Business Analytics

and its Applications

By
Puneett Bhatnagr
Email – [email protected]

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What is Analytics?

Analytics is an encompassing and multidimensional field that uses

mathematics, statistics, predictive modelling and machine-learning
techniques to find meaningful patterns and knowledge in recorded data.

Today, we add powerful computers to the mix for storing

increasing amounts of data and running sophisticated
software algorithms – producing the fast insights needed
to make fact-based decisions. By putting the science of
numbers, data and analytical discovery to work, we can
find out if what we think or believe is really true. And
produce answers to questions we never thought to ask.
That’s the power of analytics.

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Why Analytics is Important?
Large business uses analytics to drive the entire organizational strategy. Some examples include:

Capital One, a credit card company in the U.S., uses analytics to

differentiate customers based on credit risk and they match customer
characteristics with appropriate product offerings.

Harrah’s Casino, another U.S. company, identified that against popular belief,
their most profitable customers are the ones playing slots. To leverage this
insight, they have created marketing programs to attract and retain their MOST
PROFITABLE CUSTOMERS.

NETFLIX, an online movie service, identifies the most logical movies to

recommend based on past behaviour. This model has increased their sales
because the movie choices are based on customers’ preferences and therefore the
experience is customized to each individual.

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World’s
most valuable
resource is no
longer
Oil,
but

DATA……
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Type of Analytics

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Descriptive Analytics
The simplest class of analytics, one that allows you to condense big data into smaller, more useful nuggets of
information.

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Diagnostic Analytics
Diagnostic analytics are used for discovery or to
determine why something happened. For example, for a
social media marketing campaign, you can use
descriptive analytics to assess the number of posts,
mentions, followers, fans, page views, reviews, pins, etc.
There can be thousands of online mentions that can be
distilled into a single view to see what worked in your
past campaigns and what didn’t.

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Prescriptive Analytics
Prescriptive Analytics is an advanced analytics concept based on:

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Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics can only forecast what might happen in the future because all predictive analytics are
probabilistic in nature.

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Predictive Models

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Predictive Models and Techniques

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Programming Language for Business Analytics
One of the favourites amongst the data science dwellers, SQL has been at a heart
of storing and retrieving data for decades and continues to do so. It is used in
dealing especially large databases, reducing the turnaround time for online
requests by its fast processing time. Learning SQL can be a good addition into
skills required for data science and ML experts, as this is looked after by most
recruiters as a preferred skill set.

A market leader in the commercial analytics space, it is one of the most popular

languages in the data science community. It has a wide range of statistical
functions with a user friendly GUI that helps data scientists learn quickly. It is an
easy to learn programming language and preferred as a must have language for
beginners entering analytics industry. It surely makes it for the top 10
programming languages to learn this year.

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Programming Language for Business Analytics
It remains to one of the most popular languages, both in terms of pay it
offers and popularity amongst recruiters looking for Python skills. With a rise in
technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and predictive
analytics, the need for professionals with a thorough knowledge of Python skills
are much in demand. Apart from its general purpose use for web development, it
is widely used in scientific computing, data mining and others.

One of the most frequently used tools, it is widely demanded skill sets across
recruiters in data science and machine learning. A free alternative to pricey
statistical software such as Matlab or SAS, over the last few years R has become
the golden child of data science. It is used frequently to unlock the patterns in
large blocks of data and was designed by statisticians and scientists to make their
work easier. It makes for one of the most must known programming languages if
you are looking to take a plunge into this career.

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Programming Language for Business Analytics
One of the oldest languages in the list, C has been a source to most of the
modern day languages and still continues to be the popular programming
languages for developers across the globe. C can be a good starting point for
equipping yourself with other languages. It is largely used in embedded systems
of electronic devices such as car dashboards, television firmware etc.

One of the most practical languages to have been designed, a large number of
companies, especially big multinational companies use the language to develop
backend systems and desktop apps. It’s been touted as a mainstay of the
enterprise software stack as the demand for Java skills are only increasing with
time. It is believed to be a good choice for someone starting out as a
programmer, as it is relatively simple and readable programming language.
Having witnessed biggest rise in demands in last few years, Java skills have been
in demand particularly for software engineers, software architects and DevOps
engineers.

