A business intelligence analyst or BI analyst is a professional tasked with analyzing vast amounts of data to provide recommendations for an organization’s growth. This role combines information technology (IT) skills with knowledge of business administration, so the analyst can turn raw data into intelligence and create strategic insights that can help the organization’s management make decisions.
While business intelligence (BI) has been around for centuries, after author Richard Millar Devens coined the term in 1865, it wasn’t until fairly recently that the role was formed.
Traditionally, most data analyses were performed by business managers with the help of IT professionals using spreadsheets and other basic tools. However, the boom of big data and digitalization created the need for a dedicated professional who knows how to use specialized tools to analyze and interpret complex data.
Read More about a Business Intelligence Analyst
We’ll explore the role further below, including its key responsibilities and requirements and how much salary such analysts earn and some of the tools they use.
What Does a Business Intelligence Analyst Do?
The responsibilities of the analyst revolves around data—data collection, data analysis, data modeling, reporting, and providing recommendations.
Data Collection and Preparation
BI analysts gather business data from various sources, such as internal databases, industry reports, and financial records. They then clean and transform this data, often referred to as “Extract, Transform, Load (ETL),” to ensure it is accurate and ready for analysis. This step is very important since the next stages directly depend on the quality of the data.
Data Analysis and Modeling
Using statistical techniques and specialized software, BI analysts study the prepared data to identify trends and patterns. In this process, they may also find anomalies. At this step, the analyst may create predictive models that can forecast future business outcomes. For example, they can build a predictive model to forecast sales for the next quarter.
Aside from looking at what might happen, BI analysts may also use the insights they obtained to provide an in-depth analysis of past performance and understand, for instance, why sales dropped in the last month.
Reporting and Visualization
One of the key duties of BI analysts is to make insights accessible and easy to understand through effective visualization. They use data visualization tools like Tableau and Power BI to create dynamic, interactive dashboards, charts, and graphs.
The analysts create weekly reports for the marketing team, monthly dashboards for the finance department, and high-level presentations for the board of directors. The goal is not just to make reports look good, but ensure a nontechnical audience can understand and act on them.
Providing Recommendations
All that work—data collection, cleaning, analysis, and visualization—leads to this one crucial step. Based on the analysts’ findings, they give the company specific, data-backed recommendations. For example, they may recommend a new pricing strategy, suggest which products to discontinue, or point out a new market segment the company should target.
How Can You Become a Business Intelligence Analyst ?
Becoming a BI analyst is straightforward but requires a mix of education, experience, and the willingness to keep learning. Here’s how you can qualify to become one.
- Get a relevant degree: While there is no specific “BI analyst” degree, most have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Business Administration, Statistics, or Mathematics.
- Gain relevant experience: A degree is great but hands-on experience will make a great difference. While still in school, people interested in the role may consider pursuing an internship in a related field, such as data analytics or finance. Once they graduate, they can look for entry-level positions where they can start working with data, even if it’s not a full-on BI analyst role. A junior data analyst or business analyst position can be a stepping stone.
- Get certified: Certifications are a great way to show employers you’re on top of your game. Certifications from organizations like CompTIA or platforms like Udacity and AWS are highly respected. There are also specific certifications for popular BI tools, such as the Tableau Desktop Certified Professional or Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate.
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Business Intelligence Analyst ?
A diverse set of skills and competencies is required to be effective in this role. Here are some of the must-have skills if you want to be a BI analyst.
Technical Skills
At the core, the most essential BI analyst skill is proficiency in data management, which includes the ability to collect, clean, transform, and warehouse data. These tasks ensure the integrity and usability of data before any analysis begins. Skills in Structured Query Language (SQL) is also required since it is the primary language used to interact with databases and extract the necessary information. Without a strong command of SQL, a BI analyst would be unable to access or manipulate the data needed to perform required duties.
BI analysts must also be skilled in presenting their findings. As such, they must know how to use data visualization tools, such as Microsoft Power BI or Tableau, so they can create informative reports and dashboards. Additionally, a deep understanding of statistical concepts is crucial since analysts need to accurately interpret data and draw valid conclusions.
For those looking to excel or move into more advanced roles, a working knowledge of programming languages like Python or R is highly beneficial, as these tools are used for more complex analytics and the implementation of machine learning (ML) models.
Soft Skills
A BI analyst should also have strong communication skills, as it is part of the job to translate complex data findings into a clear and concise narrative that is understandable to all stakeholders.
Furthermore, BI analysts must possess strong critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. They should be strategic thinkers who use data to ask the right questions and tackle business challenges head-on. These soft skills are complemented by strong business acumen, which involves understanding the company’s goals, industry, and challenges. All these combined provide the necessary context to ensure that all analyses and recommendations are relevant and valuable to the organization.
What Are Popular Tools Business Intelligence Analysts Use?
