A Business Analyst is a technology professional who facilitates solutions to complex business challenges through data-driven analyses and strategic planning. They are integral to a slew of sectors, with job roles including Operations Business Analyst, Financial Business Analyst, and IT Business Analyst, among others. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects demand for Business Analysts to grow by 14% from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. The robust quantitative and qualitative skill set required of a Business Analyst, coupled with the ubiquity of their role across industries, makes learning this discipline a desirable and strategically advantageous pathway for career advancement.
Top In-Person & Virtual Business Analysis Classes
Business Analysis Courses at Noble Desktop
Noble Desktop is a leading design and coding school in New York City. Founded in 1990, Noble Desktop offers hands-on classes and certificate programs in web design and development, graphic design, motion graphics, data science, UX, and digital marketing. Emphasizing a practical, hands-on learning approach, it provides students the necessary skills to jump-start their careers in the dynamic fields of digital design, programming, data science and online marketing, among others. Noble Desktop courses are taught by experienced instructors and are available through in-person or live online instruction. In addition, Noble Desktop offers career-support services for students.
Business Analyst Certificate
- Price: $1,995
- Duration: 63 hours
- Locations: Live Online
The Business Analyst Certificate at Noble Desktop is a hands-on program that teaches participants to use necessary business analysis tools, such as Excel, PowerPoint, Tableau, and SQL. In addition, this course helps students gain experience with data analysis and data visualization. Students will practice entering data, creating charts, using essential shortcuts, and study the fundamentals of business practices. This course provides fundamental information on tools and techniques that are necessary for someone to thrive in today's data-driven business world.
Business Analysis Courses at NextGen
NextGen is an institution that offers industry-oriented courses in computer science, coding, graphic design, data science, web development, business, digital marketing, and other related fields. These courses are perfect for young students seeking to gain real-world, market-relevant knowledge. Students will acquire valuable knowledge of industry standards and learn from an experienced instructor who will help every step of the way.
Excel, Finance, and Investing Summer Program
- Price: $1,299
- Duration: 25 hours
- Locations: Live Online
The Excel, Finance, and Investing Summer Program is for high school students who are interested in business, finance, and technology. This course at NextGen equips students with the ability to utilize the most essential business application, Microsoft Excel. Students will practice entering data, creating charts, using essential shortcuts, and study the fundamentals of financial concepts and investing strategies. This course provides fundamental information on practices that are expected to thrive in today's data-driven business world.
Business Analysis Courses at WeCloudData
WeCloudData is a dynamic institution that offers practical, industry-oriented courses in data science, data engineering, and data analysis. This course is perfect for those seeking to gain real-world, market-relevant knowledge. Here, students can acquire in-demand skills such as machine learning, big data technologies, predictive modeling, and programming, while benefiting from experienced instructors, comprehensive curriculums, and valuable industry connections.
Applied Business Intelligence Bootcamp
- Price: Request program package online
- Duration: 12 weeks
- Locations: Live Online
The Applied Business Intelligence Certificate course at WeCloudData equips students with the ability to navigate the complexities of data and teaches students how to transform raw information into actionable strategies. It offers a comprehensive outlook on business intelligence concepts, including data integration with SQL, data warehouse and dimensional modeling, and data visualization with Tableau. This course provides fundamental information on business intelligence practices that help participants thrive in today's data-driven business world.
Business Analysis Courses at Digicomp Academy
Digicomp Academy is a leading institution offering extensive, in-depth training in digital technology and other IT fields. Students can enhance their knowledge at Digicomp Academy through diverse courses in cyber security, software development, data analysis, and many more. These courses provide practical training with cutting-edge technologies and industry trends.
Business Analyst - Foundation
- Price: $2,607.90
- Duration: Three days
- Locations: Geneva, Lausanne, Live Online
Business Analyst - Foundation at Digicomp Academy is a course that offers in-depth insights about business analysis. Students will acquire skills and learn techniques for efficient business practices such as stakeholder analysis. In addition, students will learn how to use professional tools, conduct workshops, and plan, manage, and communicate specific information.
Business Analysis Basics
- Price: $2,154.35
- Duration: Two days
- Locations: Basel, Bern, Zurich, Live Online
At Digicomp Academy's Business Analysis Basics course, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the core concepts, techniques, and processes involved in business analysis. They will learn to identify business problems and opportunities, define project scopes, conduct stakeholder analysis, and create effective solutions to enhance business performance.
Business Analyst Agile
- Price: $2,040.97
- Duration: Two days
- Locations: Geneva, Lausanne, Live Online
The Business Analyst Agile course at Digicomp Academy provides students with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to understand and implement business analysis in an Agile environment. Throughout the course, students learn how to identify, analyze and manage stakeholders, recognize business needs, and effectively map and evaluate solutions within Agile project frameworks.
Business Analysis Courses at ITTA
The International Teacher Training Academy (ITTA) encourages participants to master new digital and managerial skills that will help them in the professional world. ITTA offers a comprehensive range of courses that meet specific needs. Overall, these hands-on courses provide students with the skills and professional knowledge needed to excel.
Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)
- Price: $4,025.24
- Duration: Five days
- Locations: Geneva, Lausanne, Live Online
The PMI - Professional in Business Analysis course at ITTA provides an in-depth exploration of the role and responsibilities of a Business Analyst, offering essential tools and techniques for successful project management. Students will strengthen their competencies in needs assessment, solution development, and stakeholder engagement, positioning them to significantly improve outcomes and business performance.