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Journey from Business Analytics to Business Intelligence

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What is BI?
Business intelligence (BI) leverages software and services to
transform data into actionable intelligence that informs an
organization’s strategic and tactical business decisions.

BI tools access and analyse data sets and present analytical

findings in reports, summaries, dashboards, graphs, charts and
maps to provide users with detailed intelligence about the
state of the business

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How does BI differ from BA?
Business intelligence is also called descriptive analytics, in that it describes a past or current state. “It doesn’t tell
you what to do; it tells you what was and what is,” says Michael F. Gorman, professor of operations management
and decision science at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

Compare that explanation of BI with the definition for business analytics (BA), a technology-aided process by
which software analyses data to predict what will happen (predictive analytics) or what could happen by taking a
certain approach (prescriptive analytics). BA is also sometimes called advanced analytics.

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How business intelligence works?
Although business intelligence does not tell business users what
to do or what will happen if they take a certain course, neither is
BI only about generating reports. Rather, BI offers a way for
people to examine data to understand trends and derive insights.

or example, a company that wants to better manage its supply

chain needs BI capabilities to determine where delays are
happening and where variabilities exist within the shipping
process, Hagans says.

That company could also use its BI capabilities to discover which

products are most commonly delayed or which modes of
transportation are most often involved in delays.

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Business Intelligence Tool

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Tableau
Tableau is a robust yet easy-to-use BI solution. Businesses can utilize it to easily understand, visualize, and share
their data. The best part is you don’t need programming skills to create, publish, and share dashboards. Plus, this
self-service analytics system provides fast answers to even complex queries. Top features include: Dashboard for
commenting, server REST API, security permissions at any level, automatic updates, and mobile-ready dashboards.
QlikView
QlikView is a real user-friendly platform that straddles the gap between tech-savvy BI software and traditional
productivity apps, creating a solution that’s available to all.

Features:

• This self-service tool allows for data analytics, insights and existing data manipulation
• Visually appealing dashboards present data in an easy-to-understand format
• Customized solutions by industry (banking, consumer products, high tech, insurance, etc.)
SAS Business Intelligence
This self-service tool is easy to use and provides real-time analytics throughout your organization, allowing any
collaborator or decision-maker to monitor and analyse the metrics necessary to make an informed and effective
decision.

