Data Analytics vs Business Analytics

 

Each day, companies are relying more and more on big data to make decisions about their operations. To make sure the collected data helps them reach their goals in sales, operations and marketing, most companies are applying business analytics and data analytics in harvesting information.  There’s often confusion about these two areas, which can seem interchangeable.

Throughout this article we will be discussing the difference between business analysts and data analysts in terms of job responsibilities and skill set.


Data Analytics vs Business Analytics

Data analytics is the process of analyzing organizational datasets to uncover trends and insights that are used to make informed decisions. Business analytics is focused on analyzing various types of information to make practical, data-driven business decisions, and implementing changes accordingly.

What Do Data Analysts Do?

Data analysts gather, clean, analyze, visualize, and present existing data to help inform business decisions. Data Analysts are the ones that provide answers through data analysis and help decision-makers in building their action plan.


A Data Analyst’s responsibilities include: 

  • Data mining and cleaning

  • Collecting data

  • Building and maintaining databases

  • Potential troubleshooting issues.


What Do Business Analysts Do?

Business analysts are considered as the “problem solvers” of the company. They help identify problems, opportunities, and solutions for their organizations.


Business Analysts’ responsibilities are: 

  • Assessing the efficiency of business processes in terms of expenses 

  • Communicating insights to teams and business stakeholders 

  • Developing strategic process arrangements, procedures 

  • Recommending improvements for business profitability

Skills for Data Analysts and Business Analysts

Data analytics and business analytics each involve a slightly different skill set. While both occupations work with data, they do so in different ways. Here’s a look at some common and different skills for each.

 

Common skills for both data analysts and business analysts include:

  • Communication Skills

  • Teamwork

  • Problem-solving skills

  • Creativity

  • Critical thinking.

Data analysts and business analysts both help drive data-driven decision-making in their organizations. The main difference between the two is that data analysts usually work more closely with the data, while the business analysts use that data to recommend solutions to address business needs. These roles have come out as resilient to any crisis or recession and are always in demand.

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