Key Information about Learning Business Analysis
When learning business analysis, topics include understanding business needs, defining project scope, stakeholder analysis, requirement elicitation techniques, and designing solutions. Even though business analysis is a complex field, beginners can start learning it; however, it requires dedication and continuous learning due to its evolving nature. The duration it takes to master business analysis skills spans several months to a few years, contingent on the individual's grounding in business concepts, their commitment, and the complexity of the subject matter.
Before embarking on a business analysis learning journey, familiarity with business operations, basic financial literacy, and project management concepts can be beneficial. Lastly, learners need to set up certain technical tools such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio, or any other modeling software, along with a robust project management tool like JIRA or Trello, which are available for download from the respective websites of these applications.
Career Paths & Job Outlook for Business Analysis
The International Institute of Business Analysis predicts that career opportunities for Business Analysts will jump 14% by 2024, significantly faster than the average for all occupations. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also confirms this growth, reporting an increase by 14% from 2016 to 2026. As per Payscale, an entry-level Business Analyst can earn an average salary of $60,000 per year, while those with more experience can earn up to $88,000 a year. Furthermore, there are various industries that employ Business Analysts. For instance, in IT, they determine the requirements for a new software project whereas in finance, they analyze and forecast financial trends.
What Can You Do With Business Analysis?
Business analysis is an incredibly versatile skill that allows users to generate numerous valuable business intelligence outputs. A Business Analyst often performs data analysis, creates predictive models, and develops new business strategies. Moreover, they often create detailed market analysis reports by utilizing powerful data mining features. This involves using libraries like Pandas and NumPy for data manipulation, and Matplotlib and Seaborn for data visualization.
Further, a Business Analyst can employ predictive analysis techniques to produce predictive models, which help businesses forecast profit margins and identify prospective market trends. The tools involved often include machine learning libraries such as scikit-learn and frameworks like TensorFlow and Keras.
A user can also generate business process models to visualize and analyze the workflow of processes within an organization. These diagrams can elucidate inefficiencies and areas for improvement, aiding in the implementation of optimized business strategies. Creating these involves business process modeling tools and often requires familiarity with popular methodologies such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Unified Modeling Language (UML).
Additionally, users can develop and optimize business strategies with business analysis. For example, the user can conduct a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that a company may face. This analysis can aid in decision-making and strategic planning, steering the business toward sustainable growth and success. To achieve this, the Business Analyst leverages business strategy frameworks such as the SWOT or PESTEL, often using visualization tools like Microsoft Power BI or Tableau to visually represent the results.
Becoming a Business Analyst requires numerous skills and a robust comprehension of various methodologies and frameworks. Overall, their intelligence and insights help afford businesses the necessary knowledge to navigate the business landscape successfully.
Top Business Analysis Tools For Beginners
- Microsoft Excel: This is a tool primarily used for analyzing data. Excel functions like vlookup, pivot table, if, and sum-ifs allow Business Analysts to filter, sort, and study business data effectively.
- Tableau: A data visualization tool essential for interpreting complicated data sets. With Tableau, Business Analysts can create an extensive range of visualizations to present data in a simpler form.
- SQL: Structured Query Language communicates and manipulates databases. SQL can help a Business Analyst retrieve, update, or insert data into a SQL database.
- Python: Python is an easy-to-use programming language for both data analysis and modeling. With this tool, Business Analysts can clean, analyze, and visualize data.
- R: R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It provides a variety of statistical techniques, such as linear and nonlinear modeling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, and clustering.
- Power BI: This is a business analytics tool by Microsoft. It provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface that is easy to use for creating reports and dashboards.
- SAS: A software suite developed by SAS Institute for advanced analytics. It offers a variety of features that allow you to run statistical analysis, data management, and predictive analytics.
- Jira: Jira is a project management tool used for issue tracking and project management. Through Jira, Business Analysts can assign work to team members, track their progress, and communicate effectively.
- SharePoint: A web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office. It's primarily used as a document management and storage system, ensuring that information is available to all team members at all times.
- Google Analytics: A web analytics tool offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It measures the effectiveness of advertising strategies and gains insights into how users interact with a website.
Business Analysis Comparison to Other Tools & Fields
Business Analysts often use and interact with other programming languages such as data analysis, SQL, Python, and project management. In addition, data analysis is closely related to other subjects, like business analysis. Both involve interpreting data to aid decision-making processes, although business analysis often incorporates more business strategy and planning aspects.
SQL and Python, on the other hand, are tools that Business Analysts frequently use to gather, analyze and manipulate data effectively, with SQL being used for structured data manipulation and Python for more complex data analysis tasks. Project management is another related field as it also involves planning and problem-solving; however, it is more oriented towards executing specific projects, including timelines, resources, and risk management.
Business Analyst Advantages
A Business Analysts role offers the opportunity to solve complex business problems and directly improve a company's performance. It allows for a broad understanding of various business domains, increasing one's transferable skills and marketability. Lastly, Business Analysts often serve as a bridge between technical teams and business stakeholders. They help improve communication and collaboration between the two, thus leading to more innovative solutions.
Learn more in these courses
- Business Analyst Training Courses
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Business Analyst Certificate
- Weekdays only
- 63 hours
- Open to beginners
Become a business analyst with hands-on training in the critical tools you'll need to become a business analyst. Learn Excel, PowerPoint, Tableau, and SQL in this comprehensive business analyst training program. Jumpstart your career and become a business analyst with this certificate program.