodologically exploring an organization’s data using statistical analysis techniques to make better, data-driven decisions. This involves a practical application of statistical analysis geared toward uncovering actionable recommendations.

Many companies view their data as a business asset and continue to explore ways to use it for a competitive advantage. To be successful with business analytics, an organization must have good quality data, as well as Business Analysts who not only understands the business but also the technologies needed to transform its data into insights. Business Analysts seek to draw concrete conclusions about a company by finding answers to questions such as why certain events happened, what is expected to occur in the future, and what actions can be done in the present.

Most business analytics tasks are descriptive, predictive, or prescriptive. Descriptive analytics involves analyzing historical data to discover how an organization could respond to specific variables. Predictive analytics examines historical data to predict the likelihood of specific future outcomes. Prescriptive analytics is a combination of descriptive and predictive analyses; it involves formulating a process with which users can anticipate what is expected to happen, when it will occur, and why it will transpire. Business Analysts rely on tools and skills such as data mining, association and sequence identification, text mining, data aggregation, forecasting, optimization, and data visualization to gather and present these data-driven insights.

Read more about what business analytics is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Business Analytics?

Business analytics is one of the most versatile skill sets you can bring to the professional arena. All businesses, from small startups to multinational companies, seek those with a background in business analytics who can work with data to solve complicated problems, devise useful business strategies, and clearly communicate with stakeholders. Most Business Analysts have a background working with technology and programming languages like C++ and Java, as well as various databases and testing methods. These individuals typically possess technical and business skills, making them high-demand among recruiters and employers. 

Business Analysts are typically good problem solvers. They can analyze problems and apply critical thinking to propose innovative solutions that consider variables such as market trends. These individuals also tend to have an analytical mindset, which allows them to apply statistical models to analyze large datasets. Their analytic skills help Business Analysts perform tasks like understanding consumer buying decisions and behaviors and using this information to formulate a marketing strategy.

Business Analysts are usually expert communicators. They can clearly communicate their data findings and present these insights to different teams on both the business and technical sides. This often requires adapting their communication style to best reach different audiences. These individuals also possess time-management skills to balance multiple project deadlines and perform under pressure.

In-Depth Review of the Cost

Although the costs of business analytics tools will change over time, the following is a breakdown of the current costs associated with downloading the basic tools used by most Business Analysts:

• SQL, which is short for structured query language, is a common programing language used by Business Analysts. This domain-specific language allows users to maintain the data in relational database management systems. SQL is one of the most popular programming languages for Business Analysts because these professionals regularly work with databases. SQL helps them gather data for their reports and analysis. This language can be obtained for free for Developers or Testers who will use it solely for non-production purposes. In addition, a free trial of SQL Server 2022 public preview is also available.

• Microsoft Office is a family of productivity applications, several of which are used by Business Analysts. In particular, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel are the most-used apps by data professionals. Excel is a common tool in this field and is used by mid-sized organizations for tasks such as management tracking. Office subscriptions start at $6/user/month for Business Basic. Microsoft 365 Apps for Business is offered for $8.25/user/month. Business Standard can be downloaded for $12.50/user/month. Business Premium can be installed for $22/user/month. A free Microsoft 365 trial is also offered for those who want to get a feel for this suite before they purchase a specific plan.

• Tableau is the market-leading analytics platform for business intelligence. This product makes the process of exploring and managing data easier for users, which allows them to find insights faster and share them with others. This visual analytics platform is offered for different prices depending on the version. Tableau Creator is available for $70/user/month, Tableau Explorer is offered for $42/user/month, Tableau Viewer costs $15/user/month, and Tableau Public is a free download. In addition, a free Tableau trial is also offered for those who want to explore this product before committing to purchase.

Why Learn Business Analytics?

A background in business analytics is currently one of the most in-demand skills employers seek in candidates. Because the digital world continues to evolve and grow, more professional opportunities are available for those with business analytics training to make sense of it all. Each engagement and customer transaction that occurs in cyberspace leaves behind a trail of information that can be profitable for those with a background in analytics. 

Virtual transactions and engagement records consist of data streams of objective facts about customers. These offer insights into customer activities, purchases, and interests. Companies that understand the value of this data rely on Business Analysts to find and analyze this information, as well as to propose ways the organization can profit from this knowledge. In addition to the valuable information it provides about customer patterns, business analysis can also offer insights into whether a business may be in a position to expand, as well as how effective its internal procedures are for product launches.

Even though business analytics is a relatively new field, the process of using mathematics to analyze measurements to make business improvements has been used since at least the nineteenth century, when Henry Ford used it to monitor the time employees needed to build each component of his cars. Currently, business analytics is used by many in the tech sector. As more data becomes available to businesses every day, this field is expected to continue its rapid growth.

Read more about why you should learn business analytics.

Free Introductory Business Analytics Course Online 

Perhaps you want to study business analytics but don’t feel ready to dive into a full course. If this sounds like you, and you’re looking for an overview of business analytics, the good news is you can get started learning for free online with Noble Desktop’s Intro to SQL. This hour-long course is designed for those who are new to working with structured query language and want to learn how to use this programming language to search for data stored in databases. This video provides an overview of what SQL is, why we use databases, and why SQL remains a popular language across industries. A live demo is also included that illustrates how to work with a database and code SQL queries.

Other educational providers also offer free online beginner-friendly business analytics courses: The University of Michigan offers Introduction to Data Analytics for Managers, which is available via edX. Participants in this introductory-level, six-week course work with hands-on exercises, case studies, and lectures for an overview of how data analytics can be applied to business. Instruction is also provided on how to use the graphical development environment instead of complex coding, as well as how to perform data science tasks and interpret the data findings. For those who want to learn more about working with customer data, Wharton University’s Customer Analytics is available via Coursera. Participants in this free five-week class have access to a range of readings and quizzes, as well as 34 videos that provide instruction on working with predictive, descriptive, and prescriptive analytics in the real world with enterprises like Amazon and Google.

LinkedIn Learning’s Become a Business Analytics Expert is just one of more than 16,000 courses in the LinkedIn library that’s available for free for those who have a premium LinkedIn account. Over the course of this 10.5-hour introductory-level course, participants complete 10 modules that provide an overview of the concepts, techniques, and tools necessary to become a Business Analyst. All students receive instruction on topics like meta-analysis, logistic regression and data reduction with Excel and R, and forecasting.

Read more about free business analytics videos and online tutorials.

Learn Business Analytics with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

If you want to study business analytics, Noble Desktop offers several excellent classes to prepare you to work as a Business Analyst. Noble’s Business Analyst Certificate is available in both the in-person and live online format. Participants in this hands-on course learn how to work with tools such as Tableau, SQL, PowerPoint, and Excel to analyze and visualize data. All participants receive live, project-based instruction from industry experts and can retake the course for up to one year to revisit the material.

For those who want to learn more about working with big data, Noble also has an in-person and live online Data Analytics Certificate. All participants receive one-on-one mentoring with tuition. This course is available in the full-time format that spans six weeks, as well as the part-time format of 24 weeks of evening classes. This project-based course covers core data analytics concepts and skills like collecting, wrangling, analyzing, and visualizing data. In addition, participants prepare for a career in business analytics or data analytics by reviewing case studies that incorporate both predictive and prescriptive analytics.

Those interested in comparing learning options can also browse Noble’s in-person and live online data analytics and data science classes to find the perfect class.