Features:
• Business and enterprise IT solutions include centralized metadata, governance and scalability
• Data visualization makes it easy to see and understand big data and related insights
• Auto-charting eliminates the need for coding and IT support
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint is so popular, it hardly needs introduction: this management and analytics solution is one of
the most common choices for businesses around the world, and is an especially good fit for companies that already
store their information on a SQL Server. SharePoint makes it easy to share, sync and analyze all company data;
enables collaboration; and provides tight security for sensitive data.
Oracle Hyperion System
When it comes to BI tool comparisons, Oracle is one of the most well known names in business, and its Hyperion
Planning system is an agile business intelligence tool. Using mobile, desktop and MS Office Interfaces, Hyperion
supports and enables enterprise-wide planning, budgeting and forecasting – mission-critical processes a company
needs to develop accurate financial forecasts and generate cost-effective enterprise alignment.
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)
For businesses with serious BI needs, OBIEE is an incredibly powerful business analytics software tool. The
Enterprise Edition integrates many of Oracle’s most useful components, including BI Server, BI Answers, BI
Interactive Dashboards, BI Delivers, BI Publisher, the MS Office Plug-in, Hyperion Interactive Reporting,
Hyperion SQR Production Reporting, Hyperion Financial Reporting, and Hyperion Web Analysis. In other words,
for almost any conceivable data measurement, visualization, reporting, or information manipulation, OBIEE has a
solution.
Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools
Like BOARD, Microsoft’s BI solutions are billed as tools that require little IT involvement. The premise: if your
employees know how to use Microsoft Office or Microsoft SharePoint Server, then they’ll intuitively understand
MS Business Intelligence. This full-service solution is quite powerful, integrating data from multiple sources to
combine with current enterprise data that lives on-site or in the cloud – all while maintaining proper governance.
Salesforce Analytics Cloud
Sisense is business analytics software that aims to enable business users to easily prepare, analyze and visualize
complex data. The software is mainly focused on user-friendliness and high performance for organizations that
work with large or diverse datasets, and provides a single-stack solution for integrating many disparate data sources,
performing queries and displaying results in interactive dashboards.
KISSmetrics
KISSmetrics is a powerful BI system that enables you to identify, track, and enhance vital business metrics. You can
convert this information into operable insights and utilize them to create effective marketing strategies and improve
marketing practices. A standout feature is deep tracking, which provides great customer insights enabling you to
understand your customers’ intentions and behaviors even before they purchase your product or service. Other key
features include: unlimited customer profiles, unlimited retention reports, data export, no-limit conversion periods,
and unlimited A/B test reports.
Similarweb Pro
Similarweb Pro offers effective website analytics tools that you can utilize to find out the traffic stats of your sites.
This can help you to craft strategies to attract more traffic to your sites. The highlight is you can also compare your
website’s performance with that of your competitors. Top features are: In-depth keyword analysis, mobile app
traffic sources, social media and email traffic reports, mobile app popular keywords, and visual graphs and charts
for KPIs
Sisense
Sisense is business analytics software that aims to enable business users to easily prepare, analyze and visualize
complex data. The software is mainly focused on user-friendliness and high performance for organizations that
work with large or diverse datasets, and provides a single-stack solution for integrating many disparate data sources,
performing queries and displaying results in interactive dashboards.
Looker
Top features of Looker are: browser-based interface, collaboration tools, drag-and-drop mechanism, fully
customizable and exportable graphs, charts, and reports, and APIs for integration. The best part is even lay users in
your company can easily utilize the app to create data-rich dashboards and visualizations. With the collaboration
tools, you can effortlessly share reports and data via URLs and email, and also integrate them with third-party and
custom solutions. Pricing is quote-based and you get live tech support.
GoodData
GoodData is a user-friendly cloud analytics solution that offers key features such as dynamic graphs and charts, ad-
hoc reporting, agile data warehousing service, real-time access, and templates for marketing, sales, and service
analytics. It’s another strong contender on our list of 10 best business intelligence software tools. The best part
about this tool is it identifies operable insights that can improve your company’s agility and health. You can use it to
boost predictability, budget your resources smartly, and make quicker decisions.
Domo
Domo stands out among the BI apps in this list because it offers the widest dataset as well as connector support.
Plus, this platform provides useful social collaboration features. You can use a single dashboard to view real-time
data. Plus, the system’s interface, displays, and dashboards widgets are very attractive. The highlight is Domo
delivers understandable visualizations of business intelligence and data from which you can derive actionable
insights to make smart moves. For example, you can connect the page view numbers you get from Google
Analytics for particular products and measure the influence of the items.
Cyfe
Cyfe is a dashboard app that you can use to track and analyze data scattered across your existing services such as
Salesforce and Google Analytics. The dashboards can be used by your clients to view real-time data and stay in the
loop. The benefit is you can share information instantly and securely, and reduce the reports you submit to your
clients. Main features include: Track individual departments, historical data, real-time reports, pre-built
integrations, and white labeling.
ReportPlus
ReportPlus is an enterprise-grade software built to centralize one’s business metrics on a single platform. Aside
from providing users access to real-time dashboards and interactive reports on any platform, ReportPlus allows for
easy creation of dashboards with its tools built with a self-service focus such as its drag-and-drop capability and
intuitive swiping feature. And within a few button clicks, users can share their story to all intended audiences. The
software allows users to select from over 30 visualization types so they can effectively convey, visualize, and
illustrate trends for informed data-driven decisions
Main trends in Business Intelligence

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Main trends in Business Intelligence

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Main trends in Business Intelligence

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Main trends in Business Intelligence

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Main trends in Business Intelligence

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Future of business intelligence
“Someone will look at reports from, for example, last year’s sales — that’s BI — but they’ll also get predictions about next year’s
sales — that’s business analytics — and then add to that a what-if capability: What would happen if we did X instead of Y,”
Gorman says, explaining that software makers are moving to develop applications that will provide those functions within a
single application rather than delivering them via multiple platforms as is now the case .

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Future of Business Analytics

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Careers in Business Analytics

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Careers in Business Analytics

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