Leading global companies have developed their own BI tools. Microsoft’s Power BI, for one, is widely used because of its integration with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The tool has advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, making it useful to analysts who need powerful and integrated reporting.
Meanwhile, Salesforce acquired Tableau, a BI tool known for its intuitive interface and ability to create compelling and visual analytics. Google’s Looker is another tool that stands out for its semantic modeling layer, LookML. This ensures data consistency and trust, a critical advantage for organizations that need a reliable, single source of truth for their data, especially when integrating with AI models.
Zoho Analytics is another BI tool and data analytics platform that lets you create insightful dashboards and reports from a wide range of data sources.
What Other Job Titles Are Related to Business Intelligence Analysis ?
The BI field includes many job titles that share the same focus on data, but they have different specializations. Here are a few of sample roles.
- Data analyst: Often an entry-level role, a data analyst focuses on processing and analyzing data to answer specific questions and inform operational decisions.
- Data scientist: This is a more advanced position that uses complex statistical models, ML, and programming to build predictive models and uncover deeper insights.
- BI developer: A BI developer is more technical, specializing in building and maintaining the data infrastructure, data warehouses, and reporting systems that BI analysts use.
- Business analytics manager: This is a leadership role responsible for overseeing a team of analysts, setting the overall data strategy, and ensuring analytical projects align with business objectives.
What Is the Difference between a Business Intelligence Analyst and a Data Analyst?
BI analysts have a broader role and more strategic focus than data analysts. BI analysts use data to inform high-level business decisions and improve the overall performance of an organization. In contrast, data analysts typically have a more specific, operational focus. They analyze data to answer specific questions and uncover insights that can be used to improve day-to-day efficiencies.
In essence, BI analysts focus on “what” is happening across the business and how to use that information for strategic growth, while data analysts focus on “why” a particular event occurred to improve a specific operation.
| Difference | BI Analyst | Data Analyst |
| Focus | Strategic | Operational |
| Goal | Translate data into actionable insights | Use data to answer specific questions |
| Question asked | What is happening now, and how can we use this info to make a strategic decision? | Why did this happen in the past, and what can we learn from it to improve our operations? |
How Much Does a Business Intelligence Analyst Earn?
As with any job, the salary can vary depending on factors like location, years of experience, the industry, and company size. In the U.S., Indeed says the average salary of BI analysts is US$100,203 per year. This is pretty close to ZipRecruiter’s US$99,864 per year or US$48 per hour.
According to Zippia, a U.S.-based online recruitment platform, BI analyst salaries have risen by 10% in the last five years.
What Does a Day in the Life of a Business Intelligence Analyst Look Like?
The typical day of a BI analyst may start with multiple meetings where project requirements are discussed. A Reddit user says the analysts attend 2–3 meetings in the morning. The majority of the day is dedicated to hands-on tasks, such as:
- Writing SQL queries to extract data
- Cleaning and preparing datasets
- Creating mockup dashboards and getting these approved by requesting stakeholders
- Building or updating dashboards in a BI tool
Some BI analysts may also be tasked with training other analysts on using BI tools. They also spend a significant amount of time communicating with various departments, effectively switching between solitary work and collaborative communication throughout the day.
What Is the Future Outlook for Business Intelligence Analysts ?
The career outlook for BI analysts is positive, since the demand for professionals who can interpret and leverage data is growing due to organizations’ increasing reliance on data to gain competitive advantages. The integration of AI and ML into operations will further change the role due to the possibility of automating routine tasks, allowing analysts to focus on more complex and strategic aspects of their job.
From 2018 to 2028, the growth rate for BI analyst positions is 21%, with an estimated 284,100 new jobs expected in the U.S in the next 10 years.
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The BI analyst role is a growing profession in this modern and data-driven world. These professionals help organizations make the most of raw data by turning it into data-backed strategies using a combination of technical skills like SQL and data visualization, and soft skills like communication and critical thinking.
As businesses continue to generate even more data and use evolving technologies, the demand for skilled BI analysts is expected to increase. As such, the career path is quite promising for those who can transform information into intelligence.
Key Takeaways
- A BI analyst studies an organization’s data to inform strategic business decisions.
- Their main goal is to translate this data into actionable insights and strategic recommendations for a business.
- The key technical skills required for the role include proficiency in SQL, data visualization tools, and statistical analysis.
- To become a BI analyst, a bachelor’s degree in a related field is typically required, followed by gaining practical experience through internships or entry-level roles.
- Professional certifications are also highly recommended to stay competitive.
- The job outlook is very strong, with significant projected growth.
Sources
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-become-business-intelligence-analyst
- https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/bi-analyst
- https://www.comptia.org/en/blog/your-next-move-business-intelligence-analyst/
- https://asuonline.asu.edu/newsroom/online-learning-tips/look-your-career-business-intelligence-analyst/
- https://iabac.org/blog/top-business-analyst-certifications-for-career-advancement
